Last Updated: Saturday, 1 April 2006
 |
|
|
|||||
|
As the league
web site buzzed with Sir M’s dire prediction that Peg’s absence from
the NCSL summer league would lead to the demise of the league, the
BC Soccer Association, the provincial health care system, and
western civilization (his rant resembled the exact opposite of Sally
Field’s “You like me, you really like me” Oscar speech), Coveside
and Blueridge took to Griffin Park on a cold, snowy evening to
contest a league cup semi-final. Our performance on this night was
as bad as in our 2-0 loss to Malones, but we hung in there and came
away with a 4-1 victory to set up a finals clash with Norvan. The snow that had fallen earlier in the day was taking a break as we arrived at Griffin to warm up for our 9:15 pm kickoff. These late games often get a weird vibe about them: we’ve had some strange games in these late night ones, and tonight was to be another unusual one. We were missing a few players. We knew that Richie was in Disneyland, Gino was in Mexico, and Roddy was out of town on business. We have no idea where Fergie is. We welcomed back Ed and Craig, who have rejoined us in the run up to provincials. We started with Cloudy in net, Daves Speers and Hannah between Randy Ash and Martine at the back, Cam and Rob Paul in the centre midfield, with Brad on one side and Gord on the other, and Mike and Tim up front. We also welcomed back Vinny, who headed up the coffee club with an excellent Silent Bob impersonation. This starting lineup lasted all of 4 minutes before the substitutions began. Poor Gord got about three touches of the ball (and two of those were his own balls) before getting the hook. Tim came off shortly after, followed by your scribe. Brad shifted from right half to left half, Randy J came in for his first run of the season at right half, and Rob Paul came in for his first run of the millennium at sweeper. Later on Eamon was in central midfield, then Mike. Later on Craig and JC (who I think just met tonight) were our front line. Bernie was using this game to tinker with positional assignments for the provincials, and there were players in more unfamiliar positions than since Graham read the Kama Sutra upside down. And while the substitutions may bear fruit later, they contributed to our inability to develop any kind of flow to our game on the night. Credit should go to Blueridge, too. In the moments where they weren’t bitching at the ref, trying to kick someone, or bitching at each other, they were capitalizing on our confusion and hesitation by winning lots of 50/50 balls. But they also rely too heavily on the long ball, and for most of the game we were able to sit deep (they have a couple of players with enormous kicks) and clear comfortably. They also tend to leave acres of space in the middle of the park, and we gradually started to take advantage of that. A ball to the top of the area found the unmarked Randy Johal in the very unfamiliar position of right half. He controlled well, but with the ball on his right foot, none of us expected much to come of it. We were proved wrong when he finished low and hard to the keeper’s left. 1-0 Coveside. The second did not take too long to come. Soon-to-be-a-daddy-for-a-second-time Cam took a ball in the middle and drove hard at the Blueridge defense. He created an opening, but the shot was blocked. But the insubstantial figure of golden boot winner (and charismatic sponsor) Mike Browne was on hand to knock the rebound in off of his bony knee for a 2-0 Coveside lead. Chances continued to come our way, and we probably could have buried Blueridge in the first half. Mike created a breakaway for himself by dispossessing a defender but couldn’t get it past the keeper. The Geezer had a couple of breakaways, one of which ended with an extremely polite chip into the keeper’s arms. At the other end, Cloudy was left with little to do except to cover some corners and free kicks. We went to the half with the 2-0 lead. The half-time talk was strangely subdued without Roddy there to tell Bernie what to say. Speers decided to finish his Coveside season (he’s off on a geisha tour of Japan next week) in goal, taking the gloves from Cloudy whose back was still sore from his pre-game “stretching exercises” with a smiling Brad. And we took the field with a plan to use more short passes and more movement from the middle and the front. But, like Doc’s bowels after a triple bacon cheeseburger, movement was not forthcoming. And Blueridge, for a long period of time, were the stronger side. They had one good chance that was going in, but Gord blocked the ball on the goal line (replay officials later noted that while Gord’s gonads were in the net, the blocking leg was not (BTW, it’s a lot of fun saying “Gord’s gonads”). But Blueridge eventually capitalized on our poor play with a real cracker of a goal. A quick break down the right hand side seemed to offer little danger. But the Blueridge winger unleashed a terrific shot that caught Speers leaning away from the near post. It flew into the bottom corner and it was 2-1. The goal lifted Blueridge’s spirits considerably, and for the next 20 minutes or so, much of the play was in our half. But in spite of having territorial advantage, Blueridge failed to create any more clear openings. They also lacked subs, and as they began to tire it looked less and less likely that they would get the equalizer. More and more openings began to appear, and then JC, who had been subbed off after picking up a quick yellow in the first half, produced a moment of magic. He received the ball about 20 yards out on his left boot. He flicked the ball sideways over an advancing defender, then, on the full volley, cracked a left-footer into the bottom corner. It was 3-1 Coveside on one of the best goals of the year, and the game was effectively killed off with about 10 minutes to go. The 4-1 goal that followed was the capper. Mike took a through ball in on a breakaway, and heard Brad’s faint calls of MIKE!!! MIKE!!! MIKE!!!! from the far wing. (Actually, they heard those faint calls in Deep Cove). A smart run from Brad, a good pass over from Mike, and a simple tap-in for Brad made it 4-1 Coveside. The final whistle brought an end to an ugly game where we found a way to get a result. But with two cup finals and the provincials to come, we’re going to need to be a lot better to take home any silverware or to advance into later rounds. Some chalk talks might be on the agenda to get everyone on the same page. We huddled under the tent and watched the snow fall as we enjoyed the post-game beers and laughs. Those of us who made it to Mosquito Creek afterwards felt it was a much poorer place for the absence of Al Roberts, as the parade of caterwauling, drunken tarts left much to be desired. No game this weekend, so we’ll see you all next Wednesday at Ambleside to gear up for next weekend’s cup final against Nordic.
|
|||||||
| |