Something Logan asked me to post

I think its submitted video evidence from a desperate man to claim an assist for a header that hit the post. Video evidence or not, that is no assist.

Masterton 0 - 5 Stallions

Another emphatic performance saw the Stallions continue to stride the final furlongs towards promotion.

Powershop's 3-1 win away to Wainuiomata means we still need a point to confirm that promotion, but we have three opportunities to secure that point starting with the first against Wainui ourselves at Anderson Park at 12:30 on Saturday the 1st. No room for complacency as last week's bottom of the table Tawa held Brooklyn to a 0-0 draw over the weekend; who knows what team will show up at Anderson.

Perhaps because of the large distances involved, 11 Stallions arrived with more than half an hour to spare for the first time anyone in the team can remember in a while. In contrast to the dark and stormy Monday night, we had a bright and brisk winter day, albeit with a low sun that was always going to make life tricky for defenses at one end of the pitch.

Thankfully, we only had one ball, sparing ourselves the ignominy of using all of our collective energy prior to kick off. The warm up did appear to pay dividends though, with Stallions' starting much the brighter including two early goals (both making clever use of the square goalposts, who could be justifiably credited with both assists).

This though was the same script that was followed by our first game against Masterton, a game which saw us only just ahead 3-2 at half time. Just as they had previously, they came back at us again in this one, but a combination of some good defending, a few slightly shaky defensive clearances (including from yours truly, again deputising for Paul in goal), and some 'straight down the throat' shooting from them meant that we kept them out, and managed to add a 3rd before half time.

The second half was more of an arm wrestle, and with the sun very low and straight ahead on the horizon and no cap I found myself sporting a permanent Captain Hurricane salute. I'm blaming the lack of complete visibility on my rush out of the box to inadvertently body check Muse, who had an excellent game, in the act of clearing a through ball. In the end the ball went out, to the relief of both of us.

However, we were able to maintain our control, Milky, Heath and Lloyd superb in the middle, and and add to our half time tally, with two well taken goals; the last a very popular strike by Nick White getting off the season's duck.

Masterton were the perfect hosts, providing our team (and the band of familial supporters, many of them over for the weekend) with copious pizza after the match.

Great work Stallions, lets seal the deal on Saturday!

Stallions 1 - 0 IBU HHH

Great gutsy win last night guys; getting it done on the archetypal cold, wet night at the Britannia (aka Wakefield 1).

A very hard fought game  played mostly on the North side of the ground thanks to the prevailing (or should that be dominating) wind. Conditions did not favour flowing football, but some of our passing along the ground was superb.

Minimal chances at either end, most of what I had to do as keeper amounted to coming and collecting balls that came long (which I did reluctantly) and then trying not to punt the ball out on full (with which I had mixed results). Great goal to seal the deal with minutes to spare, but kudos must go to the defence, superbly marshalled by Aaron to seal a rare clean sheet in the absence of Tangihaere.

Brooklyn are officially promoted as of their 5-3 win against the Sea Captains in the game after ours, and the Magpies win against Tawa lifts them up from dead last in the table and means the bottom 5 teams are separated by just a point.

Bring on Masterton and the road trip!

Black socks/white tape: Stallions 1: IBU Powershop 0

Back to the old Div 7-like battle in the trenches - we ain't played on a field like that for ages - we all on turf/under lights only these days.

And a good, hard battle too - we were pretty average, they will feel the same, the ref had a shocker. Bad/Bizarre calls all round - we were on the receiving end of some- hand ball in the box, benefitted from others - was the time they got the ball into the back of the net offside? We were appealing for a high boot. The sending off, and the yellow for the poor guy on the sideline, was too much.

GREAT goal from Lloyd: starting from midfield, beautiful ball from Rauru to put Lloyd through 1-1, perfect finish. Spark one of the best Heard on the Sidelines for a while (except for that poor IBU lad who got carded for something his friend said) - after seasons of battling his children for golden boot, Lloyd scores, turns around and hears that 'we saw someone scored but couldn't see who it was'. A father's dreams shattered.

Anyway, 3 more points which puts us definitely in the top 2 heading into the final stage of the season. Here we were thinking Div 4 might be too much, but the two promoted teams are miles ahead. Talking about Brooklyn - not only deserved winners of the league, but also a good take on the match report - filmed in the changing rooms after the game and put on the club's facebook page: (https://www.facebook.com/mathew.allen.14/videos/o.118568261517454/10153479398472498/?type=2&theater). Since we are finding it impossible to get written match reports out of the pony, this might be the answer - get them when they are most fired up/embarrassed. No singing though.

Talking about the pony here are the match stats:

Goals:
Lloyd (Rauru assist)
Stallion: Paul (take your pick from any of those saves, but the go go Gadget extension arms one might just make it).
Pony: Milky - hit by the sniper positioned in the Brooklyn hills.