St.Michaels v North Sydney Bears
Saturday  18th July 2009
Kingsford Smith Oval ,Longueville

It was good to be back at the home ground again this week. This meant that despite the best efforts of El Presidento the previous week to mislead certain individuals from the spine of the side, all the players would know which ground the game was being played at. 

Div 2A Referee scanning for infringements.

The usual pep talk at half time, along with mention of not letting the league title slip through our grasp and we were back into the fray. Greg dominated them at the back for us with good support from Hilly, Bakes, Dom and Pete. As a result our mad-as-a-cut-snake keeper was having a pretty quiet day at the office.

The Bears certainly gave us a decent game in midfield for much of the time but when they got to the last third either their final ball let them down (often under pressure from our harrying) or our defence stopped them in their tracks.
 
About 15 mins into the 2nd half, your author knocked a pass 20 yards up the middle to our master linkman Scotty, who turned and slipped a great ball through for our (marginally less able) version of Fernando Torres to run onto. Matty once again used his pace to leave the defenders in his wake as he ran through from right to left and took his time deciding how to slot it past the keeper. Keen to humiliate and irritate the poor bloke he went for the nutmeg, 2-0.
 
Meanwhile up the other end, a series of Bears corners had us under a bit of pressure but they had clearly been taking lessons on corners from Matt and several of them during this game were kicked straight behind for a goal kick. One good inswinger did make me wonder if it would beat Mark at the near post, as has been known to happen in recent weeks but he soared skywards and snatched it mid-air.
 
It must be said we had some problems with their Lino during the 2nd half – he appeared to lack neutrality when making 1 or 2 offside decisions, particularly when Greg was astonished to find himself played through about 60 metres further up the pitch than he would normally find himself. Late on someone (not sure who – my apologies – feel free to put me straight!) knocked another great ball through for Torres to run onto and after good work in holding off the attempted shove from the retreating defender, his seemingly well-placed rising shot hit the inside of the right-hand post and bounced invitingly across the face of the goal where master-poacher Marc ‘Lineker’ Bineham was gleefully waiting to bury his 2nd close range effort of the game. 3-0, job done. The post-match smiles were accompanied by Lowenbrau and Peroni beverages.                                                

And so another workmanlike performance from the results machine that is the 2Rs this year, has resulted in the as yet unofficial crowning of us as league Champs. Once again we didn’t play as well as we know we can for much of this game but what we have mastered this year is making ourselves difficult to beat. We are well organised, always create chances and defensively in the majority of the games we have been solid. Statistically Lane Cove can still catch us but would have to win both of their remaining games by a 7 goal margin and we lose to Lindfield this w/e. Neither prospect seems likely although we’ll have to make sure we are on our game to beat Lindfield. It would be nice to confirm our Champions status in style with a win in front of the WAGS eh?