Tuggeranong Old Boys win 5-1

Would you believe it, we won our first game of the season today? Well first game for me as I was suspended for the opener last weekend. We stuck five past a spirited Woden Vally side, and although we started slowly and looked a little rusty, on the whole, it was a good team performance.

In actual fact we really should have won by a few more. Several misses, a few good saves, and two or three which came back off the woodwork, kept Woden in it until early in the second half.

We kicked off at Mawson in blazing sunshine and promptly gave the ball straight to our opponents, and from there struggled for a while till our guys cottoned on that we were the team playing in the gold shirts. Once we realised this we slowly got on top and started passing the ball and creating chances.  After a flurry of near misses we went in front through a Colin Tulley goal, and led 1-0 going into half-time.

Can’t remember the team talk, so I’m not sure if our tactics to start the second half were to actually see how long we could go without touching the ball, but thats exactly what we did. So needless to say Woden equalised within 30 seconds of the restart, without any of our players having a kick. Funny, but that was the spark we needed, and immediately Colin Tulley ran through to put us back in front.

From here we took control, Chris Williams almost broke the bar with a header, before we scored again. I usually do one impressive thing per season, and this year managed to score my customary goal in the first match. That does of course mean that I’ll do nothing now for the rest of the year. Anyway 3-1 quickly became 4-1 when the ever reliable Mr Tulley completed his hat-trick.  Bill Hardie completed the scoring when he rose unchallenged in the six-yard box, like a Morris dancer to nudge the ball over the line with his knee.

Our old friend Valery struggled with injuries for almost all of last season, but he looked as if  he was getting back to his old form, with his strong direct running. He was unlucky not to score on a few occasions, particularly when he hit the post late on.

So the Old Boys have set a standard now, which means we’ll have to go on winning. Next week at home to Brindabella, hope we don’t have too many walking wounded. A quick hello to Paul Carter, who wasn’t feeling too well at the end. Hope you’re feeling better mate, in time for your trip to Europe next weekend, and that the volcano calms down so you and Patsy can board the flight.