St Michaels 2, Lane Cove West 2

I was at home, settling down to a post-game nap, and musing if there were any famous 2-2 matches (not being a recent topic: it’s 4 years since we last had this score). Not likely, I thought, as big matches rarely actually finish even, what with extra time and golden goals. But the brain’s a wonderful thing, when it’s in idle mode: just as I was dropping off, it came to me – extra time and golden goals were exactly the point. What I remembered is confirmed on the net.

In the last group match of the Shell Caribbean Cup match between Barbados and Grenada in 1994, Barbados needed to beat Grenada by two goals to qualify for the final stages. Anything less, and Grenada themselves went through.

Sure enough, Barbados were winning 2-0. But with 7 minutes to go, Grenada scored: 2-1. Barbados now recalled that, under the odd rules of this comp, a draw meant sudden death extra time, but a win by the golden goal in extra time counted as a two-goal win.

So: what to do? Barbados’s options now were: score a goal in 7 minutes, to make it 3-1; or score an own goal, to make it 2-2, and take the game to extra time; then having potentially more time to score the winner that would count as two.

As the time left dwindled to 3 minutes, they took the latter option. They deliberately scored an own-goal: 2-2 with extra time to come. But, hang on: Grenada were now onto the ruse: if they scored an own goal in the next three minutes, they’d lose the game 3-2 but that would be OK; it would take them through. So normal time ended with Grenada attacking their own goal but failing to score as Barbados were defending it for them!

I regret that Barbados’s dubious tactics were rewarded: 4 minutes into extra time, they did score (this time in their opponent’s goal) and so went through by what counted as 4-2!

Probably Grenada & Barbados played somewhere scenic. Which brings us back to our game today: Waverton Oval has a spectacular a view over the water and to the city. It had some of our north-eastern brethren reminiscing about the slag-heap pitches of their youth. But youth is what Waverton is good for: it’s really too small a pitch for adults, with scant room for the passing game with which we grace the bigger fields of the North shore. On the other hand, there wasn’t so far to run, which suited our tiring limbs as the hot afternoon wore on.

We had no less than 10 changes to our squad from last week. Pete Nolan, Gareth & Dave L had returned to the As (Dave having selflessly volunteered to go in goal); Brian moved in the opposite direction. Ernie & Charlie were back from injury, but Martin C was newly injured. John is away (hi John, if you’re reading from sunny Scotland); and Jon (Ball) & Steve Walton (2^nd half) became the 25^th & 26^th players to turn out in our 9 games so far. (Only Dave W, Eric & I have played in all 9; Dave, of course, for all of all 9).

Despite these changes, we clicked from the start, and had a series of good chances, which, as usual, fell mostly to Dave B as a result of his running and persistence. But it was end-to-end stuff (partly since the pitch consisted mostly of ends), and several shots from their pacy forwards caused us a bit of worry.

But when they scored, it was mostly good fortune: a clearance went straight to a forward, and hit his foot, rather than the converse, but ended in the corner of our net: 1-0 down for the 7^th time in our 9 games.

And for the 3^rd week in a row that was the half-time score; but the second half turned out very differently.

Firstly, the ball came to my feet (not sure from whom) just outside the area with a couple of defenders around, and there was no option but to swing at it. I didn’t have the best view of what happened next, but bottom left hand corner of the net was where it was when I looked up: a welcome sight as I struggle to remember many shots on target all season. (And in 2003 I scored one goal. In 2004, I wasn’t so successful).

And 1-1 soon became 2-1 to us. Steve W pushed the ball up to me. I moved out to the right, passed the ball into the area where Dave B was headed, and his cool shot gave the keeper no chance: it’s a beautiful game when it works!

Our opponents – 3^rd in the league – did not take too kindly to this reverse. A series of niggles and moans culminated in Steve & his opposite number lectured by the ref for a jostle in which Steve seemed to be the first victim. But the ref ruled otherwise, and a crucial decision it turned out to be, though the free-kick was in their half. The danger from it seemed to pass when the ball was sailing off to the right of our goal. But from nowhere, Nick the nippiest of the St Michael forwards, athletically hooked it over Dave W.

2-2 and still a long time to go. With half a season of disappointments behind us, I suspect that we all feared that another goal from them was more likely than us winning. And so it would have been, but for two fantastic saves from Dave W again: a fierce shot and follow-up header both miraculously beaten away. This capped a fine display: lots of pressure withstood, and some especially assured catching from corners.

We had our chances, too. Dave B had a flying shot just nudged off target by a defender (though the corner wasn’t given). Steve W had a good chance too, as we all bustled and strained till the final whistle.

In the end 2-2 was probably fair enough. A bit more self-belief might have won us the game, but the post-game mood was rightly celebration of a determined display, and the end of our run of 5 defeats on the trot.

Dave B was 3^rd in the man-of-the-match voting. Dave W was 2^nd and me 1^st: The combined age of the two finishing 1st & 2^nd was 119!

Particular thanks to Bill for hauling the beer down the cliff face at Waverton: I hope it all got drunk, as this would have been by far the easiest way to transport it back. And thanks to Steve W, then Gareth, for being linesman in our game & Bill & Mark S for the As. (No one seemed interested that they began their game with players all with surnames between L & S in the alphabet. But it reminds me of those questions about all-time best England teams beginning with the same letter: Clemence, I recall, was the start of a good one; which, of course, had a couple of Charltons, too. Judging by a conversation I overheard today, Dave W’s best team might begin with Frank Swift, who was the England keeper in the first of the seven decades in which Dave has himself been playing. Though Swift would have competition from Shilton, if not Seaman in the all-time keeping stakes).

So one win & two draws for us from the first half of the season. We can do better. Four more wins and a couple more draws is a reasonable target. If we keep fighting as we did today, we could do better. For example, Mount Colah lost today…

MARK BRYANT