AA2 Match Report v Maroubra 09/05/10

Opposition : Maroubra

Location : Paine Reserve

Weather: Warm and Sunny

Just like the game on Sunday this match report will be far from pretty or entertaining.

We should have known it was not going to be our day before kick-off, all the signs were there:

* Sean was not wearing a GOLA t-shirt

* Abdul arrived BEFORE kick-off ( still late )

* Brian Fagan had a quiet night in on Saturday and there was no beer sweating from his pores

* No mention of the Tool Shed

The Warm up:

What can I say, it is definitely improving . Captain Chris took a hold of it and put us through our paces with the customary over and back jog followed by a few to the side, some header jumps and then a 5 a side game.

I still remember that glorious day of the proper warm up with bibs and cones last year….we won that game I think 9 -0.

The Match:

I thought BSW started the game ok, definitely much brighter than the previous week and for the first ten minutes I thought we looked quite comfortable. There were some great off the ball overlapping runs and we were passing the ball quite well and with something that resembled “confidence”. The forwards were doing really well either holding the ball up or knocking it on from the air to the players making the runs through. We had a couple of decent chances and looked to be on top. Everybody seemed to want the ball at that stage…… and that may have been a factor in the goal against the run of play as we were badly out of position. From our kick out the Maroubra midfielder rose highest and headed the ball back into our half and not sure what happened next but their winger put a dangerous ball into the box and they finished it quite well.

The next 20-30 minutes were largely forgettable, we shouted and screamed at each other far too often and serviced the front men with nothing more than terrible high balls from all over the pitch. Passing to feet had gone out the window and we had all forgot each others names.

By our standards we still weren’t playing well at all but we were for the most part all over them for the last few minutes of the first half. I recall numerous corners and crosses and a couple of free kicks. Ian was unlucky not to get a goal when he got on the end of a great cross swung in from the right ( not sure who crossed it)) that looped right over the keeper. There was also a corner that Abdul and John G missed ( those last 3 words I have copied for multiple usage later on) after it unexpectedly came through the keepers arms with the goal gaping. We finished the half quite strongly I thought and Sean was right when he said half time came at a bad time for us.

Half time Team Talk: (use scouse accent)

What the hell was that? Why were you over there? Is that a dog with an inhaler?


Second Half:

Well it was pretty much similar to the first half with the amount of chances X 2 for BSW. We completely outplayed them for the 45 minutes. I won’t pretend that our standard of football was anything less than poor but even still how we did not manage to score before the last 5 minutes I will never know.

There was some great corners swung in by Garnsey and Ben and somehow their keeper managed to keep out a thunderous header from Dan, Dan did everything right, power and in the top corner but he still managed to get it, there was also a header off the bar and a number of balls that dropped in the box and got kicked around like a ball in a pinball machine for about 5 minutes…….but still we could not score and as the game wore on we seemed to get on each others cases more and communication between us just stopped completely.

There was also a spell in the second half where John G missed two one on ones with the keepers ( Yes it was pathetic, no excuses!) after great balls from central midfield and also missed a chance where the keeper was off his line after Abdul had done good work to put some pressure on the defence. Abdul also gets a mention for a volley in front of goal that went wide J

And with nothing working out for us and time ticking away it was always going to take a little bit of magic………..OR ….the pace of an Olympic sprinter , Arise Abdul. He got the ball about 40 yards out and lit the afterburners and breezed past two defenders and from about 10 yards poked the ball into the bottom right hand corner, absolutely fantastic play mate, well done.

Could have had won it too at the end had a few more half chances in front of goal but it wasn’t to be!

Maroubra probably feel hard done by to concede so late but in reality they should be quite happy to come from that pitch with a point as we had all the chances….on another day we could have been celebrating a 5-0 victory!

Much to improve on if we want any success this season, let’s start on Wednesday!

Oh and one more thing, Potter you’re G@y! I was asked to put that in by Chris Neale and he is the captain so……

Author – John G

MoM – Abdul