Lane Cove West 1, Northbridge B 2

5 July 2008, Primrose

This could be the shortest match report ever as I made the basic error of leaving it too long and realised my memory is failing but here goes! The facts may be correct but the names and sequence of events may be less than perfect. However I am working on the basis that being one of the younger members of the squad I will have slightly better recall as the rest of you probably can’t even remember who we played two weeks ago!

Although we lost the week before we all took something positive away from the Monash game as we certainly felt we should have come away with a point.

We were further bolstered by the return of Bob as his pinched artery appeared to be fixed the day before but Howard was missing as well as Scott so we had to rely on Jon Ball to make up the numbers even though he was (and still is!) carrying an injury.

In stark contrast to the week before we didn’t start well and our passing left a lot to be desired. Something of a trend in recent weeks unfortunately!

James as always ran and ran up front but we were not providing a great deal of quality balls for him and both Dave C and Jon were suffering a similar fate. In a first half of few chances the 0-0 score line at half time pretty much summed up a game that never really got going and to be honest in my opinion Northbridge had the edge on us.

So we rallied the troops and set about trying to make amends in the 2^nd half.

Northbridge B are quite a physically strong team and Lionel is always a bit of a handful for the back four generally because his arms always seem to be flying out in all directions even when he hasn’t got the ball. He also has the nack of going down from a challenge as if he has been shot through the head! I believe their other forward is the highest scorer in our league so we had done pretty well I guess to keep a clean sheet.

We had started with a couple of decent moves to put pressure on Northbridge but again the final ball wouldn’t come and disaster struck as our opponents made the most of a lack of concentration by us (me included!) as they took a quick throw-in which left the Northbridge forward bearing down on goal with Brian pursuing in vain as he knocked the ball past or over Tony into the net – one or the other!

Could we spark a revival? Almost!

With probably the best move of the game we got back on level terms with a lovely goal. Pete sent a lovely cross into the path of the advancing James who steered it into the net with a deft flick of the foot.

Back on level terms but we still were not really a match for the strong running of Northbridge particularly in midfield where we improvised with our full backs providing cover for our injury depleted squad.

Our closest chance to stealing a winner (or as we shall see – equalizer) fell to Peter Ware who from an almost impossible angle smashed the ball against the corner of the post and bar only to see it bounce out of play. What really summed up our day was that after the game Peter admitted that he had actually intended to hit it hard and low across the face of the goal!

Considering Northbridge’s forward Lionel appealed to the referee if a strong gust of wind went past him it was rather ironic that the winner for Northbridge came from a clear penalty. The aforementioned Lionel chasing a ball into our penalty area with Brian at his shoulder was unceremoniously barged in the back by Steve Batt and the Ref had no option but to point to the spot. The penalty was duly put away and so ended our afternoon.

Two defeats in a row brought us to a total of four for the season and we are now in sixth place with only an outside chance of catching the other Northbridge (A) in the final round of games before we decide how to finish the season. Disappointing but frankly it was probably the right result.

James was Man of the Match, Steve Batt and Brian in 2^nd and 3^rd spot (not necessarily in that order because I can’t remember!)

MARTIN POOLAN