St Ives 1,
Lane Cove West 3
Now this is
the way division 3 was supposed to turn out! A spirited contest and a
convincing win. Particularly satisfying as we were without several key players,
and won against a team above us in the table: the last time that happened was
two seasons ago!
Once again
it was a hot day, and once again the absences left us with a lop-sided squad:
an embarrassment of full-backs was
what we decided was the collective noun! Again, only normal striker was
available, but we very soon dismissed the idea that we could play one up front
– at least I did, since I was the one. Instead, Bob and James took it in turns
– to very good effect, as will be revealed. Paul Mattes joined us for a guest
appearance. For once it was others who spotted an oddity for us: 14 players
with different names! Also that all these years we have been playing with a
well-known combination on the left: Eric ‘n Ernie (a tall one and a short one)!
FIFA worry a
lot about what goes on in KDSA’s over-35 Reserves: so it was right that the ref
not only enforced the new ruling on jewellery, but also made us tuck our shirts
in! (He was good enough to be embarrassed about the latter and tried to justify
his request by saying it made things easier for him. How? one
was tempted to ask. It couldn’t be to make the shirt numbers easier to see: I
can think of at least one of last year’s players whose shorts were worn so high
that the number would have half disappeared!).
We started
badly. Sun and wind in our eyes and playing up the slope (doubly so for those
of us on the left, as it tilted that way too). St Ives had a number of attacks
and we just couldn’t control the ball, or settle down to some unfamiliar
positions. But Bob’s arrival as a sub livened things up, and after about 20
minutes he reinforced his position of leading goalscorer (as happens when you
are the only goalscorer, then score again!). A good build-up involving (I
think) Brian & Paul saw Bob pursuing a through ball on the attended by two
defenders. But he shrugged them off and slotted the ball into the right hand
corner of the net: 1-0.
It was a day
of unlikely injuries, some of them provoking controversy. A little while later
three St Ives defenders converged under a high ball and collided with each
other leaving one dazed on the ground as the ball popped out behind from under
the bodies. There being no scrum half to collect it, I did, and rounded the
sole defender left standing but pushed the ball just wide not only of the
advancing keeper (which was the idea) but also the left hand post (which was
not).
We had a few
more good chances in the first half: their defence, in particular, was struggling
and there were goals for the taking. Twice I got past defenders to be
one-one-one with the keeper (once from a lovely through ball of Peter’s that
was intended for Bob, but I got to we), only to find the ball on my right foot,
which is OK for standing on, but you wouldn’t use for shooting unless you had
two: weak efforts were easily saved each time. Ernie had a good chance with a
header, and we had a series of corners.
At half-time
we resolved that we had to score the next goal, and that if we could, St Ives
would likely wilt. And so it turned out, though not entirely in the way we
expected.
We continued
to push forward and give St Ives few chances. Another injury incident saw me
(knowingly this time) trying to score even though one of their players was on
the ground some way back. But I’m with Les Murray on this one: if the player
needs urgent attention (or is in danger because the ball is nearby) the ref
blows the whistle (assuming not distracted by flapping shirts). Otherwise, just
get on with it!
The key
change in the second half turned out to be James, coming on for a cameo last 20
minutes, and within no time becoming our second scorer of the season, then the
second to reach the dizzy heights of two!
First a good
pass to me on the left from Paul gave me space to show my prowess at the
over-50s 10-yard dash - accelerating past a defender, to the edge of the box, then sliding the ball across to James who had sprinted free
in the centre. His first time shot was slightly reminiscent of Kewell’s against
Uruguay at Homebush: it went hardly any distance at all but set up another
chance – not for Bresciano this time (he was strangely absent), but for James
himself who gleefully struck the second chance firmly into the net: 2-0.
At this
point, St Ives threatened with their best chance to date: an impressive run
from the left and a rocket-like shot that clipped the bar. (This resulted in
Tony trudging off again to the further reaches of the Showground to retrieve
the ball for the goal kick. This seemed to be his major role for the day,
though when more challenging tasks came his way he looked very solid).
Bill came on
somewhere around here, returning from yet another injury (this one the first
day of the season) that had seemed fatal. But there he was – haring up and down
the left, bobbing up for corners: indestructible!
Then the
ref’s second attempt at giving St Ives a free-kick for a back-pass. The first
had come to nothing as the ref was the only person who thought that Eric had
touched the ball and was forced to withdraw his whistle and tell Tony to play
on (which FIFA won’t like when they hear about it, I fear: must be a drop ball
if the ref has blown the whistle, must it not?). The second had the merit of
being a correct, if (from our point of view) inconvenient call but Tony set his
wall well, and the danger passed.
Then yet
another controversial injury, and another goal: Bob got pole-axed well back in
our defence. I didn’t see it (perhaps I’ve got injury blindness) and didn’t
hear what I was later told by St Ives were plaintive cries by our team (injury
deafness) and carried on forward. Across to James, a hooked shot: 3-0 and we
were home and we could relax.
Which
we did, and immediately paid the price. Almost from
the kick-off a good move up the right saw St Ives bring the gap back to two
goals: 1-3.
But this was
the only wake-up call we needed. We re-doubled our resolve and finished
strongly. We created still more chances: the best being a lovely pass floated
to the near post by Dave which I got on the end of, only to see the ball fly
just wide.
A good
all-round performance: Martin (captain for the day), Steve B & Tim at the
back, I haven’t mentioned, but they held the line firmly.
Paul was
third in the man-of the-match voting, for tireless running and strong tackling.
Bob was second for his usual creative running, and reflecting the goal, no
doubt. But the man of the match was not the scorer of two (James), but the
misser of several more: me!
So we’re 7th
in the table, but only two points from 3rd: a place in the semis is
definitely the goal. And we’re following nicely the
Thanks to
Paul in particular for driving from the Central coast to play; to Tim who has
resumed beer duties, and to Lucio & Ernie who were the linesmen.
MARK BRYANT