And before we knew it, it
was Saturday again.
The noble gladiators of Lane
Cove West, still depleted through injury and looking for their first victory of
the season, were set to take on their archrivals of Lane Cove at the cauldron
known as “Pottery Green”.
The time was
Just in the nick of time,
Terry and Bing made the kick off. The reds fielding a familiar line up and were
fired up and ready. The early exchanges were positive with both teams playing
positive yet composed football until the splitters upped the pace for a period,
forcing a succession of corners. From the third of these came the opening goal,
some Lane Cove man-mountain rising to head into the corner. There was a
suggestion of foul play, but the referee, after “listening” to Terry’s
protests, allowed the goal to stand.
The rest of the first half
was a closely fought battle, Lane Cove maybe edging the territorial advantage,
but the heroes from the west defending superbly, holding the line well and
launching quick attacks from the back frequently. The reds midfield
were spreading the ball well and with Cookie and Morrish supporting on
the flanks, the Westies really felt like they had a
sniff. HT: 1:0
The second half started, and
with the breeze at their backs, LCW started at a hundred miles an hour. In this
reporters view, this 25 mins
straight after half time was West’s best spell of the season. Constantly
looking to attack, especially down the left flank from Cookie through to Terry
and Peter, some of the one touch football was sublime, playing in triangles,
pentagons and with the occasional dodecahedron thrown in for good measure.
Milce was holding the ball up beautifully and it seemed only a matter of time.
For all of the football
played by west, which has been lacking most of the season, the little bit of
extra class throughout the team possessed by Lane Cove (The run away league
leaders) may have just proved the difference. As time wore on, Prideaux and his
dodgy foot was replaced by Hank, this was closely followed by the loss of
Morrish, who seemed to trip over a rather menacing daisy and hurt his Knee.
As West pushed hard for the equaliser in the last 10, Lane Cove pounced on a couple of
errors to wrap up the game. The scoreline certainly
doesn’t show how close this game was, but the boys from the west can take a lot
out if their performance. If LCW has played in this was in the previous 5
games, they’d have a few more points, not a doubt. FT 3:0