Umbro Match of the Month

This is your chance to try and better Park Life at our own game and win flash as a rat Umbro prizes in the process.

 

Your mission is to post reviews of a team's game.  Any age, any level, anybody, your team or not.  We don't care.  If it's quality, it'll win (probably). 

 

At the end of each month the Fever and Umbro will put their empty heads together and find a winner.  That winner gets a prize.

 

It's that simple (Terms and Conditions apply - Fever Lawyers).

 

So show us what you're made of and tell us all about your awful pitches, your half-a-game-each referees, your hotch potch never-washed kits, your crazy local football stories.

 

We want to hear it all!

 

 

 

When tweedle dee, tweedle dum and their junior sidekick turned up at Centennial Park masquerading as referees, the theme for the day was set...

 

After claiming the game was a 2 o'clock kick off despite both teams knowing it was 2.30 the rotund Auckland official proceeded to miss every foul, offside, penalty and any other decision required...'Ably' supported by his ASSistant referees who missed even the most obvious corner and throw in decisions, the three officials bumbled their way through an otherwise average game of football.

 

The Sam Malcolmson coached Warkworth showed some promise and forced two good saves from the Ngaruawahia keeper before teenage winger Alex Barlow started to slice through the Warkworth defence. After another jinking run Barlow slipped a great through ball which Stu Watene impressively controlled and rounded the keeper to open the scoring.

 

Livewire striker Glen Brown who worked tirelessly throughout added a second after more slick build up play and Dan Toulson added a third from a well worked Ngaruawahia set piece to make the half time score 3-0 to the home side.

 

The second half saw yet more comical refereeing decisions, and some comical joviality between the two benches, mostly as a result of yet another quizzical free kick. The comment about the fancy dress shop wanting their referees uniforms back simply proved that the old ones are still the best ones..

 

Substitute Wayne Robinson added a fourth to round out the scoring and see Ngaruawahia advance into the next round of the Chtham Cup.

 

Speeches in the club rooms rounded off a good day that started with a joint team photo that will doubtless find its way into the next edition of the very impressive Ngaruawahia match day programme produced by the equally impressive Sandy McDonald, which can be viewed along with match day photos at http://www.ngaruawahiasoccer.co.nz/

 

 

Yeah its amazing how those part-time refs (who are usually non-refs) , and who dont have any linesmen, could miss a 'blatant offside'.

 

Preferably cut and paste the review into here AS WELL AS linking.

 

everybody knows what division the Karori teams are in. They are leading most of them.

 

note- that may not be true

 

Yes.  That limit is confidential however.

 

Regards,

 

Rules Committee.

 

Karori Slappers 5 v UH JP's 2

 

 

This week saw the Slapperz up against the fine specimens of Upper Hutt. Home at Karori Park, the boys were looking to continue with their rich vein of football that people have come accustom to in the last few weeks.
Mother Nature pulled out all the stops as the sun was shining and very little breeze to speak of. No.2 pitch was the platform, a muddy one to say the least to the northern end but nothing the Slapperz rear guard is incapable of handling.
Gezza makes the tough decision to leave himself out of the starting line-up, maybe slightly embarrassed of the opportunities missed the week before. Skiddy also makes a return to the subs bench with his council rubbish bag. Other than that the Slapperz are business as usual with Gazz partnering Story up front.
From the outset it was obvious the Slappez had the running of the game, playing with great confidence carried on from where the they left the other Hutt side. Great composure and good decision making has the Upper Hutt defense running ragged. Down both flanks the Slapperz create chances, but it takes a moment of brilliance from the Karori defense to send Wrighty off on a mazy run. Doesn't hear the call from fellow team mates to pass and slots it bottom left corner. GOAL!!!
Slapperz 1-0.
Apart from the ref not agreeing with certain members of the back four what a fricken foul is, the Slapperz keep pushing for goal two. Another moment of magic again started from the back when Gazz hits a nice headed flick to Story who out muscles his marker to send it crashing down the back of the net. GOAL!!!
Slapperz 2-0.
Slapperz dominate the remainder of the first 45 and go in at half-time in good stead. Special mention to the back four and Stu for handling the boggy goal mouth conditions with expertise.
Second half kicks off with Upper Hutt playing with a bit more purpose but to no avail. Karori are in a ruthless mood. Again one of the back four create something out of nothing, releasing Wrighty down the middle, thinks to pass but he's got a ha-trick of ha-tricks in the back of his mind. GOAL!!!
3-0.
Gezza has seen enough and wants to get in on some of this action. Comes on for Beggy who has done in a pancreas or something and the Fitz comes off for Skiddy and a fag.
Stevie goes into the midfield to add some panache. Gazz blows a shoelace and can't run.
Upper Hutt think they maybe in here so make a break, manage to get to our 18 yard box, Bram expertly dispossesses them of the ball. Bogan takes offense and drops a shoulder into Bram, up ends him. We wait for the whistle but it goes in Upper Hutts favour as they tuck it in. Goal to them.
3-1.
Back into it we go knowing it was a cheapie. Not to be discouraged, we go in search of our fourth.In between waving to his family, Story sees a clever ball from the back come his way, goes round a few of Upper Hutters and.......GOAL!!!!!
4-1
Upper Hutt show a little spirit and fight back, make a break down the right. Score a goal.
4-2
Dying stages of the game now, the back four turn to each other for something special. Bill turns to Skid and tells him to push up. Bill takes off down the left flank sends an absolute beaut Skiddys way. Skids head is not gonna get there but lucky enough he remembers he has a right hoof. Volley! GOAL!!!!!!
5-2
Full-time. The Slapperz machine rolls on.

Good write up though.

 

Div 2 

Capital 7 - Match 7 - Waterside Sealords vs. Wellington United Terrace at Adventure Park, 12.30pm, Saturday 24th of May.

 

Result: Waterside Sealords 5 (Goals - A McCash 3, W McLea 1, N Brown 1. Assists - J Wild 4, G Bundle 1), Wellington United Terrace 0.

 

With another wet Wellington weekend on the cards, the Sealords woke up on Saturday to find we were one of the handful of teams whose matches had been transferred, which in retrospect was at least better than being cancelled. Our home game had been moved from our Karori Park fortress to what is apparently an alternative home ground for Waterside teams, Adventure Park in Whitby. Karori Park does not handle the wet weather well yet, with its juvenile turf being ripped up even in the mildest of matches, and the intensity of the Sealords brand of football obviously put fear into administrators that we would turn Karori Park no.3 ground into a mess of mud if we played our game there. So instead we moved to Adventure Park, and we were pleased to find that it had soaked up all of the precipitation Wellington could dump on it and was still a superb playing surface.

We arrived at the ground to find another Waterside Karori team was scheduled to play on the other Adventure Park football pitch. Controversy struck when the Sealords were allocated the pitch with nets already set up on it; however our Waterside brothers gave us the shaft and moved us to their pitch, where we had to set up nets before the match. They also tried to steal our corner flags, but that was one step too far for central defender Mitch Lees, who Sealorded-up and got them back. With all this happening, a couple of players arriving late to the ground, and co-captain Nathan Brown not being able to arrive until kick-off, the Sealords preparations for the match didn�t seem ideal. But nobody would have suspected that from the minute we kicked-off.

The Sealords co-captain Jonny Wild again lost the toss, and was given the kick-off into the wind, which is what Wild wanted anyway. From the kick-off Ed Guinness tapped the ball to Aaron�Gince� McCash, who passed the ball to Wild on the left wing. Wild took a run with the ball, managing to make it to the edge of the box before crossing along the deck to McCash. McCash�s initial shot was stopped by a defender, but deflected straight back to him, and he made no mistake with his second attempt, slotting the Sealords first goal of the match after just 17 seconds, undoubtedly the fastest ever goal scored by the Sealords. The Sealords celebrated somewhat incredulously, with players, opposition, and spectators unable to believe we had got on the board so quickly.

Nato had his 1st 15 minutes later as the Sealords continued to dominate on attack. After another run down the left flank by Wild, he sent another pass on the deck along the edge of Wellington United�s box. Eddie Guinness baffled the defense by stepping over the ball, but it was beautifully done as the ball went straight to Brown who nailed his shot from the edge of the box into the back of the net to make it 2-0 to the Sealords. After more good play by the Sealords where we looked for space around the field and played a crisp passing game, Wild made another trademark run down the left wing. This time he cut his pass back on the angle to find Will McLea, who slotted home his shot to put the Sealords 3-0 up and give Wild a hat-trick of assists. McLea was looking to score more goals through the first half, but got a bad case of the shanks and had some horrible efforts.

Mcash got his second and capped off the first half with a fine team goal to give the Sealords a virtually unassailable 4-0 lead. Cashys goal was created from some clever play at the back, and some very accurate ball-play from the Sealords. After a wayward pass from Wellington United, Fraser Ward collected the ball in our back left corner. Ward assessed the situation and then put a ball down the line to Wild on the wing. Wild played the ball into the middle of the field, and the switch of play was completed when it was passed out to Grant Bundle on the right wing. Bundle beat his man, and then sent a beautiful ball into the box where Aaron was ready to finish the well worked goal in typical style.

Though we went into the half with a 4-0 lead thanks to some brilliant play on attack, we really had to thank our defensive quartet of Tom Newby, Jeremy Chan, Luke Cartmell-Gollan and Fraser Ward who had been staunch for the first 45 minutes, and had given us some great balls to work with to create our chances, as well as our keeper Mark Curtis who was solid with the usual touches of brilliance. A highlight of their efforts was Curtis� diving save to stop a rocket from the opposition centre-mid that was heading for the top right corner. Sealords players continue to scratch their heads as to how Curtis manages to make such saves, as they seem to be out of reach for even the most athletic of people (such as he is), but we hope he continues this rich vein of form.

Our half-time message was all about keeping our composure, and looking to score team goals, instead of looking for individual glory. The Sealords can be proud to say we got half of this right, as we were composed for the whole of the second half, except perhaps in front of goal.

The Sealords only goal of the half came after just a few minutes. Again it was the familiar combination of Wild and McCash. Wild had taken the ball deep into the opposition�s half out on his left wing. He floated the ball into the box with a beautifully struck cross, managing to find the head of McCash who made no mistake to pick up his hat-trick of goals. Nato commented after that he also could have taken the header, but he knew McCash would be there to score.

The most pleasing aspect of the second half was that the Sealords didn�t panic when we had the ball. We passed the ball around at the back beautifully, and created a lot of chances for the midfielders and forwards to go on the attack. Unfortunately the accuracy started to lack as the game went on, and the Sealords lacked the intensity to get on the scoreboard again. Though we had a lot of space and used it well, our final passes were not quite there, players didn�t have the hustle to get the ball back when we lost it on attack, and we were sometimes guilty of looking for the individual chances instead of the team goals that we do so well. The Sealords had effectively won the game after our fifth goal, and we looked like we traded our intensity to play more composed football. We will be looking for the right mix of intensity and composure in the games to come, where if we get a good lead we don�t have concentration lapses. There were definitely times where opportunities were not made the best of, and all of us were guilty, but with a 5-0 lead we can�t be too hard on ourselves.

Our defense thoroughly deserved their first clean sheet of the season. With inspiring centre-back Mitch Lees carrying an injury and doing the refereeing duties, deciding to play only the last 22 minutes of the game, it was a re-jigged combination that came up with the goods and kept Wellington United scoreless. The word is that Mitch might have quite a serious injury, and the Fever will confirm the diagnosis when we are sure of the situation, but we all want to wish Mitch a speedy recovery. At least his refereeing was top notch, not taking any crap from the opposition who tried to call some dubious off-sides. Matt Jones was quoted on Mitch�s performance with the whistle: "the way you know a ref is good is when you don't even know he is there".

Late in the match there was a very unsavory incident with Ed Guinness getting smashed in the head by the opposition in a clearly reckless foul. Nato was seen firing up at another opposition player for "lifting the arm" (Nato buddy, we aren't in the Champions League final). But nothing was going to stop the Sealords as we marched on to record a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Wellington United Terrace.

The player of the match for the Sealords was Aaron McCash for his hat-trick of goals and a superb all round game. Coming in at 2nd MVP was co-captain Jonny Wild for his 4 assists and an enterprising game on the left wing. 3rd MVP was Mark Curtis for another solid all round game keeping goal, making some stunning saves and always looking safe. Curtis was also used more often with the defense passing the ball around at the back, and he showed that part of his game is clearly up to scratch. A great result to get the Sealords� season back on track, especially with some of the other results going in our favour.

 

They're not having it.

 

We'll have a winner decided before this weekend...lots on the go at the moment!

 

Don't forget that the competition keeps on running...so get your reports in and there will be more choice Umbro prizes at the end of June!

 

Smithy.

 

 Richard B

 

need i say more ?