Rochester United 3 Corinthian 4

Match 42/17/1492 - Wednesday, 11th October 2017 - SCEFL Premier

Rochester United (1) 3 Rogers 37,56,66
Corinthian (0) 4 Johnson 61,63 Billings 69 Sawyer 83
Attendance: 70

Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 45/2,823

My good friend, Jim Case, from his groundhopping travels, recently passed on to me a brilliant quote that appeared in a Kingstonian programme, it read: Football is stupid, and brilliant and really, really stupid but unquestionably brilliant. I've held on to those words in the knowledge that there would come a time when those words would ring loud and clear and, in driving rain at an unlikely venue such as Rochester, for a 13 minute period that time arrived.

For 38 minutes, a mundane encounter that had all the hallmarks of a 0-0, played out before us and we kept ourselves occupied with tales of daring-do on our groundhops and, as a trio of Gillingham supporters, opinion and woe at the plight of our League One club. Then, completely out of context to the game, Jon Rogers curled a shot into the top corner from 20 yards to the left of the box to awaken our interest.

The second half began with the rain starting to tumble and after six minutes the home side had a goal chalked off for a foul on the goalkeeper and then it started to rain hard and the football became stupid but unquestionably brilliant.

It was only stupid because, in the next 13 minutes, there were some cracking strikes that had no place in the SCEFL.

After 56 minutes, Rogers scored his, and Rochester's second, with a shot into the top corner, and as Corinthian had offered very little, it was easy to conclude that the goal signalled game over. But football is stupid ...

After 61 minutes, Corinthian pulled themselves back into the game after a clever dummy allowed Conor Johnson to drive a shot home and within two minutes, the visitors were level when a shot from the attacking full back, Jack Billings was parried into the path of Johnson to score from close range.

By now the rain was at monsoon level and the game was moving into unquestionably brilliant territory. Three minutes after the leveller a clearance fell to the feet of Rogers, who from 25 yards rifled his hat trick goal past a bewildered keeper. It was a hat-trick that deserved the match ball, a bottle of champagne, but probably more important, three points.

But the stupid 13 minutes was yet to be completed and Billings took advantage of a fortunate deflection to fire home another equaliser. Five goals in 13 minutes in torrential rain, unquestionably stupid!

The game didn't exactly lull back to where it was in the first 38 minutes; there was a sending-off from the Corinthian bench and the visitors took up the momentum and looked the most likely to find a winner which duly came with six minutes remaining when the excellent Billings tee'd up a cross to the far post for Ryan Sawyer to head home.

Time remained for a Rochester substitute to say something stupid to the referee and see a red card.

On another day this would have been Game 42 and slip quietly into the annals of time but football is stupid, and brilliant and really, really stupid but unquestionably brilliant.