Last Updated: Monday, February 26 2007

Coveside 1 - 3 Nordic
Report Details:
Date: 25 Feb 2007
Reporter: TP and Amar
Location: McCartney

On Sunday morning at McCartney Creek something had to give - and we're not just talking about the drawstring on Harp's shorts. For while Ted had been unable to outwit the Special One in head-to-head matches this season; a win by Nordic would pretty much seal the title and send Bernie back to the drawing board.

Three mistakes, three goals against. That's the briefest way of summarizing today's 3-1 victory by Nordic. It ended our already unrealistic title hopes and I believe it locked up the league title for them (although I'm not sure how many makeup games remain to play). In many ways it was a game that was a microcosm of our season: inconsistent attendance (we only had one sub this week), inconsistent play (we struggled with our first touches and our passing on a challenging McCartney surface) and excellent after-game beer, nosh, and laughs (and speculation about the observation of burrito juice on a hi-def TV set). I'm not going to add any details about that burrito juice thing—let's just say that Tim's remark actually grossed Brad out.

As your first scribe (If Brad and Angelina together are Brangelina, this report is co-authored by Hanniwal) arrived at the field about 30 minutes before game time, I noted the expected high number of Nordic players on the field and the expected zero Covesiders. As I entered the dressing room Bernie had that depressed look on ghis face that usually signals another low-subs day. I was right about that. The starting lineup of Fergie, Al, Dave H, and Randy A at the back; Cam, Rich, Gord, and Speerchucker in midfield; and Tim and today's token Ward Kevin up front looked over and saw only Harp and Graham on the bench. Unfortunately Graham looked like road kill and didn't really have 90 minutes in him today. Ed came later to give us a third sub (really, two functioning subs) and lowered the average blood alcohol level of those on the sidelines. The coffee club was headed up by the Geezer family, Brad, Amar, and later on Vinnie.

In spite of the fact that Nordic had been doing drills for 30 minutes before the game started, I thought they looked nervous initially and we were quicker to settle. McCartney was a tough surface, though: very gritty and bumpy, like when Gino gets those cheap wax jobs on his arse. Like many games this year, we were struggling with our first touches and our short passes. And Nordic never made things easy—they pursued us constantly and denied us time on the ball.

I don't remember many chances coming either way until we made the first of our three mistakes about 25 minutes in. Fergie decided to restore the alternate meaning of his name by getting caught in possession by two Nordic players (for the sake of brevity, I'm just going to call them Dics from here on in) about 20 yards out. A fortunate bounce took the ball free to one of the Dics who lashed a terrific shot past Cloudy from the top of the area. One mistake, one shot on goal, 1-0 Dicks. (Sorry, where did that "k" come from? If only there was some kind of key that allows one to remove a typed letter in a word processing program I could fix that error.)

Unfortunately, 2-0 Dics was not long in coming. On a Nordic corner to the back post, Cloudy called Richie off the ball but couldn't quite take the cross—and unfortunately Richie had been marking the Dic's six-foot six defender. A fine downward header made it 2-0 Dics: two mistakes, two shots on goal, two goals against.

We went into half time down 2-0, but actually feeling all right about things. We felt Nordic had not outplayed us, just capitalized on our mistakes, and that if we could just get one goal they'd start getting nervous and we'd be in pretty good shape.

A re-organization saw Coveside decide to play with three defenders push an extra player into attack. This change along with good old fashioned grit and commitment saw a pulsating second half during which Coveside came close to getting a result and saving something from this disappointing season.

With Richie and Cam running the centre of the park and Gergie (or Ford) and Sarp (or Heers) providing the width the game was largely played in the Dics third of the field. Kevin, Tim, and Graham provided the strikeforce and their effort ensured that Nordic had to resort to a long-ball game; with Tibor's talent wasted as he was resigned to just hoofing the ball out of defence.

All the momentum was with Coveside and the goal when it game was wholly deserved. Some excellent approach play from the right side of the field involving Speers; Cam and Richie saw the ball played to the feet of Kevin Ward at the edge of the penalty area. Holding off three players Kevin laid the ball back to Richie who had the time to look up and sweep the ball into the back of the goal. Game on!

Coveside did not let up and moments later Richie found himself with the space and time to test the keeper again. Despite his left foot trying to take responsibility his right foot (aggrieved by years of under use and under appreciation) got to the ball first and whacked the it over the bar.

With Coveside pushing forward, the chance for a Nodic (the letter 'r' seems to be sticking on my keyboard now) counter attack was always there. While these were far less than expected one such chance saw their number 22 break the offside trap; skip past Cloudy and with the goal at his mercy pass the ball to his colleague standing in an offside position. The peels of laugher from the Coveside lines were short-lived as the third of the days' defensive blunders unfolded before their eyes.

Footballers (especially those playing for Coveside) have long been adept at spinning yarns to cover their own hides after just about any form of misdemeanor but Al's excuse that he was wondering how many Sudafed the short Nodic attacker had consumed that morning still failed to explain how the ball could have squirmed under his foot into the path of the heavy NoDick striker who ran on and struck the ball past Cloudy.

If ever there was a momentum buster this was it and the lads would have been entitled to give up, but of course this was not going to happen. Having somehow unscrewed himself from the earth Al, along with Dave Hannah drove the team forward again and did not allow anyone's head to drop.

One more Coveside goal and it would all have been back in the mix and the best chance for this came as Tim skipped away to get to the touch line and had the time to look up and square the ball to Kevin. Unfortunately the ball was intercepted and hoofed away (by Tibor I think).

The goal did not come and the result finished 3-1 Nordic and with that Coveside conceded the title.

The beers and laughs after the game were as good as always (and we sometimes need to remember this is why we play the game). While Hannah fought off the unwanted attentions of Fergie's dog the rest of the lads drank beer, reflected that everyone had played as hard as they could, and looked forward to the provincials. Great effort everyone.