Well that week went by at the speed of light didn’t it? All good
though, because it brought Saturday round a lot quicker. This week we
started on the second round of fixtures, and we had the dubious pleasure of
hosting Endeavour Hills. Our memories of that feisty first round encounter
were still fresh in everyone's mind and a few of the lads still carried some
of the battle scars. Some wags had even suggested alternative protection
from the ferocious tackles ranging from doubling up on shin-pads (front and
back of leg) to a full set of ice-hockey goal-keepers gear. As you will
already have spotted, things seemed to pan out ok, and everyone ended the
games intact with a full set of body parts - except Nick. Check out the
photo's on Facebook and the Forum, and entertain yourselves with the new
stunning headgear as modelled by our new goalkeeping sensation. As for the
rest of the highlights from the day, read on at your leisure.

Weather ... A good day for football, blue sky and cool breeze.
Pitch ... the wide open spaces of a gloriously green Larpent
Crowd ... guys and gals, all shapes and sizes.
Canteen ... Staff were a bit whingey this week, but the food was good.

Special note ... None worthy of the adjective "special".

The coaching staff indulged in a lot of head-scratching this week,
as numbers were dwindling faster than Sydney FC's memberships. At the last
count we had eleven players unavailable through injury, sickness or
suspension. So there would have to be some changes in both squads to cover
the losses. As usual though, the club can always rely on the young and
enthusiastic juniors from the U16's and U18's. This week two new players got
the opportunity to debut for the reserves - Terry Mitsioulis and Calvin Lee
- both U16's. We also had Christian, Sean B, Vassill and Daniel T from the
U18's featuring again. Dan Beebee was back after injury and was hoping for
an easy run. The rest of the line up was familiar with Michael P, Manch,
Gilly, Theo, Sean W, Con and skipper Muzz pulling on the famous green shirt.
       We had a referee, which at least meant our visitors would be on
their best behaviour. The game started with the Waverley boys taking charge
almost immediately. Chances to Christian and Michael were squandered, but no
damage done as the lads were camped for the first 15 minutes in the
Endeavour half. What came next took everyone by surprise as the visitors
took an undeserving lead. It wasn’t a bad goal. A well taken shot from
outside the box left Sean helpless, but the loose ball should have been well
cleared earlier.
       Never mind though, the lads knew they were the better side and if
they continued playing football, the aging Endeavour players would soon
tire. The equaliser came a few moments later. A ball found it's way across
the face of the 6 yard box to an unmarked Gilly, who rammed home the first
of the afternoon. Micky P grabbed the second, collecting the ball out wide
on the right, he turned inside his man and curled a deft shot into the far
corner. Some question as to whether he was offside to begin with, but the
linesman flag stayed down. The visiting coach voiced his displeasure. Shame.
As for the rest of the half, chances came at regular intervals and Christian
had another opportunity to get on the score sheet, but his effort cannoned
back off the bar.
       Half-time came and went, midway through the game, which caught
no-one by surprise. The second half started in much the same way as the
first half ended with the home team on top. Again though they dropped their
guard and Endeavour got back on level terms. Theo then got into the action
and apparently scored to get the boys back in front again. Sorry, don’t know
the details, but any goal is a good goal. To hammer home the advantage,
Gilly scored his second of the game. He only had about three touches all
game and scored twice. How's that for an easy day.
       With the game drifting away, it was at this point that Simon decided
to liven up proceedings. He's been teaching his 3 year old, how to be a
hooligan and it looked as if the training was paying off as the young 'un
decided to invade the pitch. Simon thought that part of the training could
wait for another day and grabbed the youngster before he could create too
much mayhem. So doing a good impression of a doting dad, Simon had his kid
safely in his arms until the mrs could come to the rescue. Not soon enough
though, as our referee decided that having your kid in the technical area
was such a heinous offense, that he gave Simon his marching orders. Sent off
for keeping your kid out of harm's way only for the ref to say that it was
too dangerous to be in the box. Seen it all now, especially when their brute
of a full back almost broke Calvin's ankle and only got a yellow. You've got
to wonder.
       Endeavour, by this time, were running on empty and it was time for
the young guns to show us what they could do. They didn’t let anyone down
and showed us all what a great future lies ahead for our club. At 4-2 the
game was all but over, except Terry M made everyone sit up with the goal of
the game. A wonderful volley from outside the box was smashed past the
flailing keeper. Calvin finished off the scoring for the day from short
range, being in the box to tuck away a good ball in from the right.
       An entertaining day, and apart from one average tackle, the visitors
appeared to have toned down the unsavoury side of their character. Our lads
though were in top form, especially the youngsters. Great to see. No mention
in the report above but Sean W had a good game and was rewarded with a spot
on the bench for the seniors, as was Micky P. The young lads filled in well
and we look forward to seeing them play in the coming weeks. Before that
though, we settled back to see if the senior boys could make it 2 wins on
the day.

  As mentioned earlier, the senior players were in short supply,
especially up front. Ozzie broke a couple of bones in his foot last week, in
what looks like a season-ending injury, and Anthony was suspended for doing
Chubby Brown impressions last week. So a 19 goal strike force missing would
leave a huge hole. This gave Nick Mav a chance to shine and Prashan to take
up his favourite spot up front. These were not the only changes though as
Peter K was restored to the seniors after his bout of glandular fever, and
Marty was given his first start in the midfield. The rest of the team was
made up of the usual suspects, including Nick in goal, still deputising for
the injured Al.
       The lads preceded the game with their now familiar counting
practise, followed by a reminder of who they are, all done in a cosy manly
way. Then it was on with the game itself. Moving the ball around well from
the start, Metin and Marty, our new M and M's, had the midfield under
control. Marty especially was winning everything in the air, and Metin was
Mr Everywhere. Prashan up front was having a good day, and was running rings
around his opposite number. Poor fella must be having nightmares as Prashan
had him on toast all afternoon.
       The first half dominance meant chances fell at regular intervals.
Alex M had a few shots, but his radar must have come straight from Tiger
Airways, since it was well off target. Nick also wasted a few, so it was
left to Marty to open the scoring in the 27th minute. The ball came out to
him from a clearance, and he hit the sweetest toe-poke ever. The goal-keeper
couldn't believe how slow the shot was travelling that he stood and watched
it trickle into the bottom left hand corner. Debut goal in his first start,
so welcome to the club Marty. We'd hoped the flood gates would now open, but
it took until the 44th minute before the lads doubled their lead. The keeper
fumbled a ball which looked for all money like it was going out for a goal
kick. As usual Metin chased down the lost cause and picked up the loose
ball, then turned and beat the keeper at the near post, all in slow motion.
       Once again, midway through the game, we were treated to a half time
break. The ref did manage to find an extra 8 minutes of injury time though,
or maybe all our iphone clocks were fast. Who knows, and quite frankly, who
cares. We were 2-0 up and things were going swimmingly.
       Second half details now follow, although Michael Vavaras features
highly. 10 minutes in, and we had the first of two penalties. Up stepped
Micky to smash home from the spot. 5 minutes later and it was déjà vu.
Handball in the box, penalty award, up comes Micky and same result. It came
as a huge surprise to everyone when Endeavour were themselves awarded a
penalty, in one of their rare excursions into the Waverley half. A clumsy
challenge in the box gave the referee little option. The spot kick had to
wait though as Nick had been clattered in the challenge and had a nice
little gash on his ear. Bloodied and battered, he was patched up and bravely
faced the kick. Guessing the right way, he almost got a hand on it, but
couldn't keep it out.
       At 4-1 though the game was never really in doubt, and just to rub it
in Metin scored the goal of the game. He was put clean through and from 20
metres chipped the advancing keeper beautifully. It was another goal which
seemed to happen in slow motion, but was still enjoyed by all. Prashan
capped off his man-of-the-match performance with a goal late on, to wrap up
the scoring. The game ending up at 6-1 and not a bad score line considering
our main strike force were missing. A good solid team performance.      The
lads did take their foot off the pedal once the game was won, but never
looked in any danger. It was great to see Micky V charging up the pitch
looking for a hat-trick and also to see Petey back in the side. All good,
another three points in the bag and a nice little addition to the goal
difference tally. An improvement on the first round score too, so now we've
got to do this against all the other sides.

All right guys, time for me to get some rest and look forward to the new
kitchen getting installed this week. See you next week, where we venture
down the road to see Old Halley Berry. Ta ta.