Aside from the clash of the big men the match between the Relics’ and Kripples’ was a tense struggle as the Relics’ attempted to consolidate third spot on the ladder and the Kripples’ trying to lift themselves from the bottom of the league into semi-final contention.
The match began poorly for the Relics’ with Captain Kangaroo Mickledinho losing another toss forcing the boys to run uphill and into the wind and sun for both halves. Despite this early setback the Relics’ dominated the early exchanges with one Kripple noting, “gee, you guys push the ball around well.” Obviously this man was not at our previous couple of matches.
During this first period both teams had good opportunities to score but neither side was good enough to finish. Apart from poor finishing the Kripples had to contend with the supreme keeping skills of the Man Mountain. MM was impregnable spoiling a number of attempts by the Kripples with brilliant saves. This performance from MM went a long way to erase the memories of his last visit to Jubilee. MM was obviously in the mood to impress as he brought his own crowd with him. MMs great form is a good sign with the semis just around the corner.
This Banker, as usual was solid, as he marshalled his defensive partners Statue, Crow, the Silver Brumby and mad man Dallas into a tight and determined unit. Statue, in particular, has become a revelation at right back. Coach Vic was overheard telling anyone who would listen that his decision to shift Statue to right back was a tactical masterstroke on his part. In reality, Coach Vic was the last Relic to fully appreciate Statue’s striking capacity. For most of the match the backs were able to find the eager feet midfield including BB, Toe, Hat, Downhill, Roy and Shadow. What the midfield did with the ball on some occasions was probably not what the backs had in mind. During the latter stages of the first half rather than look for the simple passing options the midfield tended to look for the ‘miracle ball’. This put pressure on the Axe and Mickledinho. On several occasions the midfield mistook Diamond for Usain Bolt!
This is not Diamond
The Relics’ went into the break 0-0.
The second half was all Relics. The midfield clicked into gear mounting numerous attacking raids. The pressure finally told when Coach Vic was felled like Christmas tree on the edge of the box. All eyes searched for Diamond and thankfully he was on the sideline! BB stepped forward to take the penalty when Mickledinho inexplicably tossed the ball to Roy. A hush went over Jubilee Oval. Could the injury prone Roy convert? Does Captain Kangaroo know what he is doing? The Relics’ season was on the line. The yellow truck took an excursion from the centre circle to the goal mouth to position the penalty. Roy stepped back. No one could look. Roy then moved in and hit one of the most pitiful left foot strikes of all time. The ball dribbled from his foot and slowly rolled to the right of the keeper. The keeper over-estimating the speed of the ball dived too early and despite getting a hand on the ball the ball just trickled over the line…GOAL! Put this one down to very, very, very ordinary goal keeping.
With their noses in front the Relics’ continued to pepper the Kripples’ goal. Shortly afterward Roy found himself ‘johnny on the spot’ for a second attempt at goal. Roy scored and the boys celebrated safe passage to the semis.
The final score 2-0 was a fitting scoreline in the context of this match.
BB
No comments:
Post a Comment