A chronology

• Wednesday AM - Skipper has 6 players available, but lots yet to respond.
• Thursday AM - Skipper has 8 players available, and two "maybe, if the injury is all-right"s and a couple of yet-to-responds. Committee debates forfeiting game. Skipper holds firm.
  
• Friday AM - Skipper still has 8 + 2. All others have now responded. Arm twisting and emotional blackmail of the nay-sayers commences.
• Friday 8pm - Skipper announces failure of arm-twitsing and emotional blackmail. He has just 8 men [actually he had 9, but didn't know that]. Cue panicky phone calls along the lines of 'we can't call this off now!'
• General pleading.
• Friday 11pm - finally land on two players who are too nice/drunk/asleep/suffering from a hero complex to say 'NO'. We have 11 men! GAME ON!
• Saturday 8.30am - The Skegness Grammar School pitch is frozen. Game off.
• Saturday 9.30am - Long Road pitch is NOT frozen. Horncastle caught out by this and forfeit a game to the 3rds. Internal mix-and-match friendly available to those who wanted it.
• Sunday - Prepare to do it all again. Venue of next Saturday's match? Horncastle...