Beep??????twelve seconds?????..goalllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!
St
Ives 0 Lane Cove West 3
As
the headline suggests, the ref had hardly expelled the air from his lungs after
starting the game and Lane Cove West had the ball in the back of the net in
what surely must have been the fastest goal in the club's history, courtesy of
a pile-driving left footer from Nigel Blow. While I will defer to the club's
president about the actual fastest goal, the fastest previous goal I remember
was when Paul Shelley put us one-nil up versus a rampant
Thankfully
I can report that we did not repeat that outcome and deservedly went 2-0 up
after about 20 minutes when Pete Nolan found himself making a rare cameo
appearance in midfield and proceeded to smash another unstoppable shirt past
the St Ives keeper. Paul Shelley went close as well, but could not quite
emulate the speed or finishing prowess of Thierry Henry, however, he did make
an invaluable clearance off the line in one of Lane Cove's few attacks on goal
in the the match.
In
the second half the slope of the ground saw us called upon to defend more,
which we accomplished brilliantly and counter-attacked well on the breaks. We
deservedly finished off with a very late third goal to Paul Shelley who picked
up the scraps after another thundering shot, this time from John Cross and in
truth we could have added a couple more. Our goal on the other hand was rarely
threatened, with Luci forced to make only two real
saves, though they were beauties.
It
would be wrong to single out anyone for special mention as this was simply a
fantastic team performance, the best by the O35As in many years in my opinion,
with outstanding commitment shown in all positions across the park. The win was
even more pleasing as it was against the previously undefeated and top of the
table St Ives side and followed a disappointing and lackluster loss to
Northbridge last week.