Lane Cove West 5, Northbridge 1

03 May 2008, Blackman

Picturesque Primrose Park was the venue for this Round 5 clash between Lane Cove West and Northbridge.

There was a lengthy delay before the game commenced as the referee addressed the players with his thoughts on late tackles, offsides, backchatting...........basically Mr FIFA was laying down the law........it took so long he had to shave 5 minutes off each half...................he took it more serious that a cancer scare.

The game started, and it was obvious that the LCW boys were rusty. For the first 5 miinutes they were camped at the top of the box simply trying to hack the ball away. Then like the cahnge of wind possession started to go with LCW. Their midfield of Xenos, Dom and Dimos were stringing passes together, looking for the quick movement of Poulos and and Felix to get in behind what seemed, (early) to be a tall strong and well organised defence. As time went on, Northbridge sent it long over the heads of the defence as they looked to take advantage of the shameful,disrespecting rumour that Moskos was slow off his line..........not paddles.

LCW's defence was never really threatened but with their own team being pulled apart, Northbridge decided to make no less than 10 changes in the first half which resulted in slowing the game down.There were more subs than the Battle of Midway.

A well worked move started by a Felix long throw noded down for Big Unit to shoot, saw the keeper only able to parry it towards the onrushing Papas who made no mistake.There were more chances created with Felix shaving the post.It remained 1-0 notwithstanding an undeniable claim for a penalty when Felix was cynically brought down in the box.Notwithstanding the foul was only metres away from our esteemed whistleblower - he missed it,but miraculously, was able to hear a muffled protest from the linseman some 50metres away which led to him being banished.It remained 1-0 at halftime.

The second half saw West up the ante.Felix was seeing more fouls than an Ingham Chichen truck driver.The midfield was on top, Horse and Poulos were running at will, and AV was using his big ( i just swallowed a baby goat at Greek Easter ) frame to devastating effect

10 minutes into the second half a wonderfully accurate Big Unit cross saw the Bald Eagle, (Dave Kelly) step free from his marker and finish with a bullet header. He was rewarded by being substituted. This brought together a forward line which weighs in at 240kg combined. The funny part is we only play 2 upfront. The kiddies at the ground were scared for the lives incase a feeding frenzy broke out.

Chances continued to fall and it was no surprise to see The Fatman latch onto another loose ball in the 6 yard area to make it 3-0. We hadn't seen him move that quick since dismantling the buffet at the post season function at North Sydney leagues club. Four goals in three games has kept his critics at bay, with Stanley starting to complain about splinters in his backside.

Deeper into the game and Northbridge were looking more strung out than a Melbourne Cup field.Chances fell to Xenos who had his shot deflected over the bar and Dimos who shaved the crossbar and from a corner, smacked a header against an unsuspecting defender on the line.Felix continued to try his luck from distance.

Up 3-0, then a mix up at the back saw Dimos poke home a fourth from close range.Some more awful defending saw the keeper pick up a back pass and AV duly dispatched a close range free kick low and hard into the net.

A solid performance all round saw LCW finish 5-0 up, but in reality it could've been anything.