Park Life - Summer Special

 

Yellow Fever's Team Wellington 2
Geriatric Bogans United 4

On a sunny Sunday in Newtown coming back to support YF's TeeDub after the madness of the winter season was a little like coming home after the war to the loving embrace of your girl.

Everything was right for this reunion � Newtown Park was a picture, the bar was open, Wellington's football die hards and politicians had come out in their tens (notably absent was Lower Hutt's Graham Watson who has stepped down from the club - all the best Graham), and Fatty Millicich had brought an exciting, if elderly, Waitak side down to take on our boys.

Park Life, as is our habit, turned up late only to find that we had missed two goals. Andy Barron (brought to you by Yellow Fever) had smashed a right footed free kick into the top of Richard Gillespie's gaping hole* and Pedro Garcias had made it two just minutes later when some quick midfield play left him one on one with Gaping Gillespie. Pedro doesn't miss those ones and he rifled it home into the corner leaving the crowd to wonder how Gillespie was keeping one of the league's most exciting young keeping talents � Danny Robinson � on the bench.

Barron (brought to you by Yellow Fever) was a real spark in the Wellington midfield and could have had more goals forcing the best out of Gillespie with a header and later on curling another free kick around the wall but just into the side netting on the near side.

Waitakere don't consider themselves the best club in New Zealand for nothing. (They do it because they are c0cks.) But in this case they were fairly handy in bouncing back quickly from the shock of going two down in ten.

Unbelievably it was the two slowest players in the universe who set up their comeback when Danny Hay loitered around Imraaaaaaaay's box after a corner, found the ball returned to him and had time to smoke a Marlboro Light, make and eat a ham sandwich, and shave his head before turning and setting up Paul Seaman � who had glacially lumbered forward � to finish.

Then the flood gates opened and it was one of the league's best players, Allen Pearce, who brought Waitakere equal after Steve Gulley handled the ball in the box. Pearce making no mistake from the spot despite Imraaaaaaay going the right way.

Half time rolled in with the score two a piece and as the small crowd filed past the barbeque the chatter was entirely positive. "What about Pedro's new hairdresser?" they wondered. "Is Rickie here to watch Brockie, Barron or both?" they mused. "Is Tony P's mo actually a mo or is it boot polish?" they japed. "Is Luis good enough to play A League?" they pondered, "and what about Pearce?"

Which just goes to show, we think, that this competition is both interesting and important.

So does Chris Millicish, and as he waddled out for the second half it was obvious that he'd had a word to his team. Red raced and out of breath he had clearly been huffing and puffing through some key tactical messages, or perhaps scoffing a pie, at the interval.

If it was messages and not pastry he was working through, they had an immediate effect. Pearce put a stake through the heart of YF's TeeDub when, with just minutes of the second half gone, he capitalised on some disorganised defending to bang home their third.

But that was not to be the end of our valiant boys.

Making a mockery of Aucklanders' suggestions that this league is a two horse race TeeDubs had the better of large parts of the second half.
Injecting young Sam Blackburn and debutant Michael Pickering into the action coach Jacobs showed a real desire to push forward and win and while the chances created weren't converted the fact that they were created at all speaks volumes for the attacking potential in this side.

At the back though they did struggle. Gulley had the game of a man who has played for Stop Out for too long, and with centre halves Dicey and Farrington on the bench it was a tough day in defence for stand in Peter Howe.
Judas Daniel Ellensohn completed the scoring against his old club way into stoppage time when he clearly fouled someone (Howe?) on his way to banging it in from 12 yards. Referee Matt Conger far too incompetent to award the most obvious of free kicks, but it didn't matter, the game was already done.

4-2 the final score at Newtown Park in a match that was such good entertainment that any Fever member not presenting themselves at the next home game (November 29th against Auckland City) will be summarily spanked by Hard News wearing a pair of Four Kings lederhosen. You've been warned!

Park Life


*"gaping hole" gag copyright Gordon Irving 2008.

 

edited