Crucifixion? Yes. Door on the left, one cross each

St Michaels 3 Lane Cove West 1

The season kicked off full of the promise of glories to be, however our first foray in division three proved a somewhat less than fulfilling one. In truth, St Michaels were the better side, though we were weakened by a number of unavailability’s (especially amongst the lay preachers as this was the first of two Sunday games) and were also put to the sword, crucified, massacred by someone masquerading as a referee, who managed to give us two free kicks all day (the second just before the final whistle brought an ironic cheer from the team in red). Despite the statistical improbabilities of such a skewed distribution (a high degree of kurtosis I believe is the technical term), it did raise one of our consistent weaknesses last season, which was a lack of discipline and respect for the referee, which we must improve markedly if we are to win the comp this season.

St Michaels took the lead with a very questionable offside goal, which was ruled onside due to an apparent complete lack of knowledge of both the new and the existing interpretation of the offside rule, but went two nil up with a well taken goal. Lane Cove West pulled one back as Paul Shelley stooped to head one of the lowest ever headed goals, presumably for fear it could ricochet off his shin guard.

The second half saw us pressuring for an equalizer and me make my customary exit a few minutes into the term with an injured hamstring. Lucio Siri pulled off a string of excellent saves which kept us in the game, however, St Michaels scored a third with just a few minutes to go to seal the win.

The other "event" of the day saw Paul Mattes, who makes a habit of getting injured by the opposition more often than most other players, collapsing to the ground after managing to be stung by a bee!