Golden Spoon 2009

Following on from the Maroons winning the Coledale Cup the week before, the Whites yesterday brought home the second trophy of the year for the club. An emphatic 1-1 result against the Sweat Hogs ensured a season without a win, 7 draws and 15 losses. Alan's decision to paint the spoon trophies gold before the last match proved a touch of genius.
Having never been to the burgh before, from what I read on this blog I was expecting the locals to be wandering the streets in flannels and ugg boots, pushing shopping trolleys filled with cans and old newspapers, eying off visitors with a toothless grin wondering what you tasted like on a spit roast. Pretty much the place looked deserted, but gradually behemoths in yellow and black jerseys came from the shadows and started to warm up. The Whites were all ready to go on time, but still a ref and linesman were not obvious, so three locals were coaxed into the roles. For the amount of abuse the ref received from the Hogs I hope he was shouted free beer all night.
On a pitch with more rocks than grass and running with the wind in the first half, the Whites started well with the midfielders working hard supplying some nice ball for the forwards. Gathering the ball near the sideline, AB worked his way just inside the box and next thing was flat on his back staring at the clouds, his legs unceremoniously taken out from under him. The ref showed no hesitiation in awarding the penalty despite protests and threats from his clubmates. Les clinically dispatched the spot kick and the Whites were head 1-0.
This lead lasted about 5 minutes until handball Dave weaved some magic in the back left hand corner, got dispossessed and a Hogs cross found an unmarked head to level the scores. The Hogs then hit the post with another header a few minutes later, but the Whites regrouped and played strongly till halftime.
The second half would not have been much of a spectacle for the 8 supporters at the ground, as both teams realised the odds of the other team scoring were getting longer as the match progressed. A MG corner floated above all on the near post and hit a jogging in AB on the head from half a metre out and sailed over the cross bar. Im sticking with the view of the opposition that the corner had gone out anyway and the goal would have been disallowed.
With the ball hardly entering either goal box, it fell to our own goal/penalty give awayer expert to try and decide a winner with a smashing strike that went agonisingly close to Dougs top right corner. As punishment Dave was pushed to striker for the last 5 minutes and actually had to do some running, coming off more buggered than any time of the season.
An observation from an unhappy Hog after the match. "These guys didnt look like scoring, you have nothing". Obviously your team is about the same. As for the reputation of being a tough hard team, I suggest anyone wanting to play a real hard team play the boys from the Warilla Hotel in the sunday pub league. You ache all over for a week. The hardest thing about the Hogs is the ground.
So to the Bowlo for a celebratory beer and salt/pepper squid. With half of the semi-final bound Maroons team also showing up, the happy mood belied the fact that we didnt win a game all year. The team comeraderie has built as the season progressed and most seem keen to go round again next year. On a personal note I would like to thank all the Whites for making my job as manager very easy in a at times frustrating season (on the pitch only). Amazing we couldnt get one victory. Everyone pulled their weight when asked doing lines and bbqs, didnt moan about being subbed (except me) and sat out when required.
To finish, a well used quote from a bloke who thought he would only play when we were short and ended up missing only 1 match and became captain
"At the start of the year if anyone told me I would not win one match and still have one of the most enjoyable seasons I have ever had, I would never have believed them".