Maroubra United 3 - 3 Maccabi

Hyper Hyper Hyper!!!

 After last weeks excellent performance against the table toppers, we were confident of getting a good result against bottom of the table Maccabi.
A scare ran through the squad prior to kick off when Napoleon who was on drinks duties rocked up without any beers!
This unsettled the squad from the off and things only worsened as their thirst grew
The defence adopted the Sieve formation allowing almost every Maccabi attack to result in an effort on goal
As always, Karls heroics between the sticks allowed us to make it to the break only 2 down.
We did have a legitimate penalty only given as a freekick as the Ref was too far removed from the play to see that
the tackle was inside the box.
For some reason, we were playing like it was the first game of preseason and unable to string any sort of move
together. We held out for 20 minutes of the second half but again seemed to kick away any moves we did put
together. It wasn't long until another basic Maccabi move resulted in their 3rd goal as our defence again got itself in
a muddle.
This did however fire up the team with both Nap and Jason finding their voices and urging the troops on
After 75 minutes, Nap reassurred everyone he would come off early and go get some beers (at least I think thats
what he said to Tom). Bouyed by this news, the team refound their enthusiam.
Maccabi now thought the game was won and relaxed. Justins presence upfront with Tom was causing problems
with his link play allowing the midfielders to play off him. Tom then received posession from Justin's flick on
(honourable mention to Den) outside the box but instead of going for goal of the season, he drove into the box to
the left, drew the keeper and deftly finished with the outside of the right boot. Belief flooded back to the side and
within minutes Steve put Tom though in the right channel who pulled out a quality finish into the far corner.
At 3-2, the Maccabi Wobbles took over with the defenders booting any ball that came in their direction to the next
suburb trying to waste as much time as possible.
By now Jason had deserted any defensive duty and was bombing down the left touchline causing mayhem and it
wasn't long until a desperate defender stuck out an arm blocking Justins cutback and the Ref pointed to the spot
or at least in its general direction (it took Tom and him a good couple of minutes to agree on its location). Then a
short run up and Smash, it was 3-all with time still on the clock!
The tinkermen on the sideline couldn't resist one more change sending on Selim to allow Nap to get the beers!
The fairytale comeback was almost completed when Selim raced through to be 1 on1 with the keeper and the 
whole ground collectively held their breaths as the moved was played out in slow motion. Selim did everything right
making a good contact and getting a solid shot on target, however kudos to the keeper who had raced off his line,
narrowing the angle sufficiently to smother the shot.
What a finish to a game that seemed all over halfway through the second half
So still all to play for with all division 2 sides evenly matched, Game On!

Congratulations needed for:
1) Part Time Assistant gaffer Rod who wasn't afraid to make the big decisions, intelligently using the bench
2) Tom, taking off the new boots and putting on the tried and trusted "goal scorers"  and for then ignoring every call to pass 3 yards and go on several overdue mazy runs finally yielding the reward.
3) Toms explanation of the 'webcam' sized beers

Team:
Karl,  Kevin, Dennis, Francis, Justin, Steve,  George, Terry, Nap, John, Tom,
Interchange:
Leo, Frank, Yoshi, Nelson, Jimmy, Jason, Selim
Out: , Pete, Rod, Keith

Pagewood 2s 1 - 0 Maroubra

Maroubra fail to make superiority pay

A 9am kickoff wasn't about to put off this dedicated bunch with close to the full squad in attendance by 8:40am.
From the off we were in control with Steve, Yoshi and Keith completely dominating the midfield, expertly flanked by Terry and John. We forced multiple corners in the first few minutes but failed to put any away. It only seemed a matter of time before something hit the back of the net with Tom getting the better of his markers. Pagewood were only making the odd foray into the Green half, most of which were easily neutralised by the Maroubra defence and anything that did get through was easily dealt with by Karl.
For all the possession, we created few clear cut chances and snatched at any that came our way so somehow we went to the break at nil all.
There wasn't much to be said apart from keep our shape and keep things going.
Pagewood introduced some of their 45s to give their weary players a break and they came more into the game.
The game was still evenly poised with 20 minutes of the second half gone when their striker was put through but was still a long way out, Rob raced back and attempted to intercept with a diving tackle which clipped the player, taking him down. As he was the last man and it was a goal scoring opportunity, the Ref followed the letter of the law and gave the red card with both sides surprised as all expected the yellow.
Maroubra regrouped, refreshened the ranks and boldly continued to hold out, even creating chances and winning corners.
With about 10 minutes left, Pagewood put together a good passing move, working the ball forward quickly to their striker on the edge of the box who took a touch and slotted in the corner, out of Karl's reach.
But it wasn't over yet, with 2 minutes to go, The Green Machine won another corner and the now weary bodies piled forward in search of redemption. The ball was expertly delivered into the six yard box and with Pagewood failing to clear, the ball broke towards the Maroubra no. 9 who managed to get a shot away but it somehow went the wrong side of the post.
The gallant greens continued to give everything but unfortunately the clock soon ran out.

Team:
Karl, Frank, Pete, Rod, Francis, Steve, Terry, Yoshi, John, Keith, Tom,

Interchange:
Leo, Dennis,Jason, George, Kevin,Nap

Out: Nelson, Jimmy, Justin, Selim

Maroubra United 1 - 5 Mascot Clowns

Scoreline misleads (a bit)

Lunch time on Mothers Day was not exactly the ideal time for an over 35s game - (thanks ESFA) but we still had 13 souls on board by kickoff with Leo arriving soon after.

From the off we seemed to be under pressure with their midfielders running at us at pace. Their first was top drawer with their right midfielder cutting in all the way from the right side line and then shooting left foot to the bottom corner, perfectly placed between the post and Karls out-stretched fingers.
We soon got our game together and after some excellent work through the middle by Keith & co was expertly finished off by Yoshi with a solid strike to the corner - 1-1.
Then their Centreback almost scored the OG of the season, deftly chipping his keeper but the ball bounced and just cleared the Mascot bar
For a few brief moments the thoughts of actually getting a result against these guys crossed our minds

Their second came from a wickedly deflected shot after a corner wasn't cleared, another from a penalty as a shot cannoned off Kevins arm when on the goal line
After that it all becomes a bit of a blur for me with the body shutting down all non-vital functions in a bid to survive but I'm told it was 1-5 at half time. Does anyone know what happened??

We had our weekly halftime talk about concentrating on our game, trying to play football, etc, etc and we boldly changed to a 4-4-2 with Yoshi moving more forward alongside Keith
Within a minute of the game resuming, our plan was bearing fruit with Mascot having not one but 2 efforts on goal.
We boldly soldiered on and finally started to play like we think we do in our heads.
Leo replaced John with Yoshi dropping deeper and Leo moving upfront
From there on, we played some really good football with a good chance falling to Keith and unmarked easy headers for both Leo and John, which neither managed to get on target - 10 pushups please boys, on second thoughts, make it 50!

After a late tacke by Selim, which he quickly apologised for, the Mascot player became aggressive and Francis quickly stepped in to defend his team-mate. With things escalating, we immediately subbed Francis, informing the Ref. The Mascot player continued to carry on and was duly booked for his foul mouthed tarade.
The odds on Francis being our first red card of the season have now shortened dramatically with some bookies suspending betting but there are still good odds to be had on a number of others

So the second half finished 0-0 which was pleasing with the Defense finally playing as a cohesive unit and great to watch, Mascot were continually caught offside and their frustration grew
Well that's the last division 1 side out of the way, onwards and upwards for the rest of the season!

Team:
Karl, Frank, Kevin,  Rod, Justin, Francis, Terry, Selim, Yoshi, John, Keith

Interchange: Leo, Pete, Dennis

Out: Tom, Nelson, George, Jimmy, Steve, Nap, Jason

Pagewood 1s 4 - 0 Maroubra United

Competition favourites show their class 

With Greek Easter upon us, there was concern that we might be low on numbers but never fear, we had a solid turnout of 16 with only Leo and George preferring the land of Nod.

Pagewood won the toss and elected to play with the breeze for the first half.
They started strongly, retaining possession and spreading the play with the boys working overtime shutting down moves
We kept them at bay for first 15 minutes and confidence was rising even though our bodies were telling us otherwise.
Karl was in fine form, making light work of anything they could throw at him and turning shots behind for corners.
From a corner, the taker move the ball approx 2 yards out from the line with no objection from the Ref who seemed to think this level of competition was beneath him. Using the breeze and his local knowledge of the ground, the taker had enough angle to shoot directly at goal, with the ball curling dangerously, deceiving everyone and ending up in the net.
Their second resulted from a crowded scramble with 4 Maroubra players around the ball but the Pagewood forward still managed to stab it home.
Maroubra rang the changes to refresh the ranks and stem the flow and things improved for us, coming more into the game.
Pagewood were still trying to work openings and from one such effort, The Refs indifference allowed their Striker from a clearly offside position to nod home.
The halftime talk was about pride and concentrating on our game.
The second half was way better for us with us keeping the ball way better and putting together a few moves however the strong Pagewood defence were quick to shutdown any openings created.
They finally scored a 4th late in the game from what at first again seemed like an offside position but unfortunately our backline had not moved out as a unit and the striker was onside.

Our second half display showed we can play disciplined football and with only 1 more division 1 side left to play (Mascot), we can make use of these learnings for the rest of the season.

Team:
Karl, Pete, Kevin,  Dennis, Rod, Francis, Terry, Steve, Yoshi, John, Tom
Interchange:
Jimmy, Frank, Nap, Jason, Selim
Out: Keith, Leo, Justin, Nelson, George,