28 February 2009 – vets 2 home v. Pangloss

Team: Reynolds, Mazurkiewicz, Knott, H Gallagher, Macdonald, Brown, Riley, D Gallagher, Talib, Ffinch, Roosen. Subs – Rasberry, Ross, Thumwood.

A sunny Saturday heralded the possible onset of spring and the chance to do the double over Pangloss after our 2-1 win in the away game. The line up had a more familiar look after the previous week’s many absences. Barry Rasberry made a rare appearance and he quickly let it be known that he was looking to achieve a milestone of 200 games for the club, if selected!

We made a promising start with the new strike force of Patrick and Chris Ffinch looking lively and Chris Riley imposing himself in midfield in inimitable fashion. There was a welcome return for Ady Talib on the left wing and he linked up several times with Alex to put the opposition defence under pressure. Our pressure produced a few corners, led to a couple of scrambles but no clear chances.

At the back, Hughie was revelling in his new stopper position and had the opposition centre forward in his pocket. At right back Steve Mazza was composed and showed fine distribution and on the left Alex had the measure of their right winger who looked their most dangerous player.

A good chance presented itself when after continual pressure a very quick corner saw Adi steaming in only for his header to go wide.

Just before half time, we got into the box, Patrick was tripped and the ref pointed to the spot. Dermot stepped up and sent a fine looking penalty towards the bottom right hand corner but somehow the goalie got across to push the ball past the post. A fine save rather than a bad penalty.

Half time 0-0

It seemed like a goal would come and one did when Pete Brown got in front of his marker and headed in from a corner. However, the ref blew for a foul by Pete of the type that only an ABSSA ref could possibly see.

A couple of early substitutions were made with Barry coming on at left wing for Ady (well done Barry for 200 games) and Steve Mazza giving way to Bruce Ross at right back. We had a lot of possession but a goal eluded us.

Defensively, with Hughie sticking to his opponent like glue, Pangloss were restricted to one chance when their right winger got a break of the ball but Colin came to out to make a smart save.

We had a couple of dead ball opportunities towards the end. Firstly, Patrick floated a nice free kick into the box where Chris Riley came in at the back post but just couldn’t get contact for a diving header. Then from a corner the ball came all the way across but there were no takes to provide the finishing touch.

Late on Brian Thumwood, who had replaced Pete, put the home defenders in a bit of a panic with a pass across his own 18 yard box but fortunately a dangerous situation was averted.

It ended a disappointing 0-0 draw against a team that were clearly beatable so this result was definitely 2 points lost.

Man of the match was Alex Knott for a solid performance at left back where he kept the opposition danger man quiet.

MOM – Alex Knott