In my best effort to anti-jinx us to the league title, the '
Rufer or Zawada' penalty debate is giving me flashbacks to the Davila/Hemed debate from a few seasons ago.
Davila missed a pen that would have kept the Nix in control of their destiny to make the playoffs. It was argued that Tomer Hemed, as our top scorer should have taken it. Hemed, of course, went on to miss a pen in the next match
There are some worrying parallels:
- Davila's miss in our penultimate match meant we drew 2-2, instead of winning; Rufer's miss left us with 1-1, instead of a win.
- The Perth draw left us 1 point behind Macarthur in the race for 6th, but the Bulls had a game in hand; the Newcastle result puts us 1pt in front of CCM, but the Mariners have a game in hand.
- We finished the season on a (then) club-record 11-game unbeaten streak; we will finish this season on a club record points total.
We went on to beat Macarthur 3-0, but they'd already won their extra game to knock us out of the top 6.
While Hemed's miss didn't affect the result, I have visions of the Nix being awarded a pen this weekend, Zawada steps up, and Cahill-like, sends it into rosette (a crerbral in-joke for the old-timers).
Of course, Zawada's pen will be to win the game in the dying minutes and Newcastle will be beating CCM at the same time.
CCM will complete the agony by demolishing Adelaide in their final game.