We gave our table-topping visitors from Horncastle a particularly hospitable welcome; even agreeing to turn on the changing room lights after we were absolutely sure that they'd finished getting changed. Limited pitch-time (courtesy of an over-running prior game) added to the John Beck feel.

The first portent that something strange might be offing came in the pre-match preparations. Once Xabi's latest farmyard episode had been taken care of, the 'attack' took on the 'defence' in the weekly tennis ball game. Now, to be clear - the defence always wins. Always. It's usually actually quite easy. But this time? No. Even with the captain's increasingly inventive rulebook on his side. Strange times.

Stranger still, our very own travelling wardrobe, Shin, had decided to reply to last week's email during the warm-up and was now available for selection! Cooper sagely decided that having three players already adorning the subs bench was ample but by all means Shin could contribute to the team effort in other ways. And so Shin spent an enjoyable hour and a half in the biting cold watching his Christmas present (n.b. still not yet worn by him) make its second league appearance of the season, swathed around a heavily perspiring James Dodson.

Game-time crept around and it was time to match ourselves against a side that had beaten us 2-0 up at their place and swept aside most-comers since then. Things looked promising in the early exchanges and there were several near misses before Horncastle earned a shortie from their first foray forward. Nerves jangled, but it was beaten away and shortly afterward, we took the lead.

A lovely little move started in our own half, with the well-dressed Dodson stroking the ball out wide to Matson then gliding out of the centre to be replaced by a willing Spencer. Craig burst past a couple and found himself at the top of the circle. He then took the curious decision to play in Lamming, much wider to the right... HOLD THE PHONE! LAMMING HAS JUST ROOFED IT! Stunning.

The away side didn't have much wind in their sails before-hand, really (they can't have stopped for an Olympic Breakfast en route), but they seemed even shorter of ideas now. A couple of wasted half-aerials from free-hits were symptomatic of their malaise (apart from the one adeptly brought down by a bloke in the D, which nearly resulted in a goal). Life, in short, was looking rosy.

1-0 to the good guys at the change-around and only thirty-five minutes to hang on. It wasn't simply a defensive operation, however, with Xabi and Dom particularly keen to take the fight to the opposition in their own ways. Dom's way led to his substitution.

With fifteen minutes to go, another bizarre thing happened. We had a short corner, which we scored. Unheard of. If I tell you JT scored it, you'll probably think that perhaps you need to lay off the cheese for a while and maybe call a doctor, but it did actually happen.

Some heroic defending was called for as time ticked away, with Lino earning his Man of the Match award between the sticks, Anns calmly side-footing his way to a green card and Menzies leaving a buttock behind in his eagerness to stem the tide. It was all worth it though, as we sealed a vital three points and have now beaten two of the top three in the last fortnight.