Thursday, 21 June 2012

Winter League Game Week #9 - vs Conberg (Mens 3s)


Good morning guys

I never seem to get tired of saying this, the “Thorough bred 3s” are still unbeaten!
(Copy/paste). Still feeling the match from 12 hours ago in our legs and some of the boys feeling the brant’s and beers from the night before, we made our way thru to Stellenbosch at the crack of WhoCares for a childishly early game at 10h30.

Date: 13 June 2012
Time: 20h30
Venue: Mutual
Opponents: Conberg

Walking through snow to get to the field we all gathered at the astro to watch the ladies game on what would be the coldest night in history. Being asked to ‘Please keep quiet’ – by the umpire for alleged chirping from the stands. In our defence (and since both teams on the night had clean sheets it is allowed #TellTheMens2’s – Spoiler alert) it was a simple ‘Oooooooh’ when he didn’t see the slight deflection, which caused the ball the veer at a 90 degree angle.

Anyway, congrats to the ladies 2s for another victory against U-dubs , it was a fantastic game to watch. Mutual ladies 2’s 2 – 0 UWC. A few interesting tackles been thrown in and the UWC striker was entertaining. Apparently every time she loses the ball it is obstruction.

After our warm up we took the field, their captain arrived and the mind games started. Using my jedi mind tricks I convinced him to call flat. He lost the toss. I chose to play away from the sun, he actually had a confused look on his face. Basically I wanted Vis in our defensive D in the second half(This thought is the exact opposite if he is playing goalkeeper) and that all worked out.

We started the game in typical fashion with attack after attack. The Conberg defence having no idea what to do with us. They played with 2 high lying strikers which Caveman and Tosser had the ‘pleasure’ of marking. All that Conberg did was play river ball and this tactic lasted pretty much the whole game.

This proved to be turning into one of those extremely boring games where all they do is defend and try to keep the goal tally down to a minimum. The worst part is that it seemed to be working. Deep into the first halfs with the scores still dead locked we seemed to be making some better movement in the circle. Spud with a belter of a shot from top D, the keeper making a good save but unable to do anything about the follow up shot. Brown scooping the ball over the keeper who could do nothing else but watch the ball sail into the goals. Mutual 1 – 1 Conberg.

With the deadlock broken we pushed for that second goal. Mick pulling off some great tackles down the right hand side of the field  to keep the Conberg counter attack at bay. Shooter doing his job well and pushing Pete further forward to give us that extra player in attack. There were a few hiccups in defence where a Conberg player found himself in some space, but our solid defence was there to close down the gaps

Near the end of the first half, the constant attacking finally paid off. Spud finding himself in space in the D, popping the ball onto his reverse stick and smashing a ball into the bottom corner of the goals doubling our lead. Mutual 2 – 0 Conberg.

With the burners now going, we had Conberg on the back foot. Wanting to really finish them off in the first half and get the points in the back we carried on pushing. The Conberg keeper was having a stormer though which for Mutual was a bad thing. But just before the end of the half the Conberg defence was broken again. Demon breaking through and having a 1v1 with the keeper and smashing it past his right foot to extend our lead. Mutual 3 – 0 Conberg.

This brought about the end of the first half. Half team chat was just about trying to score more goals and dominating the last 25% of the field. Taking to the field again to start the second half, we were in for another annoying half with Conberg now putting one high lying striker and camping in their own half to defend and hopefully have one or two counters.

The whole half was full of missed chances and Conberg breaking down play, quite a destructive and negative game plan. But for them it worked. They were happy to give us the points, just not that extra bonus point. Wave after wave of attack was thrown at them. Once or twice they smashed river balls to their striker who looked like an asthma victim running up hill.

From the back the game was boring and I got stuck marking the high lying asthma patient. We shared a few jokes, most of the time when he was chasing after the ball and not getting to it in time. Id say, “Put off the treadmill when you start running” and “It feels like I am running up hill and the ball is rolling downhill”, he would reply.

Off one of the attacks the ball dropped to Blake on the p-spot. His favoured position, smashing the ball past the keeper and taking a deflection off Pete’s leg it landed up in the goals. When the umpire blew for a goal, Pete took a teaspoon of cement and ‘hardened the f*ck up’ and walked that pain off. We would take anything we could get to get us closer to that bonus point. Mutual 4 – 0 Conberg.

Which is exactly how the game ended. A quick mention must go to Rusty and his custard. Next time you are tired why not sub yourself if you want to sit on the bench. No need to shout ‘In the end there can be only one!!!’ (highlander theme song playing in his head) and trying to decapitate a player. Definitely a deserved card. Sherman could be heard from the back shouting “Rusty I hope you like beer son”. This will be noted for fines.

The worse and maybe even best part about the game, was seeing the players walk off the field like they had just lost. It is bad because we won and we should celebrate the victory. But in a sense it is good to see the guys setting such high goals for themselves. Wanting to push themselves for the maximum every week. 14 points out of a possible 15 in 5 days, I say well done lads.

Final Score Mutual 4 – 0 Conberg.

Enjoy the deserved 5 week break guys, club night tonight, team braai next week.
Next Fixture:

Wednesday 21st July @ Mutual
Time: 13h30
Opponents: Milnerton – 2nd on the log

But first the team braai on Friday, I can see Blake stocking up on banana’s and brooms. Keys to be dropped in the hat at the front door – swingers style. Saaaaaart!!

Yours in awesomeness
Tosser

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