Ok Lads, IMHO..........
I was sitting in Aisle 21, Row D. The YF seemed a little short
on numbers today, possibly because of that lady turning every
second person away, maybe because of the 8,064 attendance. (Oh and
Tony P, you owe me a prize, I told you that we'd get 8,000. I'm
surprised too, perfect weather, pitch and the players, well what
can I say?) The missing fans missed out on a treat.
Ok, we drew thanks to a last minute penalty. Gutted about
that. But what a treat of a game. EVERY Phoenix player played very
well. Rees has given me a new confidence in the defence yet it
wasn't because Plodder was missing, but Rees covered Dodd and Old.
Old, what can I say? Dumb ? After getting the yellow he was
pushing his luck but seeing how upset he was as he approached the
YF Zone, you could see he knew what he'd done. I felt sorry for
him. Other than that, he had a pretty decent game along with
everyone else. Lia showed class, Ferente had his best game in our
shirt, he, Daniel & Felipe (Cool haircut too by the way) were
everywhere and I was not surprised our two Brazilians ran out of
petrol. Johnson held the midfield well and our Captain had a very
good game. What an awesome volley, what a goal. Well done! Covney
lasting the full 90, held the ball up extremely well and really
gave their defence a hard time. His card I felt was over the
top, a 50/50 to me. I saw the Sydney guys go down with lesser
challenges.
A very positive performance. If I had one critism to make it
is this.....
Why are our guys so scared to pull the trigger and
shoot? From 5 yeards or from 30 yards, have a go. We seemed to
spend too much time trying to create the perfect chance. Their
keeper wasn't that good and I reckon a few long range efforts
would have really panicked him.
They might had had the better of the first 20 minutes but
after that, we had them under the kosh. We need to shoot more and
shoot with confidence. I was suprised Johnson went off. Surely his
best game for us too - a game of a lot of firsts I guess. Young
BBsos did ok, you can see he needs some Gym work but he's got a
good turn of speed and frankly speaking I don't expect much
from him at this stage in his career. Definately has the goods,
just needs them honed! Well done young fella. Brownlie? Held the
ball well but again, scared to pull the trigger and if he had a
left foot, he would have scored but he kept trying to get the ball
onto his right foot and thus lost out on some shots. I want the guy
to do well but I think he can be his own worst enemy. Shoot man,
that's your prime role!
Honourable mentions to the Fans, the singing was good for most
part. I see Aisle 23 tried to out YF the YF Zone. Classic,
good to see the singing spreading around the ground. Top marks to
those whom took their shirts off. More than ever before. I would
have taken mine off but I didn't want to steal all the very
attractive female fans from the male populous. (Yeah right!)
Maybe I have got the game wrong but this is how I saw it.
I really enjoyed the game despite the result. You can really see
that is in fact a talented squad that can go on to better things
for sure. It wa scool meeting up with fans at the Backbencher
and at the game too. As we all get to know each other, you can feel
the family atmosphere developing. new friends, new aquaintences.
Good stuff.
I've left Moss out of this as you can catch my view on him in
the MOTM vote. "Surpreme" is one word I'd suggest.
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
