B GRADE MATCH REPORT

Kissing Point (Over35) 3 - 0 Lane Cove West (Over 35)

Match Report

4-2: now there’s another great score! England 4 West Germany 2 – just 38 summers ago.

But that score today makes it exactly half of our games this season in which the winners have scored four. And it’s still been us 
just the once. Though if you could exclude just an eight minute spell, we won 2-1! Read on.

Our squad was again disrupted with no less then ten changes from last week (6 out & 4 in). With Dave W & Ernie missing, only 
Steve L & Tim F have played in every game. Con went in goal for the first half, and Steve T put in a spirited performance there in 
the second half. (We’ve got you down to replace Dave W should he retire in the next 20 years!)

After last week’s meteorological oddities, today returned to the norm: bright & sunny and Mimosa was as hard as all the pitches this 
year. But bigger, it seemed.

And it was Kissing Point who exploited the wide open spaces better at the start. After several flowing moves, they went 1-0 up in 
just 6 minutes: a goal-kick that went straight to a forward, then straight back into the net.

Shortly after, a fierce Kissing point shot from way out on the left clattered our right post, and we were almost constantly under 
pressure: in the first 20 minutes, a saved Warren shot from a good Dave B cross was our only real goal-mouth action.

But spurred on by man-of-the-match John S, we clawed our way back. Dave B even had the ball in the net from a powerful shot after 
22 minutes, but was judged offside. (He claims that he didn’t know that when his shot rifled in!)

So we went to halftime at 0-1 in good heart and all to play for. And our confidence was justified. We continued to press, but now with 
Con in midfield showing some silky skills. On 50 minutes, his free kick caused panic in the Kissing Point area, and in the ensuing 
scramble, Warren headed in from close range: 1-1. 

But on the hour began the 8 minutes that undid our day. Firstly, a good passing move saw a shot past Steve B just make it to the line 
before Steve L could scoop it away: 1-2.

A minute later, a busy Steve T made a good save in the dust bowl in front of the goal. But on 64 minutes, another excellent passing 
move, and another goal, and 1-3.

Just 4 more minutes on: goal number 4. Eric got a foot in, seeming to stop a promising move in its tracks. But the ball fell to a 
forward way outside our area who smartly thumped it past Steve T and onto the under-side of the bar and in: 1-4.

Not surprisingly, Kissing Point were now cock-a-hoop, and there was still time for us to cop a real hiding. But no: the 4th goal in 
11 mad minutes then came from us. Again, Con was involved in the build-up, and – as with our first goal – confusion in the area led 
to a chance at short range that, this time, Mark S headed in. This – and second place in the man-of-the-match voting – were just 
reward for Mark’s efforts all day: certainly more just than the bang on the knee that had him limping off shortly after. This brought 
back on Gareth who had been enjoying a well-earned rest after another fine display at sweeper. 

Still there was time for more. Somewhere around here, Warren got booked for over-emphatic advice to the ref, after a foul had been 
ignored. Dave B continued chasing to the end: at one stage he almost got on the end of one of his own headed passes. And Steve T 
was still busy at the other end: shots whistling past him and over the bar, but also another good parry and push away to safety. 
Dave P was on by now (player number 27 of the season), giving relief to others’ tired limbs.

In the end, we could have no complaints: a nice afternoon out in the sun, an enjoyable game, and you have to say the best team won 
on the day.

And on the way home I was reminded of what a universal game it is. I stopped at that park in Artarmon to jog around a bit and test 
the knee by kicking against the wall. 7 teenagers arrived for a game, and asked me if I could make an 8th to even up the sides. Is 
the Pope a Catholic?! So there I was, with these boys 35 years younger than me: a Korean, an Indian and various other nationalities. 
No conversation, but football is, as we know, communication in itself, and we played on into the dusk. A bit flashy they were, and I 
like to think that they went home to tell their parents (in their various languages) of the virtues they’d learned of the simple, 
honest, old-fashioned English passing game, as practised there by us on summer Sunday mornings, and demonstrated to them this 
winter Sunday afternoon by yours truly. At any rate, they invited me back next week, and for a moment, I was sorry I’ll be in 
England. So if any of you are at a loose end around 4 next Sunday…!


MARK BRYANT