How's it going everyone? Feeling good? Bet you are, after a hard
week at school/uni/work or whatever activity you were undertaking, to help
pass the time between weekends. Anyway, here we are back on the metro league
merry-go-round, and this week we were back on familiar turf. Playing at Lum
Reserve, our home from home, we were looking to get back to winning ways
after last week's debacle down at Minestrone grammar. So did Hoppy manage to
fix things and did Simon get his charges firing again? Read on to find out
....

Weather ... Be-you-tee-fool.
Pitch ... Rectangular, green grass, goals at each end, just the job.
Crowd ... plenty and noisy.
Canteen ... burgers, tea, coffee, soft drinks, pleasant staff, lovely
jubbly.

Special note ... This week's special note is reserved for Avish. He hit the
100 game mark on his birthday. So well done to Avish and hope your nuts are
still intact.

The team list, especially the defence had a much changed look. With Dan and
Peter both missing through injury and Sammy promoted to the "ones", the
backline was a complete new unit. Peter K was back after a bout of glandular
fever, Vas was brought in from the U18's, Sean slotted in at centre back and
Muzz tucked in at left back. Sean B was back in goal with Nick also shifting
into the seniors. Nick and Christian Martin gave the side a good looking
front pairing. The midfield of Theo, Martin, Mansh and Gilly promised to
give the side a lively and solid feel.

What happened next is largely inexplicable. Everything that happened at
training on Thursday seemed to be left at Southern Reserve. The short, crisp
inter-passing went missing and the lads indulged in some long ball rubbish.
A bit harsh, but true. The start was promising as the lads enjoyed the early
exchanges. Chris especially had a couple of early chances to get on the
score sheet. Nick and Gilly also had some long range efforts but couldn't
find the target. Theo was getting the better of the midfield battle, but as
is the way, unless you finish off your chances you are likely to get
punished.

Midway through the first half, and playing with the wind, Parkmore had a
long range effort parried by Sean. But as the ball was spilled, their centre
forward pounced on the loose ball and slammed home the opener. The home team
was still looking the better side, but were doing the hard work then turning
the ball over too many times. The visitors took advantage again and grabbed
their second after a goal mouth scramble. This seemed to wake our lads up
and finally they managed to pull one back just before half time. Gilly won
the ball out wide on the right and played it back to Theo. Theo then sent in
the cross of the game and Christian rose the highest in the box to head
home.

You'd think that there was enough fire power on the pitch for the Waverley
boys to manage to get something from the game, but Parkmore had other ideas.
Credit to them as they strangled the life out of the game. As the home side
went in search of an equaliser, Parkmore grabbed not one, but two goals in
quick succession. Then they killed the game off finally with a fifth. Only a
consolation goal from Christian gave the home side any cause to celebrate.

Lachlan McManus had a baptism of fire, being brought on at half time for a
tiring Petey. Jack Duffield was also brought on in midfield to see if he
could spark some life into the team but to no avail. Final change was Micky
P up front, but he couldn't find a way through the old, slow but resolute
visiting defence.

All in all a hard day at the office. Still some work to do but the lads will
still be up in second place at worse at the end of the day. Head down at
training this week lads and prepare for next week's battle. Now settle back
and enjoy our highlights from the seniors game.

Hey, guess what - we had a referee AND two linesmen!!! Thank you FFV, much
appreciated. We also had two teams ready to play, so, on we go. Hoppy had a
couple of changes to contend with. Dean and Alistair both dropped out with
injuries, but were ably replaced by Nick A in goal and Sammy at centre back.
(This was the first ever seniors game Dean had missed in 5 seasons.)
Everything else looked fairly familiar and from the first 10 or 15 minutes
so did the football. The lads started well, dominating the early play.
Parkmore were hard and solid with some half decent players, but as a team
didn't look like they would cause too many problems. However, it took a
silky run and ball in from the left from Alex, that allowed Metin an easy
tap in to open the scoring. A good goal and one hopefully to settle any
nerves.

From there on though, the game got a little bit scrappy and consequently
tempers started to fray. The ref had made it quite clear that he wouldn't
stand for any bad language. A little bit of tit-for-tat between Anthony and
their grey-haired "wum", ended with Ant being red-carded for letting loose a
blue tinted verbal spray. Irresponsible and inexcusable. This would make it
difficult, but not impossible. Ozzie was now playing up front on his own,
and within minutes had two clear chances to break his own personal drought.
As it happened though he ended up breaking more than his goal-scoring
drought. He ended up breaking something in his leg. Chasing down a ball in
the box, he tried to twist and carve out a half-chance for himself and ended
up in agony on the ground. Stretchered off to warm applause, Ozzie found
himself at Knox where they gave him the bad news - fracture and six weeks
off, minimum.

A sad end to his day. The first half action did continue nevertheless and
Parkmore in the meantime had managed to get back on level terms. A well
taken strike gave Nick no real chance. The niggle continued as well. A late
challenge on Micky V and a bit of afters saw the Parkmore centre forward
getting his marching orders.

10 v 10 and locked at 1-1, it was everything to play for in the second half.
The home side, whilst never really hitting the heights, did have the better
of the second half. There were plenty of nervy moments at both ends. Nick
kept the lads in the game with a couple of excellent saves at the feet of
the on-rushing attackers. Sammy was also getting under the skin of anything
in red. His wrestling tactics need some work, but it was good to see we've
got able replacements ready to step up when players are injured.

As the game wore on, it looked like we'd have to settle for a point. It took
something special to break the deadlock. Lloydy broke down the left and sent
a super cross into the box. Prashan timed his run to perfection, and to the
cheers of the crowd, smashed his header past the flailing arm of the
visiting keeper. Goal of the season? Maybe not, but may prove to be one of
the most valuable. The lads then settled into the last 10 minutes and kept
Parkmore at bay for the remainder of the game. A nervy time, but the three
points were secured. Nothing to write home about in the performance, but
sometimes wins have to be ground out, especially against combative, solid
teams who don't have too much to play for.

Performers on the day? Prashan, most definitely and not just for his goal.
Sammy for his solid job at the back under the wing of Micky V. Also Nick M
who gave a little bit of something up front in the latter stages of the
game. Could've had a goal too, with a snap shot that only just cleared the
bar.

Final thought for the day - Avish's Crown Jewels. Should be back to normal
size by now mate.

OK, lads. Hard work in the week, then get ready to ride the Endeavour
challenges next week. Need another three points and then set yourselves up
for the tough four weeks that follow. See you all, next week. Same time,
same place.