Good afternoon everyone, and how about this - a match report on the same day
it actually happened. Probably the best thing to do whilst everything is
fresh in the memory. So how did things go? Well, we found ourselves at
Larpent for the fourth home game in a row, which must be some kind of
record. Both teams were looking to get their season back on track after the
losses of the previous week. Hoppy and Simon put the lads through the mill
during the week and were well prepared for this weekend's fixtures. Ok, I'll
stop rabbiting and get on with the all important match details.

Weather ... dull, overcast and not "shorts" weather. Bad wardrobe decision
that one.
Pitch ... Larpent Soccer City
Crowd ... Tall, colourful and the noisiest we've ever had.

Special note (new feature) ... Today we acknowledge Peter Stoiloudis, who
played his 250th game for the club. Pete was given the honour of wearing the
captains armband and leading the reserves onto the pitch. He also got to
serve in the canteen too. Congratulations.

Peter Kelly led his team onto the pitch and they too were confronted by a
team straight out of the land of the giants. The Sandown team were fast,
strong and very competitive. They didn't let the Waverley boys settle all
afternoon and for the most part Glen Waverley were on the back foot. The
pace of the game from the start was very quick and the pressure from Sandown
was intense, with 2 or 3 players converging on the ball carrier every time,
all over the park.

Waverly still tried to get their passing game going and looked to use the
flanks at every opportunity. Alex Martin saw plenty of early ball, as did
Prashan on the right. The midfield did get by-passed to a certain extent but
this was due to the concerted pressure from the visitors. When Sandown were
in possession they used their pace effectively and through balls tested
Petey, Micky, Gary and Dean(y). The linesman flag got a bit of a work out,
since the Sandown boys hadn't quite mastered the art of staying onside,
luckily for the locals.

It was Glen Waverley who opened the scoring though. A free-kick inside the
box (Why? We're still scratching our heads too, don't worry), was touched to
Alex Martin who drove a blistering shot into the right hand corner. Everyone
seemed to enjoy that except me. I was "fannying" around with my camera and
managed to miss the shot, the goal and the all important camera shot too.
Bloody useless. Never mind, we were one up. Then oh bugger, we were 1-2
down. Sandown stepped up a couple of gears and grabbed first an equaliser
then a second to take a lead into the halftime break. The second came as the
result of a beautiful through ball that would have graced any ground. Credit
where it's due.

Half-time came and went in a flurry of shredded lettuce, burgers and onions.
Nobody does them better and at $5 each, bloody good value. Sorry, digressing
again. Second half got underway and apart from a few sporadic chances, the
visitors were gradually pegged back as Glen Waverley took charge. As the
home side pressed so the challenges got more fierce. The referee was
inclined to take the more lenient approach and most went unpunished. We did
get one free-kick near the edge of the box and Anthony came soooooo close to
levelling the scores as his rasping shot smashed off the cross bar.

Finally we did get an equaliser as Ozzy slammed home from close range, only
for the goal to be disallowed, inexplicably, for offside. At this stage it
seemed like it would be only a matter of time before we would get a legit
goal, but it wasn't to be. There just wasn't enough grunt. That's probably
the three or four words that sum up the performance - not enough grunt. They
wanted it more than us.

If the noise from the visitors was raucous all day, it was nothing compared
to the racket that greeted the final whistle. They enjoyed their win and
good luck to them. We've lost two in a row and it's back to the drawing
board for Hoppy and the coaching staff. Maybe we need an away trip to get
the fighting spirit back into the boys. Let's see if we can get back to
winning ways next week and stay in touch with the top of the table.

Whatever planning had been done for the reserves this week surely went out
of the window when they saw the opposition. There wasn't one player less
than six foot tall, and the guy on the left wing would have easily got a job
as a lighthouse. He had to be seven foot and more. Simon's first master
stroke of the day - put Gilly on him! Joking apart, the visitors were from
the Sudanese community and they were a very spirited bunch, providing a
stern test for the Waverley boys. Their supporters were also the most vocal
and they took great delight in laughing loudest at each and every mistake
their mates made on the pitch.

As for the boys in green, their game stuttered and spluttered throughout an
error strewn first half. They defended well though and with a combination of
scrambled clearances and some fine keeping from young Sean in goal, kept the
visitors scoreless. Glen Waverley chances were few and far between, but from
one attack midway through the half they managed to force a corner on the
left. A well-flighted ball from Lloydy was met cleanly by Michael P, and he
headed the ball home to open the scoring. For such a tall side, Sandown
didn't win too much in the air. They seemed  to prefer the twiddly fancy
stuff on the ground, which looked good but never really got them any
rewards. No composure in front of goal either, which probably cost them the
game.

The second half was a vast improvement on the first as the Waverley boys got
into the stride. Sandown did have their chances, so Sean, Sam, Con, and
Lloydy were all kept busy. Sean especially who was giving a man of the match
performance. We also saw the introduction of Jack Duffield, another U18
player, who was making his debut for the reserves. With the time running
out, Nick M got his foot to a loose ball in a goal mouth scramble and eased
the ball in for our second and, ultimately, winning goal.

So it finished 2-0 and good to get another three points under the belt. That
should see the boys consolidate second spot on the ladder. Well done to
Lloydy, Con, Nick and the boys. Good to get a win without playing sparkling
football. Simon said "put your hands on your head". We all asked why, and
didn't. We sat down to watch the seniors instead with hands in our pockets
because it was cold.