So as I was walking up to the stadium I heard a little kid crying to his dad "we're gonna get smashed", at half time I was ready to find and metaphorically kill that kid for jinxing us.
Low and behold the mighty comeback.
Quick thoughts -
- I think the first 30 mins of that game show how important Rufer and Mandi are, the wing backs couldnt settle and the front three couldnt do anything. No press, pressed off the ball.
- Somewhere towards the end of the first half, I could sense, like eureka moment, we're going to score. It seemed really, really obvious, it was like CCM went 2-0 up and they were spent.
- half time, the usual moans in the crowd, the slight anxiety about the ghost of Nix past. My fav being "we get a decent crowd and tgis happens, typical" For me at the start of the game Im usually really focused on the game, but I think we wanted to start the party a bit early (and rightly so) without realizing there was a game of football on.
- what did Mark do to the players at half time, all of a sudden were playing exactly as we've been expecting us to play. Instant impact from the Sheriff, Krishna and Singh woke up, all of a sudden our midfield and wingbacks were dominating the ball.
- 2-1, yay, but work to do
- 2-2 yay, okay lets get one more
- 3-2 euphoria. How in the hell did we just manage to claw black from 2-0 down. Nil-nil with 10 men was impressive, retaking the lead against WSW was impressive, but coming back like that, that's the hallmark of champions. What the hell has Mark done to these guys.
- and for the extra 6000 fans there, what a way to show them how fan this team has come
Congrats to Durante on 300 games. Congrats to Krishna on adding to his tally. Congrats to Williams for coming up with the winner yet again. Congrats to Mark Rudan.
Heads down and focus, one game at a time... one game at a time.
Come on Phoenix!!