D'OH! 7 Dizzy 6
There are some things that are hard to explain in life, and the result on Monday night was one such thing. After all, you can't expect to compete in a game of 5 a-side when you turn up with 4 players and you are lacking your regular keeper. Then you see that the opposition has 7 players and therefore each of their players gets the opportunity for a breather quite often. The ref was sticking to the rules which state that each player must have played 5 games in the season so we were not able to bring anyone in from another team. I suggested that his inflexibility might mean we would be wasting everyone's time, but in the end our failure to gather enough players and his refusal to allow any deputies, set the scene for one of the most memorable performances in our history. So it goes.
The first surprise was to take the lead after hastily discussing revised tactics involving taking pot-shots from distance and using a zone defence rather than our habitual man-on-man marking. Good approach work from Sadds and the skipper ended with Sadds crossing and a tap-in for the skipper - so much for long range efforts. It wasn't long before they were adopting the strategy we talked about, and started shooting from distance. Our zone defence had had an effect - they had no idea how to approach it so just shot from anywhere. Then we won a corner and Kev laid it back for the skipper to ping it into the roof of the net - we've seen it before and we will surely see it again. As the half progressed, they found the way to goal and also got a breakaway as we struggled not to be all sucked in to our own attacks leaving us defenceless. It was 3-2 to them at halftime and we were proud to have competed, but we were puffing and the prospect of another half of high intensity aerobic exercise late at night was not exactly something to look forward to.
The second half had not really started when their bloke smashed a shot into the top corner from the kick off and Sadds picked the ball out of the net. None of us had really seen it. Soon it was the skipper's turn to be in nets and almost immediately a ball worked its way through his legs and we might have been overrun. Then Trev rushed off down the wing with the voices of his teammates ringing in his ears - "You're on your own!" Trev didn't need any help as he blasted a goal on the run - magnificent. Then a nice bit of interpassing close to their goal ended with the skipper providing Trev with a simple finish and we were playing good stuff and keeping them at bay and making them worry. Their defence was now as ragged as their attack and we were in a ruthless mood. What if we could win? I think Trev got another goal but I might be mistaken. (let me know). Just before the end the skipper skipped away and his shot was deflected in and it was all square as the time ticked out.
The last thing we wanted was extra time but on it came and we've been there before. Many times and with the right result most of the time. Not long into the first period their defender passed the ball back to his keeper who lost it between his legs and suddenly there was a risk it might go into the net. Diving to grab the ball, the keeper made the interchange into a back pass and thus a free kick was awarded to us close to goal. They crowded in front but when the ball came back to him, Trev lifted it high and hard into the net and the game was over. We had booked ourselves another Grand Final berth and guaranteed more trophies.
Awesome.
So we played with 4 and won a semi final. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Next week we play Teabaggers at 7.20pm. This will be our last game in Division One as, after quite a bit of soul-searching, it has been decided that we should let the young kids alone and go and play in the second division. Let's jump before we are pushed. Of course we leave behind a great record and we don't do it lightly. There is a realisation for some that our best days might be behind us and you can't take too many floggings without looking at other ways of enjoying yourself on Monday nights. I personally don't think the standard will drop off that much and I would love to cross swords with Bananas again. I believe there is a lot to look forward to.
Let's set it up by winning on Monday night and winning yet another premiership.
(14-JAN-2008)
