Round 3 - Vs BNU Phoenix, Hataitai Velodrome, 18 April

Write-up by Todd


Elite 1 - BNU 5


After being transferred the Elite arrived at Hataiai Velodrome and were greeted by a ¾ size pitch of paddock grass. After putting up the nets (a task made slightly harder by the absence of Ganesy) the Elite got kitted out and prepared for a new warm-up drill that involved cones, bibs and a degree of organisation never seen before. However, even the new warm-up couldn't prepare us for what unfolded in the next 90 minutes.

Brooklyn kicked off the first half and immediately went on attack, as they game was quickly dominated by long balls, throw-ins and set pieces. One team thrived in these conditions and very quickly Brooklyn were up 2-0 and continued this form till halftime. All the Elite could muster in response was a lone penalty, drilled into the roof of the net by Webby, in reply to Brooklyn’s four goals all coming from set pieces.

After changing to a 4-4-2 formation midway through the first half, the Elite continued with this formation during the second half and managed to shut down most of Brooklyn’s attacks. In a second half that was much improved on the first 45, we actually managed to pass the ball round a little bit and create some scoring chances but unfortunately we could not put the ball in Brooklyn’s net. However, late in the second half we did manage to score the only open play goal of the game, with an un-named player scoring a well-place own goal into the bottom corner, leaving Dave no chance of a save, thus capping off a pretty miserable result and performance from the Elite.

On a more positive note after changing formation we managed to settle down a bit and play some decent football in the second half, in difficult conditions and it was good to see some current and former elite players on the side-line enduring the match, particularly Horton, who postponed his flight to Fiji to play for the Elite, as only a lucky few get the honour of playing Cap 7 football.

 

MVP Points

Due to the poor team performance on Saturday, I have decided to give everyone ZERO points, so someone else can use this week’s points on a more impressive performance, which is hopefully this week against Miramar.

Finally, the write up is bit short/shit this week as I think most of us would rather forget about this match, so here is a video of some great penalty shots, which we should all study in case another solar eclipse or lunar phenomenon occurs and CJ passes up another penalty.