Stallion tiki taka

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/11/25/goalkeeper-short-passing-distribution/

Good article.

Stallions to adopt less subtle tackling techniques in 2012

Just be glad we didn't show this to Spencer before that Te Whaea Game...

Pony hall of fame

Sorry to have missed the end of season, sounded good. Perhaps a match report is required, or just any tales of stupidity and drunken excess ...

So I ran into GMann today, who told me about his well deserved pony of the year (and the way he celebrated with the wrong trophy!).

Of course, there was astonishment as to why he received so many ponies:
- 'No one has received a pony for being late before' (Umm no stallion has ever shown up at 2.30 for a 12.30 game!)
- ' I got Pony for being late twice! (Umm the second time you had the strip for the entire team!)
- 'The only on-field pony I got was for a foul throw!' (Umm, try 4572 foul throws!)

Ha, nicely done G, all done with great humour, and that trophy mixup is brilliant.

Got me thinking though, who else has been pony and for what? This shit needs to be documented. Ones I recall:
2011: Graham - persistent pony infringement
2010: The Uni Raiders - An embarrassment to Div 7 (see you next season)
2009: Unsure if it was Paddy for a fall from grace from 1st team, and being unable to score in Div 7, or Ben Hodges for persistent infringement we never thought we would see the likes of again.
Any others? I remember Jules got it once.

So thats probably the blog for the season, its been grand ...

Paddy gets player of the season, golden boot, 2 best goals of the season, fantasy champion, fwit of the season - all well deserved, it was a pleasure Paddy.

Thanks to multiple votes from Rauru determined not to have that first game attempted chip of the keeper voted worst miss of the season,  the prize goes to Dan for that header.

The Stallisons

In honour of Saturday's festival of football and courtesy of the Brazil football name generator, here is last Saturday's lineup (disclaimer - numbers are probably wrong, but positions should be ok):

1. Daniisco
2. Walkeiro Da Costa
3. Daviinho
4. Pimo
5. Winhosa Da Costa
6. Kilfeiro
7. Listeiro
8. Maldo
9. Beca
10. Walka
11. Jasa

Subs:
12. Claudio Robino
13. Logson

Non-playing reserves:
14. Claudio McLeao
15. Butchio
16. Hetaldo
17. Whitinho
18. Joisco
19. Colliezo
20. Leppisco

Classic Stallions:
21. Julcos
22. Wisco
23. Ludlimo da Costa
24. Bardo

Accies 7-0 to win Div 6

Congrats, well deserved, a good team and deserved win (though we will take endless pride in out glorious Te Whaea win!)

Photo: May not be the real Accies. In  fact these are the Esslemont Academicals( The Accies should fully change their name to Academicals!)

CAPITAL 6:
Uni Accies            7    Brooklyn Northern     0
North Wellington      2    Lower Hutt Sangham    0
Wainui Undertakers    3    Marist Inter          3
Petone Chicago        0    North Wgtn Villa      1
Miramar Rangers       0    Uni Stallions         1

                       P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pts

Uni Accies            18 12  1  5  56  33  37
Petone Chicago        18 10  3  5  43  23  33
Uni Stallions         18  9  5  4  32  25  32
North Wellington      18  9  4  5  39  29  31
North Wgtn Villa      18  7  3  8  36  33  24
Brooklyn Northern     18  7  2  9  29  39  23
Miramar Rangers       18  6  4  8  48  52  22
Lower Hutt Sangham    18  6  4  8  30  39  22
Wainui Undertakers    18  5  2 11  29  48  17
Marist Inter          18  4  2 12  42  63  14

Petone lost today, so we come in just a single point off promotion and keep our record of least losses. Great season Stallions.

Stallions!

As we contemplate the final game of a damn good season and think back on some truly heroic performances (Rauru attempting to chip the keeper, Spencer chopping the guy above the shinpad etc etc), its time to salute two of the most valiant Stallion-like performances of the season: Joe and Nick.

Both were struck down with longterm lingering injuries early on in what were clearly going to be breakout seasons (Nick was heading towards a 10 assists, 5 goal season, Joe was going to bring the clean sheets, a couple of sneaky goals, and perhaps a red card or 2!). But damn, you two have been amazing team players this season: showing up to games (Nick was unfortunately there last week, almost jumping onto the field!), chipping into the blog and email comments, always pushing us on, and then there were those weekly response to the 'who is out this week' emails. They pretty much followed the same pattern - Joe piping up immediately with 'I might be ok, I'll get back to you later in the week', soon followed by ' I'm out, hopefully next week', while the older, wiser Nick would be all 'I'm out, go hard' from the start.

The prospect of you both coming on for cameo appearances today was outstanding, but it sounds like we won't be seeing either of you in green and gold. Until next season!

Of course, the flipside is that you have been able to do other things, and show us all that we should not spend so much time playing and thinking about playing with a round ball on a muddy field - would the new album and an exciting book project got underway if you were playing regularly? Joe, for example, surely wouldn't have been able to pay recording costs with all those Capital Football fines!

Thanks guys, you have both been brilliant.

Rolling Subs

From the Yellow Fever website where Cap Football answer questions:

Question: Is there any reason why the refs in lower grades (div 6) are not allowed to having rolling subs? Every team in the grade wants it as it's a social grade but refs are being very pedantic about it. They say that it's a CF directive and that the clubs have been saying they want it. Obviously in the higher grades you don't have it, but I find it hard to find a reason not to have it when both teams agree to it. Is this something that can be looked at for next year (or even better this weekend). All the teams are social and want to give everyone a decent run. Most people are pretty keen for a rest or two during the game and if you only have 1 sub it's often a big ask for 10 players to play a full game. The old legs dont carry people as far as they used to!

Answer: Really good question. The reason the refs don't allow is that the laws of the game don't allow it in mens football. The real positive is that there are actually enough referees now that games down to Capital 6 can have referees. It is interesting that it is suggested that Capital 6 is a social league. Not sure that CF has taken that view considering in Cap 5 there are two clubs 1st teams. However, this is an issue than can be discussed for next year.

As to the email copied here from Jamie Cross. Obviously where there is not a referee appointed then the two teams can agree to have rolling subs. Also for the Cup Finals 7/8 down the refrees have allowed rolling subs as Referees wouldn't normally be appointed to these games.

Seems odd that they'll allow a ref to allow rolling subs in 7/8 finals since refs aren't normally appointed to these games, but in the same breath say that the rules don't allow for it. Hopefully it'll be something that they'll look at for next year cause there are quite a few negative comments about not being allowed rolling subs.

It was the worst of times...

I've taken it upon myself to write this.  So far as I know everyone was too depressed come the final whistle to turn their minds to matters as trivial as Pony and Stallion.  But any keeper that concedes four is probably a fair nomination and, besides, I've somehow managed to avoid the honour so far this season...

Pre-match, the Stallions were quietly confident - we are good team on the turf and by all accounts the last thrashing by these guys was an aberration.  The game started largely as you'd expect, the teams feeling each other out.  North Wellington, with the wind at their back, perhaps shading it with some tidy passing, but our defense holding reasonably firm and restricting them to a couple of shots from distance or acute angles.  For our part, there was some nice movement and plenty of enthusiasm on display.

Suddenly, under pressure and with a distinct lack of helpful calling from his team-mates, Tangi found himself in a blind alley on defence, got robbed and a speculator from outside the box took a wicked deflection of Spencer's back and into the corner.  The game had changed. Our goal now resembled a shooting gallery.  NW were winning possession in their own half and flooding forward; swamping our midfield, forcing our back four into retreat and taking advantage of the space in front of them to launch long-range wind assisted efforts on goal.  That said, when the second goal did come it was as poxy as hell.  A shanked cross from the left wing looped over a rather red-faced keeper into the far corner.  The third wasn't far behind - one of those speculators paid off and snuck inside the left-had post.

All the while we weren't playing that badly when we did have the ball.  Time and time again the final ball was all that was lacking - just under or over-hit when someone was well placed.  The few final passes that did stick were capably dealt with by the opposition keeper or were thwarted by last-ditch tackles.

The defensive shambles of the first half was perhaps best summed up by an exchange that went something like:

Tangi:  Graham, tuck in, he can have the space out wide

Dan (30 seconds later):  Graham, you need to go out to your man - he's got too much space out there

Graham:  For f*ck sake you two, which is it!!

Stallions roared into the second half and had largely the better of it for no reward.  A lovely interchange down the right wing finished with Rauru playing a beautifully weighted square ball to a perfectly positioned Rob, who was denied by a stunning save by the NW keeper doing his best starfish impersonation.  A matter of minutes later Rob had another chance from a bouncing ball, only to see the ball crashing against the top of the upright - unfortunately the upright in question was the rugby one 10 meters behind the goal.  To my lasting shame we than conceded a 4th.  The NW striker turned sharply and let go a decent snap-shot, but no self-respecting keeper should be conceding at his near post from that sort of angle.  Then, although there was about 30 minutes left, the game seemed to peter out a bit.  We had by far the best of the territory and possession but couldn't make it count - some presentable chances came and went, but we never really threatened to get back into it.

So that was it  - they actually only scored one decent goal (the third one), but thoroughly deserved their victory.  We can at least pat ourselves on the back for not taking their number 5 apart limb by limb - admirable self-restraint was the winner on the night.  

With the Petone and Accies results going against us the promotion dream has died.  Still, to be in the hunt up until the second-last round in our first season in Div 6 is a massive achievement and not one that we should lose sight of amongst all the thoughts of what might have been.  

We should vote on MVP if it hasn't been done already.  For what it's worth, I would go:

3 - Rauru, who deserved the points for having the stones to abandon his mrs on her birthday to chase a Stallions promotion dream, but was also involved in some great link-up play and showed loads of energy.

2 - Tris, for having the foresight to dull the pain before the game even started.  I bet in hindsight he wishes he'd had a couple more drinks.

1 - Lachie, for being the only Stallion to have an error free game

Nothing to lose in the next game.  I'll get in early by begging for a run in the outfield.  My view is that two people who have never donned the gloves in their lives should be given a half each between the sticks.

Petone win

Unlucky lads, a great year none-the-less. Still hurts though

Uni Accies            5    North Wgtn Villa      1

North Wellington      4    Uni Stallions         0

Lower Hutt Sangham    0    Brooklyn Northern     0

Petone Chicago        3    Marist Inter          0

Miramar Rangers       3    Wainui Undertakers    3

                       P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pts

Uni Accies            17 11  1  5  49  33  34

Petone Chicago        17 10  3  4  43  22  33

Uni Stallions         17  8  5  4  31  25  29

North Wellington      17  8  4  5  37  29  28

Brooklyn Northern     17  7  2  8  29  32  23

Lower Hutt Sangham    17  6  4  7  30  37  22

North Wgtn Villa      17  6  3  8  35  33  21

Miramar Rangers       16  5  4  7  43  49  19

Wainui Undertakers    17  5  1 11  26  45  16

Marist Inter          16  4  1 11  37  55  13

The Longest Trip in Cap 6

The longest away trip in capital six football saw the Stallions trundle over the hill to Wainuiomata. Looking to take all the points on offer and full of bristling possibilities, many a warm-up shot took a little dip in the chilly waters of the stream 50 ( or was it 100) metres behind the goal. However, I am assured that no balls were lost.

With 10 players available to pick from at 12:28, The Captain wasn’t troubled with starting line-up decisions thus Paul, Graham, Tangi, Jason, Spencer (or was it Mike), Logan, Aaron, Dan, Paddy, with Rauru and Tristan up front.

Despite huge Stallion pressure for the first 20 minutes very little came from it. Excellent movement off the ball allowed the midfield to dominate possession, send some probing crosses into the box and with the strikers, pepper the Wanui goal. That set the mood for the rest of the half with confidence spilling over into a nicely worked passing move resulting in a goal to the oldest member of the team, Tristan McLeary, 39 (at least that’s what Facebook tells me). The total domination in the first part of the half lead to some very relaxed defending down the left side by yours truly, allowing a Wanui player too much freedom to put an excellent cross in which may (or may not) have been partly cleared. However it got there, it landed nicely at the feet of the central midfielder who blasted it into the mid left corner of the net, possibly taking a slight deflection on the way.

With the scores tied Wanui gained much confidence although The Stallions did not back down from the challenge and continued to string together some excellent South American style passing. Tristan then scored a fantastic goal after some good work by the midfield: 2-1.

The second half started well for the Stallions, exerting pressure on Wanui. But, with the opposition pressing to get an equaliser another Stallion goal was always going to come and after a short pass into the 18 yard box, and a blistering run, Tristan found himself on the ball facing an advancing keeper. The first time shot sailed to the left of the keeper and rolled gently over the goal line much to the disappointment of a chasing Wanui defender. Tristan ‘hat trick hero’ McLeary brought his early in the season prediction to life. I quote “I seem to not score for a while then they come in twos and threes” (actually that is a paraphrase but it’s pretty close)

Wanui showed their skill seemingly able to pass out of their back third at will, with regularity. However, another brilliant defensive effort kept them at bay. Taking all three points was huge and sets us up nicely to end the season top two. Promotion, although not a certainty, is possible if we win all the remaining games and if the other title contenders falter.

Good to see Joe and Whanau on the sidelines supporting. Hopefully he will be able to return (ankles, hammies and knees strapped) for the next game.

---

Pony: Me, for excessive whinging after the ref allowed the Wanui player a presence in the 6 yard box during the penalty kick (which I countered masterfully by also being in the 6 yard box)

Ref: ”Do you want me to give the whistle to someone else?”
Me: “Yes”
Paddy: “Ignore him, he doesn’t know what he is talking about” (or words to that effect)

Stallion: Hairy “hat-trick hero” Mcleary from Titahi bay dairy

I can’t remember the points, and Aaron, shock- horror must be working and isn’t answering my text query. So perhaps someone could post them here somewhere.

Weird searches that have brought visitors to the blog

Aaron Ludlow - 151 times!

Tristin rugby McLeary - 46 times

Elephant wearing clothes - 4 times

Rhinoboy - 4 times

Fantasy Island Season 2 - 1 visit

Im so cool ice cubes are jealous demotivational - 1 time

Kneed your balls - 1 visit

Stallion balls - 5 visit

Titanic 4 online - 1 visit

Treasure chest made out of bread box - 1 visit

Wrap for dislocated shoulder - 3 visits

Fortress Te Whaea 7.40pm Friday night against Nth Wellington!!

Fantasy Football

The Marist WAGs have nothing on this lot

Email I sent to the Fantasy boys...

Thought I'd start up a bit of banter to get things going. I see that a few posts are on the fantasy website but I never read them so thought I'd start some up here.

Week 1 and Aaron was where he usually is, top of the table. Week 2 and where is he? Looking, looking, looking.......oh there he is. All the way down in 5th with a grand total of 16 points for week 2. 16!!!!! His bench scored 11 points more than the rest of his team!! Aaron must be gutted. He's still got Rooney as captain to play but then so does Nick (not captain though - he has Torres. Pfft. He's shit unless he's in a red shirt), and I.

The bridesmaids are where we always are in 2nd, but only 1 point off first and still have Rooney, my captain, and Nani still to play vs Nani and Smalling for Oliver (who I haven't added to this as don't have email) who is in first.

Speaking of Oli, what's up with choosing a defender as your captain and a goalkeeper as your VC? Talk about a lack of faith your boys further up the field. Park the bus much?

Coming in at 3rd is Goodall with 'energy247nz'. I think 247 is where Nick came last season in the Stallions league, hence the name of the team. With his captain of Torres and VC of Bosingwa anyone would think that he supported the blue quarter of London rather than the red half of Manchester. I guess he rates Tottenham higher than West Brom as far as opposition goes, although the EPL table at the end of the year will tell him that he shouldn't have. Yep, you heard it here first - WB will finish above Tot in the league.

Paul, with 'Team Winning', is...well...not winning. I guess they didn't get the memo. With Paul being new to this (to our conference, maybe not the league) he is doing well to be above Aaron. But then with a round of 16 points if you're not doing better than Aaron you should really give up now. Being a Pool fan through and through he's making selections with a combination of head and heart choosing Suarez (captain), Reina (VC), and Downing all in his team. While choosing Reina as VC against Arsenal might seem like an odd choice, it was almost a stroke of genius. If Suarez hadn't come on the field, his captain would have been Reina so he would have picked up another 7 points. His first sub also got 11 points, so Suarez basically cost him 8 points and a place on top of the ladder.

Unfortunately for 'Team Coming4th' they have no more players playing this week so are more than likely going to be overtaken by Aaron (3 points with a sub coming in + double whatever Rooney gets), and maybe even Dan if Nani, de Dea and Cleaverly pick up points (+ 2 points for sub coming in).

Dan let his Arsenal bias get in the way by picking van Persie as captain (he should have scored after Arsharvin pushed over one of the Liverpool defenders and was put in front with only Reina in front of him) but 24 points with 3 players to play and a sub coming in isn't too bad. Better than the cr@p he put out last season anyway.

People who aren't any better than they were last season are Jason and Logan who only play this game so that other people don't feel bad about coming last. Logan will spout his crap about not caring anymore, having a family, moving house etc etc as to why he's so $hit, and Jason will try hard but inevitably fail. Jason's 'Stallion Reserves' obviously has fond memories of old as he also was foolish enough to pick Torres as captain. Jason, no respecting Liverpool fan should ever pick Torres for anything, fantasy or not, ever again. He sucks. The expression "You lose form, not talent" has been adapted to add "unless your name is Fernando Torres". Why any fantasy manager would pick any striker from Chelsea is beyond me as there is no way of knowing if they are going to play. And don't make them captain cause there is a good chance that if they do play they'll get pulled early (Torres was 2 min short of picking up another point), or if they don't start they might get 10 min at the end. It's just going to cost you.

Logan in last place has an awful spread of players with 3 from City, 3 from Fulham and 2 from Chelsea (both strikers and his C and VC - Gus, see note above) amongst a smattering of other crap players from crap teams. He also has two goal keepers, neither of who played on the weekend. If he hasn't already, I suggest he gives up now.

The only other player that isn't in there is Lachlan although he said his team is going pretty badly. He can't manage to get into the league cause he says his code doesn't work, so if his team is as inept as he seems to be then Logan might have to find another wooden spoon to feed his family with.

So that's an early round up of Fantasy. It was fun looking at all your team and laughing at how useless they are. Even more fun sharing with you all.

Heard on the sidelines # 25251

In the clubrooms ...

Rauru: 'The last few days I've been feeling like I'm having a heart attack.'

Dan: 'Well have another beer and more fast food then'

Ah the good old days.

We all want to play, but ...

Check out this description of the conditions for a midweek match at Wakefield Park this week (from the YF forum):

'The hardy Tawa Grizzlies and North Wellington Vindaloos fronted up tonight in the worst conditions I have ever, ever played in.  Just before kick-off lighting flashed and thunder roared around the ground and the type of hail that leaves nail marks on your legs was lashed in on the bitterest southerly Mother Nature could muster. The game was played amidst snow flurries and the continuation of a southerly gale. The Met Service estimated the temperature at minus 5 when they factored in wind chill.'

Yep,  a cancellation this weekend might not be he worst thing in the world.

Fantasy Double Up

Think I have got most of this, the only thing I'm aware I've missed is the assist for Jason's goal vs Miramar - I guess we were all looking too hard at Jason's victory jig to see who made that final pass.

Some alterations - I realise that I haven't penalised the yellow cards - well, I have now. Funny, especially in Gus's case vs Lower Hutt where with a missed pen and a yellow he slips into a negative score. At the other extreme so good to see Tristin back to full flight yesterday, resulting in the largest individual fantasy haul of the season.

Again, I'm prone to making errors so if I've missed anything/screwed anything up let me know.

Miramar
Paul	2 (+60), 1 (+3 saves), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	2
Jason	2 (+60), 6 (defender goal) -1 (conceding 2 goals),  1 bp	8
Tangihaere	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	1
Graham	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	1
Spencer	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	1
Mike	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	1
Aaron	2 (+60), 3 (1 assist)	5
Lloyd	2 (+60), 5 (mf goal)	7
Dan	2 (+60)	2
Robin	2 (+60)	2
Logan	2 (+60), 4 (goal), 3 bps	9
Rauru	2 (+60), 3 (1 assist), 2bps, -1 (yellow card)	6
Paddy	1 (-60)	1
Wainui
Paul	2 (+60), 1 (+ 3 saves) -1 (conceding 2 goals)	2
Jason	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	1
Tangihaere	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals), 1 bp	2
Graham	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	1
Spencer	2 (+60), -1 (conceding 2 goals)	1
Mike	1 (-60)	1
Aaron	2 (+60)	2
Dan	2 (+60)	2
Logan	2 (+60), 3 (assist)	5
Rauru	2 (+60)	2
Paddy	2 (+60), 6 (2 assists), 2bps	10
Tristin	2 (+60), 12 (3 goals), 3 bps	17

Wainui Undertakers, I salute you

This is brilliant. Good guys, a couple of decent battles this season. Check out those conditions! And the Karori Magpies in a supporting role.  We need one of these videos. Where's that footage Lachlan took (actually it was against Petone when we got all colours of shit kicked out of us - so perhaps delete that one)

Perhaps we need something to commemorate this huge season: KP curse broken, 1st win vs Accies, Div 6 Champions ...

Accies stumble

CAPITAL 6:
Uni Accies            1    North Wellington      3
North Wgtn Villa      5    Marist Inter          2
Wainui Undertakers    2    Uni Stallions         3
Petone Chicago        2    Brooklyn Northern     0
Miramar Rangers      __    Lower Hutt Sangham   __No Result as at 6:05pm
                       P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pts
Uni Accies            16 10  1  5  44  32  31
Petone Chicago        16  9  3  4  40  22  30
Uni Stallions         16  8  5  3  31  21  29
North Wellington      16  7  4  5  33  29  25
Brooklyn Northern     16  7  1  8  29  32  22
North Wgtn Villa      16  6  3  7  34  28  21
Lower Hutt Sangham    15  6  3  6  29  33  21
Miramar Rangers       14  4  3  7  36  45  15
Wainui Undertakers    16  5  0 11  23  42  15
Marist Inter          15  4  1 10  37  52  13

Miramar no push overs

Last minute pony report..

Not since JFK rallied the American spirit to beat the evil empire into space. Not since Brad Pitt rallied his forces with "immortality. Take it, it's yours!" Not since, oh, f*ck it: inspirational rev up from Tangi mid week, heavy dose of luck when down 0-1 yours truly conceded a pen and Thommo blazed wide, but season best from Rauru up front and a marauding Gus saw us deserved if a touch fortunate 3-1 winners.

Highlights: Graham's 35 yard rocket just missing, and clearing showing that the three foul throws, two shanked passes and one leaping-leprechaun nothing but air header were simply aberrations. Jason leaping ahead of Lloydo and onto the scoring sheet, then Lloyd catching up. Another superb reflex save from DC. Aarons composed rampage up the right to set up the clincher. Great defensive marshaling from Tangi. 

Lucky charms: Harriet and Ben Brooks on the sideline. A little less easy on the eye than Marist Inter's WAGs the week before though... God knows how the sideline fauna at Wainui will look.. 

PS. I spotted Thommo in our building midweek, and caught his eye with a wee nod and grin. He shifted a little and looked away. Ask Baggio. A missed pen can ruin a man. Told the lads. Nick asked if he was a pen pusher? Paddy said avoid him on the stairs in case he falls over.

Fantasy Catchup

Sorry a combination of being out of town all last week and the film festival have halted the posting of Fantasy points. But here are points vs Marist (well, from what I can remember - tell me if I'm wrong anywhere.
 

Paul	2 (+60), 1 (+3 saves), 6 (cleansheet)	9
Tangihaere	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet), 2 bps	10
Spencer	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Jason	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet), 3 bps	11
Mike	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Corey	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Aaron	2 (+60), 2 ( MF cleansheet)	4
Lloyd	2 (+60), 2 ( MF cleansheet)	4
Paddy	2 (+60)	2
Dan	2 (+60), 2 ( MF cleansheet)	4
Robin	2 (+60), 2 ( mf cleansheet)	4
Logan	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Rauru	2 (+60), 1 bp	3
Tristin	2 (+60)	2

Leaderboard:
Paddy 82
Paul 68
Tangihaere 65
Dan 57
Logan (courtesy of a sneaky cleansheet!) 52

Fun Fact: Tangihaere is 3rd on the leaderboard but has a mammoth 15 bonus points, easily more than anyone else.

Talking about Fantasy, welcome Paul to the Stallions Fantasy EPL League - last week for any of the rest of you top join in the carnage.

Fantasy points vs Miramar to come later in the week.

Gratitude

Thanks to numbers 16, 7, 1, 11 and 3 for turning their shirts in the right way.

On that note, turning shirts in the right way should be mandatory for whoever wore 3 as it was still soaked with sweat at 7 on Tuesday evening (at least it wasn't Saturday morning) when I put them in the wash. (the rest were dry. Yeeeeeeeuuuuuurch!

Same old Stokes Valley

Ah, the good old days playing the Killer Bees and Nth Wgtn Varsity.

Don't think Corey was the ref, although he wasn't playing for us...

Question though, how, if the ref is from one of the teams, is he able to send people off?

To Wainui!

As we bask in the glory of a great weekend result, let's not forget the closeness of the league. We
are playing 12:30 in Wainui this weekend, not a game to be taken lightly people!

A big effort is still required to take us to the top of the league.

With only three games left at the most only three wins can put us in the driving seat to promotion!

So no surfing, rock climbing, watching daughter's games or any other distractions.

ALL HANDS ON DECK!

Heard on the sidelines #34512

Sorry Dan, don't want to take away from your match report, but before I forget:

Spencer after his shocking tackle: 'What, I was the last line of defence. That was a goal saver'.

Results are in

And Petone won, damnit:

CAPITAL 6:
Lower Hutt Sangham    2    North Wellington      1
Brooklyn Northern    __    Uni Accies           __ NO RESULT BY 6PM
Uni Stallions         3    Miramar Rangers       1
Marist Inter          3    Wainui Undertakers    0
North Wgtn Villa      2    Petone Chicago        3

                       P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pts
Uni Accies            14  9  1  4  41  29  28
Petone Chicago        15  8  3  4  38  22  27
Uni Stallions         15  7  5  3  28  19  26
Lower Hutt Sangham    15  7  3  5  30  32  24
Brooklyn Northern     14  7  1  6  29  28  22
North Wellington      15  5  4  6  29  29  19
North Wgtn Villa      15  5  3  7  29  26  18
Miramar Rangers       14  4  3  7  36  45  15
Wainui Undertakers    15  5  0 10  21  39  15
Marist Inter          14  4  1  9  35  47  13

Good effort today, good come back after going doing by 1.

Some good stuff today: dissent, some Ben, Jason and Lloyd breaking their ducks.

Won't take away too much from the Pony's match report. 

Pony= Dan, pushing the dude over in the box.

Stallion= Psul, epic save.

Decided would do votes for mvp points, get them in before Wed.

Getting lucky - what does it take to score?

So, home stretch, another crucial game coming up playing the 2nd best attack but 3rd worst defence in the league. The Stallions on the other hand have the best defence but the 2nd worst attack.

Granted the last 2 weeks have been on fields not conducive to playing total football, but we still need to score goals. Its been suggested that we should take the field out of play and go route 1. Definitely an option but we've had chances in both the last 2 games to score off crosses and still no result. Couple of things I think we should try to change - and no it has nothing to do with formations!

With the pressure to win I think we've lost one of the things that epitomised the best play of the Stallions - patience. Long range shots, first time passes that aren't on, not looking to pass or receive ball at feet (in midfield), are all examples of lack of patience. Lack of patience also means we become less accurate - shots off target, passes not going where intended, losing the ball in tackles, etc. Bring back patience!

The next thing is create more space. It was noticable against Marist that we were doing a lot of short passes. I think because the ground is so rough we've been playing closer to each other because of the fear that the ball will do a crazy bounce and not go where intended. I remember an occassion in the 2nd half where two players on the edge of the opposition box were passing to each other to try and find space to shoot. The problem was they were too close together so the same defender could shut both of them down. This happened all over the field - we need to keep providing the option to pass but make the run 2 or 3 metres further away. That extra space will give us time.

Last is the increased movement (and penetration). This really relates to strikers and wide midfielders. The image shows passing options (in black) and off the ball movement (in red). In the last few games forward players have tended to run towards the ball carrier to try and receive the ball - movement is important but a run towards the ball carrier condenses the field (see striker run 1). If the striker makes that run, and the cm make their run it results in 4 players being in a very small part of the field. It doesn't stretch the play and makes it easy for the oppo defence.

Run 2 creates more space & gets the ball further forward (movement & penetration). A wide midfielder looking to receive the pass down the line (black dashed line) does the same thing.

These are all things we have done during the season but as the pressure has gone on for results and the grounds have got dodgy we lost some of it. Let's bring it this weekend - patience, space and smart penetrative movement.

Time to break that Kelburn Park curse ...

... or to be canceled and/or transfered.

CAPITAL 6:
Lower Hutt Sangham	__	North Wellington	__	Fraser 1 (2.30);
Brooklyn Northern	__	Uni Accies	__	Happy Valley 1 (2.30);
Uni Stallions	__	Miramar Rangers	__	Kelburn (12.30);
Marist Inter	__	Wainui Undertakers	__	Miramar 3 (12.30);
North Wgtn Villa	__	Petone Chicago	__	Raroa (2.30);

On paper we have the easiest match of the top 3 - catchup time.

Heard on the sidelines #719

"Watch your f$!#en mouth you f$@&en cat!" The referee lays down the law.

At least I think he said "cat", I can't remember. It definitely started with a 'c'...

Uni Stallions Vs Marist inter 30th July 2011

Uni Stallions and Marist Inter turned up to play football on a beautiful winters day.
On a Nairnville pitch that was in really good shape, considering it was the middle of winter.Having had 5 days of sunshine & wind to dry it out. it wasn't the best, but it had to do.
Both teams looked to play flowing football in an even game over the entire 90 minutes.The two teams huffed and puffed their way round the field, if there was a rule that we could put a goal on top of a goal we'd have scored 3 they'd have got 2 in the end no one could find the back of the net the game ending 0-0.

Ponies Galore

So not an eventful game in terms of goals scored, but plenty of pony worthy moments. Much discussion and laughter at the pub - none of the candidates there to defend themselves. It broke down a little like this:

Pony option 1:

Robin - think back a couple of seasons ago to the team's resident 'anti-footballer' - 3/4 length shorts, polyprops, a little mascara - this was a fashionable dandy who refused to look like a footballer. So imagine our surprise yesterday when Rob shows up with new boots (with fluro elements?) but most importantly - SKINS! Unbelievable - especially for a player who has fought uniform fines with pride for seasons. Spencer, whose skins have not been seen for ages and either packed away at the back of the closet or have been ritualistically sacrificed was seen to smile a little, knowing the abuse coming Rob's way.

Perhaps this wouldn't have been a problem if Skins promise to significantly improve performance proved true, probably not true in this case. They did seem to make Robin angry though and he seemed to spend most of the game yelling at other Skins-less Stallions.

Pony Option 2:

Six Second Corey - will go down as the only Div 6 ref to blow against a goalkeeper for the six second rule - even Tang would think, Damn, that guy's a stickler for the rules! Now the merits of the call were debated - most agree it was a good call, most extreme in the other direction was Dan who claimed to want to kick the freekick out (or did he just say that after it sailed wide?). It was less the call than Corey's defense of his right to make the call that make this pony worthy - never has a ref sworn quite as much and as loudly as this. None of those kids playing on the turf would have slept yet. One of those moments verging on the edge of being both stallion worthy and pony worthy.

Pony Option 3:

Joe's hammy has taken a while to recover, and man is he frustrated. After announcing his return this week, he goes for a gentle Friday evening jog to test it, and what happens - he rolls an ankle and can't play.  Unbelievably unlucky, but very, very pony-worthy. Someone was heard to mention 'Oh well, at least we managed to keep a clean sheet' - but that's just harsh so I ain't going to mention who said that.

Honourable mentions (what a crazy, crazy game):

• Mike pulling a hammy getting out of bed
• Logan been hit by a sniper on the grassy knoll - it wasn't an Achilles or Hammy as most often happens, but a headshot. After minutes of head grabbing, arms flailing, rolling around on his back, Logan calmly insisted that he didn't want to sub off.
• Logan wrestling the ball on the ground and then some reason thinking he was awarded the freekick, passing to himself and dribbling away.
• Logan having a big night, hung over, missed rides, had to have Dan turn away on the gorge to pick him up.

Put like that Logan might have got off lucky. In the end it was decided that Joe is clearly most deserving of the pony (for a start what Stallion has ever gone for a Friday night run?), but since we want a match report, it needs to pass to Corey. Possibly everybody was too scared of 'Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry' Skins Robin.

And in more positive news the backs were rewarded for a huge game. I forget who got Stallion - either Jason's flying header or Tangihaere's season saving goalline clearance. Big games both - also reflected in the mvps:
3 - Jason
2 - Tangihaere
1 - Rauru

Until next week ...

Missed opportunity...again

CAPITAL 6:
Uni Stallions 0 Marist Inter 0
North Wgtn Villa 1 Brooklyn Northern 0
Wainui Undertakers 4 Lower Hutt Sangham 1
Petone Chicago 1 North Wellington 3
Miramar Rangers 3 Uni Accies 5
P W D L GF GA Pts
Uni Accies 14 9 1 4 41 29 28
Petone Chicago 14 7 3 4 35 20 24
Uni Stallions 14 6 5 3 25 18 23
Brooklyn Northern 14 7 1 6 29 28 22
Lower Hutt Sangham 14 6 3 5 28 31 21
North Wellington 14 5 4 5 28 27 19
North Wgtn Villa 14 5 3 6 27 23 18
Miramar Rangers 13 4 3 6 35 42 15
Wainui Undertakers 14 5 0 9 21 36 15
Marist Inter 13 3 1 9 32 47 10

The wheels seem to be falling off Petone yet we are helping them out no end by dropping points as well. Seems like all the teams in the top half are struggling against teams in the bottom half, except for the Accies. Good to know that promotion is still there for us.

In news in other grades, the Raiders have been promoted as well from Div 7 so they will be in Div 6 next season, along with the unbeaten Wests team. Question is, will we be there playing them or will we be in Div 5?

Game on!

Cancellations are out. We are still on and the game before ours on Nairnville 1 has been cancelled. Sounds depressingly similar to last week....

Boring Fantasy vs Exciting Fantasy

Another game with minimal fantasy fun (except for Lloyd, who has had consecutive full bp hauls - first time that has happened this season - shines when no-one else does, well not counting his daughters ...)

Didn't play of course, so am just basing these points on the blog and what i heard, tell me if I'm wrong:

Brooklyn
Paul	2 (+60)	2
Jason	2 (+60)	2
Tangihaere	2 (+60), 2bps	4
Corey	2 (+60)	2
Graham	2 (+60)	2
Lloyd	2 (+60), 3bps	5
Robin	2 (+60)	2
Logan	2 (+60)	2
Panda	2 (+60), 1bp	3
Rauru	2 (+60), 3 (1 assist)	5
Tristin	2 (+60), 4 (1 goal)	6

 The hole is where mike was, but since there are no stories of mega-chops I guess he didn't play.

Now, as I have slipped further down the fantasy table after a blistering start, I get to continue total domination in the EPL Fantasy Football - you have heard the story, 2 times, back to back Stallions champion, last season topped the Yellow Fever league - I'm a fully fledged f**en irresistable force. We need new meat, so sign up for the season and get amongst - http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ . We have a few people in this team who rate their football brain, come on and bring it to the table.

This is how it will go:
I will get off to a flyer, everyone will complain that I have too much time on my hands to tinker with my team (probably true), Rauru will fail due to blind faith to the redshite, Lachlan will just make stupid calls - the gambler in him always looking for the next Blackpool star, Jason's a visionary and will make some great calls, but won't be able to do it week to week and yoyo up and down the table, Goodall will make all his selections drunk at 3am to no success (just like his dancing at that time of the night), Gus and Corey will just be crap, and as they drift down the table will claim to have lost interest and not look at the game anymore - as if you get kudos for quitting when you are losing. End of story - I will be triumphant again, unless someone else with half a brain signs up. Do it - a good way to kep the banter up during the off season - though last season the rest of these chumps shut up pretty quick.

Damn good fun.

Once you sign up the Stallions league code is - 90859-32396

One player who might get more ponies than G-Mann

Great...

I cracked myself up thinking of captions for this but they were way funnier in my head than out loud.

Somehow Nairnville 1 is still being used this season. Not only that, but there's a game being played on it before hand. Let's hope for a transfer...


CAPITAL 6:

Uni Stallions__Marist Inter__Nairnville 1 (2.30);

North Wgtn Villa__Brooklyn Northern__Alex Moore 2 (2.30);

Wainui Undertakers__Lower Hutt Sangham__Prouse 2 (2.30);

Petone Chicago__North Wellington__Petone 4 (12.30);

Miramar Rangers__Uni Accies__Miramar 2 (12.30);

And do you think this refers to Hodges football skills?

And speaking of Hodges, how goes life up the coast Ben? I see KCU are struggling to battle relegation in divs 1 and 3.

vs Brooklyn Northern at Happy Valley

Arriving at the ground to find thousands of seagulls hunting for cockabullies on the half-way mark did not bode well, and when we shooed them off and starting kicking a ball around I could have sworn they were laughing at us. I think one even said, through a beak-full of cockabully, "Are you stupid wankers seriously going to try to play football in conditions like this?" though that could have been the delirium of hypothermia already setting in after five minutes on the park.

Despite their better judgement, Paddy and Lachlan turned up to watch, and Marty and a mate of Panda's turned up to play. Foolishly, Lachie agreed to ref. Despite everyone's better judgement the game commenced, and the Stallions dominated early in the first half with the bitter wind at their backs. Despite stringing a few good attacking plays together, most coming through the middle of the park and involving Lloyd and Logan, we were guilty early on of taking shots from too far out, hoping to catch the keeper off-guard or drowning. None of these attempts troubled the keeper, and most were hopelessly but understandably off-target.

Having dominated early, Brooklyn began finding their stride, and played a nice short-passing game along the ground, setting up a few threatening counter-attacks. The Stallions defensive line was characteristically stoic and well-organised, managing to keep their heads and their feet despite the conditions, and dominating the ball in the air. At one time, Tangi picked up the ball in the Stallions box, calmly turned a Brooklyn player and went for a storming run down the right side, beating two other players on the way. The Stallions made a number of other promising breaks, and seemed likely to score in the first half, but a couple of off-sides (Tristan), a header that sailed over the bar off a superb corner kick (Corey's head, Logan's kick) and a number of speculative shots from far out saw us goalless through the first half. Brooklyn's forays were generally snuffed out without alarm until they finally scored on a counter-attack from a well-considered and well-directed shot from a sharpish angle. Jason lunged his head at it for a clearance but it was just out of reach, and it sailed across the goal into the left side of the net. 0-1 to Brooklyn, who seemed to be warming to the game.

After a bit more splish-splash, the half-time whistle blew and the Stallions met for a one-minute chat before realising that stopping running was potentially life-threatening and that play should resume immediately. It was then that Panda's mate (let's call him "Frosty") declared that his brain was freezing and that he needed to go sit in Panda's van with the heater on. Definitely the funniest sub-off of the season (he looked like a handy player actually - perhaps one to keep in touch with once his cerebellum has thawed). I was secretly jealous of Frosty's willingness to flee, and had dreamed about doing the same thing, but was afraid of being voted pony. Mmmm.

The second half, the Stallions playing into the Baltic southerly squall, brought a fair bit of drama, and play got noticeably more messy. Lloyd, however, got more Messi and seemed to be able to play his trademark beat-this-player, shame-that-player style. With others involved, the Stallions set up a number of good attacking chances, and a goal finally came when Rauru picked up a ball that got stuck in the bog and didn't arrive to the defence as expected. He beat a Brooklyn defender and managed to knock it through to Tristan who was all alone in the box in a good attacking (and on-side) position. Tristan doesn't miss from there, so it was 1-1.

We all know how these games go - a huge nuts here, a wind-up and air-ball there, a shout of "rrrRRAAOOWRRr!" from a frustrated winger, a heart-in-mouth moment when their goalie nearly dropped the ball over the goal line, a frenzied albatross from an outraged striker, gentle through-balls being carried over fences into freezing, swollen streams, pinecones being thrown to knock balls out of trees, supporters going home at half-time (am I right, Paddy?), the odd moment of weather-defying brilliance from the likes of Paul (whom I saw applying PVA to his gloves before the game) Lloyd, Logan, Tangi, Panda, Graham et al, shouts of encouragement from those with more flesh on their bones than me, keepers with tears of discomfort frozen in their eyes, headed clearances sailing just over the bar, and a grim mixture of regret and relief when the final whistle blows, the game having played out for a draw.

After sitting in the car with the heater on for half an hour, I was finally able to drive home. On the way I wondered, "Does pneumonia count as an injury?"