Saturday 8 September 2007

Round 22, 2007 - Altona East 6 Pascoe Vale 2

Quite busy chatting with people during this game so the recall isn't flash. Pretty laid back affair, Paco in particular never seemed too interested, except for when they scored their first goal.

1st half
1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1

Goal in the 2nd minute, cross to the back post from the right which Tolli eventually put away. Goal in the 14th, Juri running down the left, into the box and slotting it. Paco pulled one back and started looking a little more interested, but their keeper then committed seppuku of sorts coming out to the edge of his box, didn't make the clearance required, and the ball was sent back over his head into the empty net.

2nd half,
4-1, 5-1, 6-1, 6-2

Could have been more, but why complain when you get six? Paco's 2nd I believe was off a free kick that hit the crossbar and had the rebound followed up, the rest of the goals are a little sketchy, Gaffa scored one from a 2 on 1 with the keeper, could have raffled it. A great way to celebrate Paul Donnelly's testimonial, and probable retirement.

Reserves, 3-1 to East, good way to finish the season, young squad that got better as the season went on, mid-table finish, not too bad.

Considering how poor we were last season, at the beginning of the year I would have been happy avoiding relegation. As it turned out, we only did just avoid relegation, but with a team that probably should have finished somewhere in the top three. Losing Tex early on was a setback, took awhile to recover and start scoring again, but it's also good to see Tex doing very well for his new club. Failure to put teams away early, and subsequently copping goals often from lapses of concentration cost us, but overall I'm fairly content, because we played some very attractive football throughout most of the season, and it was such an even league, almost anyone could beat anyone else on their day, and so it proved on quite a few occasions. The three away derby wins in the 2nd half of the season were the highlights for me, in particular the 7-1 against Willy, our best game of the year offensively and defensively. Losing three 3-2 games probably the biggest disappointment, you'd think one would fall your way but alas. Likely to be some turnover playing list wise, some players near the end of their careers, others may be disgruntled with lack of opportunities and may seek their fortunes elsewhere, we'll see.

In conclusion, I've enjoyed doing these basic write ups this season, and enjoyed the banter as well, see you all next year when we do it all again, and others of course will be seen earlier at the Hellenic Cup if it goes ahead next year, always a chance that one of the pools could be played at Paisley Park.

Saturday 1 September 2007

Round 21, 2007 – Altona East 2 Maribyrnong Greens 3

Kill me. Kill me now. Please. I beg you. I can't take much more of this. Thank goodness the season is almost over. This is the evil biased view of the game, but I'm sure whoever usually does the Greens games here could provide a more balanced view for NosaJ and friends.

First half saw East going towards the golf course end. Both sides started very patiently. This worked more to East's advantage as they were allowed plenty of time on the ball. East squandered three chances in the first ten minutes, one hit the post, a cross whipped in from the left was smothered by the keeper when it reached it's destination and Tolli sprayed one wide after doing well to get inside his marker. The inevitable came about on 17 minutes when East's keeper cleared the ball straight to the opposition (when he could have passed it laterally) who took it up and slotted a nice goal, 0-1. Two minutes later, the Greens doubled their lead, a nice move finished from the left, 0-2. Greens got a very dubious offside given against them, not sure if anything would have come from it, but it looked to me like there were two defenders in front of the recipient. Towards the end of the half, East picked up their game again, and hit the crossbar twice, i think maybe sprayed another over, but pulled one back right on the stroke of half time, a long range free kick from the right was met by Freddy Pedrotti at the back post and headed across goal, 1-2 at the break.

Second half, Greens were the first to spurn a good chance when a shot was put across the face. East levelled in controversial circumstances on 58 minutes when a contested ball was out forward and the move ended up in a goal. The linesman raised his flag, then put his flag down, then chatted with the ref for a while who awarded the goal. Both sides tried to get the winner, the Greens smashing a scorching free kick against the crossbar from range, but neither side seemed to have that final cutting edge. And so it proved to be the case for the rest of the match, including the visitor's 90th minute winner. An unnecessary free kick was given away on the left hand side, the ball was whipped in low, bounced maybe once or twice, eluding everyone, especially the keeper who I reckon wasn't even ready, and that was it, 3-2 to the Greens, who rode their luck in the first half but gave as good as they got in the 2nd, while East's failure to put away teams early once again haunts them as they lose their third 3-2 game for this year.

Also forgot to mention. How can a player who uses both hands to stop the ball in mid air only be given a yellow? And I've seen unsporting behaviour, but supporters deliberately booting the ball over to the other side of Paisley Park to waste time? That's pretty low.