Match Day 12 – 19/07/2008 – C’s

JUL

21

This week we played the return leg of last week’s game against Adelaide Uni. With recent form having been poor, we were keen to restore some pride against the team who had thrashed us 4-0 just 7 days earlier. With the A’s having a week off due to the cup round, our squad was boosted with the special guest appearances of Stevie G and Fernando Figueroa.

Unfortunately the star inclusions were cancelled out by some late withdrawals, most notably Michael ‘Too Good For C’s’ Brinias forcing Keg back into goals.

With a distinct lack of goalmouth action in recent weeks, we decided to try a 4-3-3 formation to give our forwards some extra support. As the game got underway, the change in tactic seemed to pay off. We were having plenty more of the ball up front with Stevie G’s presence and enthusiasm providing our team with a much needed lift. The first 20 minutes were quite open, with neither side having any chances of note. Evan ‘the veteran’ was directing traffic at the back, but we still looked shaky when faced with a counter attack.

On 25 minutes we went ahead and it was one of our imports who did the damage. Stevie G made the most of a tough chance from the edge of the box when the ball sat up for a volley. It was like an inch perfect top-spin lob that just dropped in to the top left corner in spectacular fashion. For the first time in a long time, we were 1-0 up.

From that moment we began to hit our stride and for the rest of the half we looked clearly the stronger team. The 2 Fernando’s were combining well in the middle and 10 minutes later it was ‘Pipa’ who doubled our advantage, latching on to a loose ball on the edge of the box he smashed it into the back of the net, the keeper had no chance. That was it for the first half as we sat down for a rest in unfamiliar circumstances, shielding a 2-0 lead.

With Fournakis having to attend a prior engagement at this point, we were reduced to 1 sub. This became a bit of an issue with an injury hit squad forced to nurse their way through the second half. As the second half got underway, we were quickly dealt a cruel blow. The ref awarded Uni a penalty after somehow spotting a handball that no-one else saw much to the frustration our team. It was a harsh decision, with it being ball to hand at worst although I question if it was even that. There was no changing the ref’s mind however, and the Uni striker calmly slotted it past ‘the President’ to peg one back for the home team.

Evan made way for Cosi, with Fernando sweeping as we attempted to nurse our team through the remaining half. The forced changes were causing some confusion, and we began to lose our shape a bit as Uni pressed for an equalizer. Stevie G was having an impressive game, keeping the ball well and relieving a lot of pressure from our defense. Against the run of play, we made it 3-1 when Lingam smoked a cracker into the top corner. It was quite a goal and was just what we needed as Uni were beginning to cause our defense some problems.

With 15 minutes to play, Stevie G came off as Evan went back to sweep and Fernando went back into the middle. The changes left the boys looking very confused as our shape was completely lost. Unfortunately we again got caught failing to clear the ball from defense and Uni capitalized on our mistake making it 3-2 with 12 minutes to play.

Our nerves were being tested, but remarkably Lingam almost forced a fourth after a great effort came back off the crossbar. Unfortunately it didn’t go in though, and we spent the last 10 minutes trying to hang on. With less than 5 minutes to go, we cracked again. With Cosi double teamed on the right, Uni worked a 1 on 1 with ‘the President’ who managed to make a great save low down but the rebound fell kindly to Uni and the resulting goal broke our hearts at the death.

The draw was a bitter pill to swallow. With the quality inclusions making a big difference this week, we still couldn’t get the win we craved. Next week we play Sturt Marion away, while the Pope is still here lets pray for a miracle….

Leigh McGillick