St.Michaels v West Pymble
Saturday 4 July 2009
Kingsford Smith Oval ,Longueville
To quote Jack Gibson the boys 'done good'. A 3/2 win to keep us at the top of the table and putting us one win away from the minor premiership. Don't lets slip up now fellas!!
So how did it pan out??
I arrived at 12.40 pm sharp. Getting a car park was a tad difficult, surprising really as there was the usual crowd of a few men and a dog and not anyone else to be seen. Most players had already arrived except Blake who was no doubt still on the Pacific Highway somewhere north of Chatswood - in fairness he did arrive before the kick off this time!! Jock was on to strech 22 and there was clear evidence of some underlying nerves amongst all of the players!! Why I thought?? A quick look to the east and there were 18 grown men warming up , drills to boot and they were running around like 12 year olds!! You beauty I thought they will be stuffed by half time.....but I digress.
Skipper called in the troops for the usual pre game chat. Mark then reminded us about how much he liked the West Pymble (WP) lads and urged us for a win. "Do it for UNSUBSCRIBE" was the call.
A few surprises ensued. No Hughsie, Unsubscribe ( aka the Groin- I will get to that shortly ) and no Stu who was still nobbled!! Wayne to interchange at centre back. What was he thinking- the golden boot to the backs. So we were told that Hughie's knee was rooted, Unsubscibe was also rooted or should I say ( no I won't ) and Stu was still a few weeks off returning to the team. A new look midfield but we still had the usual contingent up front and in the backs ( save for Mark) including the big fella ( Mr 1890 minutes) in goal!.
The match commenced at a frenetic pace and to be blunt the WP fellas were more eager to the ball and quickly closed us down when we were in possession. This led to a degree of kick and hope on our part some forced, some not. At the 5 minute mark we were caught square at the back (sorry lads my fault as we had pushed up too far) and a precision cross (strikers that's how it is done) beat us at the far post and smack we were 1 nil down.
To make matters worse WP were shortly thereafter awarded a penalty for a handball. A tough call but as we would later see at least the referree was consistent. Mr 1890 went parallel and pulled of a sensational save much to the disgust of No 9. We were still in it and and an air of confidence consumed the white, green and golds!
For the next 30 minutes we attacked their goal all to no avail. A few close headers, free kicks etc sailed by the crossbar or the posts and a couple of exceptional saves from their keeper kept us scoreless for the half. Many a team would have been downcast as they left the pitch for the half time break but the prospect of 2 weeks in Leicester for the end of season trip ( akin to the Aussie cricketers punishment after bowing out of the 20 /20 ) would surely put the St Michaels team back on course. The threat worked.
The half time break did us good. An opportunity to reflect on where we had erred and allowing us to focus on what we needed to do to get the result we needed. The 50/50 balls had to be ours and we needed to lift the tempo, not panic and convert.
I use the word 'convert' intentionally. What followed was akin to a game of rugby! When the ball went into the WP box out came a hand. Twice in fact!!
49 minute mark. Penalty! Who would take it? Scotter?? No. Jock - definitely not as you need to use your feet, Skipper....no. The Warwick Capper look alike, Matt strode forward and to be fair converted the perfect penalty sending the keeper the wrong way despite flagging where he was going to kick the ball by his practice airswings.. 1 all!!
Two minutes later and we were at the spot again. Another hand ball. Warwick said no, Scotter was not to be seen and so up strode Skipper who blasted in goal no 2. 2/1. We were up.
The pre match training run was now starting to hurt WP. They tired noticeably and another St Michaels raid saw the ball pop up nicely for Warwick to slot in his goal no 2 for the match and put us up 3/1. I must add that there is no truth to the rumour that Warwick was heard mumbling about what could have been ( ie: a hat trick) on the way back to the half way line. What can be confirmed is that he was tallying up his swag of goals for the season now being required to use more than two hands.
WP found new life. Wave after wave of attack was countered by exceptional defence. All played a part in keeping the WP team at bay. The midfield was strong ( no doubt the midweek training worked) with Blake ( the bionic man) managing to get through a game without injury and Scotter, Jock and Mark playing a controlling role in the middle of the park. But all credit must go once again to the defence. As we all know you can't lose if the oppostion don't score - quick prophetic really and the lads at the back stood up once again. So much so that WP started to play for corners in the hope of scoring and well, it evenually worked. A beautifully curled shot beat the near post defender and Mr 1890 so we were left with 22 minutes to play and with only a one goal buffer.
The rest is history. We withheld all WP had and recorded a gutsy win. A great team effort and congratulations to all.
| On a personal note this is what it is all about. A great bunch of lads who enjoy the game, have a will ( desire) to win but who most of all play the game as it should be played. The results this season are indicative of what we can achieve so lets not drop our commitment or our enthusiasm. |
Cheers,
Paul