Bonjeur, bienvenu, wilkommen and g'day. How's it been since we last
had the pleasure of your company? All good we hope. Anyway, we were back on
the road this week, in the first of four road trips. Old Haileybury college
was the destination as we took on the old collegians in Round 13. Our
previous encounter was back in round 2, where both seniors and reserves came
out on top scoring nine goals without reply. Hopefully we would continue on
our winning run and repeat the scores of the earlier round. Our hosts didn't
make it an easy start to the day, leaving us waiting for 30 minutes at the
original fixtured pitch. Even the ref had turned up there, but the Old
Halley Berry's chose to let us wait before sending a young dude to tell us
where we were meant to be. They were pretty much changed and ready before
we'd even got to our room. So if they were trying to be tools, it back-fired
big time as you'll see from the scores. To find out the details, read on...

Weather ...  Bitter
Pitch ... Not too bad.
Crowd ... Only us lot - about 20 or so made the long trip down Springvale
Road.
Canteen ... snags on bread, and beer. A bloody poor show.

Special note ... As normal, the U16's and U18's were called in as
reinforcements and the lads are generally used off the bench. However it was
good to see Lachlan get his first start in the reserves and also Sam Carl,
who played in the reserves, also make his debut for the seniors. Great to
see, especially since they didn't look out of place, and it very much looks
like these boys are ready to step up to seniors football.

Team line-up for the day was Alistair in goal (returning from injury), a
backline consisting of Dan, Con (an the barbarian), Lachlan and Vassil, a
midfield comprising of Gilly, Goody, Sean(y) and Theo(y), and a forward line
of Christian and Micky P. Waiting to come off the bench and champing at the
bit were Manch, Sam C and Jack D. So on paper a good looking line-up.
Skipper for the day was Sean and he was as proud as anyone, leading the lads
onto the pitch.

With all the "fannying" around before the game, the ref decided to cut each
half short by 5 minutes. In addition to the time lost retrieving lost balls
as well, we probably played about 70 minutes. This didn't seem to worry the
lads at all as they made the most of the time they had and ran out easy 6-1
winners. It did take a while to get the lads firing on all cylinders though.
The home side had managed to open the scoring with probably their only real
chance of the game. A smart curling shot managed to evade Alistair's
outstretched arm and find its way in at the far post.

This seemed to wake our lads up and playing with the wind in the first half,
the lads started to knock the ball about well, especially in the front
third. Micky P had a couple of good chances to open the scoring, but he is
one of those strikers that plays on instinct. Give him too much time to
think about it and he gets all confused. But when he has to just shoot or
head first time, he generally finds the target. Christian too, had a few
chances but just didn't have the radar tuned in properly.

As we've said on numerous occasions, in fact, more than once, if you make
chances you'll be in with a chance. Before long Goody had the scores level,
capitalising on a half clearance. Micky P, finally finding out where the
goal was, grabbed a brace within 5 minutes to put the lads well on top. The
midfield had pretty much got the game sown up as Goody and Theo bossed the
middle of the park.

Vassill and Dan were having solid games at the back but were under little
pressure for most of the game. And if Lachlan had to chose a game to get a
full 90 minutes in, it would have been this one. We do also have to mention
Con at this point because we have never seen this lad ever get so hot under
the collar as he was today. The lad he was marking look liked he hadn't been
last in the dinner queue - ever. So this particular butterball decided to
tell Con he was going to do all sorts of unspeakable things to him. Added to
this there was the usual shirt pulling, hair-tugging and scratching and this
finally caused our normally mild mannered Con to crack. In stepped the
referee to sort things out. Con's parting shot was to tell the butterball
the barbeque was finished and this really wound fat bloke up even more. Cue
more niggle. Just a normal day in the life of a metro league player.

Back to the game. 3-1 at half time became 6-1 at full time. Theo, apparently
scored again. A great goal by all accounts, or so he says. Sorry Theo,
missed it again. Micky P grabbed his third of the game to finish off a well
deserved hat-trick. Sandwiched in between was the obligatory goal from
Christian. A young lad with bags of talent, who ambles around not giving a
sh*t, then pops up and scores for fun. Imagine what he could do, if he was
to really turn it on. Maybe that's coming. Playing their part, Sammy and
Jack Duffield both had plenty to contribute when they got their chance.
Great to see the youngsters taking the next step in their footballing
education and even better to see is the continuous improvement. A credit to
them and hopefully the system into which they've entered.

Another day, another three points and the ressies march on. Simon has to
take enormous credit for the quality of football played and the players are
repaying his efforts with the results. Well done lads. Now we tried
desperately to warm up, and looked in vain for anything resembling
hospitality. None of either was found, but we hoped the seniors would give
us something to take our minds off the mind-numbing cold and the hunger
pangs.

Micky V's late withdrawal through illness threw Hoppy's plans into disarray.
However the squads depth was tested and ultimately came out on top. Anthony
was still one week away from returning from suspension and his partner in
crime, Oz, saw his season end a couple of weeks ago when he broke his foot
playing Parkmore. The much amended team then ended up looking like this -
Nick in goal. Petey, Dean, Sammy and Gaz across the back. A midfield of Kon,
Marty, Avish and Alex, with Nick Mav and Prashan looking lively up front.

The only senior regular on the bench was Metin, but he was joined by
reserves stalwarts Dan B and Sean W. Sam Carl was also rewarded with an
excellent performance in the reserves, by given a spot on the bench for the
"ones".

The game ended up as one of those hard/easy games. A conundrum of course,
but what we mean is, we made it difficult for ourselves, without the result
ever being in doubt. The difficult part was hard to understand considering
the home team was made up of 6 regulars, those left standing from their
reserves squad and one guy who rocked up 10 minutes before kick-off asking
where the changing rooms were. A ramshackle bunch if ever there was one.

The difficult part started to get harder and harder as the moments dragged
on through the first half. The Old School boys proved a hard nut to crack as
chance after chance went begging. A combination of good luck and some fine
keeping kept the score at 0-0. It took until the 42nd minute before their
luck finally ran out. Avish crashed a shot into the cross bar, which Nick
Mav caught on the rebound to open the scoring for the Waverley. A relief,
but reasonable reward for the domination.

Old Halley Comets were never in the match, but at 0-1 down any side, given a
chance and a sniff, can manage to scrape out a result. What our lads did
though was to ensure they didn't get that chance. 15 minutes into the second
half the boys in green doubled their lead, with Nick getting his second of
the game. A well taken effort and enjoyed by all his former team mates in
the Old Happy Berries team.

Alex Martin finished of the scoring for the day, crashing home a shot at the
near post after a trademark run down the left. So much for the schoolboys,
they had no answers to any of the questions posed by the Waverley masters.

Sorry if the report is a little short on detail, but it was a largely
forgettable affair. Peter Kelly was immense in the backline, especially
after being out for so long with glandular fever. Dean was also solid, being
drafted straight back into the side after injury. We all enjoyed watching
Alex Martin's wing play and Avish - well what can you say? Twice hitting the
cross bar with rasping shots, the poor lad couldn't buy a goal. He had a
ripper though and is thoroughly enjoying his football. Biggest cheer of the
day came when young Sammy Carl made his seniors debut. He was brought on in
the 80th minute to get his first taste of seniors action and hope he enjoyed
the experience.

The wash up? Three points again along with a clean sheet (well done again
Nick A). Not always easy playing teams near the bottom, but the result is
the important thing, not the performance. Now the challenge is there in the
next four weeks as we play three of the top four sides. But first up is
Ringwood. We have no idea where we're playing yet, but we'll find out soon.
See you, wherever we are.