Central Park 3 - Collingwood 4
Central Park 2 - Clifton Hill 3
The two that got away.
Beautiful sunny day and a pretty flat track for the game. As ever we scrambled for a starting 11 - but once Batesy realised he wasn't playing down the road at Richmond we were set.
Our starting 11 soon dropped to 10 as Robb suffered another ligament injury which will put him out for the rest of the year. We battled on with 10 as Rand continued his tour of the local environs.
By the time Rand got on the field we'd already been ambushed to be 2-0 down. With parity in numbers we set about the chase.
A reshuffle at the back saw us transition to a back 3 and man marking job on their best player. Worked beautifully and we bossed the last 20 mins of the half.
Looked like we'd let them off the hook with Batesy, Lars and Rand all going close. Finally Lars was played through and tucked away his first for 2-1 at half time.
We kept our momentum going and piled on the pressure. The only thing stopping a rout was our ability to hit the woodwork or the keeper. Again Lars popped up on the left and tucked away the equalizer.
Seemed like only time before we would take the lead. Peter drove at the keeper, Batesy had one turned onto the bar and the keeper denied Lars a hat trick.
A rare forward foray earned Collingwood a corner a half clearance fell to one of their players and somehow a scuffed shot bobbled in past the near post.
We kept piling on the pressure and a lovely ball from Joe put Lars through on a tight angle. The keeper could only slow the ball's progress - post match review showed Batesy hammer the ball home from a few inches for the equaliser.
As the Collingwood keeper wasted time it looked like a draw but no. A long kick found its way to their left wing and the super sub got to the by line and pulled it back to the waiting masses for Collingwood to go 4-3 up.
With a minute to go the keeper again tried to run the clock down but having given the ref the hump all day (including a yellow when he disputed a throw-in in our half) he held the ball for a good 10 seconds and gifted us an indirect free kick.
The next five minutes were pure theatre.
As we lined up the free kick I took the usual irritating mossie position in front of the goalie. True to type a two handed shove in the back and the ref pointed to the spot.
Lars hat trick beckoned but unbelievably the keeper saved it. He then pointed out to the ref what a bad decision he'd made - a bad move with Arthur (ref) at the best of times but especially on a yellow and off the young fellow went. Thinking they may need to fund some more FFV fair play Clinics their Centre forward told the ref what he thought of him. Arthur's retort was a second red card which seemed to end the discussion once his team mates managed to drag him off the pitch
No fairy tale end as our next indirect free kick went harmlessly wide.
Great game, seven goals, saved pen, two red cards (all for dissent - note)
Clifton Hill
A switch to Darebin meant quick pace and a need to have our passing game at its very best. A gale force wind at kick off also wasn't going to help.
Russell joined us for a first run. With Rand lost somewhere between the pitch and the change rooms he slotted in at centre back with the Big Fella - Mike B smartly clutching the flag to ensure he didn't get drafted in.
Our quick changes were tested from the off as Clifton Hill hit top gear from the kick off.
Within ten minutes Clifton hill were one up and a short time after it was 2-0. Deja vu?
Once we put our foot on the ball we hit our straps. Ian and Niall built our attacking platform - looked a lot like give it to Dave and let him run at the full back.
This combo terrorized Clifton Hill for the rest of the half while Peter and Andy V did the same on the right.
It looked like they'd hold out until half time until Dave pinned his ears back, went past two, then squared to Batesy just inside the box and his trusty left made it 2-1. Classy goal and just reward on the stroke of half time.
Second half saw debutant Russell play right mid and run all day while Klotzy dropped into left mid.
We continued to press with Mike B and Neil B flirting with the off side at every opportunity whilst Peter and Niall snuffed out their midfield.
After Neil B found space on the left his cross found Russell at the far post but somehow it was swing but no ding. Dave N - you need to show him your goalscoring tapes from this season not 2010
Next Mike B provided the opportunity slipping the ball out wide to Klotzy. He powered up the left and just as it looked as though he'd gone too wide he hit a thunderbolt from the edge of the box into the top right corner. 2-2
From there it was end to end stuff with both teams tiring.
Tragedy struck in the last minute as their skipper beat the offside trap and tucked away the winner.
Again, much to enjoy apart from the result.
This week South Yarra beckon.
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