Soccer

Here's the official account of Sunday's match. My commentary afterwards:

THE JUGGERNAUT ROLLS ON
(by Leon O.)

Olympiakos East Kew 1 vs MPFC 1
Scorers: Gavin P.

For the fifth successive week, the Middle Park thirds remain undefeated. A big portion of the media has attributed this to the fact that the teams that they have defeated were below them on the ladder. On Sunday the Parkers finally came of age, pulling off a 1-1 draw against a championship contending team.

Fresh in the minds of the players was the 8-0 pasting OEK gave MPFC earlier on in the season, which was the lowest point of the season so far. A side virtually unrecognizable from that day took the field, and promptly got on top of OEK in the early stages of the game. The back four of Richie A. (who has been sorely missed), Paolo M., Mark S. and Joe M. were superbly marshalled by Ad W. In the midfield Alan M. fought like a terrier for every single ball and Jason C. resembled Ryan Giggs with his left wing play. The OEK defence was having a hard time coping with leading scorers Tansel and Leon O., Leon lead many a defender on a merry dance with his dazzling dribbling skills, at one stage beating 4 defenders on the left wing resulting in a cross to Tansel, with the shot going wide. A sign of the frustration of OEK was the number of fouls committed, which was reaching ridicuolous levels. Unfortunately for the Parkers, none could be converted into goals, despite numerous close calls. As the half stretched on OEK got back into the game utilising their pacey wingers. Late in the half OEK won a corner, which was headed onto the post, and luckily did not go in. At half time the score stood at 0-0.

The second half began as a much more equal affair, with the OEK midfielders winning more of the ball. With the defence standing firm, OEK were not winning any clear chances, but alas, a loose ball fell to an OEK striker who managed to miss hit the ball into the MPFC goal for an undeserved 1-0 OEK lead. This only spurred the Parkers on to fight even harder for the game, with chance after chance being created, but none going in. Alan Marson let this passion spill over and earned himself his sixth yellow card of the season after pushing over an OEK player who stood in his way (note: the OEK player fell over like a 5 year old girl). OEK were matching the Parkers player for player, and had a good chance to go 2-0 up, but couldnt finish. As the half drew on, a free kick was won on the left wing for MPFC. This resulted in an incredible goal mouth goal scramble, which again did not yield a goal for the Parkers. The clearance from the OEK defence went straight to Alan Marson, who struck a pile driver from 25 yards which hit the bar and was followed up by Gavin P. who could not finish. With 4 minutes left on the clock Leon Ochsenbein won free kick number 78 after being hacked by 3 OEK defenders at the same time. Simon M. swung over a superb cross, which Gavin P. headed perfectly into the OEK goal off the post for a deserved equaliser. The last 5 minutes of the game saw numerous surges forward, which unfortunaley did not result in a winner. 1-1 the match ended, being a fair reflection of the game. Next week sees the Parkers take on Kooyong Japanese Football Club to extend their unbeaten run. This shapes up to be the toughest test yet for the Parkers, as Kooyong are a side that would be more at home in the same league as the seniors, and have a goal difference of +50. Reserve your tickets now.

Best on Ground: Mark Schnitzius.


"Best on Ground"? No way. What actually happened on the first goal was this: they lofted the ball forward. The man I was covering backed into me, as I lost the ball in the sun. I put my hands on the guy's back; he folded like a ragdoll and cried out for the ref (like so many strikers do). So I backed off straight away. The ref didn't call it, and the ball ended up falling back to the guy, who was now standing back up, unguarded. He put it away calmly, and I don't think it was a "miss hit". My fault, truth be told.

Still, I came away from the game quite happy, because it was a good team victory. Well, "tie", but it felt like a victory.

Gavin scored the beautiful equaliser with tissue stuffed up one nostril from an earlier foul that gave him a nosebleed; if that's not BOG material, I don't know what is.

Injuries: I played the game with my ankle not fully healed. It held up fine but swelled up again afterwards. Still swollen, actually, but I've been doing the RICE thing.