I have never been at a football game where the crowd was literally cracking up laughing every few minutes.
But whoever said that AFC had probably lost the game before the downpour started was right. My vibe is that the Jest had a great tactic - just bash through the AKL defence much like a rugby forward pack - and it worked, twice. Helps to have Lachlan Rose speeding around the place too. AFC lacked two things:
a) someone running forward to catch the ball on the rebound/from spills. Poor Jesse Randall was getting it off the woodwork and off the defence and NO-ONE was running through to pick up the crumbs.
b) a tactical Plan B. In the first half, De Vries was doing his usual pinpoint crosses which were *never* going to an AFC head. Once the downpour started, he kept trying to do those crosses and they looked ludicrous.
As I say, I really feel for Jesse Randall, who could have got 4 on a better day. Also impressed that Woud kept his composure even during the "water polo" part of the game.
But whoever said that AFC had probably lost the game before the downpour started was right. My vibe is that the Jest had a great tactic - just bash through the AKL defence much like a rugby forward pack - and it worked, twice. Helps to have Lachlan Rose speeding around the place too. AFC lacked two things:
a) someone running forward to catch the ball on the rebound/from spills. Poor Jesse Randall was getting it off the woodwork and off the defence and NO-ONE was running through to pick up the crumbs.
b) a tactical Plan B. In the first half, De Vries was doing his usual pinpoint crosses which were *never* going to an AFC head. Once the downpour started, he kept trying to do those crosses and they looked ludicrous.
As I say, I really feel for Jesse Randall, who could have got 4 on a better day. Also impressed that Woud kept his composure even during the "water polo" part of the game.