Elite VS VUW Beaver, Martin Luckie Park, 4 July

Elite vs Victoria University Beavers

Write-up by Doug.



I think I speak for all when I say that the least said about this match, the better. 

Nevertheless, I will endeavour to put together some semblance of a report from the haze I wished never to relive.  Saturday footy started as it usually does, with a nicely overcast Wellington day, Horton getting shit in the changing room, and a Martin Luckie pitch as sodden as the bread in a tomato sandwich made the night before. Despite being quite a few 
lads down, morale was reasonably high as we walked out to see the Salmon finishing off their weekly demolition job. We all knew this game would be a challenge, facing off against the league leaders, but having drawn earlier in the season, we thought we had a good shot. Big ups to Ganesy for sacrificing his clean shoes and taking on the refs whistle in our absence of extra men.

Kickoff saw some reasonably even play for the first few minutes, with both teams making use of the flanks, but unfortunately a run through the middle and a speculative lobbed effort from outside box caught the defence off guard and Dave’s outstretched fingers weren’t quite enough to save the day. I’d like to say that from here we rallied as a unit, quickly equalised and changed the pace of the game early on, but that would be what is known as a lie in most circles. 

For much of the first half thereafter, there was breakdown throughout the midfield (especially on defence) and a rampant counter attacking Beavers side ran the show, putting another 3 or 4 (I honestly can’t recall the half time score) on by 45. There were still a few good passages by Elite in the first, with Crespo and Horton both getting onto the odd long ball coming their way and trying to create some mischief with limited support. 

Half time eventually came and it was a pretty quiet and dejected team walking off the pitch. A good pep talk from Steveo and CJ got things rolling again and with Tom and fill-in James providing some much needed fresh legs, we got back out to 
try and resurrect something from this sorry situation. It started well, with some good passing along the ground and opening up space for runs down the side, leading to a frightening strike from Adam landing only a mere few metres high 
and wide. Probably still the most threatening effort of the game though. It seemed to be getting a bit better when a few small mistakes were made and the Beavers slipped through once again, opening the gates to a further 3 or 4 (again, who really knows) throughout the half. At this point CJ swapped back into defence, allowing Greg to come forward in hopes of stabilising the midfield. But heads were down and we were unable to create much in the way of attacking football in the remainder. Only other real highlight was a dramatic display of cramp by Scotty with 15 to go. 

All in all, I’d say this was one to forget. I’d also argue that many of us probably did forget it later on, having some alcohol-induced amnesia following the fabulous Highlanders victory. So it wasn’t all bad eh?

Final score 8 (but we’re pretty sure it was 9) – 0 to VUW 

MVP Points

3 – Ganesy, calling all of those goals can’t have been easy, big thanks for stepping up in an injured state, and cheers for not blowing the whistle every 5 seconds like a certain other ‘referee’.

2 – Dave, it may have been far from a clean sheet, but he continued to commit to the save and still made a few good ones to keep the scoreline from ballooning further.

3 – Scott, get well soon mate.