Kissing Point 0 - 2 Lane Cove West

Lane Cove West went into this fourth round fixture carrying a twin burden: no points and no goals. They certainly could not afford another defeat and a win was near essential.

3-5-1

'Cove began the match with an unfamiliar formation and Kissing Point enjoyed the best of the early exchanges. The hosts shot narrowly wide and applied pressure from corners. Within a few minutes Chris had hobbled out of the game. Matt switched to the left wing, pushing Tom inside-left and making room for Milce upfront.

Strides

As the game wore on the visitors settled, and controlled more of the game. Graeme, Warren and Tom had time to pick out Milce and Mark. The strikers made a consistent effort to find the holes generated by Jason and Matt's good positional play out wide. The defence played their part too, stepping onto passes laid back from the midfield and feeding the new system.

Nevertheless Lane Cove's play was still erratic with genuine chances mostly a result of dead-ball situations. Mark headed Warren's deep free-kick narrowly wide and Graeme, holding his position from a corner, shot accurately at the fence.

2nd Half

The second half began with the best football that 'Cove have played this season. One move culminated in a curling drive from Milce that underlined the visitors' attacking intent. Later Tom struck a long-range effort that stayed too straight. For ten minutes Kissing Point were unable to get a foot on the ball but, paradoxically, this had the effect of bringing "Kisso" back into the game. Forced to hit the ball long, they finally put some pressure on the Cove defence. Dan, Clive and Nathan stood firm though - with Kye safely claiming anything that came near him.

Frustration

Graeme and Milce made way for Ed and Gavin as their considerable work-rate took its toll. However, despite LCW's overall dominance, still the chances and the goals would not come. The frustration grew as the game slipped away. Tom's was booked and the Lane Cove support were encouraged to shut their potty-mouths (or face expulsion from the park).

Goal!

As is often the case in a prolonged stalemate, it took something special to break the deadlock. Finally Lane Cove fashioned a chance from open play and at last they took the lead. Collecting a pass out of defence Tom took the ball forward and slid "the worst through-ball of the day" (Wilson, 2006) in towards Gavin. Squirming past the on-rushing 'keeper Gav faced an acute angle with confidence, firmly bending the ball into the open goal. The net bulged and aggressive relief surged from Western lungs.

Immediately Sean (energised by his match-winning substitution) called for a switch to 4-4-2, but Lane Cove were slow to respond to the new tactics. Kisso lumped the ball forward and seemed suddenly able to cause panic. Next week, against championship favourites Asquith, LCW will need to show greater dicipline. In this case, a goal for the hosts would have been luck not judgement - and so it proved as they found the net at the wrong end.

Disco

Jason's throw-in put pressure on the defender who attempted to flick the ball out of play. Instead it looped towards the top-corner. Kisso's 'keeper scurried to his left to scoop it out and made point-blank saves from Mark and Matt, but all to no avail. The linesman, striking a disco pose, confirmed an own goal.

2-0. Game over.

Pictures