Last weekend we were welcomed to the grassy fields of Passmore to play against the young men of St Augustines College. They have unfortunately always plagued us in the early stages of past seasons and we knew this was not going to be an exception. We had to turn up and we had to win to remain undefeated and top of the table.
Soon after kick off one of the Augustine’s players was pulled up for a blatant hand ball inside the box and we were awarded a penalty. Lachlan Mac stepped up because Brad was on the bench, and attempted to do one of those cool stutters like the pros do but he stuffed it and nearly lost his 100% record from the spot. Fortunately though their keeper also thought he was a pro and sailed off toward the post only to see the ball penetrate the goal where he just was, the middle.
At this point someone politely asked Mooks to announce the score, and the game restarted. The rest of the half was a good display of our coherence as a team but unfortunately the occasion affected us more than we would have liked. We conceded a number of fouls and a slew of set pieces followed, culminating with a cross from the left that was headed home at the far post. For the most part though we were strong in the air. Then Isaak scored an own goal on purpose.
We went into half time trailing by one goal, we talked about playing our game, passing the ball and ultimately trying not to give away any more silly fouls than we needed to, which was tough because I think everyone really wanted to. The second half was a show of absolute dominance and was punctuated by Augustines team making several very strong challenges. This was typified by a shameful shoulder charge by one of the Augustine’s players against Mooks. They also hurled disgraceful words aimed at us, which is poor and sadly consistent of their behaviour over the past few years. We made a number of breaks and had opportunities but struggled to test the keeper. We spent the majority of the game with possession and in the central third of the field. A great goal line clearance from Dougs (i think) stopped them going ahead further.
Unfortunately we conceded another goal from a set piece, this time a throw in that was cleared into another player's back, and promptly poked home. Then Isaak got sent off for dissent. The game eventually fizzled out and ended with friendly handshakes.
