As the former Tottenham Hotspur legend Jimmy Greaves used to say, and had he been watching the Old Boys play Canberra FC, yesterday I’m sure that’s what he would have been saying. Aside from “who are all these old blokes trying to kid”.
Canberra FC with all their guile & skill, stroked, caressed and passed the ball around the ground with precision and ease, as they out manoevered the old boys in the early stages. However they didn’t make their possession count, and when Kenny Menser cleverly chipped the keeper to put us 1-0 up on 10 minutes, followed by another from Colin Tulley a few minutes later, it was game on.
Canberra FC, quickly pulled one back as the goals started to flow, but the old boys counter attack was firing, and Menser broke clear to restore the two goal advantage. Canberra FC replied again when we let our opponents waltz right through half a dozen gold shirts, and then Wally Conlon found a yard of space to make it 4-2. A dubious penalty completed the first half scoring spree, with the old boys holding a very slender advantage at half time.
This week the motivation came from skipper Alan Froud, who threatened that if we didn’t defend better in the second half, we might find ourselves playing in the ’stiffs’ next week. For those that don’t know it’s what’s known in football circles as the reserves. Can you imagine if the old boys did have a reserve side? It would be like Captain Manwaring’s Home Guard.
Anyway, in much the same way as last week when Branko got the chaps a little fired up, Froudy’s ‘hair dryer’ seemed to do the trick, and the old boys, sorted themselves out a little. Plus the Canberra FC team began to run out of legs, and gave us some room up front. After a couple of near misses, Celtic shareholder ( yes he does apparently own part of Celtic) Colin Tully from close to halfway spotted the keeper off his line and chipped him. Even though the ball didn’t get off the ground, it eluded the keeper and rolled slowly into the net off the post.
In commenting afterwards, we concluded that it was like watching a cricket ball roll towards the boundary for four. Anyway that didn’t matter, we were now 5-3 up and set to rub a bit of salt into our opponents with a goal from Branko Milenovic who fooled the Canberra FC defence with a “serbian soft shoe shuffle” before letting go.
To say a goal from Branko is rare , is a bit like saying. that Messi of Barcelona ain’t bad you know! An understatement, but great to see.
So a strange feeling to come off 6-3 winners against such a very good footballing side. On paper you would think we must have played exceptionally well to craft such a result, but in truth we didn’t. I guess we shouldn’t let our minds make promises our bodies just can’t keep.
The thing about the old boys is that we still have memories from the days when we could all play a bit, so naturally there is a little excitement when the performance doesn’t quite match up to what it used to be. At the end of the day though, we must not lose sight that it is only a game. A funny old game at that.
