We're back and apologies for the delay. A couple of weeks late and probably
so full of inconsistencies that big Tony will give me earache on all the
things I've got wrong or forgotten. As usual, whatever I can't remember,
I'll make up and it's up to you to determine fact from fiction. Have fun and
see if you can spot the deliberate errors.

Weather ... Nice day with smattering of clouds, dusting a powder blue sky.
Pitch ... a well-grassed Larpent reserve.
Crowd ... not a huge crowd, but vocal nonetheless.

The reserves boys were looking to keep their unbeaten run going and faced a
solid but aging Ringwood City. The orange men took the early exchanges as is
normal and shocked the Waverley boys by taking an early lead. Some fella
called Bob Stephens slotted home in the 8th minute. This woke the local boys
from their slumber and once they switched on, their slick passing game got
things going. From then on, they were pretty much in control for the rest of
the game.

A few chances went begging but in the 24th minute Lloydy got the sides level
with a rasping shot. Continued pressure put Ringwood on the back foot, and
Sean in goal was largely untroubled. Eventually Ringwood went behind this
time to a penalty calmly taken by Michael Torres. At last Michael got his
season underway, as like the real Torres he was struggling to find the back
of the net. But now he has, hopefully he'll be banging them in week after
week.

Solid performances from the usual suspects - Sammy leading from the front,
Muzz buzzin' in midfield and Tony solid. Congratulations go to Alex Vaudeau
and Lachlan McManus who both got their first starts for the Reserves team.
Lachie especially being promoted from the U16's, so well done to him and
Alex.

In summary, the score doesn't reflect the home side dominance, since they
had so many chances the score could have been in double figures, even young
Alex could have grabbed a super debut goal. Anyway, three points in the bank
and unbeaten record intact. Good start boys.

So onto the senior boys, and their tough encounter with the orange clad
Ringwood City. The orange strip gives us all a glimpse of their history and
links with the Dutch. This is where the similarity ended, since their
football was more robust and basic than the Dutch produce. In fact it was
Hoppy's boys that played the fluid passing game and from the start looked
like the only team in it.

It took only 2 minutes for that goal-scoring machine, Ozzie to get the score
board ticking over. Details are sketchy but the only detail that's really
important is the ball ended up in the back of the net. A few chances later
and Ozzie had a second. Again is doesn't matter how it happened and I'm sure
we can find out if it's so important, but the home side had gone into a 2-0
lead. There was numerous other chances to extend the lead further - Metin,
Anthony and Prashan all guilty of making goal-scoring look like it's harder
than getting a date with Pippa Middleton.

So the score stayed at 2-0 at half-time, but some of the other missed
chances would come back to haunt them. The visitors had started the usual
arguing and some of the challenges were a bit tasty, but nothing the Glen
Waverley hadn't seen before. However it did distract the home boys and from
a quick throw in down the left, the visitors took advantage and experience
saw them get back into the game with a well taken goal. 2 minutes later and
it was 2-2. This was a shock to the system, but the lads managed to gather
themselves and for the last 30 minutes of the game laid siege to the
Ringwood goal. A combination of good luck, poor finishing and good
goalkeeping kept the score at 2-2.

The lads were a little down-hearted at the end after letting a 2 goal lead
slip and it felt like they had lost. However the boys are still unbeaten and
take solice in the fact they are still at the pointy end of the table. Still
all to play for. Was Hoppy happy? We're not sure, but 3 games and seven
points is what the plan said, so he must have been satisfied if not
overjoyed at losing 2 points.

So that's it for Easter, see you 2 weeks as we head off down to .... ah,
Larpent again.