Match Reports - Amateur Division 1 First Team

Please sumbit all match reports to: mail@northbeachsc.org.au.

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Balga vs North Beach

North Beach given footballing lesson in 6 goal Balga bollocking

Score - 6-1 (2-1ht) loss to North Beach

Goal Scorer - Scott 'Tex' Walker 1

Hopes were high and player excitement was peaking as North Beach traveled to bulletproof vest country; Balga. Their first team were in all sorts of strife. Like North Beach, Balga had soared to the lofty heights of number one team of the league but had only stayed there for a few weeks. Midseason the Balga coach jumped ship and took three influential players with him to Saturday league side Queens Park. This had left Balga in all sorts of trouble. Week after week they were losing games, dropping points and conceding goals left, right and centre.

By the start of round 21 Balga were equal on points, six goals adrift with BB United and were in a must win situation to keep their Division 1 status alive. Their opponents... North Beach.

North Beach came into the game yet again, with an altered line up. Staying in goals for his third first team appearance of the year was Kevin 'Flapping Chicken' Grime. Playing in defence there was Chris Roxby and Tex in the middle, they were flanked with Nick Farrell on the left and the man so good he only needs one name; Besty. In midfield there was two first team 'old boys' in the guise of Dennis Perrie and Adam Jones. On either side of them were speedsters Kyle MacLean and Simon Bailey. Up front there was coach for the day, Sean Cunningham and son of Blobby, Russell Sinclair. On the bench there was Neil 'Bluey' Perkins, Nick 'I'm Owen Hargreaves in disguise' Schaffer and Jim 'Funny Boy' Thomson.

The game started off in comparison to other games played this year rather slow. It didn't take long before North Beach were on the back foot. Balga, playing for the Division 1 status were attacking with aggression and determination. Their big African striker (number 14) was a troublesome player to deal with in the previous fixture, on this occasion it didnt take long before he came gliding in past the back four for his first attempt on goals. Goalkeeper Grime came out to attack the ball, had full body on the ball and stopped the attack but the ball rebounded into the air into the path of the number 14 striker, he was in space and on his own. With Tex and KG chasing back, the lanky forward slotted the ball into the back of the net efficiently for the first goal of the game.

The second goal came soon after and rather cheaply as another Balga player called D Train came running through the defence from the left side of the park and attacked the goal. Kevin Grime came screaming out and went to ground a little too early and the Balga player skipped over the hapless keeper and slotted in the second goal. Things weren't looking too good for North Beach and Marcus Allen, on the sideline, was thinking of going into the changerooms to kit up as a one legged goalkeeper would be better than the one they were lumbered with at the moment.

The game looked like it was about to change when North Beach pulled one back on 26 minutes when club captain and team leader Scott 'Tex' Walker slotted in a good poachers goal from a North Beach corner.

On 37 minutes Chris Roxby injured himself when he over-extended his knee badly in a tackle, which resulted in him having to leave the field and be substituted for Mr Frodo's best friend Neil Perkins. Neil slotted into the central midfield position. This pushed Dennis Perrie back into the defence with Nick Farrell, Tex and Besty.

As the first half played out several things were obvious. Nick Farrell's head was a funny shape...as balls that bounced off it they never went the right way and Kyle MacLean was suffering from a bout of goalkeeper sympathy. Every shot or pass back he touched had no umph or power to it. The Balga goalkeeper 'Corey' an ex-Sorrento Saturday goalkeeper, was plucking everything out of the air. He was solid and dependable with his hands and unlike the North Beach goalkeeper, he was good.

At half time the Peacock blew his whistle and both teams retreated to their separate areas. With coach Darren Young away on State duty, Sean Cunningham took over the half time chat. With several people piping up in the talk it became more like a sitting of Federal parliament with everyone talking at once. Through the cacophony of people talking it was decided that Russell Sinclair would be rested and Nick Schaffer to come on and replace him. This meant that Neil Perkins would move up front as a striker and Nick replace him in midfield. It was also suggested that someone tightly mark the African number 14 and 'crunch' him early as he was the danger man up front who was causing all the problems. The reasoning behind this was so that he didnt score anymore goals nor cause havoc with his gliding runs. This was laughed at and dismissed almost as quickly as the idea was suggested. In the second half Number 14 would score 4 easy goals on top of one goal already scored in the first half.

In the second half it wasnt so much of how Balga defeated North Beach but rather how North Beach allowed themselves to get run over. Balga playing for Division 1 status pushed harder and harder than ever before. Their wide men were working well with their central players and managed to whip in several piercing crosses. One of these resulted in a goal on the left post. This strangely enough was guarded by a North Beach player? Besides that the three other goals mainly came in as many minutes and were the result of defensive errors.

On 65 minutes Tex subbed himself for ladies man Jim Thomson. Jim slotted into the midfield and North Beach reverted to a three man backline. With North Beach utilising their last sub on 75 minutes Adam 'Mr Glass' Jones was tackled and went to ground. It would not be a regular game if a medic didnt come on the park to give Adam a rub down or drink of water from a tackle he had received. Luckily Balga had a can of magic spray in their first aid kit. Adam mistakenly thought this was a can of Rexona and started to spray his armpits. Luckily for him his injury wasnt in his armpits and within a minute or two Adam was soon limping his way down the left wing, numb pits and all.

Highlights of the second half have to include Adam Jones' header off the line from number 14's excellent shot. Again the goalkeeper was away with the fairies and in no man's land. And speaking of the keeper after screaming out of his box and heading the ball away into midfield a cheeky Balga player went for the long ball shot and with Dennis Perrie shouting 'back to goals KG' he went running the 20 metres back to his goals... and with the ball bouncing in the six yard box and him facing the goals, he swatted the ball out to the left for a corner. It was deemed by the Peacock to be save of the day. It was easy for him to say this as there werent many saves to choose from. Two other special highlights must go to Jim Thomson who's first touch yet again was a conversion over the bar and into the back park. Great stuff Jimmy! And also Simon Bailey who caused extreme problems for Balga's midfield and defence as he weaved, ducked and dived on his way through to goals. If only he could finish!

Overall it wasnt a good day at the office but rather a learning curve. North Beach never gave up, kept on trying but on the day Balga were better. With the game being over on the hour it was more a game of limiting the goals conceded rather than trying to score more goals. With next week's game against Kwinana being the last of the year the Cup-tied first team will be playing at 12.45pm. This will allow them to finish on a high and hopefully score another 16 goals. That is of course unless Kyle stuffs it up for them again and gets caught off. :)

North Beach vs International Calcio

Experimental first team go down to Calcio in Cup Semi-final test run

Score – 2-1 (1-1ht) loss to North Beach

Goal Scorer – Steve MacLean 1

After a week of controversy due to some experimental side swapping, the new look North Beach First Team took to the field on a sunny spring afternoon to take on 2nd bottom side International Calcio. The side that was put onto the park was one that would be lining up midweek against Premier League team Spearwood Dalmatinac in the Semi Finals of the Amateur Reserve Cup. From the previous team that lost to Kingsley the week before only Jim Thomson, Simon Geldart, Kevin Grime and Sean Cunningham would remain. The rest of the surrounding players would be regular players from the Reserve team playing in preparation to the biggest Reserve match of the year.

The line up, while not the norm, was still a competitive and attacking side. In goals replacing the injured Marcus Allen and still recovering Kosta Kalantzis was Kevin Grime. He was fresh from a successful Reserve game where he touched the ball as many times as goals went into the back of the net. The backline consisted of Ross Broad at left back, Geordie and Nik Christos in the middle and returning injured player Ryan MacLean at right back. In midfield there was Jim Thomson and Simon Geldart in the middle with Tomas 'Tiny Tex' Panak on the left and returning punch-bag Brenton White out on the right. Up front there was Steve MacLean and regular first teamer Sean Cunningham.

Despite Calcio's Reserve side copping a severe beating in the previous game, the Calcio first team came out extremely strong with them cutting through the North Beach defense only minutes into the game. With goalkeeper Kevin 'Flapping Chicken' Grime coming off his line to meet the forward, the Calcio player shot to the left of goal and it was palmed wide by the goalkeeper.

At times in the first half North Beach often gave the ball away cheaply. Whether or not this was nerves due to the pressure of playing in the 3pm fixture remains to be seen but at times it looked like the ball was often rushed. These unforced errors were a roll on effect that at times drastically effected the team's moral.

On 19 minutes North Beach was forced into making their first substitution of the day when everyone's favourite punch-bag Brenton White was forced to leave the park with what seem to be an ankle injury. He was replaced by Mike Jeffrey who slotted into his place at right midfield. While the apparent ankle injury was only slight, North Beach had ample subs on the bench and the move to substitute Brenton early was to allow him to recover for the Wednesday night game.

On 28 minutes Calcio attacked again down the right wing with their quick hobbit-sized winger. Ross Broad was running neck and neck with the quick winger but he was unable to get his foot in front of ball when the Calcio player hit the ball from distance. The shot in the wind was swerving all over the place but was direct and fast enough to go into the top right corner of goals. Goalkeeper Grime was unable to tip the ball over the bar despite him getting fingers onto the shot. 1-0 to Calcio. On 40 minutes North Beach managed to get behind the Calcio defenders and with a good cross in from Tiny Tex (Tomas) Steve MacLean was able to slot in North Beach's equaliser. 1-1.

Half time came and went but during the half time chat coach Graham Corcoran pepped the boys up to go out there and do the business again and take the game to Calcio. They were, like North Beach still recovering from a big night out but with the ample training and excellent preparation North Beach should have been able to run over them in the second half. Tiny Tex was substituted after running himself into the ground and was replaced by everyone's favourite Ranga, Heath Sinclair. He slotted into the left midfield position that Tomas was playing in. 55 minutes North Beach concede another goal when, yet again, Calcio shoot from distance and the ball went hurtling past the keeper and into the back of the net. Rumour has it KG is still trying to remove the nails from his feet as that seems to be the only reason why he didnt move? 2-1 to Calcio.

Throughout the second half there were flashes of brilliance and shockingness. At one stage a good move was created between Sean Cunningham, Jim Thomson and Simon Geldart This however finished fruitless when the ball was sent over the cross bar for a terrific conversion. Two flags up for that one Simon! On the flipside there were many shots and passes that went stray, to the opposition or out of bounds on the full (sorry wrong football code).

On 72 minutes Calcio's big forward released a rocket which hit Geordie square in the forehead and sent the big guy to the ground. At first it was thought that he might actually have a concussion!!! But in the end he was just shook up. He staggered off the park with Graham Corcoran in a zig zag motion but returned 3 minutes later and took up his place in the defense. Soon after he was substituted for Nick 'Cummon' Farrell. Nick moved into left back as Ross Broad breathed a sigh of relief and was moved into the middle. On 78 minutes Geordie is substituted for Nick 'Cummon' Farrell. 85 minutes Nik Christos roams up the park and makes an excellent move forward. Whenever North Beach ran with the ball Calcio paniced and struggled to defend. Nik moving forward was causing some serious problems. 88 minutes North Beach earns a corner and goalkeeper Kevin Grime runs up the park to perform a 'Schmeikel.' With the goals empty and KG running around the oppositions goalmouth it was evidence of a last ditch and desperate attempt to score an equaliser. That opportunity nearly came a minute later when on another corner Steve MacLean bottled it and sent the ball wide and out for a Calcio goal kick. It was proving and finishing to be one of those days.

On 90 minutes the referee blew his whistle and Calcio had won the game 2-1. This was only Calcio's 4th win of the year but in all honesty they deserved to win the game. North Beach made too many errors to deserve winning the game. To say the result was disappointing was an understatement.

Special mentions today go to Nik Christos who played an outstanding game at the back. He linked up well with Geordie and the two wide men and was a valuable player when going forward. Other special mentions go to Ryan MacLean who played well after returning from an ankle injury and finally to Geordie who put his head on the line to stop Calcio from scoring. Blinding stuff from Yoda. But the question still remains... why didnt he use the force?

Kingsley vs North Beach

Score – 5-4 (2-3ht) loss to North Beach

Goal Scorers – Kyle MacLean 1, Nick Schaffer 1, Sean Cunningham 1, Scott ‘Tex’ Walker 1

Kingsley come back twice to take the game in 9 goal thriller

In what was a fantastic start to spring, North Beach travelled to local rivals Kingsley to take them on in Round 19 of the league. In conditions that were almost ‘summerish’ this was a game that North Beach had to win to stay within contention of overtaking league leaders Joondalup United. Coming into the side after having several weeks out with a knee injury was Sean Cunningham. He slotted in up front with coach/singer/dancer and all round entertainer Darren Young.

The side out on the park today was probably one of the strongest fielded in many months. As usual there was the ever reliable Marcus Allen in goals, the usual backline of Nick, Tex, Chris and Besty and in midfield Kyle and Simon G flanking Jim and Nick Schaffer. On the bench there was Neil Perkins, Russell Sinclair, Tomas Panak, Simon Bailey and Kevin Grime.
The game started extremely promising when after a good 3-way move between Sean, Darren and Kyle the ball was slotted into the back of the net by Kyle 5 minutes into the game. Signs were looking extremely promising. On 10 minutes a scare went through the North Beach camp when Marcus Allen re-injured his ankle again when he rolled it while trying to make a clearance. On the bench a ‘slim, fit and eager’ Kevin Grime started to liberally apply his Deep Heat in preparation to take Marcus’ place in goals. Unbeknown to Kevin this would be the only warming up he would do in the game as luckily for North Beach Marcus would not be substituted and replaced with the Flapping Chicken.

Soon after the restart Kingsley equalized with an excellent goal. Up until that stage North Beach had been dominating on the park.

By the end of the half North Beach had added another 2 goals to their tally thanks to a great header by Nick ‘White men can jump’ Schaffer and a great finish by Sean ‘Elastoplast’ Cunningham.

During this half North Beach pushed hard and while there were chances taken and squandered the team looked like they were enjoying the game.

At half time the team was taken on a jolly hike by Darren Young to somewhere near the cinemas? Poor Marcus Allen was forced to hobble his way up the hill to the area that Darren had chosen.

During half time Darren spoke about taking the chances that came to the players and generally going out there and enjoying the game. The half time talk even included some feedback from the local rodents that were hanging around the bush. Rat-boy and his girlfriend Lizard-girl were keen to let everyone know what they thought of North Beach. This was taken in good humour by the boys and they returned to the park in good spirits.

In the second half life was slightly tougher for North Beach. Kingsley had regrouped and decided to take the game to the North Beach boys. While Chris Roxby had his hands full marking the physical bald forward all goals ended up coming from their quick and nippy wing players. These goals often came from defensive errors that allowed Kingsley to swoop in and take advantage.

With the score tied at 4-4 Kingsley attacked at North Beach yet again pushing an extra player forward to try and break down the North Beach defence. In a goal mouth scramble Kingsley managed to pump the ball past Marcus Allen and score their 5th and match winning goal. The Kingsley supporters all jumped into the air and celebrated while North Beach shook their heads and asked what went wrong? Kingsley’s excitement ended up getting a little too serious when one of their supporters confronted a North Beach supporter after a colourful conversation and tried to start a fight. While the boozed up Kingsley supporter was escorted away it was a sour end to the game especially after North Beach and Kingsley were having a good laugh together about some of the crazy decisions that were being dished out by the dismal referee and his assistant.

Instead of special mentions today we’ll have something different.

Reviews for each player:

Marcus – was injured early but played the game out with an ankle injury. He soldiered on for the whole 90 minutes and did pretty well under the conditions. Could be out for the season with what sounds like ligament damage to his ankle. Deep Heat is on standby.

Nick – Started at left back and moved to centre back when Tex was subbed. At times he dived in too much and was often caught on the hop. He needs to learn to use his right foot for something else other than standing.

Tex – Started at centre back and did pretty well before being subbed for Simon Bailey on 75 minutes. He scored a great goal from a deceiving free kick.

Chris – Marked the tough bald forward throughout the game, he attacked hard and never gave up. While the bald forward was formidable in the air Chris matched him for sheer bulk.

Besty – Started at right back and played ok. At times he was holding onto the ball too long and was often closed down quicker than he would have liked. He gave the bald striker a cut eye which proves he’s harder than he looks! Still has the best hair on the park.

Kyle – Started at left midfield and ran hard throughout the game. His aggression nearly got the better of him a couple of times when he reverted back to ‘Angry Kyle’ for a while. He scored an excellent goal after a good build up from Darren and Sean.

Jim – The Forrest Gump of the team. Never stops running and always gives 110%. Very good in the air and while not much was thought of his slicing shot on goals, the thought was always there. He was subbed for Neil Perkins on 80 minutes.

Schaffs – Schaffs partnered Jim in the middle of the park. He proved yet again that white men can jump. The master of the deft touch he scored another great goal with surprise, surprise his head.

Simon G – Ran hard down the wing and linked up well with Sean and Darren. Never afraid to get back and help Besty in defence Simon had as usual a solid game.

Darren – Squandered a few chances early which could have put NB well and truly in the lead, Darren worked hard and linked up well with his old partner in crime Sean.

Sean – A welcome return to the team, Sean was instrumental in the build up with Darren and Kyle for the first goal. Some would say it was a lucky bounce that put Kyle thru but I’m sure they’d tell you they meant it. He scored another excellent goal in the first half.

Subs

Simon B – Came on at left back, he ran hard and proved that a dodgy hamstring couldn’t and wouldn’t keep him down. He gave the ball away a few times in the dying minutes of the game but besides that he did well for his time on the park.

Neil – Came on in the latter stages of the game to replace Jim Thomson in midfield. He did ok while on the park despite only touching the ball once, but his best contributions were verbally to the opposition while on the bench. When his voice breaks he will be a formidable opponent.

Tomas – sub not used

Russell – sub not used

Kevin – sub not used

Around the grounds Belmont Villa defeated Kwinana Utd 1-0, Balga lost 5-2 at home to Colo-Colo, league leaders Joondalup Utd defeated Olympic Kingsway 3-0, Morley Windmills lost at home to Gwelup 1-0 and North Beach’s next opponent International Calcio lost 2-0 at home to BB United. This means that after only two seasons in Division 1 International Calcio becomes the second team to be relegated from the league.

North Beach vs Joondalup United

North Beach under perform and go down to feisty Joondalup

Score – 3-1 loss to North Beach

Goal Scorer – Neil Perkins 1 pen

On a cold and blustery afternoon in August, first placed North Beach took on second placed Joondalup United at Charles Riley Reserve. The conditions while not desirable were nothing North Beach hadn’t played in this season. In fact the first game of the year against International Calcio had conditions that were by comparison to today double as bad.

Coming into the side after a long period out in the Reserves was Jim Thomson. He would step into the middle of the park with Darren Young and Nick Schaffer. The other additions to the side was Dave ‘Hollywood’ Banks who was making his defensive debut as a left back and Chris ‘The Judge’ Roxby. Leaving the side there was Simon Geldart and Tomas Panak. Besides that the remaining squad members were virtually the same from last week.

Like all the other games this season the game started off at a frenetic pace with Joondalup being the more physical of the two sides. While at times North Beach tried to match them with aggression it was Joondalup who dominated the aggression and physicality stakes. Up front the strikers were trying their hardest to link up with the midfield but the excessive wind was making it hard for anything to happen. A lot of the time balls were being pumped up in the air making it a 50/50 ball for North Beach to try and pluck out of the air.

Joondalup’s first goal came from a series of well executed triangle passes that finished with Marcus Allen fishing the ball out of the back of the net. Soon after, Simon Bailey was forced to the bench after pulling his hamstring. Up until then he had played very well and pushed the Joondalup defenders hard. His replacement was Chris Roxby who came on at centre back which pushed Nick Farrell out wide to the left, which left Dave Banks to push up to the forward line.

On 40 minutes Joondalup’s burly number 7 slotted in Joondalup’s second goal with a good long distance shot. Joondalup’s celebration was like that had won the world cup as they all knew that if they could win this game they would go top of the Division 1 league.

On 45 minutes the referee blew his whistle and a rain soaked North Beach retreated to the warmth and comfort of the playgroup for their half time chat. Sean Cunningham started the talking first with some good words of encouragement. Soon after Darren Young came in and did spoke to the boys about playing to win and playing smart football. The boys, all pepped up for the second half, left the playgroup with a new inspired vigour.

In the second half North Beach pushed harder but struggled against the continuing aggression of the Joondalup players. What also didn’t help was the blatantly poor refereeing and linesman calls. Midway through the second half Kyle MacLean picked up a yellow card for a 50/50 challenge on a Joondalup defender. Whilst the encounter was harmless the referee, who was having a shocking game, called Kyle back and gave him a yellow card. This could possibly mean that Kyle will now miss next week’s away game to Kingsley. The only bonus… this could possibly mean is that Kyle will be able to run the line for the first team for the whole of the game. Let’s hope it rains.

On 75 minutes Jim Thomson was given a well deserved rest. Coming on in his place was Russell Sinclair who was raring to go after being only allowed to play 45 minutes in the Reserves.

Despite North Beach winning a penalty and Neil Perkins converting it North Beach did try throughout the whole second half but failed to make any impact on the game. Joondalup were hungry for the ball and took no prisoners whilst trying for it. Bottom line… North Beach struggled to keep up. With only four games to go North Beach will want to try and take maximum points from Kingsley away, Calcio at home, Balga away and Kwinana at home. If they do not do this they may end up spending another year battling away in Division 1. However it is still anyone’s league at the moment with Joondalup on 36 points, Gwelup and Kingsley on 35 and North Beach and Morley Windmills on 34 points. It will prove to be a nail biting end to the season. Next year the Division 1 climate will change dramatically next year with 5 Premier League teams being relegated in the league re-shuffle so this may be the last ‘easy’ attempt to get into the Premier League for a long time.

Special mentions today must go to Jim Thomson who ran and battled hard in the midfield with Darren Young and Nick Schaffer. In the icy, almost UK conditions it was extremely hard for them all to control the midfield. One other special mention must go to Simon Bailey who yet again played well until his hamstring decided that it wanted an early shower and to go undercover. Up until then he had being doing very well.

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Morley Windmills vs North Beach

Bad day at the office as North Beach drop points at Morley but stay on top

Score - 3-1 (2-0ht) loss to North Beach

Goal Scorers - Kyle MacLean 1

On a cold and wet drizzly day, North Beach travelled for their third last away game for the year to Wootton Park, Morley to take on Dutch community side, Morley Windmills. Right from the start things were a little up in the air when Brenton White did a Dave 'Hollywood' Banks and failed to turn up without letting Darren Young know. This prompted Darren to bring in extra cover on the bench in the guise of Russell Sinclair. And without regular first teamer Chris Roxby, who was still out celebrating his 21st birthday it left options on the bench very slim.

The game started off as usual at 90 miles per hour with both teams going in hard on every challenge. Morley, who were sitting in 5th place were keen to stamp their mark on the game and climb back up the table. Earlier in the season they were the surprise leaders when they lead the Amateur Division 1 table for several weeks. Throughout the game there was tackles that were extremely hard, sometimes fair and other times not.

While North Beach were going through a slightly rough patch on the pitch their usually reliable backline was starting to make some mistakes due to the wet conditions. Goalkeeper Marcus Allen was one in particular struggling with the dismal conditions. While not his fault it was a day that most goalkeepers would prefer not to play in. The ball was skidding off the ground like a pebble on a mill pond and this made judging how fast the ball was coming in extremely hard.

On 19 minutes Nick Schaffer is hacked from behind. This was one of many tackles from behind performed by Morley during the game. And while North Beach was not afraid to also get stuck in and tackle from the wrong side it was often dangerous studs up tackles that dominated the game.

On 23 minutes Simon Bailey had two attempts on goal stopped by the Morley goalkeeper. These strikes were well executed but shut down by either the defenders of the goalkeeper.

Down the right wing, Mr GQ, Besty was having a good tussle for the ball with the Morley number 6. While not quite clash of the titans, it was more like who can out-skill the other when competing for the ball. On 33 minutes after a terrible fumble by goalkeeper Allen, Morley Windmills scored a soft goal that put them 1-0 up.

With Morley going one goal up, their confidence was sky high. This effected their game tremendously. On 43 minutes Morley number 6 passes to number 9 with a long ball from the right over to the far left. Number 9 crosses the ball into Old Man River in the middle (number 16) and beats Marcus Allen again with a well executed finish. Morley Windmills 2-0 up.

Soon after the second goal, the referee blows his whistle for half time and North Beach retreat to under the tree to discuss how they are going to drag themselves out of the hole. During the team talk Darren Young talks about the team being indecisive at the back and not often getting the ball to feet. To try and counteract this Darren substitutes Simon Geldart and Tomas Panak, the two wide men for Dave Banks and Adam Jones in an attempt to get back into the game.

The second half doesn’t start too well for Dave Banks as on 46 minutes he gives away a free kick. Marcus Allen, who seemed to be involved in the action all day, springs into super-keeper mode and pulls off a fantastic save with his right hand. The ball dipping to the top left corner is narrowly pushed over the bar. Excellent stuff Marcus! 49 minutes Adam Jones tackles from behind and gives away a free kick just outside the penalty area. Old Man River steps up to take the kick and stuffs it up and sends the ball into the car park.

52 minutes Neil Perkins nutmegs a Morley defender and Kyle MacLean comes in a hooks the ball in for a cross. North Beach narrowly miss. Excellent talking by the two players. 56 minutes Adam Jones crosses the ball into the penalty area, the ball is nodded on and Mr Stella himself Kyle MacLean heads home to take the score line to 2-1.

57 minutes Darren Young is put into an excellent position and volleys the ball in towards goals. The Morley defender on the post chests the ball away and denies Darren an equaliser. 64 minutes Morley's linesman is caught cheating. Referee doesn’t say anything but both Neil Perkins and Darren Young shake their head in amazement as Morley get away with another amazing decision. 66 minutes the Morley goalkeeper who had up until then had been playing rather average, pulls off a fantastic save and robs Darren a goal. It was looking like being not North Beach's day?

74 minutes Kyle MacLean accidentally handballs the ball into play after it appeared it was leaving the ground. Morley and North Beach players all see the indiscretion but the person who counts doesn’t and Kyle is able to get away with it! 76 minutes Adam Jones lunges into a Morley player. He receives a yellow card for his troubles. 79 minutes Simon Bailey miss-jumps and Morley capitalise on the mistake and shoot at goals. Marcus Allen pulls off another fantastic goal. 80 minutes Morley breaks the deadlock and scores their third goal from a corner. 3-1 to Morley.

80 minutes a defender is sacrificed for an attacker. This in the form of Russell Sinclair replacing Nick Farrell. 88 minutes Kyle MacLean is finally given a yellow card after committing a soft foul. Referee had enough and lifts his arm and gives him the sunshine card! 90 minutes, the referee blows his whistle and puts the North Beach team out of their misery. This ends North Beach's unbeaten run of 13 games. Number 13... lucky for some.

Special mentions today go to Neil Perkins who worked hard all day, not with his legs but also his mouth. His impressions of the lippy number 10 were priceless. After being given instructions by Darren to stay on the park, Neil stopped his show in the second half, but his first half performance was enough to carry him through for the whole 90 minutes. Other special mentions go to Darren Young, who never gave up and was unlucky to have some shots cleared off the line or had the goalkeeper pull off a premier league save to stop the ball going in the back of the net. Overall it was one of those games! The boys tried their hardest but somehow they just could not compete with the more physical and determined Morley side. With Sean Cunningham due back in the team in the next week or two after a knee injury in Round 10, he will be a welcome return to the team who has struggled the last few weeks.

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North Beach SC vs Gwelup United

Gritty local derby ends all square, but it's Beach who are smiling in the end

Score - 1-1 (0-1ht)

Goal Scorers - Neil Perkins 1

The weather was warm and pleasant on a fine August afternoon. The conditions did not match the tension and anticipation of this, the second local derby this year between North Beach and Gwelup United. In the previous local derby North Beach came out 3-0 winners. This time around Gwelup were out to revenge the loss. This was going to make this game a completely different affair. The team were all set to play but at the last minute Dave 'Hollywood' Banks failed to turn up and the team had to shuffle their formation to suit the addition of 'The Judge' Chris Roxby. Chris slotted in up front as a holding centre forward and as usual put in a good performance.

For the first 20-25 minutes of the game, it was an up and down affair with North Beach struggling to cope with the over-the-top physicality of the Gwelup United team. While they gave 110% percent in the first half it was at times a struggle to cope with the wave surging forward, that was Gwelup.

On 26 minutes after a terrible defensive mix up Marcus Allen came hurtling out of his box and unfortunately swung his foot to clear a ball and the only thing he connected with was fresh air. As the forward rounded Marcus he slotted home the opening goal with a frustrated Nick Farrell trying to chase after the ball. Ulitimately he failed and Gwelup took the lead thanks to a North Beach mistake. 1-0 to Gwelup United.

On 27 minutes Chris Roxby launched a rocket from his right foot and was luckily headed off the line. The shot had beaten the keeper and the defensive backline and was only lucky to stay out of the net thanks to a last second reaction header off the line.

30 minutes, Gwelup number 2 weaved in and out of the North Beach defence and was allowed to shoot. Luckily his wayward shot cleared the cross bar and went into the clubhouse roof. 33 minutes Gwelup's long shirt-sleeved number 9 shoots and hits the ball directly into the reliable hands of Marcus Allen. On 45 minutes the referee blows his whistle and both teams retire to their separate corners of Charles Riley.
Inside the playgroup Darren Young calmly explains to his players that they needed to lift, this is what they have been aiming for the last 4 years of his coaching. He asked for more of a commitment on the park as out there, players were not playing to their full potential. The boys reacted positively and took to the park for the second half.

At the start of the second half, North Beach came out with more aggression and matched Gwelup United in their intensity. This was evident in Simon Bailey's game. He came out more determined to get to the ball first and his never say die attitude rallied the boys on at the back. Centre backs Nick Farrell and Tex were handling the excessive pressure from Gwelup. This allowed Simon to push on a little bit more and like he has done in previous weeks penetrate the opposition's defensive area with his probing runs. On 50 minutes after a rare defensive mistake from Besty, Gwelup's number 9 was allowed to shoot. All day he had been looking like and threatening to be, potentially, the most dangerous player on the park. His shot forced Marcus Allen into another excellent save. On 58 minutes after an excellent cross from Nick Schaffer, Neil Perkins' head latched onto the ball and sent it into the back left corner of the net. The crowd and the team went wild! 1-1.

On 61 minutes Tex is sent to the ground after a dirty collision between his jatz crackers and a Gwelup player's elbow. Rumour has it they have now popped out and are fully functioning again? Straight after the jatz cracker incident Neil Perkins was given another opportunity and narrowly misses. 65 minutes Darren Young sends a good ball down the left wing. Simon Geldart, in front of his groupies, picks the ball up and angles his way through 3 Gwelup defenders. He shoots, but misses and sends the ball into the side netting. Not only was Simon disappointed with his miss-shot, but also his fans on the sideline. 68 minutes, Chris Roxby is given a well deserved rest after putting in a terrific effort up front. He is replaced by the 'darling' of the reserve side, Russell Sinclair.

70 minutes, Gwelup feeling threatened by Neil Perkins try to put him out of action with a dirty tackle from behind. The hapless referee calls for play on. Neil in the meantime is having some dnm time with the referee. The ref doesn't take kindly to this and sternly warns him to stop talking. If only we all had that ability.

75 minutes, Nick Farrell decides to get in some Kill Bill re-enactment time and does a kung foo kick just outside the box. While not a yellow card offence, with this referee anything could have been possible. The free kick is taken but wasted as they hit the ball into the wall and the waiting feet of Tex.

80 minutes, after an altercation with a Gwelup defender, Neil Perkins is bitch-slapped. No card for the apparent bitch-slapper but he is verbally warned by the referee. 89 minutes Gwelup win a corner and they sub a player onto the pitch who played in the Reserves. Not only did he look like he was knackered, he also ran like an 85 year old man with arthritis. The corner resulted in a wasted opportunity and the referee blew his whistle for full time.

A hard earned point but one that still keeps the gap between first and second substantial.

Special mentions today include yet again writers favourite Simon Bailey. He ran, tackled and bumped hard and was never afraid to get stuck in. As said in previous reviews he is becoming each week a more and more accomplished player. Other special mentions include Neil Perkins who played an excellent game and was never afraid to dish out what he received (excluding the bitch-slap) and finally Chris Roxby who played out of position up front in place of the absent Dave 'Hollywood' Banks and was solid for his time on the park, despite not having many opportunities to shoot or players to dish the ball off to.

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Olympic Kingsway vs North Beach

Geldart sinks two and old club to keep North Beach on top of the ladder, clear by 5 points!

Score - 3-1 (1-0ht) win

Goal Scorers - Kyle MacLean, Simon Geldart 2

On a unusually sunny August afternoon, North Beach travelled to Kingsway Sporting Complex to take on cellar dwellers Olympic Kingsway. Coming into the side after a week away in Hobbit country came Kyle MacLean who slotted in up front and Adam Jones and Ross Broad both slotted onto the bench.
The last time these two sides met the scoreline was rather dramatic with North Beach thrashing Olympic Kingsway 6-2.

The team was slightly altered when Dan Mason did a Dave 'Hollywood' Banks and failed to show. Hopefully we'll be able to find out if he's ok sometime in the week?

The first half was a tightly marked affair with lots of individual contests appearing on the park.One that stood out during the game was between Brenton White and OK's left back, the Jarvis Cocker look-a-like number 3. Their tussles down the right wing were a good show to watch and while number three won his fair share, in the end it was Brenton White who came out on top.

What became apparent in the first half was the fact that the Olympic Kingsway players had the first touch of a leper. Everytime they touched the ball it bounced, bobbled and flew off their body. North Beach were a little slow to cotton on to this fact but the dilemma was soon solved with the half time chat.

At times OK were playing some pretty good football and for a fraction of a second they looked like they actually might score a goal! However on 24 minutes North Beach created a move that nearly resulted in a good goal when Simon Geldart narrowly missed the goal from a Kyle MacLean cross.

After this North Beach continued to put the pressure on Olympic Kingsway and on 34 minutes Darren Young made a good pass down to Brenton White who was waiting down on the right wing, from there he dribbled and mazed his way past Jarvis Cocker and crossed the ball in where lurking with intent on the 6 yard box was Kyle Maclean. Kyle finished with a well executed finish which put North Beach up 1-0. This was Kyle's first goal since the 1-1 draw with Balga three weeks ago.

On 36 minutes Tex pumped a good ball up the park to which Tomas Panak latched onto. The bounce was unkind to Tomas and he sent the ball over the cross bar for what seemed a great conversion. Too bad the rugby goals were across the road! It was a missed opportunity but the team itself was doing well in keeping up the pressure on the hapless Olympic Kingsway. On 37 minutes Tomas had his ankles 'tapped' by the no-talent defenders and a squeal that would rival Nick Farrell came from Tomas' mouth. On 39 minutes Olympic Kingsway squeezed their way through the North Beach defence and launched a shot at Marcus Allen Marcus was forced into diving to his right and palmed the ball out. It was a quality save from Marcus. This display showed North Beach that they were not in for an easy game. 41 minutes Olympic again break through but shoot wide. 42 minutes, Simon 'Treehugger' Bailey cuts through the Olympic defence like "a knife through hot butter" (as quoted by Jim Thomson). Soon after the referee blows his whistle for half time.

The half time talk was unusually intense from coach Darren Young with him demanding a better performance from his players. He knew that the team were capable of much more and had the ability to finish this team off. The players responded positively and took to the pitch for the second half.

North Beach flew out of the barriers at full force in the second half. This was evident when hobbit lover Kyle MacLean launched a long distance shot on 46 minutes. This however was unsuccessful, but showed a brief glimpse of what was yet to come. On 58 minutes that man Kyle again narrowly missed scoring a spectacular goal when his chip over the goalkeeper narrowly missed. 60 minutes Kyle is running towards goal and is clinically taken down by the Olympic Kingsway defender. The referee blows his whistle and just gives a free kick. As the last man, the Olympic player should have been given an early bath but the referee failed to do what was, in the rules, the right thing to do. From the sideline, everyone's favourite bald man, Jim Thomson screams out COWARD to the referee for his failure to act. It was a display of bad refereeing at it's best. But the referee still had his best moments to come.

62 minutes Simon Geldart heads in an excellent goal when after a corner and goalmouth schmozzle Simon's head meets the ball and slots into the back of the net. Simon punches the air in celebration against his former club. 2-0 to North Beach. On 66 minutes the man of the moment, Simon Geldart collects the ball deep in his own defensive half and creates some good moves with the North Beach midfield. After two or three good passes it ends up at Simon's feet and he slots the ball into the back of the net for his second and North Beach's third. It was heard that Simon's younger brother and former North Beach and current Olympic Kingsway player Richie was leaving the ground to go home. This is still unconfirmed.

67 minutes Brenton White is given a well deserved rest when he is subbed for Adam Jones. Adam slots into the left midfield position and Simon Geldart switches over to his natural position on the right. On 77 minutes the old man of the defence Tex is given a rest and replaced by all round utility player Ross Broad. 79 minutes Simon Geldart, on a mission to grab his hat trick sends the ball into the stratosphere. The ball has still not been recovered.

On 80 minutes, every player's nightmare comes true for Kyle MacLean when he is subbed for Kevin Grime. In his confusion Kevin runs forward thinking that he'll be playing up front. He is soon brought back down to earth with everyone telling him where he should go. Left back! 81 minutes the ball comes to Kevin Grime and with his right foot, he swings (eyes were apparently shut) and slices the ball away from the Olympic Kingway forward who was only a metre away, towards his own goals. Marcus Allen arks up and asks the defence what is going on? The crowd cringe and Darren Young is wondering if they can sub Kevin and survive with ten men for the remainder of the game? 82 minutes Olympic Kingsway take advantage of the defensive confusion and score with a well executed shot into the bottom left corner. Contrary to the rumour, Kevin Grime was not at fault nor near the area where the goal was scored.

85 minutes Adam Jones shrugs off his marker and moves forward. The Olympic defender realising he's going to be done for speed and skill tackles him from behind and sends Adam to the ground in dire pain. The Olympic bench unfazed by this horrendous tackle scream out 'kick him in the face.' The tackler in question is confronted by of all people left midfielder Simon Bailey and gives him a few choice words. The OK player thinking he's a big man calls Simon a f**king treehugger and starts to get in Simon's face. The player continues to confront Simon and threatens him again until the remaining Olympic players take him away and Simon is led away by Marcus Allen. In the meantime Adam is still on the ground and North Beach are calling for a stretcher. What is not surprising in the end is that the stretcher takes what seems a lifetime to come onto the park. Whether it was at the side of the pitch where it was supposed to be remains to be seen! There were players on the park experiencing flashbacks from the Craig Bartlett injury 7 weeks ago when he was stretchered off due to a similar tackle. Luckily Adam was able to walk away from the ground, albeit extremely sore. The Olympic player is given a 'stern' talking to by the referee and only given a yellow card for his disgusting tackle. Another spineless decision from a referee unwilling to follow the rules of the game. For the final 5 minutes of the game, North Beach played with only 10 men. Olympic pushed but the North Beach discipline and fitness prevaled and they soaked up the pressure. The referee blows the whistle and the game finishes 3-1 to North Beach.

Special mentions today must go to Simon Geldart who slotted in two excellent goals, Brenton White down the right who made Jarvis Cocker's life a misery, Simon Bailey who yet again roamed into the Olympic Kingsway defensive half, making it look effortless. If only he could finish! And finally to Darren Young who yet again rallied his players at half time to take their slender lead and change it into a comprehensive win. One other special mention must go to Jim Thomson who led the abuse club from the sideline and provided Hack with some excellent lines for this report. Another win on the board. Well done guys!

Next week - Gwelup United travel to North Beach for a top of the table clash!

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North Beach SC vs Belmont Villa.

North Beach continue their winning ways, dispose of Belmont Villa at home and open the gap to second place.

Score - 3-1 win (1-0ht) for North Beach

Goal Scorers - Neil Perkins 2, Dan Mason 1

After disposing of BB United at home last week 3-1, North Beach were looking to continue their winning ways with a home win against the defiant Belmont Villa. In wet and windy conditions North Beach took to the field with a strong determination to continue their good form. With only 8 league games to go until the end of the season every goal and point was vital in finishing in the elusive top and only promotion spot for Division 1.

Coming into the North Beach squad after a week out tasting wine and cheese down in the Margaret River region was Nick Schaffer, making his first team bench debut was everyone's favourite Chilian hugger Nik Christos, Reserve team jet Brenton White and continuing his excellent form as back up goalkeeper Kevin Grime.

The game started out, as expected, at a fast pace full of slide tackles, crunching one on ones and collisions. Dan Mason and Darren Young in the middle were two players who not only in the first half and for the whole of the game, threw their bodies around in the attempt to prevent Belmont Villa from gaining any advantages. It was a game that consisted of the ball constantly going up and back the park with no team gaining any goal advantage until the 30th minute when Neil Perkins scored a great goal from a Darren Young cross. The delivery was as good as the finish. Writer's favourite Nick Farrell, in his excitement ran the length of the park to congratulate Neil on his goal. It was overheard from the sideline that this was the quickest Nick had ran all day? I personally believe Nick was just super-excited and wanted to be involved in the action as there's not many chances for a centreback to celebrate a goal these days. Either way... 1-0 to North Beach.

Once play had resumed and Nick had returned back to defence the game continued at an even faster pace. After being given a pin point through ball, Belmont's number 10 player came screaming into the box and met up with Marcus Allen's stomach via his knee. Not only was it uncalled for but rather dirty. Marcus got up as if nothing had happened and got rid of the ball and went back to goals. Only then did he put his hands on his knees and take a deep breath in. It would be the first of many incidents in the game where Belmont's number 10 player would go tracking and hacking.

Down the right wing Brenton White was causing major headaches for the Belmont Villa defenders. Continuously he was gliding into their defensive third and the Belmont players struggled to cope with his deft touch and dynamic speed.

On 40 minutes, Belmont's number 6 defender picked up a yellow card for a rash challenge on a North Beach player. What made this interesting was the fact that in the Reserve game he had picked a yellow card up for backchatting. As an experienced and long term player he surely must have learned by now?
And while North Beach soaked up the pressure from the Belmont Villa players it could be seen that Belmont were starting to tire. In the second half, North Beach would have the wind and be going downhill.

On 45, The referee blew his whistle and both teams, soaked to the bone and freezing from the penetrating and cutting wind retired to their respective areas for the half time chat.

North Beach returned to the comfort of the couches and warmth of the Playgroup where Darren Young spoke to his gallant players about how well they had done in the first half. While hot chips, burgers and boost bars were on the menu at Kimmy's kitchen, the only items on the menu for the North Beach boys at half time were encouragement and advice from Darren. When Darren talked you could hear a pin drop due to the silence from the players. It was a sign of how well this team has jelled with their coach since the start of the year and how much they respect him.

The second half starts and the sun makes a rare appearance through the rain heavy clouds. The wind was still blowing an icy breeze but this time around it would be helping North Beach, not hindering them.
The half started off well with Brenton White weaving down the wing again and hooking in a probing cross where Dan Mason latched onto the end of it and narrowly missed. Belmont Villa's mouthy coach screamed even louder at his players in a deluded attempt to make them work harder.

On 55 minutes Darren Young squeezed through 3 players and in the confusion the ball went out for a corner. Tomas Panak took the cross and that man again, Dan Mason got on the end of the cross with a bizarre right foot and slotted it home for North Beach's second goal. 2-0 to North Beach.

On 57min Tomas Panak was substituted for Margaret Rivers favourite taster Nick Schaffer. This allowed Neil 'Beyonce' Perkins to move up front and Nick to slot into his regular central midfield role. Down the left Simon Bailey was causing problems for the Belmont Villa players when he carried the ball deep into Villa territory with a good move forward. At times he had two players marking him and he still managed to get through them! It was proof of how far Simon has come as a player this year. He has brought a new dimension to the role of left back with him attacking down the flanks with speed which has caused nothing but problems for other teams.

On 71 minutes after a series of good moves from Belmont Villa, they managed to penetrate the usually tight North Beach defence and catch an out of position Marcus Allen with a well conceived chip which floated nicely over Marcus and into the back of the net. 2-1.

Straight after the restart Darren Young narrowly missed the goals with a good attempt on target. Dan Mason was experiencing a bit of a purple patch with him everywhere up front and even in midfield. The amount of running he showed on the ground today was quite extensive and if anything, impressive.
On 81 minutes Belmont Villa narrowly missed the goals with a well executed shot. The shot missed but proved to North Beach that the game wasn't over yet and with 5 teams going down and Belmont Villa being on the verge of the relegation zone they didn't want to be one of those teams.

On 87 minutes after a good cross from Brenton White, Neil Perkins slotted in the winning goal with what seemed to be his head! Reports are still coming in so this is yet to be confirmed. 89 minutes Simon Geldart is given a well deserved rest and replaced by Russell Sinclair. Soon after his substitution the referee blows his whistle and sends Belmont Villa home the losing team. Final score, a 3-1 win to North Beach.

Special mentions today must go to the following players, Brenton White, Dan Mason, Simon Bailey, Neil Perkins and Darren Young. While everyone in the team put their heart and souls into the game it is the belief that these players played out of their skin for the whole 90 minutes. Their running, passing, shooting and commitment on the park was second to none. Well done to all the boys on their 11th game unbeaten.

Next week... North Beach travel to Kingsway for the clash with the cellar dwellers Olympic Kingsway, we'll see you then!

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North Beach SC vs BB United

Makeshift first team turns the corner and defeats defiant BB

Score - 3-2 win (1-1ht) for North Beach

Goal Scorers - Dan Mason 1, Scott 'Tex' Walker 1, Darren Young 1

In blustery conditions a patched up North Beach side took to the park against the defiant BB United. In the previous round North Beach defeated BB 3-0 at the Cage. On that occasion they had Rob Pfeiffer, Nick Schaffer, Sean Cunningham, Jim Thomson, Kyle MacLean and Neil Perkins playing in the team. For this encounter they did not have those six players available. Despite the loss of those six skilful players the North Beach First Team still had some quality stepping up from the Reserve side. Coming into the starting 11 there was the Judge; Chris Roxby, Dan Mason, Marcus Allen, Tomas Panak and starting for the first time for the First Team, Ryan MacLean.

The game started off, as usual, at a frantic pace with BB giving the North Beach players very little time on the ball. Opportunites came to North Beach but weren't capitalised until approximately 10 minutes into the game when Dan Mason controlled a bobbling ball and fired it into the back of the net. 1-0 to North Beach. 5 minutes later after an rare indecisive moment from keeper Marcus Allen, BB equalised. For the majority of the first half BB attacked down the middle of the park. It could be seen that by the end of the first half their midfield were starting to loose some momentum and run out of legs. The fitness training perfomed on Tuesday and Thursday nights was finally starting to come in handy as North Beach were often first to the ball.

While defending uphill with their backs to goal, North Beach battled against the famous swirling winds of Charles Riley. At times they were under pressure but the back four, consisting of Simon Bailey, Nick Farrell, Chris Roxby and Besty soaked up the pressure and rebounded it back at BB.

On 45 minutes the orange shirted referee sent both teams into the change rooms with the score one a piece.

During half time, the talk was as usual calm and collected with him requesting that everyone step up and put in more hard yards. Signs were showing on some North Beach players that their tanks were almost empty but as usual the North Beach spirit shone through and lifted mentally and physically.

After the break, North Beach took to the field with a new resolve. This came almost straight away when a great play was executed. Chris Roxby launched a hand rocket into the six yard box, new boy Ryan MacLean nodded the ball on and Tex followed up with a fantastic strike into the back of the net. 2-1 to North Beach.

Seven minutes later after a rare break forward a foul was committed by the Judge just outside the box and BB had a free kick given to them. The BB striker curled the ball around the commanding wall and Marcus Allen made up for the previous lapse of judgement and made an excellent save.

Meanwhile on the sideline, suspended player Neil 'i'm angry cos i'm short' Perkins was having a great chat to the BB number 5. There was discussions of a personal nature between the two of them. I'm not sure who was flirting with who but either way it was entertaining.

68 minutes, BB angle themselves through the usually tight North Beach defence and deposit a ball into the back of the net. 2-2.

75 minutes, Ryan MacLean is given a well deserved rest after putting in a solid, fantastic effort and is substituted for Russell Sinclair. 76 minutes Dazzling Darren Young baffles the BB defence with another magic trick and on his second attempt slots the ball in for North Beach's third. 3-2 to North Beach.
77 minutes Russell's first touch is a good one with a header that narrowly misses the goal. 87 minutes BB has a free kick, again just outside the penalty box. The free kick is taken poorly and North Beach regroup and push forward again. 88 minutes sideline coach Graham Corcoran tries to substitute Tex for the younger Heath 'fanta-pants' Sinclair. Tex not realising this is a stalling tactic refuses to come off as there's only 2 minutes to go. Fanta-pants on the sideline is most disappointed as he was really keen to get on the park! The referee blows his whistle and the game finishes with a 3-2 scoreline.

Special mentions today go to Dan Mason and Ryan MacLean. Both players stepped up from the Reserve team and both played excellent games. Dan Mason in particular continued his continual running game with him running more in the game than half the BB team put together. Ryan MacLean also played an excellent game, creating the second goal and pumping in several probing crosses. Well done guys. Other special mentions go to Darren Young and Simon Bailey who both never stopped running and tackling. Evidence of this was after the game when Darren had what seemed a huge gash on his knee. Both players never gave up. However overall everyone did their bit for the team.

Next week: Belmont Villa grace their presence at Charles Riley.

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Fremantle Colo-Colo vs North Beach SC

Second draw in a row slows the North Beach juggernaut but keeps them on top of the ladder

Score - 1 -1 (0-1ht)

Goal Scorer - Neil Perkins 1 (pen)

After a hard fought draw against Balga last week, North Beach travelled to Fremantle to take on old rival Colo-Colo. Due to the creative fixture arrangements, this was the second time North Beach had met Colo-Colo within a month. On their last encounter at Charles Riley Reserve, North Beach confidently defeated Colo-Colo with a 4-0 win. That day Kyle Maclean and Simon Geldart scored one a piece with Rob Pfeiffer netting two fantastic goals. Today the game and scoreline would be much different.

The starting line up for the First team was exactly the same as the week before against Balga. The changes occured on the bench. Coming onto the first team bench there was Marcus Allen as back up keeper to Kosta, Russell Sinclair and younger brother Heath Sinclair. The 'Judge' Chris Roxby and Tomas Panak being the other two players making up the 5 man bench. Excluded from the bench there was Ryan MacLean, due to the bench rotational policy and Kevin Grime, who was a late drop out due to his pregnant wife being ill. Yet again North Beach went into the game looking extremely strong both on the park and on the bench.

The game started off as usual in it's slow, calm steady build up. And then... it exploded into an up and down the park game with North Beach having the upper hand at one moment and then Colo-Colo having it the next.

What wasn't helping the North Beach team was the fact that the referee allocated today was the Peacock. Strutting his 'influence' all over the park, the Peacock ended up giving North Beach very few decisions their way. Neil Perkins and Jim Thomson in particular were in the Peacock's cross hairs. This was mainly due to a Neil playing a very physical game which attracted the Peacock to act, or over act, and also there was Jim who was being targeted due to a discussion after the Reserve game where the Peacock and Jim had a difference of opinion. It also didn't help that Jim received a record breaking yellow card after only being subbed onto the park for only 41 seconds.

On 30 minutes after a good run down the left flank, speedster Kyle MacLean shot at goal and narrowly missed. While in the act of shooting, Colo-Colo's big and beefy goalkeeper gave Kyle's inner thigh six of the best with his studs. This sent Kyle to the ground screaming like a little girl. No seriously it looked like it really hurt and in all honesty must have caused some serious pain as Kyle was subbed and replaced with Tomas Panak. Up until that stage, Kyle was looking to be North Beach's most dangerous forward player. With the addition of right footed Tomas to the team, Simon Geldart moved over to the left and Tomas had a rare outing on his natural right side. Soon after the formation changed from the usual (censored) to a new (censored) formation to accommodate for the new player.

Tomas was obviously excited to get on the park as his first touch nearly resulted in a foul on the goalkeeper. Perhaps the ghost of MacLean was influencing his decision making process?
On 40 minutes Simon Geldart surprised everyone when he managed to get through 4 Colo-Colo players unscathed. Once through the pack he was then met by another Colo-Colo player and subsequently hacked him down just outside the box. From the free kick Neil Perkins chipped the wall and it narrowly missed the top left corner. It was a quality free kick and just needed a little taken off it to be a goal. Neil was having a blinder!

On the 44th minute Colo-Colo broke free of the North Beach backline (who were extremely quick) and netted the ball into the bottom right corner. The celebration was interesting to say the least. The player, who had a head of hair that would rival Dr Who's Tom Baker in his day, ran 20 metres to the North Beach bench, somersaults and gives the bench the fist up? Classy. The goal was against the run of play as North Beach were slowly starting to get on top of Colo-Colo.

44.5 minutes Jim Thomson is side to side with a Colo-Colo midfielder and is deemed to be impeding the player? The Peacock trots over to Jim and flashes him a shiny yellow card. He was rumoured to be polishing his cards before the Reserve game.

The referee blows his whistle and both teams retreat to their changerooms. In the changerooms it was a sombre affair as Sean Cunningham gave the half time talk for Darren Young. This was mainly due to the whiteboard and magnets missing their bus and still being 20 minutes away. Sean's speech was slightly different to Darren's but still inspirational. Darren gave some words of wisdom towards the end and soon after North Beach took to the field for the second half.

When the two teams came out in the second half, it was apparent that North Beach was the team out of the two on the park that squandered their chances in front of goals. At times there were bright shining lights of brilliance but on other occasions it could get frustrating as chance after chance was not put into the back of the net. Midway through the second half coaches Darren and Sean decided to utilise their young bench and bring on their players. Jim Thomson was rested after being continually singled out by the Peacock. He was replaced by Russell Sinclair.

Soon after coming on Russell Sinclair was running down the right and was taken out by the Colo-Colo goalkeeper inside the penalty area. Some would say that he was lucky to stay on but the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt and only showed him a yellow. With the penalty being given, Neil Perkins stepped up to the spot and deposited the ball to the right side of goal and into the back of the net. 1-1.

This was how the score finished with North Beach taking home their second 1-1 draw in as many weeks. Every player on the park worked hard, slogged their guts out for the team but were unfortunate to finish with a draw. Despite this North Beach face BB United next week at home which should prove to be yet another interesting encounter.

Special mentions today go to Tomas Panak who made the jump up from the Reserve team to the First team. Tomas has sat on the bench several times and gone on but with more game time today he performed rather well. Other special mentions to Neil Perkins and Jim Thomson. When the Peacock dislikes a player he tends to pick on them 'slightly' during the game giving them very few decisions. These two players excelled today at their game despite trying conditions. One lasting special mention goes to the boys in the backline. Despite Colo-Colo having an extremely quick forward line Tex, Nick, Simon and Besty did well to contain Colo-Colo to one goal. Well done guys.

Around the league, the results were interesting. Kwinana continued on their winning way with a 3-2 win over lowly Olympic Kingsway, Balga were demolished 5-0 at home to Gwelup United, North Beach's opponent next week, BB United defeated Belmont Villa 2-1, International Calcio lost at home 2-1 to Morley Windmills and Joondalup had a 4-0 away win at Kingsley.

Next week: BB United are released from the Cage on a day trip to North Beach.

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North Beach S.C. vs Balga S.C.

Crossbar and Balga deny North Beach 8th win in a row

Score - 1-1

Goal Scorer - Kyle MacLean 1

Lineup - Kalantzis, Bailey, Farrell, Tex, Besty, Young, Schaffer, Thomson, MacLean K, Perkins and Geldart. Subs;Panak, Roxby, MacLean R and Grimesy

In conditions that were overcast and at times wet, but not as dismal as last's weeks wet and bone freezing Reserve Cup game against Heathridge SC, the North Beach First Team took to the field against third placed Balga SC.

Coming into the side there was a lot of conjecture over who would take the goalkeeping position. Marcus Allen proving his fitness after being out for 3 weeks with a (censored) injury ended up not starting for the first team at all. Instead, Coach Darren Young stayed with Kosta Kalantzis in between the sticks with the the out field players consisting of; Simon Bailey, Nick Farrell, Scott 'Tex' Walker, Besty, Darren, Nick Schaffer, Jim Thomson, Kyle MacLean, Neil Perkins and Simon Geldart in their usual (censored) formation. On the bench there was a mixture of youth, speed and brawn. The players benched up included Tomas Panak, Chris Roxby, Ryan MacLean and Kevin Grime who was brought onto the bench to bump up the average age.

The game, as expected, started off at a ferocious pace with North Beach attacking downhill towards the clubrooms. The wind wasnt particulary strong but it still presented North Beach with plenty of support when attacking. Both sides were up and down the pitch attacking and counter-attacking which resulted in not very much at all. After what looked like an innocent free kicked almost 40 yards out from goal turned into a fantastic opportunity to try something new for Kyle MacLean. Tradition dictates that normally he'd send the ball into the carpark (at Karrinyup Shopping Centre) but on this occasion Kyle drilled the ball low and hard and with the pitch being wet and slippery it made it extremely hard for the keeper in all black to see the ball coming out of the crowded box. The ball darted past him and into the back of goals. North Beach 1-0 up after only 9 minutes.

Throughout the first half the North Beach players threw themselves around the park in an attempt to make an effort in stopping Balga from going anywhere. With the (censored) formation causing Balga a few problems it was left to ladies team favourite Jim 'I am the Stig' Thomson to become the team's 'hard man' for the day. Countless times, Jim and the Balga number two clashed. Both players were spoken to by the referee but nothing could stop the two of them and i'm told that it could be seen in each of their eyes them winking at each other knowing that it was all in good fun. Jim and the Balga number two will be going out on a hot date on Wednesday night. Details to follow.

Midway through the half the Balga defenders backpassed to their keeper, in the air, and this bounced off the crossbar and out for a corner. This would be one of 4 occasions where the crossbar would be shaken during the game. On 39 minutes Balga attack North Beach and Kosta is forced into making an excellent save to his right. It was a scare for North Beach as it gave the boys a glimpse of what Balga could do.

Half time, North Beach retire to the Playgroup to think about how their gameplan has been going and if it needed to be tweaked? As usual Coach Darren Young utilises all his tools and teaching impliments and relays his thoughts in his usual calm and collected way.

North Beach return to the pitch with a new intensity. This lasts only for so long as 7 minutes into the half Balga equalise after a pumping the ball into the back of the net on a second attempt. The first attempt was skillfully saved by Kosta but unfortunately no one was following up his save and Balga put the ball away in a clinical manner. The score after 52 minutes 1-1.

At the start of the second half Jim Thomson is rested and Chris 'the Judge' Roxby is brought onto the park. The Judge, given his name as he sits on the bench a lot slots into the team at centre back and Tex is moved into the (censored) postion. At times Tex was showing signs of serious fatigue but he balanced out once his 300th wind had kicked in.

The second half wasnt so much a game of football but a half where the team at times lost their way. Balga were attacking faster, harder and with more intensity than they did in the first half. North Beach often were on the back foot and were forced into making rash challenges which resulted in yellow cards. Nick 'dog whistle' Farrell was one player to be shown a yellow colour today. 15 minutes into the second half the heavens opened up and the rain came bucketing down. This made the game an absolute nightmare to play in as the ball slipped and slid all over the park which made control for our more skilful players harder than ever before.

After 92 minutes of playing time, the referee blew his whistle and the score finished at 1-1. It was a tough game for North Beach as the team went out without a few influential players. The team put out on the park was still an extremely skilful, determined and fit team. They just unfortunately could not break down Balga today. On another day the result would have been perhaps a little different. But on the brightside they didnt lose.

Other scores around the league include Belmont beating North Beach's next opponents in the league, Colo-Colo 7-1. BB United went down 3-1 at home to Kwinana United, Olympic Kingsway's disasterous season continued after they were thrashed 5-1 at home to International Calcio, Gwelup United continued their good run with a 2-0 win over Kingsley and thankfully, Morley Windmills drew 2-2 at home to Joondalup United.

Special mentions today go to Kosta Kalantzis who played an absolute blinder in goals saving several quality shots and keeping the scoreline lower than it could have been. Darren Young again performed admirally along with Jim Thomson who put in 45 minutes of exceptional running, barging and tackling. One other special mention goes to Graham Corcoran who ran the line for the whole of the game, especially in the dismal conditions

Next week - North Beach travel to Fremantle, take in a coffee, tour the prison and take on Colo-Colo.

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North Beach Soccer Club vs Fremantle Colo Colo

North Beach pop 4 into the back of the net over spicy Colo-Colo

Score - 4-0 win (2-0ht) for North Beach

Goal Scorers - Rob Pfeiffer 2, Simon Geldart 1, Kyle MacLean 1

After a tough and gritty performance away to BB United at The Cage last week, North Beach were looking to repeat their winning ways with a home win against old rivals Fremantle Colo-Colo. In the past these affairs had been physically and mentally challenging as both sides have refused to concede ground to each other. At times the encounters had borderlined on almost violent as players had been attacked, various assault charges handed out and certain North Beach players straddling Colo-Colo players shouting 'giddy up' at the top of their voices.

Still with all this history behind them, the game today between North Beach and the fallen giant was a rather tame affair with no concernable events.

Coming into the squad this week were North Beach old boys Simon Geldart and Kevin Grime. Ommited from the squad were high calabre players such as Chris Roxby, Darryl Malam, Tomas Panak and Kosta Kalantzis.

With the exception of Chris Roxby who was replaced by dreadlocked speedster Simon Bailey the starting 11 was the same as last week with Marcus Allen in goals, Simon Bailey moving into the left back position, the housewives favourite Nick Farrell moving into the vacant centreback role along with Tex and Besty in the middle and out on the right respectively.

In midfield you had Sean Cunningham, Jim Thomson and Nick Schaffer and up front the three pronged attacking machine that consisted of Kyle MacLean and Neil Perkins flanking Rob Pfeiffer. The line up and formation was set and everyone was expecting the game to be a doozy!

In crisp conditions the game started off as expected at a high and frenetic pace with both sides attacking and counter-attacking each other. Colo-Colo's speedy number 7 was causing problems down the left wing but the ever reliable abilities of Besty were able to hold back the rampaging winger to a minimum.
Rob Pfeiffer playing in his second last game was having a blinder. Not only did he score a great goal he was also heavily involved in the action. Colo-Colo closely marked him but Rob on several occasions was able to throw his markers and create some magic.

In the backline the ever reliable Tex and Nick worked well together and soaked up any problems that reared their ugly heads. Down the wings Simon Bailey and Besty presented themselves well with some blinding runs forward. While not wanting to pick a better player among the two full backs Simon Bailey in particular did play extremely well.

Neil Perkins up front played well and despite being spoken to by the referee on several occasions he managed to avoid any serious incidents.

As the referee blew his whistle for half time the score was locked at 2-0 to North Beach.

Retreating to their Playgroup for the half time chat North Beach came out better and more organised than in the first half. Saying that they didnt play terrible in the first half but just looked better in the second.
Knocking in a further two goals in the second half coach Darren Young utilised his bench by bringing himself on at half time at the expense of Playgirl favourite Jim Thomson. Soon after Tex and Nick Schaffer had a rare early rest each when they were replaced by Ryan MacLean, who incidently, was more worried that the food money at home was running out rather than focusing on the game and also Simon Geldart. Later on Kyle MacLean was rested and replaced by his older brother Steve MacLean.

With the final score at 4-0 North Beach finished the day off rather well and proved to themselves and the league that they can and are a major contender for champions in Division 1 with them being unbeaten in six games, scoring 22 goals and only conceding 3 goals in the process. On those results they are red hot. With North Beach being only one point from top place and with the win against Colo-Colo opening up a three point buffer between themselves and Kingsley anything can happen? Early season leaders Balga seem to be going off the boil with a 6-1 thumping away to Gwelup while next week's opponents Kwinana United were given 5 of the best by second bottom Olympic Kingsway. With only one promotional position available it's going to go right down to the wire!

Special mentions today go to the Under 10 side who acted as ball-boys for the Amateur First team and Ladies team. They sat in with the first team during their pre-match chat and picked up a few good tips such as we have a big fellow in the middle of the park who is a very good player and that Marcus is more accurate at throwing than when he kicks the ball. Thanks kids... we'll see you at the next home game against Balga on 8th July.

Other special mentions go to Simon Bailey and Besty who played extremely well up and down the line, Marcus Allen who came off his line several times during the game to extinguish any Colo-Colo goal opportunities, Sean Cunningham who proved that even he can be hacked down by the best of them... and yes yet again Rob Pfeiffer who knocked in another two quality goals taking his goal tally to 11 for the season. Next week is his last game for North Beach for some time so in channelling the great tradition of the North Beach Cats a bus trip will be organised for the away game to Kwinana United. We'll see you all then!

Next week: All aboard the magic bus as North Beach travel down south to Kwinana and take on the locals at the Skinripper Park.

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North Beach Soccer Club vs Olympic Kingsway

North Beach continue on winning ways while Olympic Kingsway implode

Score – 6-2 win to North Beach

Goal Scorers – Rob Pfeiffer 2, Nick Schaffer 2, Kyle MacLean 1, Tomas Panak 1

After successfully cleaning up Gwelup United 3-0 at the Paddock last Sunday North Beach were keen to make it three wins in a row against bottom of the table Olympic Kingsway. After winning Division 2 last year a lot was expected from Olympic Kingsway, but after losing their first five league games they were finding life in Division 1 a little harder than was expected.

North Beach started with basically the same starting 11 that played the week before against Gwelup with the exception of Chris Roxby and Jim Thomson.

Chris came in for the injured/mistakenly yellow carded and suspended Adam Jones. Chris slotted into his usual centre back role which pushed Nick Farrell back out to left back which unfortunately relegated Simon Bailey to the bench. The only other positional change was Jim Thomson starting in the middle of the ‘splatter’ formation with Nick Schaffer. On the bench North Beach welcomed with open arms the ‘blessed one’ Dennis Perrie, chatty forward Tomas Panak and as discussed earlier Simon Bailey. With Kosta Kalantzis and Kevin Grime both out struggling with knee injuries there would be no forth sub that could double as an outfield player and goalkeeper.

The game, as expected started off with a high tempo. Despite being bottom of the Division 1 league, Olympic Kingsway (OK) showed to have a bit of grit under their belts and showed a little more backbone than North Beach’s last home opponents Morley Windmills.

On 12 minutes Jim Thomson is straight into the action with a ‘throw you over my knee’ tackle that allows OK to have a free kick just outside the NB defensive penalty box.

At the 17 minute mark the housewives favourite, Kyle MacLean shows moves that could be described as being ‘so good, and then really bad’ as he ran through the OK defence and then has one too many touches and is forced into a shot that doesn’t go out for a goal kick, but rather a throw, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Throughout the first half there were several one on one contests that were quite interesting. One that came to mind was the one between North Beach’s very own angry ant, Neil ‘does my bum look big in this’ Perkins and OK’s number 37. Several times words and hacks were shared between them. Both were giving as good as each got and in all bias I would say that the number 37 was the dirtier of the two. Saying that though you just don’t know what Neil was whispering in his ear to get him so fired up! Perhaps number 37 was a Manchester United fan? Who knows?

On the 30th minute, Kyle is hacked down by the no-talent OK defence and from the Rob Pfeiffer free kick, our man from the States, Nick Schaffer puts the ball in the back of the net. 1 nil to the Beach.

34 minutes – Rob Pfeiffer makes a wonderful run into space and shoots wide of the target. Neil Perkins narrowly misses on the follow up.

After dominating so much of the first half, North Beach are given a reality shot needle in the arm OK breaks on the counter attack, goes round Marcus Allen and puts the ball in the back of the net to equalise. Perhaps this game wasn’t going to be as easy as everyone thought?

On 38 minutes, an event happened that no one thought they would see in their lifetimes. Halley’s Comet? No. A lunar and solar eclipse happening at the same time? No. Asteroid J1340556A hurtling into the atmosphere and wiping the planet out? No. Chris Roxby was kicked to the head and didn’t get up.

At the time substitute Dennis Perrie commented that kicking Chris in the head was like kicking into sheet metal. He also casually commented that he knew Chris was going to get up as no one would be that brave to down Roxby with their boot hard enough. Chris did stay down but luckily his head popped out the dent and he finished the half in one piece with just a minor graze under his eye. Chris, don’t worry about the marks on your baby face as ‘chicks dig scars’.

On the 43rd minute Kyle puts Tex through and Tex goes screaming forward and shoots just outside the penalty box. The big OK keeper tips the shot over the bar and concedes the corner. From the corner Kyle dives dramatically and puts the ball in the back of the net to go 2-1 up. I of course, and half the home supporters never saw this goal as we were all watching Mandurah take a penalty against the North Beach Masters on the opposite pitch. Needless to say Kyle has assured me that it was a quality goal and probably the best goal of the day?

At this stage the referee is playing extra time and OK attack from the kick off and break through the normally stern North Beach defence. Marcus Allen, who is left stranded one on one by his defence comes out to narrow the angle down and is rounded by the OK player and his next action is to test his back muscles and pick the ball out of the back of the net. 2-2.

Half time is seconds away and the OK number 5 is warned by the referee for abusive language. Not at any of the North Beach players but rather at his own side and in particular a player on their bench? The Lottery West fireworks were on the horizon and were about to set off as soon as the ref blew his whistle.

Half time was blown and both teams retreated to their own areas. North Beach went into their playgroup, and OK to the tree where their bench was situated. While under the tree, two of the OK players started arguing and swearing and having to be held back. It was really all handbags and gladrags as both players were told to wake up to themselves or they’d be substituted rather rapidly.

Stuart Sinclair was sent over to calm the situation down as he was the poor sucker wearing the Football West stewards vest. In his normal diplomatic way he brought over three cartons of Carlton Midstrength (the supporters choice of beer) and bribed the OK players into calming down. Stuart, a job in local government is waiting for you.

Back at playgroup, Darren and his friends, Mr Whiteboard, Miss Magnetic dots and Mr Pen were telling the boys where they went wrong and how they could fix the problem. He talked about space on the park, movement and also working for your team mates to make their job and your job easier. Like last week and the week before that, the half time chat spurred the boys into playing even better in the second half. It was also mentioned that with three subs on the bench who were raring to go, changes would be made at any stage if players did not perform. This last comment left a cold shiver in my heart as Darren said it really nastily. Mr Whiteboard also had a nasty look on his face. It seemed the bad cop; bad cop routine was working as North Beach went out and demolished Olympic Kingsway in the second half.

The second half started off just as physical as the first half did. Both sides were mentally charged after their half time chats and both were equally in with a chance of finishing the game as winners. Straight from the start Besty and the OK number 9 tussled for the ball and neither one of them was going to back off in their pursuit of the ball. Nick Schaffer was also in the thick of things when he was straddled by his marking opponent 5 minutes into the half. Was it good for you too Nick? This was the start of a purple patch for North Beach and Nick Schaffer in particular. On 55 minutes in open play Nick puts the ball in the back of the net with a neat and efficient finish. 3-2 to North Beach.

During the second half Tex was showing signs of struggling due to him experiencing shortness of breath. Due to Tex forgetting to take his asthma puffer before the game (reason unknown-possibly alcohol related) he struggled to keep up with the OK players when they made a quick break towards North Beach’s goal. Substitute and Tex’s bitch, Dennis Perrie was immediately despatched to get Tex’s purple asthma puffer so that he could finally get back to what he does best, that is playing a great game. A couple of puffs and Tex was back and keeping up with players half his age!

That was before he threw the puffer off the park and nearly hit spectators sitting on the next pitch watching the Masters game.

At this stage Neil Perkins and the OK number 37 were constantly getting stuck into each other and on the 63rd minute the referee got sick of seeing two grown men hack into each other so he shows Neil a yellow card for one too many kicks on the hapless OK player. 65 minutes Rob Pfeiffer turns and scores with his left foot that sends the OK keeper to his left but all he gets in reply is sand and grass down his underpants. 67 minutes Neil Perkins is subbed (much to number 37’s relief) and is replaced with God’s gift to karaoke Simon Bailey. 69 minutes Sean Cunningham hacks at his opponent in the middle of the park in an attempt to get the ball. His opponent who has a dodgy Groucho Marx moustache and used to play for Gwelup United doesn’t take kindly to the tackle and whinges to the ref. The referee brushes him away.

72 minutes Dennis Perrie comes into the game at the expense of Chris Roxby who left the park to show his scar to the ladies team. 73 minutes Kyle MacLean wastes a corner when he sends the ball into the top netting. 77 minutes Tomas Panak makes an appearance for the first team coming off the bench and moving into the right wing position, Simon Bailey moves to left back, Captain Glamorous Nick Farrell moves to centre back and Tex is given a rest after giving the team a solid and reliable 77 minutes. Another quality game under his belt!

80 minutes, Tomas pushes up onto the last man and slots the ball into the back of the net making his first team goal debut. 5-2 The pass came from Rob Pfeiffer. 85 minutes Tomas returns the favour and passes to Rob who slots in his second. 6-2

On 89 minutes Olympic Kingsway make one last attack and in a scramble have a good shot cleared off the line by Simon ‘I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky lucky Bailey which keeps the score on full time at 6-2. It was a great win for the guys, which not only takes their winning run to three but also increases their goal difference by 4. Another good win by the boys, well done!

Special mentions this week go to Jim Thomson who made his first team starting debut. He worked hard in the middle with Nick Schaffer and Sean Cunningham and delivered the goods when it mattered. Well done Jim. Other special mentions go to Rob Pfeiffer who was yet again hacked and chopped all over the park and still managed to put two goals away. Who will take his place in the team when he leaves in 3 or 4 weeks time remains to be seen?

And finally Graham Corcoran who ran the line for the whole game. This comes on the back of the news that Graham has been ruled out for the majority of the season with a groin injury. Tough luck there Graham, good job you’ve already got kids.

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Gwelup United vs North Beach Soccer Club

North Beach overcome aggressive oppostion in local derby

Score - 3-0 (3-0ht) win to North Beach

Goal Scorers - Rob Pfeiffer 1, Kyle MacLean 1, OG 1

After successfully overcoming Dutch side Morley Windmills last week in the league, North Beach were striving to continue their good form with an away game to local rivals Gwelup United.

On a pitch that was renowned grazing cattle in the off season, both the First team and the Reserves were pleasantly surprised when they discovered that the normally hard dusty barron pitch actually had grass on it and was rather spongy.

The first team had very few changes from the week before. With the absence of Dennis Perrie in the backline, Nick Farrell slotted into the centre back roll with the grand old man of the team Scott 'Tex' Walker. In a formation that could be best described as a splatter the team went out in a 4-1-2-3 formation that would, if in the most dire of circumstances confuse the oppostion into thinking they were playing against a team run by Terry Venables.

The game started in it's usual rough and tumble manner. Yet again, North Beach went one up early in the game when on the 7th minute one of the Gwelup defenders skillfully put the ball in the back of his own net with a fantastic headered finish. This hiccup goal occured mainly because of the pressure from Neil 'does my bum look big' Perkins who was on fine niggling form with his close marking and sharp comments. The latter being the start of a day where Neil would win with his mouth but Gwelup would win with their studs and knees in Neil's back, ankles and calves. Either way... 1-0 to the Beach, 7 minutes in.

Speaking of the man they call Perks, throughout the first half he and the Gwelup number 5 had several close call tackles and encounters. Not only did Neil win many of these he also made sure that he was always in on the action when number 5 was involved.

One aspect of the first half that differenciated the two teams was the North Beach midfield. Yet again Nick Schaffer was playing a blinder. He out-jumped guys 30cm taller than him and was never afraid to get stuck in. Also on fire was Sean Cunningham who dominated in all aspects of the game. In the air, marking, on the ground and defensively Sean put the effort in and proved to be a major thorn in the Gwelup side! Even when they tried to hack him down he still carried the tackle and kept on playing.

If there was one consistent throughout the game, this was the lack of control on the game by the referee. Constantly the referee allowed the Gwelup players to hack, chop and slice down the North Beach players with delight and often the tackles were not clumsy but rather malicious and sly. It was a sad sign of the game that players were being injured in the attempt to either disrupt the game or to get back at them due to a previous tackle from before. The game was played with no sportsmanship by the Gwelup United players throughout the 90 minutes and their discipline was something that they should be ashamed about. But this being a local derby game there was never any doubt that it was not going to be a spiteful match. It is just a shame that some Gwelup players and the referee forgot that it is still an amateur league that we are playing in and everyone has to go to work the next day.

Late in the first half Besty goes on one of his fantastic roaming runs and creates a beautiful move that allows Kyle 'I can jump puddles' MacLean into a great position and Kyle being Kyle slots the ball away nicely to add a second goal to the North Beach tally. Just a shame about his goal celebration.

At the other end of the park Marcus was having an eventful day. One minute was coming out of his box like a madman on smack cutting balls off from the Gwelup players and the next moment he was crab scrambling in his 6 yard box trying to grasp at the ball that was just getting out of his reach. This move, which shall now be known as the Allen Crab Manouvre, started when Marcus came screaming out of his box and in a split second he chose not to head the ball but to try and kick it. The ball bounces past him and somehow ends up behind him? Luckily he got back and managed to get his whole body on the ball. Entertainment is Marcus' middle name.

Bang on the 45th minute two things occured that would change the game completely. Neil Perkins was taken out with a malicious knee to his lower back and Rob 'deport me i'm British' Pfeiffer slots the ball in the back of the net for the third goal of the half. What ended up being dodgy about Rob's goal was that it came from the penalty spot and he needed a second go to get it in the back of the net. After pushing the ball to the right, the keeper second guessed him and dived the right way but unfortunately pushed the shot right out into Rob's path. Rob slotted the rebound into the back of the net on the second attempt. Fury and f-words were building up in the Gwelup United coach's mind as the two teams left the pitch for half time.

At half time, Darren Young was extremely pleased to be 3 up in conditions that were rather trying. As discussed before, the pitch was very spongy and was extremely hard work on the lower legs. Needless to say Darren offered constructive words of advice for the sore but successful first half side while the Gwelup coach next door pumped out more F-words than a scene from a Quentin Tarantino film. It was hard not to ignore but the boys ploughed on throughout the chat despite the R-rated shouting and language coming from next door. With half time chats like that its no surprise what happened next.

The second half starts and no sooner had the first minute ticked by on the referee's watch, Gwelup's beefy midfielder decided that he had enough of the close marking by Adam Jones' in the middle of the park. With what could be best described as a tangle of bodies the Gwelup player, throws Adam into the ground and with what could be described as the first decent bit of refereeing for the game the Gwelup player is shown the red card for violent conduct. In a strange bit of refereeing, Adam is shown a yellow card as well? Not sure about this one? We'll just say that it was an X-file decision.

For the next 5-10 minutes the game is really a pinball game with the ball bobbing back and forward in the air and bounced in between feet.

On 55 minutes, Darren Young brings on the first of this four subs with inspirational club cult hero Jim Thomson coming on to replace Adam. It was decided that it be best that Darren substitutes him before the referee does and also because the crowd deemed that Adam was uglier than Jim? Jim doesnt have to wait long for his first touch when his head intercepts a pass forward by the Gwelup defenders. It doesnt make much of an impact but Jim was in on the action straight away. This was the start of Jim's excellent half hour on the park.

Stop the press! On the 56th minute Neil Perkins wins a header in the air! I was paid to put this in.

On the 58th minute Jim has a shot and narrowly misses. It doesnt matter what team he's in he's still crap in front of goals. 59th minute our old friend Kyle MacLean is shown his first yellow card of the season. Up until now Kyle had been a good boy since being sent off in the first round of the cup against North Lake but in a game that just dripped of kero and Kyle being the jiffy lighter it was only a matter of time before he sparked up.

65th minute, Jim wins the ball from a hapless Gwelup midfielder and in a good move with Neil Perkins the ball is saved by the man-mountain Gwelup goalkeeper. It was probably the only decent save of the game that he meant to do as before that save he was pretty average.

68th minute Kyle is reprieved from getting another yellow card and is substituted for Mr Bovine himself Chris Roxby. Rox immediately slots into his usual centreback roll while Nick Farrell is pushed out wide to the left and Simon YMCA Bailey is pushed up forward into Kyle's vacant position. On the 72nd minute after copping another axe to his ankles Neil Perkins is subbed for speedy winger Brenton White. 73 minutes Steve 'too keen' MacLean comes on the park in place of a tired and boot hacked Rob Pfeiffer.
On 78 minutes, Man-Mountain is pinged for holding the ball in his penalty area for longer than the legal 6 seconds. When questioned by his own players he screams back at them 'what was I supposed to do?' Here's a tip... kick it you twit! He won't get done for that again! Unless he's really stupid that is.

Bang on 90 minute, no extra time, the referee puts himself and the Gwelup team out of their misery. While they were down to 10 men for virtually the whole of the second half they managed to play better with ten men than when they had a full 11 on the park in the first half. Despite an enormous amount of pressure from North Beach they managed to keep the second half at 0-0. But enough of them... they lost. North Beach continued on their winning ways into hopefully what could now be technically known as 'a run'.

Special mentions today go to Tex. As the second oldest player in the North Beach side today he ran a lot of ground and proved that just because you're over 30, drink heaps, go out late at night and have a dog called Sook, it doesnt mean that you're crap. He played a super-solid game and along with Sean Cunningham was arguably North Beach's best player on ground. Well done Tex. Another special mention must go to Graham and Russell who ran the line for the first team. Graham as usual did well whereas Russell proved that he was better at running the line than he was at taking penalties.

Other special mentions for Neil Perkins who did well out of position up front, Nick 'i'm Owen Hargreaves in disguise' Schaffer and also for the second week in a row, Simon Bailey who played well again in what could be 'his new spot' at left back despite wearing a very dodgy headband.

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North Beach Soccer Club vs Morley Windmills

Playgroup chat inspires North Beach to first win of the season

Score - 4-1 win (1-1ht) to North Beach

Goal Scorers - Rob Pfeiffer 2, Sean Cunningham 1, Scott 'Tex' Walker 1

After the disasterous result that came out of the Joondalup game last week, there were wholesale changes to the North Beach Amateur side. Out went team captain, Nick Farrell and new player Adam Jones. Into the squad came weaving midfielder, Dave, Besty, Russell, regular centreback Dennis Perrie and utility player Ross Broad.

In unusually sunny conditions, the game started off, as usual, at a high pace with both sides not backing down in the tackles and challenges. Morley Windmills traditionally have never been an easy side to beat and have often put up some resistance when pushed upon by North Beach's more skillful players.

Everything was going swimmingly until the 22nd minute when Morley had a rare penatrating attack and launched a ball from the far side of the park towards goals. North Beach defending the goal closest to the clubhouse were facing into the sun and goalkeeper Marcus Allen ended up getting temporarily blinded by the sun as the ball decended towards his goal. He somehow managed to get his hands to the ball and only kept it out fractionally but loitering on the six yard box was a Morley player and he headed the rebound in after Marcus had patter-caked it away. Up until that stage North Beach had been dominating the game and Morley scored on the counter attack. Some would call lucky for them but others would say the North Beach bad luck was yet again, rearing it's ugly head.

Throughout the first half there were several excellent one on one battles between several North Beach and Morley Windmills players. Out on the wing, Brenton was having a good scrap for the ball with the burly number 10 and Rob Pfeiffer was also having a good battle up front with the towering former mulleted number 4. Constantly, balls were pumped up to Rob in the air and the Morley number 4 must have thought all his Christmas' had come at once as he won a large percentage of them. It was not that Rob was not trying, it was more the fact that he was just not tall enough to compete with the big defender. This issue was dealt with at half time.

If there was one constant, it was that the team had some excellent over-lapping attacks. Simon Bailey and Besty were screaming down the wings and pushing the Morley defence to it's limits. Towards the end of the 1st half, the game reverted to a primitive version of aerial ping pong that wasn't very pretty to watch and in all honesty was not pretty to probably play in. on the 41st minute Dennis Perrie, back from an Adelaide Crows scouting mission wound up the elastic band and launched one of his trademark shorts at goal. It was wide of the mark but entertained the crowd none the less. Straight after that on the 42nd minute, that man... Sean Cunningham came into the game with a duck and weave run and on his left foot he chipped the ball into the top left corner of the goal. The crowd raised to their feet as Sean put away his first goal of the season proper. It was a quality finish and we only wish the club would invest in cameras so we could watch the action replay.

Half time came and North Beach came off the park and went to the Playgroup area for their team chat. There, Coach Darren Young started the half time chat with new toys. A whiteboard and magnets. Despite the fun settings the half time chat was constructive and uplifting. Several players were waiting for Big Ted and Jemima to come out and say hello and the Rocket Clock to tell us what the second half was going to look like. Making way for Dave was Neil 'does my bum look big in this' Perkins as Dave was struggling for fitness in his position as a central midfielder. A stint in the Reserves may bring him up to speed?

The second half starts and two minutes in on the 47th minute Nick Schaffer shoots at goal and the keeper somehow touches it over the bar. Whether or not he tipped it remains to be seen as I was eating my hamburger at the time and failed to see the actual shot. It was the start of the onslaught.
50 minutes, the people's favourite Tex, crosses the ball in and the keeper finger tips it into his own goal. 2-1. Question remains whether Tex meant to cross this or it was a shot but as there is no controversy in this match report yet, we'll say he meant to cross it in. No sooner had the ball been kicked off Tex is yet again in the action when he stopped a one on one attack on the North Beach goal with a fantastic tackle.
52nd minute Rob Pfeiffer again, wrestles with the ex-mulleted Morley number 4 and slots the ball into the back of the net. 3-1. After the two goals went in, North Beach discovered their confidence and attack with speed, style and skill. It was great to finally see the team lift with every kick on the park after experiencing 4 dismal games.

Late in the game Rob Pfeiffer completes his excellent day with another goal as he shot from the left side of the park and beats the Morley keeper on his inside post. 4-1. I'd dare say he won't be happy about that when he goes over the goals in his mind. The goal came from a team effort from Kyle 'I can jump puddles' MacLean and Sean 'hack me, hack you' Cunningham.

The win was a long time coming but it was well and truly deserved. Full credit to all the boys and good luck next week against Gwelup United away at the Paddock.

Special mentions to Dennis Perrie who marshalled the defence superbly, Simon Bailey, who played well, despite being out of position at left back and Besty who also played a blinder down the right side. One last special mention goes to Kyle MacLean who despite trying his hardest throughout the game was bagged from the sideline and from the referee constantly. Some of Kyle's mistakes are as follows:

Missing a shot that was crossed to him by Brenton. He fell flat on his ar$e for that one.
Failing to trap the ball (in front of the home crowd) and allowing it to bounce under his foot and out for a Morley throw.
Cramping up and then being bagged by the ref with him saying that cramp is not an injury but rather a lack of fitness.

Well done Kyle. We hope you're as entertaining next week as you were this week.

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Joondalup vs North Beach Soccer Club

Score – 2-1 (1-1ht) to Joondalup

Goal Scorer – Nick Schaffer 1

For the third week in a row the rain belted down and the wind blew with the intensity at times of a cyclone. These were the conditions that North Beach would have to utilise if they were defeat their old foe Joondalup United in their Round 3 match of the Amateur Division 1 League. North Beach were coming into the game on the back of a home 3-2 loss to Kingsley. Their spirits were high and the players knew themselves that this was one of the strongest sides North Beach has put out on the field in months. Coming into the game at the unusual position of right back was Simon 'Bjorn Again' Bailey who added some much needed pace to the backline. Sean Cunningham was pushed further upfield into a strikers role and Neil Perkins came into the midfield to partner Nick Schaffer. The remaining starting positions stayed the same. With last week's sending off of Dennis Perrie, new faces were brought to the bench to compensate the backline and midfield. Coming into team and warming the bench was everyone's favourite studs up tackler, Graham Corcoran, new old boy Gareth Elliott and Reserve team dynamo goalkeeper Kosta Kalantzis.

At the start of the game the weather was slightly windy but dry. After the downpour that was the Reserve game the pitch was holding the exessive water pretty well.

Early on in the game, Joondalup dominated and it took the North Beach team a little while to adapt to the physical rough and tumble of the game. North Beach went down early in the first half to what could be best described as a defensive lapse. At times the team's transition from losing the ball to realising that they could get it back was slightly slow and sometimes sloppy. This was addressed by Coach Darren Young at half time and a positive outcome came from the half time chat.

On thirty minutes Adam Jones fired from wide and only just missed. Joondalup who were playing a dwarfed Edward Norton clone in their midfield who was controlling the game quite well. Their bigger than number 3 player (number 16) ran down the wing quite a lot which at times caused problems for the North Beach defenders. North Beach steadied the ship on the 36th minutes when Nick 'white men can jump' Schaffer scored a fantastic goal that came through to him by Joondalup Number 3's most hated player, Sean Cunningham. The scores were level and the players retired at half time to the tree for a chat with Darren.

The boys came out firing with a new intensity which has not been seen in the last few weeks. Sean Cunningham and Joondalup's burly number 3 were having a fantastic battle on the park. At the end of the day it could be said that Sean had won his fair share of battles with the big central defender, but he would, once 90 minutes was blown have the last laugh. The second half was a strong encounter with many tackles that should have been picked up by the referee. At times he was a little too concerned about where the player should stand to throw the ball in rather than concentrate on the over-the-top tackles from behind and dirty elbows that flew past people's faces and other body parts. It could be best described as a poor performance by the referee on this day. While not easy to referee and full credit to him for doing the job you do not allow a player to go through two players like a scythe going through a field of wheat and then expect them to just play on. At times it was incredible to watch. But enough about the referee as whinging about his performance doesnt do North Beach any good.

On 55 minutes Adam made way for Brenton who offered a more direct route to goals. He was never afraid to get stuck in, which included leaving the boot in when needed. North Beach legend Nick Farrell then got into the action on the 62nd minute with a free kick that was taken outside the box. This narrowly missed the goal but his attempt alone was worth the $4.00 I paid for the hotdog and the coke zero. The last time Nick played at this ground he scored a corker of a goal, so the North Beach faithful were hoping he'd repeat his feat from last time. Alas it was not to be but it was still a great effort. Almost straight after Nick's shot Chris 'seem-buster' Roxby hurled in a hand rocket throw to Kyle 'I can jump puddles' MacLean which was accurate down to the milimetre. The throw bounced off Kyle's burly chest quite ferociously and forced the Joondalup keeper to dive to his right and force him into a save. The wave of attacks was starting.

On the 70th minute Tex pumped in one of his mega-crosses which found Neil Perkins. Neil turning with the speed of the Titanic on acid shot at goals and unfortunately watched it bounce off the crossbar. It was proving to be one of those days. 75th minute, Nick Farrell is substituted for speedy winger Craig Bartlett in the attempt to push for that elusive goal. That becomes fruitless when the lanky number 16 scores on the 78th minute with a pretty good goal. In the 85 minute Rob 'deport me' Pfieffer hits the cross bar with a thundering shot that in any other game would have been 30cm lower and bothering the back net. Instead on this occasion all it bothered was the wattle bushes behind the goals. 90th minute, on the dot, no extra time, the referee blows his wet whistle. Joondalup are screaming and bumping man-groins into each other while North Beach stand there asking where they went wrong? The look on the North Beach player's faces was one of distress, disappointment and anguish. The players played the game like it should have been. Hard, exciting, never giving up, gritty in fact but they were unfortunately unsuccessful. The result was a shame as North Beach played really well. I enjoyed the game, Jim enjoyed the game, even Stewart enjoyed the game! It was just a shame the results didnt come their way.

Special mentions today for, yet again, Chris Roxby who put up the good fight and never pulled out of a tackle, Rob Pfieffer who despite struggling with a niggling injury played a solid game up front, Neil Perkins and Nick Schaffer who anchored the midfield and Darren who kept the boys lifted with his quiet confidence and calm words of wisdom. Next week the dutch invade North Beach when we play Morley Windmills at Chas Riley.

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North Beach Soccer Club vs Kingsley

Score – 3-2 loss to Kingsley

Goal Scorers – Kyle MacLean 2

After securing a 2-2 draw with International Calcio in their first game of the season, expectations were high and positive results were needed if the North Beach First Team were to stay in the hunt for promotion to the Premier League. Playing in their first home game of the season they were tested by a physical Kingsley right from the start.

North Beach’s ever vigilant goalkeeper Marcus Allen was tested several times in the first 10 minutes of the game. These attempts he handled with ease, and almost made them look effortless, but there was still another 80 minutes to contend with. North Beach took the lead on the 5th minute thanks to a thundering volley from returning red-carded player Kyle MacLean. Yet again, North Beach showed an ability to score the early goal and put opposition teams under pressure right from the start.

The weather was continuing to throw spanners in the performance of both teams with the ball slipping and sliding all over the park. Tackles were thrown and yellow cards were given out on both sides for wayward tackles that probably would have not connected had the ground been dry.

Many of the players on both teams were physically exhausted at the break mainly because the wind and rain had been causing such problems on the Charles Riley ground. The ocean cross wind created the world famous ‘sideways rain’ that proves to a nightmare running into when going down the hill towards the club rooms.

The half time team talk by coach, Darren Young, was demanding, yet encouraging and among the players there was a belief that the team would come back and take the game. With 16 players in the first team squad and Darren Young and Neil Perkins still to come back into the side, the players were not only fighting to win the game but to also keep their spot in the side.

After coming back onto the park in the second half the North Beach players lifted their game, in particular Kyle MacLean, who scored another screamer from outside the box. The Kingsley coach commented that Kyle was killing them with his mazing runs and dazzling shots. The supporters on the sideline were prompt to remind him that if he was in the six yard box he was cr@p so he was under instruction to shoot from distance.

What made it hard for the North Beach team was the fact that Dennis Perrie was sent off for a last man tackle midway through the second half. At the time, North Beach was 2-1 up. This was the catalyst that started the collapse for the team. Being shown red for the first time in his 13 season career at North Beach, Dennis left the pitch and in great North Beach tradition went and drowned his sorrows with an alcoholic beverage from the bar. Meanwhile back on the bench you had Gary, Ryan, Simon ‘Bjorn Again’ Bailey, Dave and KG sitting on the bench, all itching for a bit of game time. With the squad being so full North Beach was able to field a top notch side with a quality bench to boot. The substitute’s wishes came pretty soon into the second half when Darren Young started the first of his multiple substitutions with Dave, Gary, Simon and Ryan all substituted on at various times for Brenton, Adam, Nick Farrell and someone else, who I can’t remember.

Before he left the field on the 80th minute Nick Farrell was unlucky to foul a Kingsley player just inside the penalty area. The Kingsley player lined up and for the second week in a row, Marcus Allen dived to the correct side but was unable to push the ball wide. Yet again, if the conditions were dry he would have surely got to the ball and knocked it wide.

At 2-2 Kingsley pushed and pushed for that elusive winner. North Beach struggled to get the ball forward with only 10 men, as the support was often not there. At times it looked like there was a blue plague on the park and everytime a maroon player touched or had the ball the blue plague surrounded him almost instantaneously.

As Kingsley pushed for an opportunity, a defensive error by North Beach opened up a passage for the Kingsley striker to run through. Marcus Allen bolted out of his box to intercept the Kingsley player. Marcus unfortunately was rounded by the player and he despatched the ball into the back of the net despite the efforts of a North Beach defender who valiantly trying to stop it going in. It was Marcus’ only mistake of the game and with the exception of that run outside the box he played an outstanding game and kept North Beach in the game for much of the 90 minutes.

Other notable mentions for the game include Chris Roxby who stood up again and showed everyone of how much of a quality player he is, Nick Schaffer, who tackled hard in the middle, and tried to create many things out of nothing, and finally Kyle MacLean who scored two amazing goals and managed not to receive a yellow or red card for the whole of the 90 minutes. Possibly one for the record books.

Overall it was a disappointing loss but there are still 20 games to be played in the season and drawing one and losing one game in the first two games may not be quite so desirable there is still a long way to go and the North Beach First Team will lift from their slow start and learn from their mistakes.

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International Calcio vs North Beach Soccer Club

2-2 Draw

Scorers: Sean, Robbie

Amateurs turn the corner with a quality performance in a whistle happy game.

After the productive and constructive meeting the Amateurs and Reserves had on Thursday night, a lot was expected from Sunday’s game. In horrid torrential weather that looked out of place even in April, the Amateurs took to the pitch with a new vigour against their old foes International Calcio. Coming into the team there was Rob Pfeiffer and Brenton who only made the team stronger than it was the week before. Sean Cunningham was pushed up front and Tex started this week instead of coming off the bench like he did the week before against North Lake.

The Calcio side offer great resistance to the North Beach Amateurs. Although if you were watching the first 10 minutes of the game you would have thought there was going to be a whitewash as Rob and Sean both knocked in solid goals early. After the two goals the Calcio side balanced out and started on the attack. At times North Beach looked a little shaky, but overall they controlled the game well.

Calcio were given a glimmer of hope late in the first half when Dennis cleared the ball away from the backline and the whistle happy referee blew for a tackle from behind? Not only did this baffle the North Beach team but also their supporters which were led from the club rooms by the ever reliable jeerer Jim Thomson. Suffering from a Michael Braun moment Jim shouts out F*** OFF from the club rooms. There was no doubt what about what Jim thought about the decision after that! The penalty, while unjustified, was put away efficiently by the Calcio centre-back who strangely enough had bigger calves than Chris Roxby! And to make things even creepier, the rain finally stopped as he lined up for the penalty. Marcus dived to his right and got fingertips to the ball. If the game was played in the dry, it would have surely been enough to push it wide. 2-1 was the score at half time.

During the game Marcus Allen pulled off several saves that were quoted as being almost Gordon Banks’ish in style. The question remains though… was that Gordon Banks before he lost the eye or afterwards? Either way he played extremely well during the game and saved North Beach several times.

Midway through the second half, left-footed player Adam Jones was substituted for Simon ‘Bjorn Again’ Bailey. This was mainly due to Adam exposing the pitch to his inner-stomach contents both in the first half and the second. Whether he was trying to put the other team off remains to be seen, but it disgusted Darren enough to substitute him for a non-vomiting player. When Simon came on he attacked well and twice narrowly missed scoring when the ball grazed the both sides of the goal. And speaking of goal scoring attempts, Captain Fabulous Nick Farrell got into the shots with a few good knocks at goal. They were unsuccessful but it was nice to see Nick getting stuck in with some good shots on goal.

Ten minutes after Bjorn Again came on, Brenton was substituted and Russell came on to add some fresh legs and youth to the team. He too narrowly missed the goal in what was possibly the best set up of the game between himself, Robbie and Sean. Calcio must have been thanking the big fella upstairs when Russell fractionally missed the goal.

Move of the Day goes to Neil Perkins who impressively ran under the sideline rope to get the ball without ducking. Great stuff Neil!

A special mention must also go to Kyle MacLean who ran the line in the drenching rain for the full game. Some would call it tough love but Kyle, you’re a good egg and you took all the cracks from the sideline at you in your stride (including people throwing chips at you).

Overall it was a cracking game and while it finished in a 2-2 draw the North Beach side played really well and it was good to see the team turn the corner and bring out a positive performance both on and off the park. Great stuff guys and we hope that you’ll bring home the three points next week against Kingsley.

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