FORGET your dream teams, double winners and county champions this is what park football is all about.

Players forgetting who they are, trainers tripping over buckets and a defender who took exception to a late challenge and chased the offender all around the pitch!

Then of course there was hard man defender Wayne Pickering wearing a bob hat and goalkeeping gloves.

Thrill a minute - more like laugh a minute!

But if Wimbledon are looking for a nursery team to turn into the Crazy Gang then look no further than Blackburn Olympic Reserves.

Half of them play for Accrington cricket team Taverners and, having met them a few times during the summer, I can safely say they're all bonkers!

And the good thing about playing for a team that never wins is that when another one comes around it makes it all that more special.

And this was one of those occasions - not that they looked to have a chance when they were trailing 3-1 against a well organised St Matthews' side.

The Saints were probably thinking how many they were going to score on the day when they were caught cold by Graham Walmsley.

The Juninho lookalike cut through St Matthews defence and around the keeper before his soft shot just about crept over the line.

As expected, St Matthew's soon hit back and it wasn't long before they equalised.

And it came courtesy of a howler by Blackburn Olympic keeper Mark Burns. Burns raced out of his goal to meet a long ball, completely missed it to let Mark Patten in to score.

It went from bad to worse for Olympic when a penalty was harshly awarded against Mark Maden and Lee Tierney scored from the spot.

Olympic responded when Mick Cox saw his free kick tipped over by Dave Baker.

But they appeared to be on their way to defeat number eight of the season when the impressive Patten broke free to cooly slot the ball past Burns.

Not that Olympic seemed to mind.

They had already lost enough games to worry about another one.

But with Cox pulling the strings in midfield and Walmsley providing the tricks, they were still in this game.

And their chances were even further boosted when Geoff Burns scored from eight yards out after good work by Dave Reed.

After the break, Olympic were almost gifted an equaliser when Andy Gardener miskicked his clearance across his own goal area but they failed to capitalise.

St Matthew's nearly extended their lead when Tierney headed over after good work by Jason Rippendale and Patten.

But to their own astonishment, Olympic grabbed an equaliser when Reed flicked the ball on and Burns controlled it and lobbed the keeper from just inside the area.

Now they believed their second win of the season was there for the taking.

Substitute Chris Dutton fired across the area then the same player forced Baker into a flying save. Patten continued to be St Matthews' main threat and they had a certain penalty appeal turned down when Burns flattened him.

In a frantic final 15 minutes, chances were coming in thick and fast at both ends.

But it was cool head Pickering - without his bob cap - who flighted in a wonderful free kick which Duncan McCormack met with a brave header.

It was a nervy end for Olympic, which wasn't helped by their manager Ray Yates who kept shouting out "Oh no" every time St Matthews crossed the halfway line.

And they nearly grabbed a last gasp equaliser when Gardener fired inches over from wide on the left.

It wasn't pretty but it was certainly entertaining.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.