Stallions vs BNU Match Report, aka, A Good Win But We Should Have Won By 6

With second spot, and a potential late run to 1st spot on the line, the changing room was tense. For those 8 players that happened to be there at least 15 minutes from the game.

Watching the young fellas in red  from the comfort of the clubrooms was somewhat encouraging though, running around in the rain as they were, doing shuttles: someone commented "they've only got 13!"  Suddenly we were playing for the win, a draw was not good enough.

With Heath managing to arrive before the game, we got out there with a couple of minutes to spare, kicked the ball around a few times and in true Stallions fashion were good to go.

And with the mood and focus of the team, the result was inevitable from before kickoff.  Bakky got us underway, strategically losing the toss and sending us into the wind.  Lesson learnt from the last time we played these guys.  We felt a bit sorry for the young fellas, undefeated as they were, so spent the first 20 or so trying to encourage them by repeatedly offering them the ball and asking them to attack.  It was all a bit boring really, so on our first foray into their half we sliced through their midfield and someone (Paddy?) popped the ball over the defenders for Jimmy to cleverly take the ball from right under the keeper's nose and over his head all without breaking his hamstring or a sweat. 

We then, again sportingly, conceded their half but they could not put much on target.  An all round solid defence for the last ten of the half and we went to the break with our lead intact.

The second half saw a much more even contest.  With the wind we put some good passing together, won a few corners, and Patrick showed some devastating pace down the right.  With a more open game, both keepers were tested, and Tim made some outstanding saves to keep us in the game.  We had the better chances though, with Carrick, Gus, and Gerald giving their keeper one-on-one practice.  Carrick managed to put a shot on an empty goal but the ball didn't make the 20 yards.  Admittedly, he was on the ground after a red card offence from their keeper.

A few minutes later and we had the 2-0 lead.  After some "encouragement" from his midfield partner to get back and defend a goal kick, Gus positioned himself perfectly and headed the ball down track one for Carrick to run onto and beat the keeper and score.

This prompted Patrick to taunt the opposition and supporters running down the sideline yelling "we should've won by 6!"  [Ed: at least, that's as I heard it told.]

That took the steam out of the game and we saw the final few minutes out with some more solid defending.

It was a day of all round heroics, great team defence, an exceptional back four, a midfield that ran all day, and strikers causing havoc at every opportunity.  Stallion though to Tim, with some great shot-stoppers and one-on-one saves.  Pony was a split-decision, shared between Rauru for missing both Brooklyn games and Tharron, for "losing" a sock that was already being worn.  [Ed: just a sign of how focused I was on the Big Game.]

Transfer from the old email

Stallions, this is brilliant discussion ('Tristin hanging around the offside line like a trannie down Marion St'!), but keep it on the blog - that way it lasts forever, doesn't just get deleted - and we can laugh at our antics in future seasons ...

Sounds like a cold, wet one, sorry to have missed it (honestly).

Start communication:

Haha, yea that was a huge albatross after the back pass!  True, forgot about Tristin hanging around the offside line like a trannie down Marion St.

I also thought Paul, while not having to make too many saves (although there was one good one in the second half that was goal bound) did bloody well to not spil any pill.  Every time he came out the ball seemed to stick to the gloves which would have been bloody hard in those conditions.

As a virtual spectator - frozen into an ice-cube at times - I would offer these thoughts.  Lloyd as MVP without a doubt.  Particularly in the second half where he bossed the game, managed to break up numerous Brooklyn breaks as well as somehow finding Stallions with passes out of ankle-deep puddles.

Graeme for Stallion isn't a bad shout (coupled with some near-Pony moments) - I was especially fond of his nonchalant header from the penalty spot that flew about 10cm over my bar.  He then claimed he knew it was fine...  I didn't witness you getting nutsed Rob, but if it was in the second half and wasn't in the penalty area I wouldn't have stood a show of seeing it.  Gracious acceptance of the pony though.

Thanks again to Lachie for a champion effort, you certainly kept that seagulling Tristin in check - how many offsides was that?

Cheers
Paul

Mmmmm. Would have got this email earlier if I wasn’t working late into the evening at school (cue the violins). Yeah, that was a HUGE nuts! I basically extended as far as any man should. A few other funny moments to mention: Tangi’s throw-in to his own feet (Lachie was kind enough to ignore it), Panda’s mate going off to sit in Panda’s van at half time because his brain was freezing (no joke!), Graham’s huge shout after kicking a ball out (anyone heard the word “rrrrrrRRRRRAAAAAAAAOOOOOWWWWWrrrr” before?) and Rauru’s huge gestures at Lachie when he thought there’d been a pass back (was anyone else desperately trying to recall what you should do for someone who was having a fit?). These were just funny moments, not pony moments, but worth mentioning.

Some potential Stallion moments:

Lachie agreeing to ref in the most miserable of conditions

Lloyd, for somehow being able to play the same way he does in dry conditions, beating players seemingly at will

Graham – for having an awesome, vocal, physical game. I remember heaps of good, strong plays – headers, steaming runs (that sounds foul), tackles etc. He’d be my first pick for Stallion.

Tangi’s storming run up the right in the first half, beating 3 players then selflessly passing the ball off before losing it.

Rauru – commitment to winning the ball, harrying the defense, and getting in their faces.

I don’t remember anyone else having weak games (though I can’t say I could see anything much), and am happy (in an appropriately humiliated way) to accept the pony. I played like a dog.

Yours earnestly,

Robin

 

So I'm gonna go out on a limb here and vote robin as the Pony and match report writer. There wasn't any obvious moments of pony-ness or anything much stallion worthy - just reasonably solid moments for most of the game. Sure, there were shanked passes and general moments of average-ness but Robin getting nutsed was pretty funny (although not easily remembered it seems - I'm sure Rob will remember it). I vote Rob because besides Graham (twice) he is the only person not to have written a match report when pony since paddy got in early when Rob was pony last. He's also on school hols so what else is he going to do? I think paddy and Corey should decide on MVP points since they watched the game from the sideline.

It was tough work out there boys but we have a good run in so promotion is still all on. Let's bring it next week.

Shocking weather for football fellas we're still in the hunt though 23.07.2011

CAPITAL 6:
Uni Accies            1    Petone Chicago        1
North Wellington      2    Wainui Undertakers    3
Lower Hutt Sangham    0    North Wgtn Villa      0
Brooklyn Northern     1    Uni Stallions         1
Marist Inter         __    Miramar Rangers      __Game Abandoned
  
                     P  W  D  L  GF  GA  Pts
Uni Accies            13  8  1  4  36  26  25
Petone Chicago        13  7  3  3  34  17  24
Uni Stallions         13  6  4  3  25  18  22
Brooklyn Northern     13  7  1  5  29  27  22
Lower Hutt Sangham    13  6  3  4  27  27  21
North Wellington      13  4  4  5  25  26  16
North Wgtn Villa      13  4  3  6  26  23  15
Miramar Rangers       12  4  3  5  32  37  15
Wainui Undertakers    13  4  0  9  17  35  12
Marist Inter          12  3  0  9  32  47   9

The Dirty Dozen - Fantasy points vs Brooklyn

Big hauls for Paddy and Dan, a pair of 12s - would have been much more for Dan if he were a defender! Lots of points, something like this (as usual all subject to Aaron's maths):

Paul	2 (+60), 1 (3+saves), 6 (cleansheet)	9
Tangihaere	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Jason	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet), 2 bps	10
Corey	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Dan	2 (+60), 2 ( mfcleansheet), 5 (mf goal), 3 bps	12
Spencr	2 (+60), 6 (cleansheet)	8
Graham	2 (+60), 2 (mf cleansheet)	4
Aaron	2 (+60), 2 (mf cleansheet)	4
Lloyd	2 (+60), 2 (mf cleansheet), 1 bp	5
Paddy	2 (+60), 4 ( goal), 6 (2 assists)	12
Robin	2 (+60), 2 (mf cleansheet)	4
Rauru	1 (-60)	1
Tristin	2 (+60), 4 ( goal)	6

As per Logan's request, here is the running total (good to do this after a big team haul, fleshes out those scores a bit:

Paddy	42
Dan	37
Paul	33
Aaron	31
Rauru	31
Tangihaere	30
Robin	28
Jason	26
Corey	25
Logan	22
Lloyd	20
Nick	17
Tristin	17
Graham	15
Spencer	13
Joe	12
Jamie	5

In some ways its a cruel game - Joe has happened to missed 2 games when we have had clean sheets, Lloyd is suffering from the midfield problem - no mater how hard you work, unless you score goals you ain't going to get much, all just a bit of fun (mainly for Paddy and Dan I guess!).