Whites 2 Uni 1

On a sparkling winters afternoon, it was good to return to familiar territory after the 12 players vs 10 fiasco at Oak Flats on saturday. St James Park is unfortunately looking more like Coledale cow paddock at the moment, taking me back to my junior playng days in Kempsey where it was quite common to actually have cows on the paddock.
The match, won courtesy of a Les Coleman double inside 15 minutes, was another example of the Whites making the easy look excruiatingly hard. The first of Mr 21's goals was a sumptuous penalty that took 3 bounces to cross the line and was hit with such force the goalie nearly got to it after diving the wrong way first. This occurred in the first 3 minutes of play after the Uni defender thought he was playing for Serbia. The second was a miss-kicked pass that found the goalie off his line who couldnt back pedal enough.
From there on it looked like the Whites were having a competition to see who could come up with the worst (or best?) miss. Steve B and Jon M missed sitters, AB had his usual 5 chances and didnt bury any, all the midfielders tried their luck, Les could have had a hat trick when he air swung unmarked at a corner from 2 metres. Uni pulled one back through a superbly taken free kick from their 47 year old 5'3'' 14 stone right back. Another day at the office.

Other highlights:

• Dennis shows up with a hot water bottle for his leg, but more probably to keep warm. This might start a trend.
• "Sicknote" Seddon was seen drinking what looked suspiciously like Midori from his water bottle. Whatever gets you through the game.
• Eco-warrior with a candidate for best non-goal of the year, a 30 metre bomb from the right touch line in the side net. Shame play was halted for Uni to make a sub.
• Maroon opinion seemed to be Doug had his best match of the year.
• Local Historian owns the worlds smallest drink bottle. Probably scotch in that one.
• Slugger ditched the glamorous tracky dacks brought by his mum for army fatigues. Bring back the shiny pants Mike.
• Jono nearly played with a "mini me" running behind him crying the whole time.
• the halftime entertainment of a skydiver landing on the pitch got the biggest cheer of the afternoon.
• the WAGS turned out in force, great to see such wonderful support. Kids everywhere, a real family atmosphere. Time to turn on the razzle dazzle for our supporters boys.

Off to the burg next weekend, scene of a 1-1 draw last year. Hopefully we can go one better.