Another victory this morning for the Old Boys keeping them in contention for top spot in the Master’s over 43 division, this time a narrow 1-0 scoreline against Brindabella Blues A at cold & windy Calwell.
One or two of the Old Boys would have either been late to bed, early rising, or maybe some stayed up all night and watched both games with Argentina beating Nigeria 1-0 and England playing the USA in the World Cup this morning, but it didn’t seem to have any negative effect on the way the Old Boys played.
Typically the Brindabella Blues sought to instill their authority in the early stages, with their strong running and fitness, however this didn’t phase the Old Boys who gradually came more into the game as the half wore on and started to cause one or two problems for the Blues defence.
Halfway through the first half, a corner on the left was played short and found its way to John Collett, who’s cross to the far post found Colin Tulley waiting to power a header past the helpless Blues keeper to put the Old Boys 1-0 up.
That goal really took the sting out of Brindabella’s enthusiasm, who despite their possession, failed to trouble the Old Boys defence, who were well marshaled by Branko Milenovic & Bill Hardie throughout. Both Old Boys full backs Greg Stott and Momo Radulovich also performed really well defensively, and got forward on more than one occasion to help setup the odd counter attack.
The second half saw the Old Boys attack more frequently, and they could have easily added to their lead with a bit more luck. Col Tully, Wally Conlon and Valery Kaladzinski all went close to making it 2-0, but each time the ball just failed to hit the target.
Talking of Valery, he provided the humorous moment of the day, when he stripped off his track suit pants before making an appearance as a second half substitute. He was just about to run on when someone on the sideline pointed out that he didn’t have any shorts on. He had left them behind with his pants, and had failed to notice.
It would have caused a right stir if the Scottish referee had seen this, as he would almost certainly have given Valery a yellow card for ungentlemanly conduct. Not only that he would have insisted that Valery tuck it in.
The only time Brindabella looked like they might penetrate the Old Boys defence came in the closing moments as they drove forward in search of a late equalizer. The closest they came was a shot five minutes from time which crashed back off the cross-bar, with Johnny Herd beaten. The Old Boys comfortably wound down the clock to record their sixth win on the trot.
For me the win softened the disappointment of watching England fail to beat the USA in World Cup Group C. I’m already sick to death of watching replays of the error made by England goalkeeper Rob Green, who allowed a speculative shot from US striker Clint Dempsey slip through his fingers and roll slowly into the net. It was a howler by the West Ham keeper no doubt about it, however, you can’t blame Green for the missed chances and general sloppiness that seemed to take over most of the England players. A real shame that England didn’t go on with it, after Steven Gerrard gave them such a great start after only four minutes. It confirmed one thing that I already knew, England don’t have a chance in hell of winning the World Cup.
Neither do Australia for that matter, who kick off their campaign in Durban against the mighty Germans, tomorrow morning at 4.30. Craig Foster from SBS is on the box now predicting the Aussies’ will get a result, at least a draw he says. Sorry Craig, can’t see it happening, but will be very happy if I’m proved wrong.
One final thought. You know how the FFA went to so much trouble re-educating the Australian soccer public to call our game FOOTBALL not SOCCER? Les Murray, Craig Foster, Robbie Slater and all, will tell you how important this is, yet I still hear them referred to as them the SOCCEROOS !!!! What the hell is all that about?
