Movie

Rented "The Queen", which rocked. Every now and then an actor and a role come together in perfect synergy. I found it thoroughly engaging, perhaps helped by the fact that very soon she'll be MY queen.

Soccer

Much better today as we beat Carringbush 4-2. We wanted a clean sheet at the back but unfortunately copped two sloppy goals. A much needed confidence builder. I played decently but not spectacularly, which seems to be the way this year is going. Headed one corner kick just over the bar, and had a couple of decent passes. Slight lump on the shin is my only injury, thankfully (as I'll be going on holiday soon).

Book

Finished "Meta Maths: The Quest for Omega" by Gregory Chaitin, which I really enjoyed. It's a popularization of some recent higher math that he's been working on, that may or may not be really significant (if I fully understood it, I could tell you which). But it was at just above my ability, which makes for good reading, because it stretched my mind a good bit. It's written in a very casual style -- lots of words in bold, lots of exclamation points, lots of references to the physical act of love (seriously) -- which could be annoying to a more critical reader, but in the end I liked that it was written that way; the subject matter is dense enough that the casual style kept it grounded. On the down side, sometimes it would casually mention a concept in a proof with no antecedent or explanation, a fault I lay on the editor. I guess I'm most appreciative that he's trying to write a good popularization of some higher math, which is too rare these days. And I liked that he talked a lot about the philosophy behind math, which is very interesting to me. I'll read it again some day, and hopefully get farther.

Soccer

A game we should have won, if we want to contend. We were outplayed, though, I think. Still, we had our chances to make it closer but didn't take them. Ended up losing 4-0, two of the goals being late when we were pressing up to chase the game. I played not too bad, I guess, but not spectacular.

One injury -- a big scrape on me bum, from a perfectly executed slide tackle. The dispossession was so perfect and clean that it was worth the scrape. No chances on goal or notable runs.

The official report (note that most of the "Mark" mentions here are a different Mark):

Rd02: Caulfield Cougars

Caulfield 4 v 0 Middle Park 3s

The sun was out, the birds were singing and the banter jovial as the 3rds met early Sunday morning in ideal footballing conditions. Sadly that was as good as it got for the merry XI...

Yesterday saw the Mighty 3s concede 4 goals in a game for the first time in 12 months against a limited Caulfield side and threaten to derail a championship challenge before it has even begun!
The result was a far cry from some of the vintage performances being churned out last year and the coaches will have their work cut out in training this week to get the season back on track. In fact, I dare say that Wolst and Parmar will have one eye over their shoulder as such results are unlikely to escape the attention of THE COMMITTEE…Managers have been known to be axed early in the season before - Robson and Gullit are two names that spring to mind. No vote of confidence as yet but word on the street is that next weekend is a must-win game already at this stage in the season or heads will roll.

Selection poser
Perhaps sensing looming disaster, Rob Ledger (gastro) and Storm (wisdom teeth) unfortunately dropped out Sunday morning leaving the 3rds with only 2 subs (as mystery new signing Dave failed to arrive) - Lucien and Matt were on the pine in the first half.
MP3 was nothing if not well supported however, as Working Class Heroes Brooksy, Richie Abbey and Bav all arrived before kick off to lend a helping hand. Hopefully they should soon be available for selection - Giants amongst men the lot of 'em, it will be a pleasure to see such athletes pulling on the sky blue once more...
The first half was generally a tight affair with both teams playing some football and being let down by either the final ball or panicking and rushing when time and space was available. Caulfield's goal came as a result of a cross from the right and the lad just narrowly got ahead of Colin to nod it into the net. As for MP3, chances were relatively few and far between - questionable offside decision against Robbo, couple of breaks that came to nothing, few misplaced late passes and a decent shot from debutant Mark that went over the bar just about summed it up.
Reshuffle
Following the largely ineffective first half, Parmar had no choice but to effect a tactical reshuffle at half time and so Mark moved to right wing, Colin to right back, "Shabba" Sheehan into center mid and Dave G to center half. Webster, in his first game back after serious injury stepped aside for Lucien shortly after half time as he understandably tired.
Travesty
The second half began much as the first had ended. MP3 were slightly on top as Caulfield appeared to be tiring slightly but were unable to create much. Dylan was coming out of the game with some credit and made a number of excellent tackles and challenges. Dave Godden too demonstrated that he has been a canny signing for the season by filling in superbly well at center half. He had their fella in his back pocket for much of the game.
Mark showed promise on the right too. One memorable run resulted in a crisp drive from 20 yards that tickled the cross bar and bounced to safety. Just a shame the rebound did not fall to one of the two Ronnies upfront (Leon or Robbo). It should be said that the two former funnymen worked very hard up top with little reward/service and they are unlikely to see so little of the ball in any other match this season. "Its goodnight from him" was the cry however, when Leon was withdrawn for Matt for the latter part of the game.
The game was finely balanced until about the 70th minute when following yet another alehouse clearance from Caulfield (sometimes football is not the winner, no matter how hard we try), their tubby forward strolled free and punted it into the net. Despite this clearly being minimum 20 yards offside, the linesman (coincidentally a Caulfield man) did not see anything wrong. Sense prevailed however and the referee disallowed the goal. It could only have been 2 minutes later however, when a forward was running through again and was brought down by Dave G. The G-Man is a solid stopper and saw this effort by the forward to get away as brazen cheek, and frankly out of order. "He took a fackin' liberty. End of." chirruped G-Man as the forward writhed on the deck.
Sensationally, the referee gave a penalty despite contact clearly taking place outside the box. Parmar knew his hour had come however and was not intimidated. He pulled off a great diving save to his left to keep MP3 in the game.
Generally when this happens in football, the team that saved the pen will go and press up the other end and score. MP3 laughs in the face of such perceived wisdom however and promptly conceded a goal direct from a corner kick within the next few minutes. Not content with that, MP3 then lost all shape as they pushed forward to score and conceded a further 2! Memories are a bit hazy now since their hefty center midfielder executed a very clean and powerful head butt on the top of my head (Sean's) whilst challenging for a ball which left me a bit dazed for a while (although I should point out it was him, not me rolling round on the floor - that is how hard men from Liverpool are). As I recall, Shabba had a decent shot (floated wide) and Sean hit one from the edge of the box which didn’t miss by much but it was a case of too little, too late as the whistle blew only moments later.
Jabbing finger
Parmar, it has to be said, took the defeat badly and was unhappy with the commitment shown by the XI, particularly after the second goal was conceded. "You're sh*t, you're sh*t and you're sh*t" as he jabbed an angry finger around the changing room like a butcher waving a large Cumberland sausage. Players hung their collective heads, shamefaced. People were naturally most disappointed about the late goals conceded but there was a nagging feeling that this was a game we could and should have won but we just didn’t perform as we know we are able to. The mood did turn to one of grim determination however as it was decided as a team that there will be no repeat of the tail-off in commitment again this season and that we owe it to ourselves to show significant improvement next match.
Lies, damn lies and statistics
Having said all that, the corresponding result last season was a 3-0 defeat so on one hand, it is only marginally worse. And if you add the fact that last week we only lost 3-1 in a game that we lost 7-0 last year, then on goal difference, we are actually improving on 2006. Therefore despite statistics of played 2, lost 2, goals for 1, goals against 7, it would be folly for any man to consider this anything less than a successful start to the season
Next Sunday
...sees a home game for MP3 (against Carringbush). Parmar was adamant that anyone who wished to be considered for selection be down at training at least once, if not twice this week. It will be interesting to see how the team bounces back from this result and will set the tone for the rest of the season so a big crowd is expected…get their early for a seat!