Write-up by Stu
Elite 2 v Miramar 2

 


Well it was back to the grave yard of a few weeks as ago that most have removed from their memories. The weather was particularly average, rain, but not a lot of wind, which was a bit of a bonus. The conditions were to deteriorate throughout the day and shift to the South, so playing at 12.30 gave a us the best chance to avoid the worst of the forecast.

As I arrived to the ground, I was rather surprised to see that the pitch looked good from a far, but up close, it was far from good. Kind of like when you’re really boozed and you see a hot chick from across the bar, but when you get up close to buy her a drink, you instantly make a bee line for the exit or pretend you left your wallet at the table and U-turn the hell out of there.

Was Gansey hungover?

All jokes aside, it was 11.30 and only 4 Elite players were on time. The fine book was in for a good going over today! Scotty had washed the keep last week, so we knew it was going to be dry and smelling like roses. Hmmmm. The last thing you want to do on a wet day is pull on a wet kit, I guess it prepared our body temperatures for the conditions outside. Ear punch.

Oh, Greg went for a run the night before the game to test his injury and injured himself. Thanks to Sarj for helping us out this week! Champion.

As we kitted up, I could sense that the lads were looking to put the loss from a few weeks ago behind them and really dig-in against a pretty good Miramar side.

As we warmed up, we got to see exactly what we were doing to be dealing with pitch wise. It was shocking and it was going to be pretty difficult to do anything in the middle of the park. That being said, in our team talk we spoke about getting the ball out of the middle and to the flanks, were the pitch was in a slightly better condition.

The ginger assassin was given the referees whistle for the first half and he got us underway early, to avoid hanging out in the rain for another 5-10 mins or so. Good call!

The first 10 minutes was pretty even, with both teams trying to get forward, using the flanks to base their attacks. Both Tom and Bryn worked really, really hard to beat their opposite and either get the ball in to the box or feed our goal hungry Strikers CJ and Horton.

Adam and I were working hard to try and maintain a strong defence through the mid-field, well Adam was trying hard, I was just concentrating on breathing as it had been 4 weeks since I last doned the Orange! Feeling the pinch!

We were getting a bit over run through the mid-field and in our efforts to get back and help the defense, we left a pretty big gap between us and our strikers, who became a bit isolated as we tried to push forward and nick a goal.

We created a number of early chances, but it was always going to be tough to score at the Southern end of the park that was a complete mud bath. But after about 20-25 minutes the Elite got the break through, and went ahead 1 nil. I have a tendency to miss goals, who scored them and how. So from what I was told by our trusty Captain Adam, was that he scored and that it was James Rodriguez like, you know, left foot volley to the top corner, kinda like this PDF I keep seeing every now and again. . .

Well done Adam! Elite 1 Miramar 0

Subs rolled on

The battle continued and it wasn’t too long before Miramar were back in it. A ball was played from mid field through the middle of our defence and their rangy lad up front, unbeknown to the referee, literally fended off Todd or Steve (I missed this one also, but have been told it was very Manu Vatuvei-esk) and broke away and slotted it into the corner of the goal.

It was much of the same for the remainder of the half. The Elite were holding strong at the back, with Stevo and Todd both cleaning up in the middle, attacking aerial threats and keeping Miramar at bay. A special mention to the full backs, who have worked tirelessly in the first stanza, Sarjy and Gansey. Good effort lads!

Half time Elite 1 v Miramar 1

Change in ref and some subs, Tom gets the whistle and Hernan (Crespo, Chrispy, PDF, Ginger ninja, Springer Advocate, Salmon etc…) on. A change to mid field and we were back on. The weather at this point had not worsened too much, but we still had to deal with the rain and the ever rising puddles all over the ground.

We were attacking the better end of the ground this half and this was a boost for the team as we knew, given the chance we could get another goal. We pushed forward down the flanks with Bryn and Neil trying to get the ball up to our forwards CJ and Crespo but the conditions were proving difficult until. . . and this was probably the highlight for me, well at least one I actually remember.

The ball broke roughly around the center circle and fell the feet of the one called Jessidinho, Who

“After stealing the ball from Alejandro Bedoya on the left he drove forward, chopped inside a challenge from Jermaine Jones, pulled off a Cruyff turn to get away from Fabian Johnson, and then stroked the ball from one foot to the other as Jones came in for a second helping. Somehow, Jessidinho emerged with the ball on the other side, where he teed it off to Joao Moutinho (Bryn).

Other than that dribble his first half was punctuated by overhit passes and hugely ambitious attempts on goal that flew way off target. On more than one occasion it was the pitch that let him down - if his dramatic gestures were anything to go by.”

After that inspiring run from Niall, we pressed the Miramar defence and eventually won a corner. The Elite organized for the set piece. The corner was whipped in and slightly cleared outside of the 18 yard box, a loud cry from the Silver fox was heard and the ball was chipped back into the mixer were CJ had been able to keep himself onside, bring the ball down and slot it into the back of the net!! Great finish CJ and true strikers goal, great movement, composure and clinical!

I remembered this one. Ha

Elite 2 v Miramar 1

This obviously kicked the Miramar lads into gear, they were not happy that the goal was given, claiming CJ was offside and calling us cheats?? WTF anyway

We got on with it, they pushed hard to get the equalizer, but our defence was holding strong across the park lead by Stevo who, with Todd were working really hard to hold on to the lead. I can’t recall (geez I sound like John Key) the build-up of events and in which order, but the mud in front of our goal along with Dave, made some amazing saves to keep us head, and level at 2 all. There was a goal in there somewhere, but I … missed it.

We tried and tried in the last 10 or so minutes to get the go ahead goal, a lot of effort upfront and out wide from Horton, Hernan and Doug, but the conditions were proving too difficult and we ran out of time.

A good result considering our last hit out at Martin Lucky. Well done Lads

Elite 2 v Miramar 2

MVP

3 – Adam R

3 – Stevo

2 – Bryn

2 – CJ

1 – Dave and the mud

 

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.