Lane Cove West 3 Kissing Point 3
24 May 2008, Blackman
Upper
AC Milan 3,
We played well
in the first half: we didn’t take our chances. We let them play well in the
second; they did. 3-1 down with four minutes to play, but we clawed back a
draw. Get out of jail is the cliché, but we certainly locked ourselves in there
in the first place!
We started much
as last week. Lots of space against a team that seemed weak, lots of good crosses
floating over, and lots of off-target headers. But the crucial difference was
that, last week, goals regularly went in between the misses, so that by
halftime we were three up and our opponents were beaten. But today there was
just the one first-half goal.
And a good one
it was, too. Sustained pressure saw the ball bobble around their area. It went
out to James whose shot (as with last week’s first goal) found a way through
bodies into the corner. But this time it was really blasted, waist high, and it
smacked the net with a satisfying thump. 1-0, and here we go, here we go.
But we never
really did: go, that is. We still created chances, but couldn’t finish them off
(a diving header by me on the end of Eric’s pinpoint cross was typical: well
wide). And we lacked the zip and fizz of last week.
Though not to
worry, it seemed: Kissing Point were creating little; Jon, Martin, Steve B,
Eric & Brian at the back seemed to have it all in hand (and Tony was
adjudged to have had some hand in a fierce shot that clipped the bar). Ernie,
Dave, Howard, Peter and Bob were working well in mid-field, and James and I
(but more so James) were finding lots to chase, lots to be confident about. All
we had to do, we agreed at half-time, was to keep on keeping on, use the space
and the time that Kissing Point gave us, and more
goals would follow: can’t fail.
But 30 minutes
later we were 3-1 down. Jon says that he blames himself for the goals, but that’s
a bit harsh. They were all quite well taken, and the third particularly well
struck – regrettably by our own Steve B who was charging back towards goal as
the ball surprisingly evaded everyone else. Phil tells us that, in 25 years of
playing with Steve, he has seen him regularly thrash such own-goals: three or
four a season is the norm, apparently. Goals at the other end a bit rarer,
though. (Nice to have friends, Steve).
Before that, a
good passing move had brought their first goal, and the second was dribbled
round Tony. Suddenly, Kissing Point had found some footballers, and lots of
confidence. Their right winger was particularly obnoxious, now loudly insisting
that they were playing for goal difference. “Let’s shut this wanker up” was James’s suggestion, and, in time, we did.
But time was the
problem. There were 15 minutes left when their third went in, and though we
huffed and puffed it seemed like the house wasn’t going to be blown down.
Eric now joined
the attack regularly: haring up the left wing. Dave, on the other side, put
over some good crosses; and one of Peter’s hung at the left post, only for Bob
to head it wide. Meantime, Kissing Point weren’t entirely applying Queensberry
rules: James had earlier been pulled back by his shirt when leading a chase in
the area (but John the ref was unsighted), and now he was hacked down just
outside. But the free-kick came to nothing.
Still Peter, Bob
and Howard made chances from mid-field, and the defence
held on well, but not without some pressure: Tony was much busier in the second
half, but looked troubled only when picking the ball out of the net (he’d had
no chance with any of the goals).
In the meantime,
Howard set off earthquake alarms again across
Thank goodness
for 90-minute games! Though it seemed all too late when we
finally got one back. A cross from Dave was only partially cleared, and
fell to me close in on the left. I hooked it over the ‘keeper: 2-3.
Four minutes to
go, and most of them seemed to be taken up with us being off-side or conceding
goal-kicks. Just time for one last foray, it seems: James pushes it to me, and
keeps running. I push it on to him. He blasts, but the ‘keeper pushes it aside;
onto the far post; the rebound evades Peter, is it going to evade everyone…?
No, here’s Dave steaming in: bang, and 3-3!
Relief,
rather than rejoicing, for us. But there’s certainly no more talk of goal difference from Kissing
Point!
The remaining
minute passed safely to both defences, and 3-3 it
finished. Possibly a fair outcome, on the game as a whole, but two points lost,
rather than one gained.
But curiously,
the point takes us up to 3rd (where we would also have been had we
won). We’re three points behind Monash (whom we play
almost at the end). They are now the only undefeated side, having beaten
Northbridge A today. And we’re one point behind
Bob and Jon tied
for third in the man-of-the-match voting. I was second (again for the last five
minutes, I suspect) and James was the runaway winner: someone didn’t vote for
him as first (you can tell because 37 is not divisible by 3), but almost
everyone did. And rightly so.
Thanks to Phil
for again organizing the subs; to John who, despite his bad hip, helped out
Northbridge (and us) when they couldn’t find a ref, and officiated very
sensibly; and to Howard as ref as 3pm, and Peter and Steve as linesmen.
MARK BRYANT