St Michaels 4 Def Hornsby RSL 2
Saturday 7 August 2010 -  Mt Kurin gai

Goal scorers:

Blake 1, Matt 2, Phil  1

Once upon a time in a land far far away.

Actually, it was last Saturday 7th August in Mt Kuringai, it just did seem like it was far far away.

With fearless leader Scott Goodman unable to make the drive part way along the freeway due to an ankle injury, so the erstwhile Hughesy took the reigns on a glorious if slightly chilled day in the  northern high country.

Pre match was relatively calm with the majority arriving in time, though skint for regular troops the team welcomed Shane & Phil from the firsts team as part of the squad, which covered for a lack of depth on the day with Dom arriving late also, possibly so as not to be spotted as the ref from the firsts home game against this lot (actually it was a sons rugby game which delayed him).

We had also welcomed Matthew Middleton back to the fold for some R&R from the Navy, but more about that a little later.

Anyway after a coin toss win by Hughesy and the obligatory check with the keeper as to which way to run we were off.

Some classic football passing meant that  it was corner after corner in the early phases.

After the Saints had dominated much of the first 10 minutes with this classic using the width of the pitch, some guy from ARA makes a break and pots a well executed goal and we were down 1-nil. Finally Dom arrives and the crowd on the sideline (including the children of team members) explained we’ve dominated, but down.

The ensuing play again is highlighted by St Michaels passing game , with Bowdie, Shane, & Matt all making runs . Bowdie even trying a volley and a bounce to test out the keeper. Pretty to watch, but still not troubling the scorer.  Finally, it was Blake who managed to connect and not try to pass in the penalty box and GOOAALLL!!!

Another break (one of their few) and again a well executed goal by Ara. Alexi Sayle clearly perturbed this time that this was seemingly not going to be his day, with the oppositions speed rather than skill seeming to be a factor.

2- 1 down at half time and calmly Hughesy called us over for the talking. Confident that if we kept playing football we’d come from behind and win this one. We’d done it before and our season with Chatswood and West Pymble on the line as we needed to win to stay in touch.  A positive and confident crew took the field for the start of the second half.

So confident in fact we had 12 men and they only 10. Unfortunately, the ref picked that up.

The ref (their keeper in their firsts) actually was pretty good at picking things up and picked a foul by them in the box, about 10 minutes into the second half. Leading goal scorer Matthew Middleton co nfidently steps up to take the kick. The ref judiciously marks out the spot and Middo, a little out of practice, scuffs  it. The ref, however, picked up that Hughesy (being aware rust may have set in, or maybe protecting absent Skipper Goodman’s goal scoring record intact  - who knows) had entered the penalty box before it was kicked. So a retake was ordered by the ref. This time Middo made no mistake and slotted it calmly low and to the left of the keeper.

Back on level terms both sides were playing as if their seasons depended on it.  The game flowed from one end of the pitch to the other, with solid defence and Alexi forced to make one blinder of a save. Actually some were saying after the game that it was saving himself from blindness. That seemed to turn the game with St Michaels getting the feeling they wouldn’t have to play catch-up all day and started to find a lot more penetration and purpose in their play, repeatedly making forays into their penalty area. So eager were we that we were occasionally caught offside. On one such foray, one of their mid fielders had had enough and hand balled it.
 

Again, the ref, being good at picking things up had blown the whistle before any of the St Michaels folk  had appealed for it.

Again Middo strides up confidently to take it. Having scuffed one he wasn’t going to make any more mistakes and calmly potted it where the previous two attempts had gone, low and left of the ‘keeper.

3- 2 to the good guys and Hornsby RSL seemed down trodden despite some of their first team coming on to lend a hand and encouragement that all they needed was a clean break. That didn’t help as confidence on the St Michael’s side was clearly up as was exemplified when Phil Tyler confidently placed a nicely delivered cross firmly in the back of the net. From there, there was no way back for ARA.

The good guys winning 4 – 2. In the process Matthew Middleton becomes the 2Rs leading season goal scorer -  ever ( I believe a St Michael’s goal scoring record in fact) – Congratulations Matthew.

The win was celebrated with some fine “Little Creatures”, which despite the win there were left overs. Maybe that was due to Shane, Phil and yours truly, having to play the 3 o’clock game against a mob clearly bent on redemption. Many thanks to Shane and Phil for helping out. Bring on Northbridge next week as a repeat of last year can still be had if West Pymble & Chatswood falter.

Chris T