Coogee United 1 - 2 Maroubra United

On a cold blustery Winters morning, the team kitted out for battle at Heffron 5.

From inspection of the surface it was apparent that Coogee had given the groundsmen a week or two off. There was a cross wind and Rod tested it out with ball holding up in the breeze.

Tom commented that the pitch was fairly short and set off in a jog stepping it out – this was by far the most vigorous  warmup any of us has seen from Tom to date!

Soft Rod continued to moan about the cold and Uncle Wayne had his green thermals on for added insulation (some Government scheme for the elderly I think!).

Finally the game got underway with Coogee kicking off. The initial skirmishes were fairly even with Keith and Nap doing well in midfield and Geoff and Rod cleaning up any attacks with ease.

After approx 20 minutes, The Coogee left midfielder found some space wide on the left between Russel and Frank and lofted a cross to no one in particular, no danger here…. However the high cross was held up in the wind and slowly started to drop beyond Scott and crept inside the far post. 1–0 to Coogee.

Well this brought the Green Machine to life and slowly started to turn the screw. A number of solid attacks were mounted, the best of which was a beautiful curled shot by Keith from outside the box which just went the wrong side of the post (yeah – cross wind again!)

It wasn’t long after when another period of sustained pressure bore fruit from a Russel throw in behind the defence, Tom got on the end of it in the corner beating one with a cheeky inward chip.
He's 3rd touch to beat the last defender was too long for him,
thankfully Keith was steaming in for the tap in from 1 metre out.
1-1 and Game On!

The half time whistle brought a welcomed break, no major changes required, just more of the same.

Maroubra kicked off for the second half and Tom’s strenuous warm up wasn’t in vein as he decided to test the daydreaming Coogee keeper, telling Nelson to tip it a couple of metres in front and then leg it for goal. The shot was on target, dipping furiously and all the the keeper could do was block it in front for the onrushing Nelson to smash home, 2-1 and Coogee heads visibly dropped

Everything was going through the Coogee number 11 and he did manage the odd shot from distance under pressure but nothing on target. Maroubra were guilty of over committing at times and conceded a number of corners. One of these resulted in a clearance falling to a Coogee player on the edge of the box who smashed it towards the corner of the goal beyond Scotts reach, however, Frankie has maintained his position at the near post, soaring a good couple of inches off the ground to head clear and maintain the slim advantage. Unfortunately Keith had to go off injured but hopefully its not too serious.

Coogee did manage some periods of possession but didn’t create much. It didn’t help that their striker had gone home in a huff (at least he left the ball behind!)

Big thanks also to Keith for bringing the shirts and beers today and as per normal has the difficult task of selecting the 3,2,1 Players Player of the Year votes. When you have done so, please email our Team Auditor Wayne only to keep record.

Well done all and enjoy another well earned 3 points

Team Sheet:

Scott, Jason, Dennis, Russell, Geoff, Rod, Keith, Napoleon, Frank, Tom, Nelson, Subs: Con, Brett,Wayne

Look forward to reading and hearing your thoughts and comments.