Match Report Social Premier Vs Perth Saints
20 July 2008
Match report Written by Simon Collins
It was always going to be an interesting and tough afternoon, as is always the case between these two evenly matched sides. They both like to play a similar style of football with the ball to feet where possible, one side on the whole, with a few notable exceptions, youthful (read “in their 20’s”) and cultured, the other while mostly at the other end of the age demographic are still able to mix it with the best and prove that good experienced (read “old bastards”) players can still play and sometimes age and cunning can prevail over youth and speed.
After a disappointing result against Balcatta which from all reports wasn’t a fair reflection on the game, We were determined to get back to winning ways against one of the best ball playing sides we have had the pleasure of playing over the years, in either the Amateur or Social leagues, Perth Saints.
It all started very badly with three more key players pulling out of the game during the week to add to the long list of casualties this year. The final straw was when yours truly received a text from Bobby Strickland asking “How are we for numbers, as I’m in Rottnest and might be late?” We were possibly now down to 9 players and a repeat of last years backs to the wall 10 man display, but without the help of sideways rain to help our cause was on the cards. Thankfully when I arrived at the ground, I was glad to see that Bobby had got back in time and that the large if unexpected figure of Volker Framenau was also there, after restraining his calf during last weeks game. We now had 11 players, although not all entirely fit, some surprise emergency reinforcements offered to help out before their game at 3pm, in the form of President Marco Lagana and ex-President Steve Clocherty from the Masters side.
Due to Lee “Teflon” Potthast dropping himself, when after some self-confessed indifferent performance of late, in Austin Powers style he “lost his Mojo”, so Simon Collins was reinstated in goal. With Potthast being assigned the task of marking their centre backs (read “striker”) and running around a lot, which he did to perfection ;-).
The early skirmishes were about testing the opposition out and were mainly a midfield battle. Both defences mopping up when needed and neither keeper was called into serious action for a while. The Saints had the first serious attempts, but even then they were from distance and were wide of the mark with their shots. The main dangers on WA Hall of fame member Ross Greer’s goal came from long throws into the box and corners. He dealt with those well enough using his experience and now considerable bulk J to; on most occasions punch the ball clear. When he struggled to reach the ball the imperious figure of ex Australian International Robbie Dunn was on hand to clear.
The opening goal came via the penalty spot. Jim Thomson jumped to challenge for a bouncing ball at the top corner of the 18y box with Saints captain Ben Fitzpatrick who was really going nowhere. It was a clumsy challenge and while it probably was a penalty Ben walked away from the scene of the crime with a smirk on his face, knowing he had milked it for all it was worth. It was badly taken penalty and I was annoyed with myself as I should have saved it. I could have stuck out my right hand and caught it. I made up my mind early to go left rather than staying upright and reacting to the shot as I usually would, and as a result was left stranded leaning the wrong way when the soft hit shot hit the back of the net.
After this the Saints stepped up a gear trying to kill the game off as they knew “The Beach” would come back at them at some stage. A short while later Fitzpatrick got on the end of ball over the top and was through on goal with just Collins to beat. Fortunately quick anticipation by the North Beach #1 prevented any further goal, as he came out quickly and swatted away the attempted chip which was the only option left open for the midfielder. The ball fell to the always lively Sean Morgan, but Collins using his instincts as an outfield player closed him down quickly and his cross was smuggled away to safety, by the hard working defence. Saints had a couple of under pressure flick shots from edge of 6 yard box from crosses drilled in from wide that fortunately went over the bar, when shot on target may have had Collins in trouble.
Potthast went in goal at the start of the 2nd half and made some smart saves, firstly low down to his left from a Morgan shot and a similar save while later from a Saints header. The best of all was when he came off his line quickly, dived and took the ball off the feet of an unknown Saints player about to take a shot. Being slow off his line has been his weakness this year, but hopefully Potthast is now getting his confidence back and will start to dominate his area again. Lagana was seeing a lot of the ball wide on the right and was putting in some dangerous crosses, unfortunately the finishing was poor not giving Greer too many anxious moments or difficult saves to make. Volker had to come off after splitting his lip while challenging for the ball with a Saints defender, then Jonny came off with a cramped up hammy. Mark Hughes was starting to get involved in everything and when Jonny Pope pushed up from the back to work with Hughes and Strickland in the centre of midfield, it threw their Saints opponents off their game not knowing how to cope with the change. “Skip” could be heard trying to explain what to do to a team-mate, but he wasn’t getting it. Pope in is usual smart arse manner just told him he understood, but he was wasting his breath on his mate!
Jonny had to come off after his hamstring started to spit the dummy forcing an unfit Collins back into the fray for only his 2nd outfield run since 4 May following a calf injury. At 2.30pm Clocherty had to go his game forcing a reshuffle, Jonny went in goal Geordie came off “Knackered” and Lee came out into defence. Saints went 2-0 up shortly afterwards when, in trying to block a shot Lee just deflected the ball over Jonny’s head into the goal. Beach were still creating chances and Marco was playing well, putting in some great crosses and corners until he too had to go and Volker was forced to come back on.
With 20 mins to go Dave Brady who had work like a navvy all day was bundled over in the box and was awarded a penalty. Luckily Collins converted; it was as badly taken as the Saints one in the first half, almost straight down the middle. Fortunately Greer dived to his right too early and it went in, just to the left of centre. This gave Beach a new lease of life and with 10 mins to go and Beach pushing for the equaliser Framenau played the ball to Brady on the right, who controlled and played it hard and low across the area. Chris Nield, coming in late at the back post ~8 yards out, hit a sweetly timed shot across the keeper and went in. Brady had the chance to win it for North Beach with 2 mins to go after Volker played him in on goal from the left but his 1st touch took him wider than he would have liked giving the defender enough time to apply some pressure and his shot went agonisingly wide of the post. In the dying seconds Saints had the last chance of the game, when somehow, on a gammy leg, Jonny managed to pluck a goal bound Robbie Dunn header from the top corner. Dunn had marshalled the Saints backline superbly all day and kept the makeshift Beach attack at bay, until halfway through the second half when he pushed further forward when it gave the Beach forwards a little more room and time to play with.
North Beach were ecstatic with the draw after being 2-0 down, and the Saints were absolutely gutted, but in the end in my eyes at least, on the balance of play a draw was a fair result. Next year maybe the 2 teams should sign off on a couple of draws to save the agony and just spend the afternoons drinking in the respective bars.
The entire team worked their socks off and it was impossible to single out a man of the match. It goes to show the quality and spirit of this group of players who rarely give up. With reinforcements due back to play this week it will be another titanic struggle against Canning who will be out after revenge after we knocked them out of the cup in the last round.