Yeah, maybe I do need to work on my throws a bit..

Fantasy vs Rebels

As usual late and probably wrong.

Dan
Graham	60+, 1/2 D clean sheet, mf goal, 2bps	11
Tim
Tangihaere	60+, c/s	7
Paul	60+, c/s	7
Jason
Joe	60+, c/s	7
Chris
Paddy	60+, assist	5
Lloyd	60+, assist	5
Aaron	60+, c/s	7
Gerald	60+, goal, 1bp	7
Heath	60+, 2 goals	10
Tom
Bakkie	60+, 4 assists, 1 goal, 3bps	21
Rauru	60+, 2 goals	10
Carrick

Leaderboard:
Bakkie  56
Rauru  43
Tim  42

SAF - GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!

Jason's Facebook page was a hive of activity tonight with the announcement that Man U are going to suck next year.  Discussion turned to why Moyes and why he should or shouldn't be the manager.  I said that he doesn't have any qualifications in terms of dealing with egos which started off this little thread.  Gotta love Joe for sticking up for one of his own!  Love your work Joe!

And for the record, I hope that Moyes does get the job.  That'd make both Everton and Man U shitter which as a Liverpool fan is the best possible outcome!

Stallions 7 - 0 North Wellington Rebels

It’s not often that you sit down at the pub after a 7-0 win and the mood is somewhat low, but that seemed to be the case after the latest win.  There didn’t seem to be much intensity which is probably to be expected when you aren’t met with much intensity, but when you put 7 goals past an opponent and could easily have had at least 3 more, things must have been going well.

The Stallions defence was largely untroubled and worked the ball around the back with good movement.  Almost all the goals were scored with a number of passes strung together, and I can’t think of any that were scored from outside the box which shows that the tiki-taka style of football is paying dividends.

The Stallions were up 3-0 at halftime with goals to me, Heath and a debut goal for last weeks Pony, Gerald, with Bakky providing the assist for all three.

The first was a well worked move down the left with Bakky putting in a cross which I met with the head and glanced it past the keeper.  1-0.

That shortly became 2-0 when Bakky put in a neat little through ball to G who got there just before the on-rushing keeper and managed to bundle it over the line.

The third came after another ball was whipped in from the left (from a corner maybe?) which Bakky met with his head.  The keeper saved but only managed to parry right into the path of Heath who was following up well to prod it in. 

It should have so easily been 4 but it wasn’t which is why I’m writing this match report.  I think it was Bakky again that put in a neat little through ball which I ran on to.  The keeper came out but I got there first and tapped it past him to his left, leaving me about 18 yards out on the corner of the box.  With an open goal I hit it with my left and watched dismayed as I missed by a good meter or two leaving the crowd roaring with laughter.  Continue laughing fools, your team has conceded 300 goals already this season (or was that Panda and Paddy laughing on the sidelines?).

The second half was much the same.  Bakky prodded in a goal mouth scramble, he provided a tap in for me after jinking to the byline then cutting it back, Heath got on the end of a Paddy corner and nodded home and Graham scored a great goal after Lloyd evaded a few defenders and put in cross which Graham met with his left after running in from right midfield.  Bakky claims that it was 90% shin but I’m pretty sure he’s just jealous since despite being the top goal scorer, none of his goals even come close to being as classy as Graham’s ;).

 Again, amongst all this I earned another nomination for Pony.  Paul put in a defence splitting through ball from the back, I ran on to it, cut back on my left taking out the defender and most of the keeper, and then with my right managed to miss the goal left with about 80% of it being wide open.  However I was not alone in the nominations for Pony and on another day it could have easily been someone else writing this blog.

-          No one will forget Paul’s throw-in in the second half which went twice as high as it did long.  As ugly as it was it was probably a legit throw-in!

-          Joe put in a fantastic cross in the first half.  Unfortunately it was down our end and straight to one of their strikers who was sitting in the box.

-          Paddy’s disgraceful blatant attempt at getting more fantasy points by trying to curl in a corner with his right foot from the right hand corner.  He managed to hit the post but his blatant disregard and lack of respect for the opposition is matched only by Mario Balotelli’s back heal attempt at goal.  We actually gave him Pony for it at the pub but he cried and packed a sad so we felt sorry for him and I got it instead.

-          And had they scored from it, Aaron surely would have got a Pony for his MASSIVE air ball.  Attempting to clear the ball he took a huge swing at the ball and only managed to push it further towards our goal and one of their strikers.  It took a good save from Lachlan to keep the clean sheet.

So after all that, here’s how the breakdown goes:

Stallion – Graham for his great goal.

Pony – Rauru for a shocker of a miss (or two)

MVPs – 3-Bakky (goal and 4 assists), 2-Graham (clean sheet and good goal), 1-Gerald (goal and good work down the left)

Goals (assists) – Rauru (Bakky), Gerald (Bakky), Heath (Bakky), Bakkie (none credited), Rauru (Bakky), Heath (Paddy), Graham (Lloyd)

Raiders finally speak

Funny what winning does to a team.  Raiders had tons of match reports last year as they just missed out on relegation.  This year they have been non existent.  Sounds like a great win for them today.

Fantastic 4-3 win today after being down 3-1 with about 20 left. This is the Raiders I know and love - digging deep, never settling for a loss or draw, fighting to the death. Lower Hutt were a decent side but we wanted it much more. The win has put us 7th and we have the chance to keep moving up the table next week v the other Nth Wgtn side. Nairnville, 12.30 is the kickoff.

Our one will be up at some stage once Paddy the Pony stops sulking and writes it up for that disgraceful attempt at scoring direct from a corner.

Olympic Fantasy

A boring week fantasy wise!

Dan	60+, 3+ saves	3
Tim	60+, defender goal, 3bps	12
Paul	60+	2
Paddy	60+, assist	5
Lloyd	60+, 2bps	4
Aaron	60+	2
Gerald	60+	2
Heath	60+	2
Tom	60+, 1bp	3
Bakkie	60+, goal, assist	9
Rauru	60+	2
Carrick	60+	2

A defender is on top of the leaderboard:
Tim 42
Bakkie 35
Rauru 33

Stallions 2 Olympic 2 – early ride on top

Looking back at Saturday 's match, it's hard to picture anything beyond Bakkie's gangnam style come Mr Ed goal celebration.  I'm scarred.

As for the match, we were greeted to sun and a surprisingly good looking Anderson Park track.  Olympic definitely took the early spoils in the pre-match warm-up stakes.  Their seemingly endless pre-match drills were slightly unnerving if not a little tiring to watch.  However, with the Stallions having safely secured the nets with the team bags, it was business time.

The early play saw an interesting exchange or two or seven between the Olympic goalie and Carrick as the goalie passed it to Carrick and he gave a work out to the areas to the left, right and above the goal.   Thankfully, they soon tired of that dance and the other 20 on the park were called into action.

From there the play was hard and fast as both sides tested each other out.  It's not Olympic without a bit of aggro, but once Heath and Demetri had resolved their argument over who had the brightest coloured boots, both teams largely let the football do the talking.  The Stallions had the best of the early running and were unlucky not to pull ahead early (who missed that header?) and saw another goal to [Rauru's] tally belatedly called back for a controversial goal-kick.

In the end it was Olympic who drew first blood with a cracking opening goal.  In from a short corner, the Stallions were guilty of not pushing out early and met with a powerful shot from around 18 yards.  Dan got a touch, but not enough to deflect it away.   From there the match remained tight until Tim found some space in the box and came up with the goods to even the score and round off some great work around the park.  I can't remember the specifics of the goal itself, but I'm told by an anonymous Stallion source that it was "nothing spectacular" so I'll move on.

As the players headed to the tunnel, the match was evenly poised at 1-1.  The first half had certainly been a step up in pace on previous weeks and the injuries were mounting with the original four subs down to one.

However, after a rousing half-time talk, the Stallions seemed to take control of the park in the second half.  Lloyd, Paddy, Heath and Tim dominated the central areas and distributed well to the ever-running flanks.  Against the run of play, the Stallions were then caught out by a quick break, a cross from the left and a powerful header splitting what had been a resolute Stallions defence.   After that the defensive core closed ranks and it's hard to remember Dan being called on to make another save in the game.  Never beaten the Stallions pressed forward in numbers and the final 20 minutes was marked by Rauru, Tom, Bakkie, Carrick and Paul joining the chorus of Stallion shots, headers and teasing crosses flying in from left, right and in front.  On another day we could have had 4, so when Bakkie turned in the box late into the match scoring low to the left to bring the match back level at 2-2, it felt just deserves.  The donkey/horse/Psy impression that followed not so much.

So at the final whistle, Stallions walked away with a well-earned point and the first two goals past Olympic this round.  Four rounds in its tight at the top with only 3 points separating first and fifth.  Polish off those defensive and shooting boots, looks like goal-difference may play a big part if things stay like this.  Next up North Wellington Rebels.


G-Pony.