Another cracker of a game from our courageous Crusaders this week, starting with an audacious save from Tom the Beaut who still struggles to separate his goalie skills from inspirational dramatic performances. In the opening minutes of the match. Jay May answered their attack with a colossal kick that just pipped the crossbar, but who was actually coaching from the sidelines? Tom the Joker had a crack at the job as he began warming up his vocal chords from the sideline with the enthusiasm of someone who had recently scored their first goal! He was desperate to get out there to replicate his tremendous achievement from the previous week, even hinting at the possibility of scoring a hat trick so that he could go home early.
We saw some awesome attacks from Snowy, Kyle (D’ silva bullet) and Hayden, but our defenders were working just as hard, much to the disappointment and shock of the opposition’s coach who commented that they hadn’t expected our guys to be so good.
So good, in fact, that moments later, with some more magnificent manoeuvres from Kyle, saw a cross to magic Michael who enthusiastically booted the ball so hard that the ball soared through the air and straight into the goals…which was great, had it not been the junior goals that were leaning up against the club house wall.
Ian, Alec and Hayden continued to put pressure on the opposition’s goalie and Trent made some decisive defensive kicks as vital discussions continued on the sideline about the hair colour of the majority of our players. Towards the end of the first half, we were also treated to big Josh B perfectly, but superfluously, propelling the spherical projectile perpendicularly with his ping-pong paddle cranium.
The team also provided the half time entertainment with their famous “Stingray Circle” chant, cut short by the Ref’s whistle (was it really time to go back on?…or was he just concerned about the game’s integrity?).
Pressure to score increased as the boys ran on for the second half. The sideline bench also felt the pressure as it collapsed (or was it the extra burden of the coach’s wife??). The Dom-inator momentarily caught the opposition off guard and went into attack mode, narrowly missing out on that elusive first goal of the match. Cookie was on fire in defence, perhaps a little too heated, as he began to tackle opposition who didn’t even have the ball! Gary’s “Push it, push it!” line continued to motivate…(I’m sure I wasn’t the only 80’s child who was secretly finishing off that line with “push it real good”) and the goal drought finally ended after what felt like an eternity of pin ball play in the box between Ian, Hayden and magic Michael (who eventually put it in the back of the net).
The opposition eventually evened the score and the boys looked absolutely combustible as they rallied to gain the upper hand again. Sweat poured off their faces and backs as they attempted to score again and again. Encouraged to dig deep by coach Gary, Corbo rarely allowed the ball to go over the half way line, Hayden and Tom Beaut had a few goes as did big Josh B.
It was a real team effort that ended in a 1all draw against a team that was without a doubt working hard to keep up with our boys. Thank you once again to our boys for a fantastic, nail biting game and don’t forget your coach’s sign off words of wisdom boys; Have a good week end, be Godly and look after your mothers.
Awards- $2 to Daniel Corbo – fabulous runs down the wing.
$1 to “the Dominator” – unrelenting pressure in defense and attack.
MOM Isaac – Solid stunning defence.
This week’s “Top tips” from coach Gary:
“Round laces come undone easily Tom”
“Mark up the guy from Deep Purple” ….Deep who coach???
…and some others, which for propriety’s sake we shall refrain from mentioning.