Twin wins for cricketing Stallion winners

Due to the deluge of interest in the cricketing Stallion's progress, a double report follows, reporting on our twin victories. Modest types, us cricketing winners, but if you insist on hearing all the news...


Boycott biffs, Vampire slays, Stallions trot past Norths at Kura Park‏

A second consecutive win for the Stallions against North City at Kura Park. After skillfully having ourselves inserted on a track sporting a fair amount of crack we struggled a little against their tidy openers, being 3 down for circa 20 (the scorebook is a little hazy here) when Rob came in to join Butch. Thankfully these two old campaigners managed to put together another one of our familiar middle-order recovery missions. Butch was rolling the right dice and played some fine shots off both back and front foot in between the numerous chances, finishing up with a useful 48. Rob's innings was as usual chanceless-ish, and with some good running and effective risk-taking we were back on a fairly even keel before Tony came in after the fall of two (extremely unlucky) wickets. After being talked up as some kind of Boycott-esque throwback, Mr Liefting duly turned in a Jekyll of a performance, thrashing away in the hopes of avoiding having to do anything as strenuous as jogging a single. Rob was inspired and tried to clear the ropes, perishing for 28. T made 47 invaluable runs before gratefully staggering off for a lie down. Their openers returned to keep the last five overs tidy despite Keast's surgical incisions, meaning that we finished on a respectable 181-9.

Our efforts in the field didn't get off to the best of starts as we started the first over with 9 players due to Cantabrian subterfuge/ineptitude. The first three overs went for a few, with the bat thrown at anything near off stump and the hungover, angry 'all-rounder' not quite justifying his hogging of the new ball. Rich bowled extremely well, applying pressure at one end and starting the rot by bowling the 'danger man' around his legs. From there we began to pick them off, giving away very few runs and leaving them at 5-40 off 13. Rich ended up with four maidens in a row (he says) and figures of 7-4-12-2. A chance went down soon after, and from shaky ground they built up a steady partnership as the drizzle started to threaten our chances. Glen and Graham both started well, and the required run rate was still slowly building. Mike "Vampire" Sleyer found his rhythm after five overs, and the partnership was broken when a second lofted chance at long-off was spectacularly intercepted by that fleet fox Liefting. Mike ran through the rest of their batsmen with a mixture of line, length and accurate use of cracks, ending with 4-27. Ever the gentleman, on picking up consecutive wickets Mike decided that he'd pass up the opportunity for a hattrick and instead aim a beamer at the new batsman in order to give him a sighter. Jase toiled away with impressive control over the drizzly ball and absolutely no luck, finally being rewarded with the last wicket when the ball hit the bat followed by the pad, then being caught by the wicket keeper- confusion reigned, even after the batsman was given out. It's a perplexing game at times. Norths all out for 140, a 41 run victory for the Stallions.

Great effort in the field to keep plugging away in the damp conditions when things weren't going our way. We're still not putting the runs on the board in a consistent manner, though it is good to see different batsmen putting their hand up each week to save our arses. With a few tweaks we should be good to continue our rise up the table- we're now comfortably fifth, and those early losses are a distant memory.

Good attendance at the Four Kings for a thorough fine session well 'lubed' with cheap Speights. Luckily, Ravishing Ricky Tay only made us wait half an hour for his fragrant body. The Chch boys BC and Jake the Muss kept us entertained with stories from the deep, dark, depraved end of the world, and Iain's stalker seemed happy just to be a part of proceedings, a mere table-length away from the handsome devil himself. Once again we didn't manage to come up with a candidate for Pony on the night... somehow I think that forgetting the scorebook might swing things my way. Sorry fullas. I'll stay off the margaritas until at least April, I reckon.


05/12/09

A solid first win for the Stallions on Saturday in the unseasonal sunshine at Kelburn Park. Onslow put us in on a hard bouncy track and we suffered another unsteady start, with two wickets down before we'd broken our collective duck. Jase hung around for a while and toyed with us all by smashing one straight onto the croquet green before departing for 19. Rob and Hamish came together with the score at 43-4 and put together an excellent partnership to drag us out of trouble. Both batsmen regained the fluency of old and it was classy stuff, only tempered by the overgrown outfield which probably took about 20-30% off their totals. Which is a shame for Rob, since he fell 1 short of a well-deserved fifty (having believed that our astounded applause following his pulled six was intended to mark this milestone...). Hamish fell shortly after for a very well compiled and timely 73. Glen and Mike Sleyer managed to put together a handy partnership in the last few overs, each clearing the longish boundaries with actual cricket shots. Our final total of 189-9 was tidy given the outfield, and impressive given our unfortunate start. We are starting to regularly build big partnerships in the middle order, but obviously these will ideally follow solid starts as well.

The hard bouncy track was enough to lure me and my ego out of bowling retirement (that, and my pathetic dismissal earlier in the day), and with Rich bowling well into a very light breeze we had a tidy start, picking up their openers and conceding very few runs in the first 12 overs. Glen bowled another excellent spell and was supported by Henry at the other end, who has the knack of putting the ball in the 'right areas' consistently. These bowling partnerships are also vital as we all know and this continued throughout Onslow's innings so that there was never any let up in pressure. Onslow were 58-4 at drinks and needed nearly six an over already. Jase bowled a good spell from the croquet club end and Sleyer went from strength to strength, bowling 8 overs on the trot and picking up two vital wickets, including the partnership breaker. It was great to see the control from the bowlers, with very few four balls handed out and some enthusiastic and even at times athletic fielding to back it up. Hamish swapped the gloves with Rob and as usual beguiled his way through an unlucky spell, as Onslow withered and faded without much fight. Glen and Rich came back to finish things off, with Rich deservedly picking up some tail end wickets to finish with 3-23. Onslow finished all out for 149, 40 runs short of victory with only an over in hand. Butch and I reckon we can't remember a more consistent team bowling effort in ten years playing for this team.

Heart stopping cricket match ends in draw.

A draw for the cricketing Stallions on Saturday after some salvage work with the bat including an outstanding innings of 119 from Jase. Turning up to a soaked and drizzly Macalister, it didn't look likely that we would get through a full day's play. Colls decided to bat on, and continued in the same vein from the week before plundering 115 runs in 11 overs to build up an imposing lead. Their number 10 ended up with 110*, which helped to take them from 148-8 through to 334-9.

Faced with a lot of hard work we didn't get off to the best of starts, but Geoff and Jase put together a tidy partnership before things slipped again and we were 57-3, still more than a hundred behind. Jase and I managed to stick it out for a while and work away on a pitch that was generally not too terrifying to bat on. Rob chipped in with handy runs, and Jase continued to do his thing without looking in the slightest bit troubled. We pushed our lead out past 50 and the clock was ticking as we lost reasonably regular wickets again. Jase picked up his century and carried on through to 119 before their fielders managed to do what their bowlers never looked like doing. When JP was once again robbed of the batting spotlight we had made it close to safety with a second innings score of 241. This left them 76 to win with 5 overs remaining in the day. Their captain asked about fielding regulations- there aren't any... We held them to 39-4 and picked up some handy wickets thanks to Glen and Graham- useful for the points table.

'F**ken Blow It!'

The Stallions celebrate the All Whites win, courtesy of Nick G's video:



Or Rauru makes a porno ...

Other highlights include Dion Waller threatening to kill Nick for standing up. Perhaps he went to the wrong game?

Don't you go out to Bah-rain, don't go out to the poor Bahrain

Anyone got any better ideas than this for Stallions chants on 14th November?

FYI The Cricket Franchise assembles outside for the first time this season at Kelburn Park. There will be blog...

EXCLUSIVE - JADE EMBARRASSED, REMAINING STALLIONS REJOICE

And it all ended with a certain clappy captain politely being escorted out of JJ's by a big bouncer. A good end of season, especially good to have Nick there.

For those not there, Corey deservedly took out Stallion of the season, the Butch took home the carrot for colt, and gold ole Ben H pony of the year.

Shock news came in the form of Stallions/pony stalwart Ben H calling an end to his lengthy tenure in the team. Ben, you take a lot of grief, but you will be missed big time. We all expect a final blog entry/memoir of your time in the team.

With the cricketers inability to string more than a sentence and a win together last season, that will be about it on the blog front for a while, that is unless GUnit comes up with a plan.

Spot the Difference

Spot the difference.

One is a lazy overly confident footballer living off past glories and failing to live up to his marquee status in the lower echelons of world football – the other is Robbie Fowler

Talking of celebrations ...

Rauru this is what should have done at Stokes Valley instead of your pathetic MJ crotch-grab dance move. One game with a few spectators - should have made it count!

End of Season Report

Cheers Corey for putting this together and for all the other match reports throughout the year. A huge effort that's as good as the on field performances.

Uni Stallions Div 7 end of season report 2009

Another year gone and it was another season in division 7 for the Uni Stallions, the greatest team never to win the grade. A main stay in the grade for several seasons, we pride ourselves on being able to give any team a good run for their money and this season proved no different.

With most players in the team just over or well into Their 30’s the challenge was going to be how to keep up with the younger teams coming through the grade and not have to train to do it.

Our answer was simple a robust warm up program before every game of penalty shoot-outs and corners. It seems to work and we managed to get a few good wins against some really good opposition.

The Stallions have become a bit of a football family. We had players return to us this season from overseas and some that had left to try for higher honours. The ‘Ludlow Curse’ struck us again this season as we suffered a few serious injuries our 2nd game of the season against Karori Magpies. We lost two players to dislocated knees within the space of 5 minutes and to add salt to the wound it was both of these players first games back for us, one having been out all the previous season with a dislocated shoulder from game 1, so it was terribly bad luck.

We love to attack from the back and so it was good to see defenders getting their names on the score sheet. One who had been with the team for a few seasons finally broke his duck, and so overcome with the elation of scoring his first goal for the team he promptly subbed himself off to savour the moment. He’ll probably claim it as one of the greatest goals ever seen in a Stallion shirt, everyone else will say it was a cross that got caught in the wind and drifted over the keepers head. Other highlights included getting two wins over the team that won the grade and seeing Ben Hodges score five goals, four of which were so weak they failed to touch the net (one of which has been voted ugliest goal ever seen by a Stallion).

There were plenty of funny moments throughout the season and most games were played in good spirits by all teams. Having finished in the top four of the grade and having played some good football throughout the year, most players are already looking forward to next season.

Kiwi journey man par excellence

Here is an interesting article. Perhaps Goodall is starting to make that same journey Island Bay 2nd s today, Norwegian sunday league tomorrow. Interesting to note that the Norwegians are in to astro turf too. Someone from WCC needed to go on a 5 week fact finding cruise i mean mission.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2009/09/the_amazing_adventures_of_kiwi.html#134340

Fines

A good fine session sitting out in the sun at the pub.

Stallion - Gus
Pony - Hodges

MVP 3 - Lloyd
2 - Panda
1 - Butch

Fines:

Tangi - -2 goals for the season
Corey - bringing down the ball with a groin thrust
Aaron - described as 'not a strikers arsehole'
Brooks - forgetting fine book
Jason - only player to play every game
Graham - 'this team has great balls'
Rauru - baby albatrosses
Lloyd - losing marquee player status (and despite this we gave him three MVP points, shows how generous we are).

Good work on paying up the fines. This is how much people owe now (if you aren't on the list you don't owe anything):

Paddy - $16
Nick W - $28.50
Ben B - $28
Tristan - $21
Hodges - $8
Corey - $7
Jason - $16
Joe - $23.50
Panda - $43.50
Rauru - $9
Mike B - $15
Robin - $3.50

U.S 4 v 2 Karori Aces Karori park #2 12.30pm Sat 29th August 09

Last game of the season and what a beautiful day it was too warm & sunny ideal for playing football.

Shame we were playing at Karori park.

With 15 Stallions all eager to play in the last game of the season the trick would be trying to give everyone equal game time.

We got too the ground early and on inspecting the field found that one half was like a carpet, beautiful, the other down the middle was like mudflats in Manukau harbour, the sides not so bad but W.C.C hang your heads in shame, it hasn't really rained for long periods in 4 weeks, a joke in my opinion given the money spent revamping the ground.

Needless to say we took the good end to warm up with, had a penalty shoot out comp to determine well nothing really we just don't do drills in the Stallions.

With the team lining up as it was the week before, a real ref and Karori looking up for a good battle today the game began with U.S heading towards the shite end of the Park and the Aces towards the stream end .

Aces score early.
It would be fair to say the Aces started the brighter of the two teams, we seemed to take a while to get into the game and the Aces moved the ball around well.
Our defence was tested early they had a striker/winger who had a good burst of pace ,we got caught out twice with two nice through balls that split our defenders and were lucky to deal with the first attempt by the Aces but not the 2nd.
The Aces #10 getting in behind our back four and took a shot on goal that Brooks was unable to get near 1-0 Aces 7 mins

That spurred a bit of action out of U.S and we went on the attack moving the ball around we pushed forward using the width really well a looking to hold onto the football as much as possible probing away at the aces looking for an opening.


Stallions equalise
With the subs now rolling on and off in quick succession Panda found himself up front as a striker he got onto the end of a through ball from Lloyd I think, took the ball into the box and from the acutest of angles just outside the 6 yard box right hand side rifled a ball into the back of the net an absolute stunner one to savour 1-1 20mins (so happy with his effort he subbed off)


That was the start of the Stallions taking control we began to really dominate and move the ball around the park nicely sure the aces had their chances but i reckon we played the better football


Stallions take the lead
I think we got a free kick out on the right midway into the Aces part of the field which Paddy sent into the box there was a goal mouth scramble I think Aaron took a shot which was parried by the keeper or blocked and Lloyd got on the end of the ball hammering it into the net giving U.S the lead 2-1 30 mins

The game opened up a bit after that we began to hold onto the ball and move it around but in the Aces half of the field it was hard work with the pitch so crap you'd get stuck in the bogs trying to turn, the half would finish with U.S leading 2-1

2nd Half.
We were the team to start the brightest and with U.S kicking off our old faithful was put into action the tap and hoof to deep left field, only this time it worked well sort of, Gus ran his ass off kept the ball in play and took on the defence and we were given a corner kick which they cleared but the ploy worked.

The game plan from U.S was simple keep the ball in their end of the park and attack them, if we got stuck in our end of the field it would be difficult to defend due to the mud bath it had become.


The Aces equalise.
It was never going to be easy to keep the Aces penned in their own half and we found ourselves a number of times dealing with long balls sent deep and out wide mostly to the right hand side. one of these resulted in the Aces scoring, they picked up the ball out right cut across the field beating one of our defending players and curled one from 18 yards out past me then the despairing Ben Brooks to make the score 2-2 60 mins ?

Oh well it was a well taken goal you can't deny that.

We went back on the attack we pushed forward and the game really started to open up using the width really well and moving the ball around we were awarded a number of corner kicks


We take the lead again.
A corner out right was sent in by Gus, it was cleared out by the Aces, but it went straight back to Gus, he took the ball from just outside the 18yard box about nine yards from the goal line ran into four defenders which he beat with ease and hooked a left footer so hard into the back of the net it almost burst through the other side amazing solo effort goal of the off season I reckon (well maybe Pandas was better ) 3-2 70mins

It got all end to end after that we pushed forward they pushed forward, but we looked pretty comfortable with 20 mins left so we looked to enjoy the last minutes left in the season and moved some players around.


PENALTY!!!
Lloyd was having another awesome game in the midfield and he put this lovely ball through which split the aces defence much like they did to U.S for their first goal which Rauru ran onto perfectly going one on one with keeper he was brought down form behind from an Aces defender the ref no option but to award a penalty
Rauru stepped up and with no problem at all popped the ball to the back of the net 4-2 80mins


The Aces had no show of coming back now the game would finish 4-2 to the Stallions.

A great way to finish off what has been a terrific season all round for U.S and now leaves most with the fear of finding something else to do with their Saturdays it's a hell of a long off season

Stallions :Ben Brooks,Joe,Tangi,Jason,Mike,Aaron,Ben Hodges,Lloyd,Graham,Gus,Rauru
Subs :Spencer,Corey,Panda,Paddy

Goals: Panda(20),Lloyd(30),Gus(70)Rauru (80)(p)

Aces (7),(60)

pick the pony 1

And come on, if you got any of these old team photographs send them through ...

Fines etc

Pony, Stallion and MVP provoked a lot of discussion among those that were at the fine session. Fair to say that there were a lot of candidates for Stallion and the points, and two clear candidates for Pony.

Graham already revealed that we ended up voting Tangi as Stallion. After much discussion about whether chop leading to the goal was Gus or Joe's fault we ended up making Joe pony, mainly because of his post-match claims that it was all Gus's fault and he didn't want the Pony (on the other hand Gus was more heavily fined so go figure).

Tangi also got the three MVP points, two for Lloyd, and one for Hodges (despite the goal).

Best fines:

Jason - not having a fight
Joe - High fiving Rauru immediately after Rauru's cock grabbing celebration
Panda - showing up
Aaron - Kahu fine for running madly after the ball and then not being able to figure out where it had gone
Hodges - Worst goal. Ever. (this involved setting a new precedent for how much you get for having this honour)
Gus - nakedness (again)
Rauru - falling to his knees to pray to Jebus after his header miss
Rauru - claiming that their defender 'had his hands all over me' and 'if he wants to touch me he should do it properly'
Spencer - first Stallion ever to be forgotten from the fine session

Basically, despite having one of our best ever games, everyone was fined heavily. I have't added all the fines up, but its safe to say that everyone owes lots and you should come to the game next week ready to pay up. There were some big threats on Saturday night about what will happen to those that don't.

Stoked in the Valley

We arrived a Delaney Park, home of Stokes Valley and scene of their grade winning come-from-behind final day 3-2 victory over the Stallions, knowing that we would have to win 7-0 to take out top spot in our section of the cup. While that was out of reach, we were confident we could win and take out second place; we had some unfinished business after the aforementioned 5 goal thriller.

For the first time this season we were missing our defensive rock Corey, which was a concern given Stokes Valley's controlled passing game. There were also a number of supporters present, many of whom seemed convinced they were here to watch Stokes Valley's procession to the final. However, the game started well for us; while Stokes Valley probably had the greater possession and territory, the defense was solid, if occasionally stretched. The wide midfielders were quickly back to mark their opposites, which was necessary as Stokes Valley looked to move the ball to the corners.

However, in the first half it would be a story of who took their chances; and with two minutes to go before the half time whistle the names on the score sheet would be Rauru and Lloyd in quick succession.

They were clearly burnt by this, and were fired up at the start of the second half. We lost possession quickly from our kick off, but seemed to have things under control through Joe on the right. However, miscommunication with Gus who was looking to take the ball ended up with Gus in a screaming heap on the floor and the ball in the back of our net with less than a minute played; as comical a Stallions moment as there has ever been.

The comedy continued straight after the kickoff, as a poor first touch from Hodges, which was dribbling towards their goal, was hopelessly misjudged by their keeper to restore the 2 goal advantage. The ball was so weakly hit that there is serious doubt that it actually reached the back of the nest, and as for Hodges' post match claims that he 'put spin on it', well....

At this point Stokes Valley stepped up in their control, and there was a period of sometime where our goal came under a barrage of attack. To be fair, while their passing was as silky smooth as Div 7 gets, taking advantage of the extra man forward now they only had 3 at the back, they got very few shots away, and to the credit of the defence those they did unleash were generally from outside of the box and going nowhere. Our forays were limited to breakaways; and a superb break here by Panda down the right, which he finished after (finally) backing himself and smashing the ball past his marker and the keeper, in the process upping our lead to 4-1.

The final few minutes of the game sore the Stallions on the defence; Rauru brought himself back to midfield, and Lloyd seemingly the lone striker. However the final whistle came and went, and with it, Stokes Valleys hopes that victory in the final next week would be anything but Pyrrhic.

Stallion was deservedly awarded to Tangi for his outstanding work in central defense; although there were players all over the park that put in Stallion worthy performances. The Jo/Gus incident could not be overlooked in the awarding of the Pony. But what it comes down to was that, for me at least, it was a privilege to be a part of this, one of the finest Stallions wins of all time. And we have the Karori Aces next week to determine 3rd and 4th place. Bring it!

Fines vs Elite

Now, I'm not doing this cause I was in the points for a change, but with both finemasters piking on Saturday I had to step back into the role, have the book on me, and think that ben's been pretty crap in terms of posting fines - such a good way to have a chuckle at ourselves. Was a good night too - great to have Robin back and firing up at the fine session. Its fair to say perhaps a couple of drinks too many were imbibed. When we reconvened for the nix game the following day there was not too much interest in drinking ...

Anyways, a good win for the Stallions. It went a little like this:

Stallion - Aaron
Pony - Spencer - Family arrive just in time to see a monumental shank roll over the sideline, and have a good old family laugh at crap daddy. This including finger pointing and possibly tears (of embarrassment?).

MVPs:
3- Aaron
2 - Rauru
1 - Gus

Best fines:
Ben B - Ben throws short ball to Mike - never should that combination of names and words be uttered again.
Jason - Got sat on.
Jason - stepping up to take a free kick with the steely gaze - 'I do this all the time'-like. Umm last time we saw that face was before THAT penalty!Politely told that his services were not required.
Mike - The return of the Butch - a few very dodgy early moments.
Ben H - glorious defensive header - off one of our attacking corners.
Lloyd - Meh, played well - but didn't live up to marquee status.
Aaron - 'is it 6 minutes yet - I won't get fined if I sub now'.
Aaron - Shit celebration after talking it up all season.
Robin - the sell out uniform fine - yes, those who were not there - Robin played in sports shorts (admittedly pretty long ones).
Robin - Not quite the old Rob (perhaps you should have worn the old shorts).
Gus - Upsetting the marquee player.
Gus - Playing with shirt around shoulders - cue much hilarity and 'nudie man' from Spencer's kids.
Robin - the whitest knees ever seen on a football field.

Nice work

U.S 2 v 0 Wgtn Elite Nairnville pk 15th August 2.30pm

Two goals in the 2nd half were enough for The Stallions to take 3 points in the 2nd round of the "cup" series

The 1st half was pretty even throughout each side having chances i think we had the better of it though judging by the amount of corners we claimed and pressure we applied and how well we were defensively shutting them down early and not giving them room to shoot.

A nasty head clash between Ben Hodges and an elite player who came off worse for wear caused the half to come to a premature end the lost time to be made up in the 2nd half, the elite player was taken off to hospital for observation via an ambulance.

The 2nd half
It took 2mins and 7 seconds into the second half for the Stallions to take the lead Aaron drilling a ball into the net from within the 18 yard box to the amazement of the elite side and the ecstasy of the Stallions. 1-0 (47.07mins)

Elite were their own worst enemies for the 2nd they were caught offside about 20 yards into our half and the resulting free kick by Tangi ? went up the field bounced between the two central defenders for elite who then let Rauru run after it unchallenged for the easiest of tap ins giving U.S a 2-0 lead and left the elite defenders abusing me for their useless defending claiming Rauru was offside nobs 2-0 67minutes

They had their chances the best coming from a penalty they received after Tangi brought down their striker in front of goal the resulting penalty hit the left hand post at speed and cannoned out into the right hand side of the field where we cleared

after 52 mins of play in the 2nd half the game was over the Stallions victorious and Elite wondering about what might have been a top effort from everyone who played and it was great to see Nick White there supporting U.S along although he must be fined for not bringing his boots and calling a sub.

Stallions : Ben Brooks,Mike,Tangi,Corey,Graham,Aaron,Ben Hodges,Lloyd,Spencer,Rauru,Gus
Subs : Jason,Robin,Dan

Goals : Aaron 48min Rauru 67mins


This week Stokes Valley @ Delaney #1 2.30pm

Elite Match report

At least they beat us to something this season - and got a match report up - here

Bit of frustration here I think - sure they could call us 'ponies' last year when they actually managed the odd win, now that we have done the treble on them we are 'donkey's' - sure.

A couple of odd things: apparently they dominated the first 20, one of their players totally 'wasted' his player down our left side - umm, can't remember that sorry. And worst of all they call Hodges 'one of their best players'. Obviously full of crap.

Until next season chumps ...

Lest we forget

Kick off of first half vs Elite. Rauru calls the old hit it straight down Hodges wing play. The Elite striker has seen this 1000 times before and charges at Rauru who hits it straight into his arse, Elite gets the ball, straight to the other end and almost scores after 8 seconds.

I propose that along with the Twinkle and Turtle this move should be banished from the Stallions playbook. Embarrassing. It should only be allowed to be pulled out at times of extreme irony (and perhaps in games of backyard cricket).

Highlights of some of Aaron's shots v. Wellington United

Gunners crush Toffees

Ouch. Do you think we'll get a match report today or has this result kept Corey in bed for the day?

All Whites Tickets

Register interest here

Lovely Day at Home

Wasn't Saturday's weather glorious!? Perfect for faffing around home, smelling daisies and scratching my arse. Thank goodness I wasn't needed to play dirty old football - what an inconvenience that would have been on an arse-scratching day like that. What's that? One sub? Cracked shins? A tired team? A 1-0 loss? [You'll have to just imagine my eyelid twitching spastically - it was too subtle a movement to capture on video].

looks like we might not have to give nick g the 'thanks, but no thanks' next season

Here's nick in the yf forum:

'I don't believe we (Island Bay) aren't good enough for Cap 1 (And we certainly aren't/haven't been struggling)

We have done alright in what was a very close league the whole way through. Other then the Dreamers who outplayed us twice, we matched every team in the grade. We drew nil nil with Marist, then lost 1 nil. And lost 1 nil to Olympic in a game where we had numerous chances and as their coach mentioned afterwards we probably should've won. We also beat Petone twice who sit fourth.

Of course the fact we came ninth means we didn't do great but we went through a rebuilding year with plenty of changes from the previous year so with a season under our belts I have no doubt we will mount a serious challenge for the title next year.'

Just joshing nick, congrats on making the step up, we have been keeping a close eye on your season, and have noticed a distinct drop in our fines. So you going to ditch us for twilight too?

U.S 0 v 1 Karori Magpies Nairnville #2 2.30pm 8th August 09

A hard fought but good natured game of football was decided by one solitary goal with the Karori Magpies edging out the Stallions 1-0 on a Nairnville park pitch which could do with some much needed TLC from the W.C.C.

Kicking off with 12 players the Stallions wanted to have fun, enjoy the last few games of the season, but also give a decent account of ourselves.We're a good side so going into the game we were confident of getting something out of the match.
Starting brightly we looked to move the ball around the park and did so reasonably well with most players getting touches on the ball and finding good options going forward.
The Magpies had their fair share of possession and used it to good effect also, but our defence was really stoic and made it extremely difficult for their strikers going forward most shots were taken from well outside the 18 yard box.

Their goal.
It was a bit of luck and individual talent that got the Magpies their goal, a ball into the box was flicked up in the air by their striker who turned the ball controlled it down again beating me then beating Jason and rifled a shot into the net. 1-0 35mins

Well taken but a bit poo from our perspective they didn't really do enough to warrant the goal leading up to it but you take what you get I guess.

The rest of the half was spent trying to peg the goal back but we'd go into the half 1-0 down

2nd half
Both teams started really well, both teams were looking to play good ball to feet and hoping to pierce either sides ridged defence.The game was beginning to open up with U.S having only one sub and Karori choosing not to role theirs on and off both teams began to tire and the game would go end to end.
Joe was forced out mid way through the 2nd half after sustaining a nasty shin injury as he went in for the ball against a Magpies player and came off second best.

They had a chance late in the game to make the score 2-0 but again some brilliant defending from all of U.S meant that we would end the game unlucky losers 1-0
A draw was probably a fair result but that's life


Stallions : Ben Brooks,Mike,Jason,Corey,Joe,Spencer,Ben Hodges,Lloyd,Aaron,Rauru,Logan
Sub: Tristin

Goals Karori 35mins

Next Weeks Draw

CAPITAL 7 BLACK:

Uni Stallions __ Wgtn United Elite __ Nairnville 2;

Karori Magpies __ Stokes Valley __ Wilton.

New Tui Billboard...

Well glad that's cleared things up...yea right.


At the end of last year it was agreed by clubs to have 8 team leagues and introduce a Cup Competition at the end of the completion of the leagues. The intention was still to try and have
18 games throughout the season.

The format of the Cup Competition was for each league to be split into 2 pools of 4 randomly drawn. It would be run over 4 weekends being a 3 weekend round robin and a finals weekend. With the number of cancellations we’ve had this season, it may be that there has to be a modified version of the Cup Competition. This could be a knock out cup over two weekends for example. Capital Football is commencing the Cup Competition for a number of leagues this weekend with the pools named Gold and Black

The following is our intention for running the cup competitions over the remainder of the season:-

Capital 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, and 15, and Masters 3 and 4
These grades are able to start this coming weekend. If there are no cancellations, there will be
3 weekends of Round Robin (8/9 August, 15/16 August, 22/23 August) with 29/30 August as the Finals Day (with 5/6 September as the back up Finals Day)

Capital 9, 10, 11 and Masters 1
If there are no cancellations this coming weekend, the teams in these grades will start their cup competition a week later. Again if there are no cancellations over the round robin period, there will be 3 weekends of Round Robin (15/16 August, 22/23 August, 29/30 August) and 5/6 September as the Finals Day.

Women’s Divisions have a round of catch up games this weekend. There is also a more pressing need to have the women finish on 29/30 August with Secondary Schools tournament week the following week.

The Cup Competition will be over three weekends 15/16 August, 22/23 August, and Finals on 29/30 August. The format will be a knockout competition within each league.

Each team will be randomly drawn to play another team just as in the Chatham/Women’s Knock out Cup. The first weekend (15/16) the winners will go to the Cup semis, the losers to the Plate semis, the next weekend (22/23) the winners will then go to the Cup Final and Plate Final. This will involve 4 teams on 29/30 August.

There are number of scenarios to be considered:

- one weekend out of the next four weeks cancelled
- two weekends cancelled
- three weekends cancelled
- all weekends cancelled - unlikely but given the winter so far not impossible

If all weekends are cancelled the situation is very clear - we have no more football to play.

If we end up with the next three weekends being cancelled there will be one weekend of the Cup Competition taking place on 29/30 August for all divisions and will simply be 1 v 2, 3 v 4, 5 v 6 and 7 v 8.

If we have only two weekends to complete the competition, it will become a knock out competition, split into top 4 and bottom 4.
1 v 4 and 2 v 3, winners through to Cup Finals, losers to Plate Final. Similarly 5 v 6 and 7 v 8

Finally if we only have one weekend cancelled, the Cup Competition will run over three weekends and the format will run the same as the Women’s teams.

This gives an idea of how Capital Football intends to proceed. However, this will have to be judged after each weekend and whether there have been any cancellations. We will keep you posted on this.

U.S 2 v 3 Stokes Valley Delaney pk #2 01.08.09 2.30pm

Five minutes of poor play by the Stallions late in the 2nd half saw Stokes Valley edge out a fiery and spiteful game 3-2 in the final div 7 game of the regular season.

1st half

We kicked off but they had U.S camped in our own half for the early periods of the game, we defended really well while they were struggling to get their act together, the pressure was all on them, they needed a win to claim the div 7 title so we wanted to make it as hard as possible for them, we began to find our feet moving the ball relatively well around the park and after absorbing the pressure we were the first to get points on the board.

1st goal

We were awarded a corner (that's about all we'd get awarded by the ref all day)
Rauru took it from the left hand side of goal, I was standing in front of the keeper on the line blocking his view as was one of the Stokes Valley defenders, Rauru curls the ball in and I leap up to try to nod the ball into the goal it goes just over my head and Rauru's ball curls beautifully into the back of the right hand corner the keeper never saw it, a tremendous goal and put the Stallions up to a shock 1-0 lead after 10mins

That meant more pressure for Valley and the were letting it get to them,they were getting forward really well but our full backs notably Graham who was having a Stallion like performance and butch combined with the wide midfielder's of Joe and Spencer were doing really well at forcing them out wide and into silly mistakes.

2nd goal

We got another corner same side taken again by Rauru, same set up I was on the keeper, as Rauru sends the ball in the keeper shoves me out of his way I'm pushed to just outside the 6 yard box the ball from memory was parried out and my dipping head nodded the ball back between a couple of Valley players and the goalie into the net giving U.S a 2-0 lead 15mins gone

We made a few changes after that goal with rolling subs it allowed Robin to come into the game for his first start of the season and Tangi to make his first appearance since the Elite game some weeks earlier.

Their 1st
Valley were desperate to get back into the game and after some pressure on U.S they were awarded a couple of corners, one the ball was delivered into our box and cleared out well although not so well as it was picked up by a valley player out on the right hand side of goal and from about 25 yards rifled a ball at lightening speed just over my head and through the hands of a dispairng Ben Brooks to get the valley back in the game with a great goal and plenty of time to go 2-1 30mins

The rest of the half as did most of it really would carry on with both sides trying to play neat football ,although they really do have some whinging mo fo's that #16 skins and gloves wearing nob end, man I had great fun dishing back the verbal abuse on that moaning git and his mate #9
they turned up thinking they'd won the game already, cocks.
I'm not taking an angry man either, I was just giving it back both barrels, that shut him up almost every time, then he tried it on with a few more of U.S Panda was probably the last person you'd want to take on.

Anyway halftime 2-1, we were still in this.

2nd Half

They kicked off and we spent the first 15 -20 minutes on the front foot, we got forward well we were defending strong plus we put pressure on them and they were putting a bit of pressure on themselves,we were awarded a couple of corners and were unlucky not to nick a goal here and there but we just couldn't break them down.

We began to drop away a bit the last 25 minutes and a silly errors or options caused U.S to gift the game back to Stokes Valley

Their 2nd

They had made a foray down our left flank, Gus was playing left back and I missed the crucial moment, but, he tried to take the Valley player on 5 yards off the goal line 5 yards in from touch the Valley player gets the ball puts it into the box and it goes past a diving Ben Brooks to an unmarked played who stuffs it into the net 2-2 70mins

really poor goal to give to say the least but heads up were still in this game

Their 3rd

See it happened so quickly, again we were put under some pressure, Panda had the ball at the top of our 18 yard box and was forced back to try to get the ball away but he couldn't get a clean hoof on it the ball pin balled around a bit then a Valley player latched onto it and sent them into the lead 3-2 75 minutes gone

The Stallions beginning to fall apart at the back.

The game would carry on and began to get more feisty and verbal as the valley side tried to hold on while we tried to get an equaliser their #16 was at it again with his mouth so more verbals were had between him, me and Jason who waded into the argument late on in the game.

With 10 or so minutes still to go and U.S now piling on the pressure to get an equaliser, we pushed forward and won a corner, Jason went up from defence to try to help out and was so unlucky, the ball ended up at his feet and his shot had a bit too much on it going well over the bar.

Retreating back Jason and their #16 had a few words which looked to be quite pleasant until the Valley player got upset at having Jason through his shoulder around him and rub his head with his hand (you know the father and son type head rub) the Valley player tried to take a swing along with another player as I held the two of them back the rest of the teams came together and to diffuse the situation and make it impossible for U.S to draw the game the Valley ref blew the final whistle with some 5-10 minutes still remaining.
We were shafted from that perspective but I knew we were going to have a tough day of it, they would do anything to win that game at any cost.

Stokes Valley winning 3-2 and claiming the div 7 title at the same time

See you in the cup.

Stallions : Ben Brooks,Mike,Jason,Corey,Graham,Spencer,Ben Hodges,Gus,Joe,Tristin,Rauru
Subs: Robin,Tangi,Panda

Goals : Rauru 10mins,Corey 15mins
Valley 30mins,70mins,75mins

Draw for next week

CAPITAL 7 BLACK:

Wgtn United Elite __ Stokes Valley __ Melrose;

Uni Stallions __ Karori Magpies __ Nairnville 2.


Ouch - so the random draw has put us with Stokes Valley (1st), Karori (2nd), and Elite (5th). Marist must be stoked.

Confirmation todays game is transferred...

DIVISION SEVEN:

Stokes Valley v Uni Stallions Transferred

 to Delaney No. 2 at 2.30pm

NOW AT STOKES VALLEY

Draw for this week

CAPITAL 7:

University __ Marist Cobras __ Nairnville 2;

Stokes Valley __ Uni Stallions __ B Heath 2 (12.30);

Karori Magpies __ Wgtn United Elite __ Ben Burn (12.30);

Marist __ Karori Aces __ Miramar 3.


Anyone know where B Heath 2 is?

Div 6

Div 6 played yesterday and finished their round. Here are the final standings:
CAPITAL 6:

P W D L GF GA Pt
Karori Sealords 13 11 1 1 49 12 34
Tawa Devilz 13 9 2 2 39 15 29
Petone Backpackers 13 6 4 3 44 23 22
Wainui Undertakers 13 7 1 5 25 27 22
North Wellington 13 6 2 5 24 21 20
BNU Bodega 13 2 3 8 25 39 9
Lower Hutt City 13 3 0 10 14 52 9
Uni Raiders 13 0 3 10 18 49 3

Interesting that the Sealords who we had good tussles with last season but could not stop from winning Div 7 have continued their winning ways - and 11 wins from 13, pretty damn comprehensive. A damn good effort. At the other end our old rivals Uni Raiders have had a shocker of a season - not a single win! Hope that is not the deathknell of a team that were definitely struggling at the start of the season for numbers etc. Would love to have them in our grade again.

TODAY'S GAME CANCELLED back too bed...

The following grades are cancelled:

Divisions 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16,

Masters Divisions 1, 2 & 3

Wheres the stallions?

So, how many Stallions can you spot lurking in the background of this photo? I've got 3 - but then I know where we sit. Looking for Jason somewhere in the masses. Can't see Goodall - must be one of his many (and extended) toilet breaks.

We are all pretty excited - must have been one of those good, after a few drinks moments. I'm possibly at my most animated. Perhaps Griffiths just got shown his red card. Gus is clapping along - maybe Dodd just got subbed.

Perhaps this will act as a bit of a plug for more of you to come along this season - damn good times, and the team is looking good this season - Heres a glorious hat trick by new signing & former Crystal Palace player Paul Ifill (#11 for Millwill):

That final goal is positively 005-like!

Gone on - I hear there are still a few season passes floating around

U.S 4 v 3 Marist Cobras Endeavour park #1 12.30pm 18th july 09

What was looking like a casual stroll too an easy three points ended up being a great game of end to end football if you're a neutral that is Stallions grinding out a hard fought yet controversial game of footy 4-3

Being transferred from the "bog of eternal stench" Nairnville park to the wonderful carpet like Endeavour park in Whitby is I'm guessing much like being upgraded from the outhouse to the penthouse fabulous and with the ground perfect, the weather also absolutely stunning it had too be one of the best days we've ever had to play football in a longtime.How Wests who have bugger all teams in cap soccer gets to have a field like this amazes me, therein lies the answer I guess

With Marist roping in anyone they could bludge from the teams playing adjacent to U.S due to them only having 9 players turn up and a neutral cap football ref the stallions finished their warm up feeling pretty confident a win was in the bag.

Marist kicked off and we began to put them under pressure they were barely getting the ball out of their half the first few minutes and the stallions were playing the ball around to feet quite well holding onto possession well and forcing Marist to put the ball out of play a lot.

Marist score 1st
It was completely against the run of play Marist's opening goal a bit of a defensive muck up found the Marist striker one on one with brooks who could do little to stop the ball going under his feet into the back of the net to give Marist a shock early lead 1-0 12minutes

We knew we'd been sucker punched, but it was only a light tap, we got up and kicked off, this time going forward and really starting to open them up with Rauru and Tristin running some nice lines the defense often bypassed the midfield by playing route one football only for U.S to be called offside by the ref even when clearly onside.

The ref was a funny wee bugger, he made some of the most bizarre calls I've seen and he is a fully fledged ref for capital soccer, no slide tackles AT all, umm it's not ballet bro and Joe was pinged for a high knee, lol, a high knee when all he did was lift his leg to control the ball

Our 1st
We'd been in their half for a fair bit of the 1st period and we finally got a corner with Paddy swinging the ball in it found a Marist defenders head who cleared the ball back to paddy who again sent the ball in,Rauru came storming into the outer area of the 6 yard box and he hammered the ball from the right hand side into the top left hand corner of the goal with the sweetest of headers to give U.S a level footing 1-1 after 18minutes

With Marist's head dropping just a little and the stallions looking to press on it wasn't long before we again found ourselves with more shots on goal.
We had put Tristin in good positions a couple of times, one he took a shot only for the keeper to save the ball which was parried out to Aaron who neatly curled the ball into the goal a great bit of follow up work only for the ref to call him offside and disallow what appeared to be a legitimate goal albeit I was 20 yards behind the ref in our own half of the field at the time but it looked good to me, Aaron was running around like a headless chook celebrating for a good 10 -15 seconds before the reality set in his goal would not stand,that Didier Drogba you tube link Rauru posted earlier this season sums it up nicely.

Our 2nd
They really were letting U.S move the ball around and whilst we didn't get it right every time there were moments when looked really good on the ball, given that 7 goals were scored you can forgive me for forgetting some of the finer moments but our 2nd was scored by Tristin I'm going to ramble on and say it came from a Rauru pass which he latched onto and sent the ball past the keeper into the net 2-1 after 30minutes

Halftime
Feeling reasonably pleased we wanted to start the 2nd half the brightest of the two teams and dominate early

2nd half
Standing in defense waiting for U.S to kick off Jason queried why Hodges and Spencer were both standing out left I thought he was joking surely it was obvious we were employing our only attacking set play the hoof it left and make the left winger run hard to chase it down and send in a cross, sharpen up jase we tried that last weekend too remember ;)

And we failed I believe,
Anyway the game was end to end it began to open up and it meant Marist were having opportunities of their own

Their 2nd
We didn't really shut them down as the came forward and after twisting and turning our defence they managed to get a shot off that went in making the game all even again 2-2 52mins played

Bullsh!t was the general call to that all the defenders agreed we let ourselves down there so it was pleasing to see U.S step up and shut them down for the remainder of the game.

our 3rd
With U.S going forward we were beginning to open them up Panda had received the ball just inside our half and sent a delightful through ball to Tristin who with the keeper coming out off his line curled the ball beautifully around and over the keeper into the net and back in the lead we went 3-2 60minutes

We continued to keep the ball in the marist half and had the ball out on the right hand side, as the ball was crossed into the box it hit a marist players hand and the ref duly awarded a penalty.
With Tristin grabbing the ball a voice cried out from the back I'll take it,give it to me" and up stepped John Terry no wait hang on Jason, he puts the ball on the dot asks the ref if he must wait for the whistle before he can kick, the whistle is blown and Jason is scared by the noise the whistle makes he jumps and sends the meekest shot on goal I've seen since Nick Goodall's clanger out at Petone the other season the ball trickles along the ground to the right hand side of goal only for the lunging keeper to get a hand on the ball and save it the ball going out for a corner
ha ha

Their 3rd
Man how that missed penalty would come back to bite U.S in the bum remember how I said the ref was a bit of a twat actually I said funny wee bugger but after this episode I think he is a twat.
We found ourselves defending our goal and whilst in the 18 yard box Ben Hodges made a brilliant sliding tackle to claim the ball cleanly from the Marist player the ref remember wouldn't allow slide tackles and gave the Marist side a penalty you can guess who'll take an angry man fine after that decision (me) for farks sake I mean I can accept an opposition player as the ref giving a dodgy call like that but really a capital football ref no way.
So the Marist striker steps up shoots the ball and leaves poor brooks unable to stop the ball going in the net game tied 3-3 70minutes

our 4th and winner
Furious is a good word to describe that goal but to our credit we fought on and with time slowly drifting away a through ball again had their defence opened up hoping for an offside that would never come and trusty Tristin went one on one with the keeper getting the better of him and scoring his hatrick and the winner 4-3 80minutes

They tried to grab a late equaliser and whilst in our box Graham and a Marist player came together as the ball went out of play the Marist player went down and howled out for a penalty, Graham stood up and over him in full forceful voice told him just how much of a lie er he was in no uncertain terms, the player got up and crawled away back to position for U.S to take the goal kick,the game would carry on the Stallions eventually holding on to record a well deserved 4-3 victory

Stallions : Ben Brooks,Corey,Jason,Paddy,Mike,Joe,Ben Hodges,Aaron,Tristin,Rauru
Subs: Spencer,Panda

Goals : Rauru,Tristin (3)

This week Stokes Valley @ Delaney park 12.30pm our last game of the regular season

TODAY'S GAME STILL ON BUT TRANSFERED...

DIVISION SEVEN:

Uni Stallions v Marist Cobras transferred to Endeavour No. 1 at 12.30pm

Stokes Valley v Wgtn United transferred to Trentham at 12.30pm

Karori Magpies v Karori Aces transferred to Onepoto No. 2 at 2.30pm

Points vs Aces

OK, not the most scientific of systems (but hey, neither is a bunch of muddy drunk guys arguing in a pub) - but done simply by tallying the nominations offered in the comments of the match report (you had your chance, its too late now), the results are as follows:

MVP:
3 - Jason
2 - Corey
1 - Aaron

Stallion: Corey
Pony: Paddy

As I have already said, a bit harsh on paddy - but i feel ok after realising that because he took off as the reigning pony the headband never made it onto the field.

Ben, you should add these to the tally and let us know how its looking at the business end. Though I would think Corey is light years in front of everybody else, chased by Tristin and Jason?

Because not much else is going on...

Any more rain and I doubt we'll be playing, but even if we do Nairnville could quite possibly look like this...


And because there's no football going on, here's some comments that are even stupidier than Hodges...

Stupid Things Actually Said By Soccer Commentators

1. Well, it's Bears two, Socks none, and if the score stays this way, I've got to fancy Bears for the win.

2. He had an eternity to play that ball, but took too long. (Probably talking about Mike)

3. And so they have not been able to improve on their 100% record.

4. With the last kick of the game, he scored with a header.

5. Well, it's a fabulous kaleidoscope of colour: almost all the Brazilians are wearing yellow shirts.

6. If that had gone in, it would definitely have been a goal.

7. Their manager isn't here today, which strongly suggests that he may be elsewhere.

8. I am a firm believer that if one team scores a goal, the other need to score two to win. (Which is what Uni did to us. Let's not forget that game...ever)

9. If a team scores early on, it often takes an early lead.

10. You cannot possibly have counted the number of passes made, but there were eight. (Probably talking about Gus' stats for an entire game)

CAPITAL FOOTBALL DRAW FOR 18/19 JULY: (2.30pm unless stated)

CAPITAL 7:
Uni Stallions V  Marist Cobras         Nairnville 2 (12.30);
Stokes Valley  V  Wgtn United Elite    Delaney 2 (12.30);
Karori Magpies V Karori Aces           Karori 3;
Marist         V University            Crawford (12.30).

So our last game of the season (next week)will be against
Stokes Valley if both Karori and Stokes valley win this
weekend we'll have a hand in who wins the league outright.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week doesn't look
to promising though 

Last weeks results

CAPITAL 7:
Uni Stallions         1    Karori Aces           0
Marist Cobras         2    Wgtn United Elite     4
Stokes Valley        12    University            1
Karori Magpies        1    Marist                2
                        P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pt
Stokes Valley         12  9  1  2  52  23  28
Karori Magpies        12  9  1  2  41  15  28
Marist                12  9  0  3  39  19  27
Uni Stallions         12  7  0  5  24  20  21
Wgtn United Elite     12  7  0  5  24  23  21
University            12  4  0  8  16  37  12
Marist Cobras         12  2  0 10  20  42   6
Karori Aces           12  0  0 12  15  52   0

Robin returns triumphant

Let's face it - no one is giving up a place so Robin can play this season, he is just going to have to settle with being some sort of rockstar (one who thinks he's pretty funny according to this interview - http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/interviewMore/CID/99/N/Good-Laika.utr ).mentions football, but not the Stallions. Scandalous - we all know he comes up with lyrics while running in circles around the field - He's got to be doing something out there!

Anyway, a reminder, Thursday night, San Francisco Bath House,opens at 8, Doorsales. Let's get there early and claim a table.

U.S 1 v 0 Karori Ace's Onepoto pk #1, 11th july 2.30pm

A Ben Hodges tap and a great all round team display were the difference today as the Stallions recorded their 2nd consecutive win and clean sheet shutting out a gritty and determined Karori Ace's 1-0

On a field that looked like rugby had been played, or at least trained on it all week long, playing the ball on the ground would pose some problems but it didn't stop U.S playing some neat football right across the park.

With a number of 1st team starters out with commitments the reserves bench was summoned to front up and fill the void left by those missing members.
Matt and Dan came into a very strong Stallions starting lineup and set the standard early on, attacking football from the back through to front and across the park was going to be the order of the day.

With Jamie reffing the Ace's kicked off towards the road end of the park they quickly found themselves under pressure as the Stallions looked to get an early foothold and dominate the game from the off, the midfield looking to close down any of their movement going forward and our defence bullish and strong but always calm and collected shutting them out with little trouble, it was going to be hard for the Ace's to get much into the box to put U.S under pressure.

Our football going forward was certainly some of the nicest and fluent we've played all season even on the very bobbly field our midfield wasn't afraid of taking on the Ace's from anywhere, Matt especially along with Joe and Ben H all looking to manoeuvre round and set up our strikers Gus and Tristin who themselves did well to turn the Aces defence,with Graham and Spencer linking well down the left flank also it seemed only a matter of time before the dominance would pay off in a goal.

We were given a free kick about 25 yards out just to the right of the centre of goal and Matt had a beautiful curling attempt on the left hand top corner parried away by their keeper to save the aces going 1-0 down early.

Our Goal.
It was definitely a div 7 finish to some top draw build up play that gave U.S the winning goal.
Some neat inter play from our brilliant defenders had the ball move up the right hand side of the field, Tristin held onto it just outside the 18 yard box right hand side and from that a cross was sent into the box across the face of goal to the left hand goalpost where Graham and Ben H were waiting Graham cropped the ball in the groin down to the ground and was forced off the ball by Ben H who tapped it into the goal, pretty harsh on the Ace's really to give up a goal like that but we certainly deserved to be in front 1-0 25mins

The game continued and the Ace's were really determined to get back on equal terms trying to find a gap to send their strikers through, pulling U.S out wide then cutting back in, but our back four were tremendous all game the combination of Jason and Dan in the centre with Joe, Graham and Mike all filling the fullback positions throughout the game completely closing them down and then hitting back by quickly counter attacking this gave U.S some great opportunities to kill the game off but the ace's held strong and some of our final touches due to the ground were just letting U.S down.

The half would end with the game starting to even up a little but the lead still in our favour.

Halftime.
We were pretty happy with our performance thus far but knew we needed to stay focused and sharp right from the start, we let ourselves down the last time we met so it was important too start the better of the two sides.
Jamie couldn't ref his knee had become to painful so we were forced into a reshuffle,Paddy had too shoot off halfway through the first half, his attempt to fool his wife into thinking he'd gotten over the flu so he could play was scuppered when she rang too tell him his boy was sick and he needed to go home right away to tend to him, hope he's alright mate.
Gus took over the reffing duties and our subs bench quickly went from three to one.

2nd half

The game restarted with what now seems our main kickoff tactic the hoof it down the left hand side of the field for the left mid to chase, shame we hadn't told the left mid what we were doing ha ha.
Anyway the Ace's were trying to get up the field and attack U.S early on and while we didn't start the sharpest we quickly got back into the rhythm of the game and made sure they had no chance on our goal ,we went on attack ourselves but just couldn't get the ball to sit right or our shots were way off target, we created a ton of opportunities but couldn't turn them into goals. Matt was totally carving them up all game in the midfield he had a few shots which went just over the top of the crossbar,but as the game carried on it was the Ace's who started to get right back into the game,a nice bit of play by them saw a shot going into the top left hand corner of our goal parried out for a corner by our keeper the resulting corner was pushed clear by the keeper also which fell into the path of an Ace's player whose shot was set well wide of our left hand goal post.

Their best attempt was to come about five minutes later, a corner from our left hand side was sent into the box and an Ace's player had a free header which he hammered in towards the goal only for the grace of Aaron's quick reflexes instinctively sticking his left leg out to it and the ball ricocheted off his knee out into general play where we cleared the ball, a certain goal saved right off the line.

The game would two and fro for the rest of the game and the Stallions would go on to record a well deserved 1-0 victory

Stallions : Corey,Mike,Dan,Jason,Graham,Spencer,Ben H,Matt,Joe,Tristin,Gus.
Subs: Aaron,Panda,Paddy

Goals: Ben H 25mins

next week Marist Cobras @ Nairnville #2 12.30pm

We Have Been Transfered too...

DIVISION SEVEN:

Uni Stallions v Karori Aces transferred to Onepoto No. 1 at 2.30pm

That's in Titahi Bay

CAPITAL FOOBALL DRAW FOR 11/12 JULY: (2.30pm unless stated) SATURDAY:

CAPITAL 7:
Uni Stallions __ Karori Aces __ Nairnville 1;
Marist Cobras __ Wgtn United Elite __ Cobham;
Stokes Valley __ University __ Delaney 1;
Karori Magpies __ Marist __ Wilton.

CAPITAL 7:
                      P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pt
Karori Magpies        11  9  1  1  40  13  28
Stokes Valley         11  8  1  2  40  22  25
Marist                11  8  0  3  37  18  24
Uni Stallions         11  6  0  5  23  20  18
Wgtn United Elite     11  6  0  5  20  21  18
University            11  4  0  7  15  25  12
Marist Cobras         11  2  0  9  18  38   6
Karori Aces           11  0  0 11  15  51   0
Pretty Simple really we don't want to be
these guys first win of the season.

Same old shit

The following grades are cancelled: Divisions 1, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, Masters Divs. 2 & 3

Getting ridiculous - again - every damn season. Perhaps we should just have shorter seasons and pay less fees. Damn Wellington.

Who was the missing link?

You all remember the goal. 85th minute. Stallions in a tight drawn game against Stokes Valley (was it SV?). Aaron takes the ball just inside the half, gets on the outside of his player and unleashes a fierce drive that just squeezes under the bar (watch the video - it was caught on camera if you don't believe me).

You all surely remember it. A goal that will go down in the history of the Stallions (or so Aaron will have you believe). But what if you don't remember it? Corey, Nick and Lloyd won't remember it as they weren't there, but I remember we only had two subs (I was on the sideline with Mike I think when the goal was scored) so someone else must not have been there. Who was it? If you speak up then I can credit your account with a missed game, but if not then you might be forced to sit out a game when you dont have to, which is kinda stink.

Nick's blog

Not sure if everyone got this, but it's a pretty good way of hearing about what is going on with Nick. Nick being Nick he sounds pretty positive about everything, and things seem to be progressing well.

www.outwardlooking.com

Maybe you could put it on the links section of the blog Aaron?

Good Laika

I'll definitely be going, I guess Robin will be there. Others should attend. It will be good - am I allowed to say i like Ghostplane better than Good Laika?

CAPITAL FOOTBALL DRAW FOR 4/5 JULY: (2:30pm unless stated)

CAPITAL 7:
University     V Marist Cobras    @ Nairnville 2;
Stokes Valley         V   Uni Stallions    @ Delaney 1;
Karori Magpies V Wgtn United Elite @ Ben Burn;
Marist         V  Karori Aces    @ Cobham.

Cancelled - Stink, but ...

Anyone up to go see Nick G play? Wakefield Park, 12.30.

if so let me know.

Today's Game cancelled ...

CAPITAL FOOTBALL: Senior notice

The following grades are cancelled: Divisions 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 10 to 16 inclusive &

Masters Divisions 1, 2, 3 & 4

Our chances of playing footy tomorrow...

Posted on Yellowfever as per an email sent to most clubs about chances of U.S playing Saturday

From CF

Please be aware that Capital Football has already received a significant number of complete ground closures (as well as restrictions) from the councils for this weekend.
The grounds even before last night’s rain were in pretty bad state and in some cases particularly water logged.

This will hugely affect the number of games we will be able to play over the weekend. Therefore, even though the weather tomorrow (and Sunday) may be okay, please expect a significant number of cancellations. The grounds simply aren’t available.

Please listen to the cancellations on Newstalk ZB tomorrow morning from 7am and/or the Capital Football website.

Prize for this season's pony?

Well Rauru's email spoiled my countdown - i promised to talk up the wandering Stallion Robins return. Kinda glad - it was all getting a little much.

In reality I was less counting down the days to Robins return than to the incessant and totally undeserved fining of Graham which will inevitably follow. Must be all those years of suffering Graham as captain of the cricket team.

Anyhow welcome back Robin.

Something Brooks never did

Elite Match report

Here
Photo: Corey 'who did a very good job of coming out and making himself as big as possible to stop the shot.' Its really former Sheffield United and England goalkeeper Willian Foulke.

Even Elite mention the Stallions great balls to feet. Must have been cause Aaron was away huh Tristin?


Oh yeah, and here is Spencer after his postmatch pie in the Elite clubrooms.

Yes, i know - we shouldn't focus on goal scoring

But its so much fun ...

Last year the race for the Golden Boot was so close - didn't it go down to the final game? This year it seems a one horse race. You could argue that now we are playing 3 legit strikers the goals would be split - but that would not explain why Tristin is scoring as many as he did last year, almost twice as many as the other strikers combined. And, tell me if I'm wrong here, but he seems to get a lot less fines for missing shots. And he bleats less about 'assists' and not been provided with good ball (as long as its at his feet). I guess you can say the Titanic beats the Albatross beats the Ginga. Odd to think of Tristin as the hare, Rauru as the tortise and Gus as Eddie the Eel. All that fathering perhaps ...

Now, I'm not criticising the strikers here, far from it. In fact I want some odds. I think Rauru will take the Golden Boot. But the odds better be long. Any takers?

As for the plate non-strikers prize for most goals - its more interesting there, Ben H a nose (or rather a dirty, dirty shin) in front. Jason will be eyeing up Corey's most goals scored by a defender prize. Shortest odds - Tangihaere scoring the most Oggies.

Most of all, I would love to see the Butcher score his first goal for the Stallions. Imagine the less than Mike fines.

Damn shame we are not counting all missed goals this season so we can't do those graphs calculating goals scored vs goals missed. That was fun. Corey would surely have the best ratio.

And just so Tristin doesn't get all the glory - you might score most of the goals, but according to our current poll you don't score the best ones. Cue expected Stallions rushing to the poll to make sure mine is outvoted ... Although it sounds as though one of the goals from last week's game might force its way onto the list - you know - Rauru's much fined 'assist' finished by Tristin. I didn't see it. A contender?

Lots of goals to come in the rest of the season, much more to come both in terms of numbers and quality. Bring it on.

Perhaps a best tackle post needs to be next - Hello Joe. Though Mike's terrible chop in the box to bring the pen against Magpies was delicate to say the least.

CAPITAL FOOTBALL DRAW FOR 27/28 JUNE: (2:30pm unless stated)

CAPITAL 7:
Uni Stallions V Marist Cobras - Nairnville 2 (12.30);
Stokes Valley V Wgtn United Elite - Delaney 1;
Karori Magpies V Karori Aces - Karori 3 (12.30);
Marist V University - Cobham (12.30).

Wgtn utd Elite 0 v 2 U.S Newtown park 20th june 09 12.30pm

A superb first half football performance one of, if not the best we've had this season was backed up with a solid 2nd half display as the stallions claim all 3 points in a game they were determined not to lose.

Not the nicest of days to be playing footy but it is winter so we deal with it, cold southerlies with intermittent drizzly rain the wind blowing generally across the field coming towards the stands, with the temperature unlikely to have gotten to double figures.

Newtown park is quite nice, I've only ever been there too watch football, so to get the chance to play was a bit of a treat.

The teams went about warming up at respective ends,then began their team huddles, I missed the start of ours but can only think it went something like Rauru:"boy's sh!t Corey is in goal for christ sake lets keep 10 players behind the ball at all times and hope like hell we can get something on the counter attack" I wouldn't blame him really if that was the case the last two times I'd played keeper we lost 2-1.

There was a more serious note to the talk however the team was rocked with news Nick White is expecting to spend some time in hospital and will require a lengthy period of re cooperation.
It was good to catch up with him after the game,All the team wish him all the best and hope for a fast recovery.
You're expected to start the next season in C.M Nick so get a wriggle on mate.

I honestly don't know what the pregame plan was before,but It was at that part of the talk where we decided to have a right old go and get the win, it sounds a bit corny but the team wanted to put in a great performance for Nick.

With Elite kicking off playing right to left from the stand side of the field, it was the Stallions who started the brightest, we went on the attack right from the start and put Elite under pressure early.The ball being passed around from front to back through the midfield with ease, it was like we'd practiced all week or something, Joga Bonito.

Elite had the first real chance of the game about 10 mins in their striker went one on one with our keeper after Jason slipped over trying to to turn and defend, coming out to meet him on the tip of the 18 yard box I sprawled to smoother his shot which ricocheted off my knee and back into general play which we cleared up field, with that my confidence got a huge boost and seemed to ignite the team into playing even better because we went on to dominate the next 20 minutes or so, the usual shanked clearances or silly passes weren't so evident from U.S today.

1st Goal.

We had stopped an Elite attack and I threw the ball out left to Spencer, a combination of my throw being a bit short plus Spencer taking a bit of time to react and claim the ball almost caused U.S to turn over possession, however Spencer did well to get a pass away it found it's way too Rauru who went on a nice run down the left before breaking into the box and sending a delightful little cross to find Tristin Waiting to punch the ball into the net to give U.S a lead and to be fair more than deserved, some great interplay by U.S to open them up 1-0 20mins

The game continued and Elite we're having the jitters a bit you know when things just don't go right,shanked passes, bad first touches,50/50's going the other way, it was this and our good performance which lead U.S to carry on a good period of domination moving the ball nicely from back to front looking after the football and the shots started to come.
Lloyd was enjoying his first game back from injury and was our Paul Scholes in midfield solid as a rock and dangerous curling a shot aimed for the top left hand corner only for the keeper to claim the ball,Logan too having a few shots from around the top of the box as well

2nd goal.
Having been awarded a corner Paddy sent in a ball that looked to be curling with the wind into the top left hand corner, it went right past the keeper and just before dipping in a defender slipped the hands up and padded the ball out of play their ref was right there and rightfully awarded U.S a penalty.
Tristin offered to let paddy take which he turned down so Tristin dispatched the ball into the back of the net to give U.S a 2-0 lead 25mins

We had our first goal kick of the game after 30 mins (i think),it wasn't really a good idea for me to be taking the goal kicks, our first (my last) was a shocker for those who play golf my kick didn't even make the ladies tee, I stubbed the ball out of the 18 yard box luckily to Jason who managed to get rid of the ball and save me a fair amount of blushes not that I was blushing already.

Elite managed to get a couple of corners and did have some forays into our half but we were defending brilliantly today and nothing was going to get past any of U.S.
Joe was the first Stallion this season to get a yellow card, a Joey Barton like lung at the ball and an Elite player as the ball was going out, the Elite player took exception to Joe's style and some pushing and shoving ensued followed by a yellow card.
The half would end with Elite on attack and as the half came to a close they had a shot go across the face of our goal only for it to out for a goal kick.

2-0 Stallions Halftime

Everyone was happy with the way things we're going, we all recognised we would need to stay focused as Elite would come out firing.

2nd half

We never really let them near our goal in the 2nd half they did have their chances but rarely did I recall them getting into our goal box to get a decent shot on goal they had a few corners but we dealt with them well, there were a couple of keeping errors which were mopped up nicely by the defence and we were unlucky not to score more ourselves in the 2nd half but Elites defenders were holding firm at their end of the park.

Their best opportunity came late in the 2nd half a free kick awarded 20 yards out just to the left of centre field saw them have a go only for it to be tipped over the bar for a corner which was cleared well

There were some funny moments angry man awards for both teams Mike had a collision with an Elite player and as play continued the Elite player got up and did his best incredible Hulk impersonation and began charging down the field at Paddy screaming "COME ON THEN" Paddy quite rightly cleared the ball up field leaving the Hulk to have to turn and retreat to defend,funny as hell.

Then we had Paddy and an Elite player get tangled up just outside our box on the left hand side the Elite player reacted to something Paddy had done (later found out to be a case of grabbing his meat and vege) and kicked out at paddy who was down on the ground, Jase the mus then did his best bouncer in a bar improv and tackled the guy away which lead to everyone getting all close up shouting etc the ref gave U.S the free kick which was good of him, he was bloody good all game really I thought he ref'd quite well,we cleared and the game carried on.

The Stallions would on to win a hard fought but deserved win 2-0 only our 2nd clean sheet this season.


Stallions Corey,Joe,Jason,Paddy,Mike,Spencer,Ben H,Lloyd,Logan,Rauru,Tristin
Subs: Tangi,Graham,Panda

Goals:Tristin 20,25(p.k)

TODAY'S GAME IS STILL ON SAME TIME & PLACE

Newtown Stadium 12.30pm kick off

Post match drinks?

People keen for some beers after the game at the park? There must be a game after so we can sit up in the stands and do the fine session there if people are keen. Payment of the beers can come out of the fine money if this is ok with you Jason (Ben is away so you have say over it). Unless people are keen to do a fine session later involving the ABs?