Lane Cove West 2 West Pymble 0

2 June 2007, Blackman

Onwards and upwards! Now three wins in a row (10-3 in aggregate); and four wins out of five. From one point off the bottom, as we were after the game against Greenwich that we don’t mention, we’re now ten from the bottom (yes, Greenwich are still there, having still lost to everyone they’ve played except us). More importantly, we’re now just two points behind fourth place.

And if we win our next two games – both against teams well below us, which is a worry – and Northbridge B beat Northbridge A, but lose to W Pymble B, then Northbridge A also lose to St Michaels, and the Bears lose to both Monash and Greenwich, we’ll be SECOND by Monday next week! (Dave can no doubt give us the odds against this permutation: 125 to 1 if they were each 50/50 chances?). But don’t let’s get ahead of ourselves: one game at a time etc.

Not since the first day of the season have we scored a game’s opening goal. And the one we conceded today again had at least a touch of preventability. We started slowly, partly perhaps because of a number of uncharacteristically late arrivals, and resultant lack of warming up. The variable nature of the surface didn’t help: the only football pitch we’ve seen with not one, not two, but three cricket pitches on it – one in each goalmouth to complement the more usual one in the centre. And one patch of very long grass, which slowed down players and ball alike. And it was hot again and there were any number of possible other excuses, but really, we should start better than we do.

After some promising early attacks from us, but some scares in defence, their goal came around the 10th minute. Our defence was pushed well up, playing offside, but inviting exactly what happened – the through-ball nicely weighted to put the forward in the clear, but too far out for Tony to intercept. What happened next was a bit like Inzaghi’s second for AC Milan against Liverpool earlier in the week: wide of the keeper, to the right; just maybe too far? But no, ball slipped under the dive, and gently in: 0-1.

Today was another fine battling performance against a team that started the day level with us on both points and goal difference. And quite sharp they looked in the early exchanges, as we made our customary slightly sluggish start.

It was all a bit disjointed. We had sportingly agreed to delay the start of play to allow their keeper to change. But only five minutes in he was replaced by another arrival (who, at half time was himself to be replaced by a third).

But then Ernie made one of his tactical masterstrokes. Not that bringing Bob off the bench is ever particularly controversial move, but timing is everything. On he strode, and Matt chased a pass up the wing and right to the by-line. Many of us would have given it up, but not Matt. He pulled the ball back into Bob’s path at the edge of the area, and Bob’s first time side-foot sent it into the far corner: 1-0.

As Bob said after, you can have played the game for 50 years but still something new will happen: in this case, a goal with your very first touch of the game. (No doubt, Ernie thought for a moment about taking Bob off again, so that it could be a goal from his only touch of the game, but it was as well that he did not. Read on).

Spurred on by the novelty of scoring first, we now settled down to more good football, and for the rest of the half we looked by far the most likely to score again. Not that Pymble were without attacks, but Brian, in particular, at sweeper, was masterful in keeping raiders at bay. With the absence of Steve L, Eric and Jon B, the full-back duties fell to Tim, Steve B & Phil, all of whom were kept busy, but found time and space to move forward and turn the pressure up a bit with well-timed passes and (particularly in the case of Tim) lobs and crosses. Howard also toiled hard for the whole game (Ernie was not readily handing out rests to defenders, and Martin wasn’t playing either), but at one point was stung into greater action by Bob shouting that he was just watching: Howard later explained that he’d just been transfixed by how well we were playing!

In midfield, there was no John S (who was having a run with the young boys in the As), so again, there was not a lot of resting: especially after Phil wisely deferred to a muscle twinge (there’s a lot of season left yet) and James had an extended period off after one of his typically enthusiastic runs had been brought to a shuddering halt by a nasty foul.

But Matt was tireless in midfield, chasing everything, never giving up, never being intimidated. Peter, as ever, found space where there didn’t seem to be any, and Bob sprayed around his characteristic passes to the wings. Dave & Mark S were often on the end of them, pushing behind the defence and causing concern in the centre.

The second best chance of the first half fell to Dave, but his strong shot from the right had him cursing as it flew over the top.

We were well worth our lead at halftime, but the job was certainly not more than half done, and we knew that Pymble were unlikely to give in easily.

But even with that knowledge, we were surprised at how well they played the next 20 minutes. They seemed to have got new strength from somewhere and had lots of possession and good moves in midfield. For all that, though, they didn’t really threaten our goal directly apart from a couple of times when the off-side flag mysteriously failed to appear, and one shot which was blasted well over from very short range.

But it was tiring and worrying, and we could be far from confident about winning. Until: up popped that man again! In almost our first attack of the half, after absorbing pressure for 20 minutes, Bob rose to meet a cross from (I think) Peter with a firm header, and suddenly it was 2-0.

Not that this stopped Pymble pushing forward: indeed, they were clearly stung by what they saw as the injustice of the score-line, and more determined than ever. And things got a bit heated as they strained a bit too hard, but referee Grant was reluctant to intervene and slow down the game. Harsh words were spoken and the occasional push and shove ensued.

But there is now a steelier resolve to our game: winning the hard way is becoming a bit of a habit, and – as last week – everyone’s commitment went up a notch. Tony found himself more and more under direct pressure, and handled it (and the ball) well.

I created, but then missed a chance to ease our worries. Matt passed me the ball near the halfway line, and something made me turn, hare through a gap and head for goal. A defender stayed half a step behind me, but as I got to the edge of the area, the keeper was just a little too far out and I chipped it over him and towards the empty net. Alas, it went across the goal and just past the far post. (The defender then told me he’d be grateful if I didn’t do that again, as it was too much like hard work. I assured him that I was unlikely to recover my breath before full-time).

So still more pressure and worry (2-0 being, as we know, that most dangerous of leads), and then the moment that I’m sure finally won us the game: a fantastic double save by Tony. The ball was really well struck and on its way to the bottom right corner, and they were going to be rampant and we were going to panic: 2-1 would become 2-2, and before we knew it, it’d be 2-4 again. But no: from nowhere, it seemed, Tony’s right hand appeared and interfered with the laws of physics. Now the ball was going down not across. Then Tony smothered what was left of its force, and we were safe again.

Though Pymble did not give up, this seemed the final message that the afternoon had nothing at all for them, and so it was. Soon (but not too soon) the final whistle went and we’d done it again.

And how standards and expectations have changed! Time was when two good goals in a 2-0 win would get you man-of-the match, if not the season, but not today. Bob’s two goals only got him to second (come on, Bob, pull your socks up!). Instead, Matt got the top vote for another never-say-die performance. Brian was third for an effort that really summed up the determination of everyone not to let the advantage slip.

Thanks to John Cross and Grant Cannon for being linesman and referee; to Matt and Brian likewise at 3; and to Tim for the beers.

MARK BRYANT