AA4 match report v Sydney Uni 18/7/10

Was there ever a more onerous and impossible task as writing an interesting match report for a goal-less 90 minutes?

With a season totaling only two wins (one against us), and with recent forfeits on their record, it was hard to approach the match against Sydney Uni without a degree of confidence.

We knew that they were young and fit, and would run all day. In fact, the two teams couldn’t have been more alike in that respect, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

Anyway, both teams started brightly, moving the ball well. Uni tended to attack the flanks with sometimes four or five players working down their left wing. Unfortunately for them, this left no-one in the middle to receive the ball.

By contrast, Barnstoneworth displayed some excellent variety in their route-one football, eventually receiving the benefit of a penalty. Following Bryn’s miss last week,  Stuey stepped up to the mark to take it. The god of penalties was again not on our side and the keeper parried the ball away. This set the tone for a very frustrating first half.

Despite good build ups, Uni never really looked like scoring thanks to the almost telepathic co-operation of the red’s defense.

Barnstoneworth kept plugging away, but the Uni keeper, clearly an student of the dramatic arts, managed to stop every shot with a perfectly executed fumble or trip. He was clearly more advanced in his studies than the central midfielder, whose dives and protestations were amateur at best.

Half-time arrived and Barnstoneworth regathered themselves. This match was an important stepping stone into a finals spot, and the team raised their game accordingly. We continued to build the pressure, which Uni soaked up, but it was clear that the reds were on top. Surely it was just a matter of time before the deadlock was broken, and finally it was.

In the 92nd minute, a Rooney Delap throw into the box was shielded and dummied all the way through to an unmarked Bondi Vet who, with great precision, scuffed the ball with his left foot into the bottom corner of the net, and then ran off and finished setting a poor little kitten’s broken leg.  Jubliation for the reds – heartbreak for Uni as the final whistle went just 30seconds later… and relief for the little kitten.

The students of Sydney Uni were taught a valuable lesson today and Barnstoneworth are just 4 points off the lead group. COME ON!!!

Men of the Match: Twinkle Toes Stu & The Bondi Vet.