U.S 1 v 3 Karori Magpies Ngatitoa domain 23rd may 09

Oh Wellington,is wonderful
Oh Wellington is wonderful,We've got the wind the rain and the Stallions.
Oh Wellington is wonderful.

Hard luck yesterday boys.

By the time most people had woken up capital football had transferred U.S v Magpies From Karori park to Ngatitoa Domain in Paremata.

The ground itself was, considering the weather over the past few weeks absolutely primo, had drained well with no muddy bogs and the grass had been cut which is something the P.C.C has been better at doing than the W.C.C for years, maintaining good sports fields,but i digress.

With a few late pullouts due to illness and what not, the Stallions lined up with 11 players eager to get the game done and dusted before the first stages of hypothermia set in.

Bernard our late notice ring in was only able to play 60 mins as he actually plays rugby and had a game to play at 2.30.He acquitted himself really well and can expect to be called upon if needed again and isn't playing rugby of course, a solid player who committed himself well around the park.

We had the biggest southerly breeze ever at our back when the Magpies kicked off and that meant we spent a lot of time in the Magpies half of the field, the wind was so strong the lightest touch of the ball and it would just run on forever so playing ball to feet was a test in itself.
We gained a few corners and had a few goods long range shots trying to use the wind but it was a Barron time in front of goal.

Their 1st
The Magpies had managed a few times to break through and get their way into our goal box, a couple of shots tested Ben Brooks but Generally the wind helped to blunt their shots on goal.
One attack had a Stallion shoulder to shoulder with a Magpies player who I reckon tripped over his own feet and fell inside the box as the clearance was made,the ref from 48 metres away with a jacket up over his nose and a beanie covering his eyebrows blows a PENALTY he'd have been lucky to see past the lint on his beanie FFS bullshit call of the season in my mind.

So they step up and put the ball into the left hand corner pocket and take a lead well against the run of play. 0-1 25mins

I'll take an angry man fine because that was utter crap and I let him know it too, as did most stallions, his reply "do you want another ref", Umm yeah actually we would.

So we kicked off, regathered ourselves and set about trying to gain the equaliser, having spent so much time in the magpies half it was imperative we score and score from anywhere.
We'd put the magpies under pressure it wasn't hard the wind was really the biggest help every time they would clear the ball the wind would pick it up and send it straight back over their heads.
Knowing that was to be our fate in the 2nd half we all knew the importance of getting as many goals as possible in the 1st.

Our Goal
We'd been awarded a corner and the ball was sent into the box, bobbled around and wasn't cleared by the magpies.
Aaron got a boot to the ball and after taking a deflection it found it's way into the right hand corner of the goal giving U.S an equaliser, Aaron rolling away counting the amount of goals he's scored this season on his hand, I'm not sure why he started counting on the second hand though. 1-1 35mins

The game continued and we kept trying to get another goal to go into half time with a lead but it wasn't to be.

1-1 halftime

Kicking off the second half we knew there were a few things we'd need to do to get something out of the game.
We needed to sit deep in defence the 2nd half, the ball was just going to fly through the air, the second half was going to be the test,the tables had turned and we needed to be strong defensively and be quick to counter on attack.

No matter how you tried to clear the ball if it went in the air it came back at you, fast.
It wasn't long before the Magpies began to use the wind well themselves, we held them out for a good deal of the time and they like U.S in the first half found themselves shooting from well outside the box hoping to use the wind to aid the goals.

Their 2nd
We received the ball back from a magpies attack about twenty five yards inside our own half and a pass made across field became a 50/50 lottery, we got to the ball at the same time and as I attempted to clear the ball it ricocheted off the magpies players boot and fell nicely in front of him with me having to turn and chase he already had 5 or 6 yards on me being unable to catch him he was able to peel off a shot which Ben Brooks had no show in stopping 2-1 magpies 60mins

Not wanting to give up we tried to have a go at the magpies, but the wind and by now the driving freezing rain with bits of hail thrown in were starting to take their toll,with Bernard now having to leave to play rugby the game became even tougher for U.S, reduced to 10 men we needed to put in another hard shift.

Paddy had organised a mate to come watch, Dan he did U.S a huge favour and threw a shirt on that helped take the numbers back to 11.

The magpies started to shoot from all distances they had the wind and were going all out to put the game to bed.
One shot was a screamer, it went over the back of the goal lucky for U.S but not so the poor little unsuspecting school girl warming up for netball between our game and the netball courts she took it full force in the face which had the mums and dads furious with all of us as if it was intentional, so a quick check to make sure no real injury and apologises to the parents it was game back on .

We had some attacks ourselves keeping the ball on the ground we worked it up the field and were unlucky not to perhaps grab something but the wind and some good defence held U.S out

Their 3rd.
With the game getting on we were trying to get forward to score an equaliser not having much luck with the weather playing it's part we began to lose our shape the magpies had regained the ball inside our own half after being given the ball the striker turned me the wrong way and got a shot on goal which sailed into the back of the net giving the magpies a 3-1 lead with minutes to play.

The game would end and the magpies would take all 3 points, the scoreline a bit stink, but the result probably rightly so, they used the conditions better I think, held on the first half and had a right go the 2nd

No need to drop our heads though lads we played pretty well I thought, just the weather was the leveller on the day.

Stallions : Ben Brooks,Mike,Tangi,Jason,Corey,Aaron,Ben Hodges,Patrick,Bernard,Logan,Tristin
Subs : Dan

Goals U.S Aaron