Match report: Stallions on Fire at Te Whaea

The Stallions continued their hot run of form by clinically dispatching North Wellington Villa on Saturday afternoon.  With the Stallions struggling to name a starting eleven a few days before the game, an SOS call was issued to every friend, mate, facebook acquaintance, wife.  No previous experience necessary.  Must be able to pull on boots and last 90 minutes without getting injured (note that the Stallions impose a higher standard on ring-ins than their own starting eleven...).  In the end three new Stallions were capped:  Postie, Gus' mate Nick and James from the Uni Accies.  All three played a vital role in getting the Stallions the win.

So on an overcast Wellington afternoon the mighty Stallions took to the artificial turf, ready to do battle with a bare eleven and Gus as ref. The irony of finally being able to play with rolling subs, without any subs, was not lost on anyone.

The first half started brightly for the Stallions with a fair amount of possession won and chances created, including a cross whipped in by Postie which tantalisingly beat the keeper and kept rolling past the far post with no Stallion present to claim the tap in.  With Stallions in possession, Paddy spent most of the first half crossing, delivering corners, shooting or fetching the ball from over the fence.

The "Stallion" moment then occurred.  The Stallions coughed up possession in their own half, and Villa played the ball into the box with their striker volleying to Paul's left, who, with a dexterity that belies his frame, instinctively tipped the ball over the bar.  Clean sheet preserved, and Stallion label earned in less than a second.

The end of the first half saw a few dangerous turnovers go the way of Villa as the Stallions pushed forward, but ultimately to no avail, thanks to some good defensive work by the Stallions back four.

Halftime: nil all.

The Stallions again started brightly and continued to surge forward on a number of ocassions with James and Postie working hard up front to give options.  James was rewarded for his hard graft by latching onto a pass from Gus who won the ball off a Villa mistake.  James calmly slotted the ball far post after the keeper had come out to meet him, earning him possible recriminations from his Accies team mates later in the season.

The second half saw the Stallions midfield getting tired with gaps opening up (notwithstanding the tireless running from the Stallions ruggishishly good looking midfielders), but the Stallions defence really stood up in the second half, with the only shots from Villa being ostensibly long range efforts. This was no doubt a combination of Jason kicking lumps out of their strikers and Tangi continuing to win every ball that came his way in the air.  As a further testament to the rigour of the Stallions defending the Villa striker "Rusty" was pulled from the field with 15 minutes to go.  Both sides seemed to sigh a breath of relief knowing that the inane chatter that was brought to the field of play would at least be relegated to the sideline.  Despite a couple of efforts which were easily neutralised by Paul, Villa never really looked like scoring.

Then came the Pony moment.  Postie on the ball passed to Paddy who was calling for it outside the opposition 18 yard box.  Unfortunately Postie's pinpoint pass went staight to yours truly, who stepped over the ball to let it go to Sawyer, who would have undoubtedly put it top corner.  Of course it didn't get within a bull's roar of Paddy and a chance to take the ball onto goal was missed.  Pony status earnt in less than a nano-second.

Other notable highlights from the game included:

Stand in skipper for the day, Aaron firing up the troops before the game, by exclaiming that everything was set for a good "friendly" ;

Nick upstaging Tangi by wearing orange fluorescent boots;

Nick performing the most turns in one game; and

Spencer bringing the Stallions rent a crowd along.

  

 All in all, a good competitive game with a good result earned by Stallions hard graft.  Watch out Div 6 the Stallions are on a roll...