Last Updated: Saturday, 1 April 2006

Coveside 2 - 1 Malones
Report Details:
Date: 6 Oct 2006
Reporter: Amar
Location: Griffin

A dark and stormy evening saw Coveside FC meet Malones FC at Griffin Park for a make-up game. It was clear to all that Malone’s big striker, Cas Bennett, had the wrong end of the stick and had come ready to play games with his make-up; it even fell out of his handbag on one occasion. More about that later…

As the rain had been falling all day, it was obvious that finding players (especially those from sunnier climes such as London, Coventry, Kitsilano, etc) would be a challenge. However, like those sad sacks who phone you at home on a Sunday evening trying to sell you on the excitement of a Knowledge Network membership, Bernie worked the phones and managed to gather 16 eager souls, including Ed for his first outing of the season. Bernie even managed to organise a warm up jog across the field. Nice work fella.

With the coffee club taking a huge one for the team by uncomplainingly drinking cold beers on the wet sidelines, the game got underway.

Within the first 10 minutes both teams had hit the woodwork and Vinnie had pulled of two memorable one-on-one saves. Malones were, quite honestly, looking the most likely to score as they constantly found space in the Coveside half, in particular on the wings, and were able to maintain pressure on Vinnie’s goal.

At the 20 minute mark, Coveside were finally able to get their game on and the hard running of Roddy, Michael, Graham and Tim in particular started to create half-chances and push the Malonians onto their back feet. Martin had one particular good headed effort that just flashed over the crossbar.

Special mention must be made of one particular moment of sublime skill by Eamon Ward. Always the willing target Eamon received the ball on his, not inconsiderable, chest; he raised his, not inconsiderable, leg and blasted the ball a, not inconsiderable, distance into the shrubbery on the side of the pitch. Sheer magic.

The game was played in generally good spirit, the only blight was when the Malones striker referenced at the beginning of this report, decided that a couple of robust challenges from Coveside’s gigantic Michael Brown was reason to swing his handbag about a couple of times. Nice work fella.

Despite evening up the possession, Coveside still seemed vulnerable to the counter-attack and this was confirmed when Malones scored their first goal. With the Coveside defence caught square and appealing for the offside flag. the ball was played out to the left wing, where it was collected and promptly blasted past the diving Vinnie. 1-0 to Malones!

At this stage it was not apparent where a Coveside goal was going to come from. The increased possession was not generating any clear cut chances and Malones seemed able to break at will, except the big bloke with the make-up falling out of his handbag.

With half-time quickly approaching Bernie grabbed him self a beer, lit a smoke, and did some serious thinking.

Half time saw not only a new strategy from Bernie, but also the arrival of Al Roberts. Cycling in from Maple Ridge on a such a horrid speaks volumes not only of Al’s dedication to the Coveside cause but also to the warm beds and loads of nosh provided by the good folks at NVFD.

Having crunched the numbers, reviewed his mission statement, leveraged his up-side, and outsourced his mission critical systems, Bernie resorted to a 4-4-2 formation and hey presto another piece of managerial magic was conjured.

With the defence shored up by Al’s arrival Coveside finally began to dominate play and were able to peg Malones into their half for extended periods. The dominance was so complete that Malones did not have a single chance in the second half.

Like Brad’s shorts after a third straight viewing of “Lawyers Gone Wild and Wet M'lud”, the Coveside pressure was building. The goal came from a low, hard corner by Eamon. As the ball whipped across the greasy surface it hit the boot of a Malones and cannoned into the back of the net. 1-1!

Maintaining their new found domination Coveside created several clear cut chances and it was only a combination of good goalkeeping; poor finishing (one dreadful shot from the speermeister comes to mind); and shoddy refereeing kept this one close.

Would Coveside find the goal that would take them into a three-way tie for second place in Division 1. With so much hanging in the balance, Bernie urged his wards up the field.

With 10 minutes to go, the ball was crossed into a congested Malones penalty area. Eamon using his, not inconsiderable, melon headed the ball on and Mike Browne was somehow able to stab the ball into the back of the net. 2-1 Coveside!

The game played itself out in the middle of the park with neither side looking likely to add to their tally. As the final whistle blew a draw would probably have been a fair result, but since when is this game fair?

The beers and laughs were as good as always, albeit, soggier.