You're in my heart, you're in my soul

Well, my calf muscle finally came right today, but my heart still aches.

After a horrible season, the Manchester United New Zealand football team finally came together with four outstanding efforts in the West Auckland Tournament at Ranui on Sunday. The games were transferred to the local college and we made the most of a shortened pitch to sting the Northcote Presidents 2-1, then an amazing performance against Norwest, a game just full of excitement, as first the blues scored, but this Red team wasn't having any of it and with a sensational long ball from Jim in goal, Peter scored a cracker, then less than 5 minutes later we scored again after a smashing header from young guy NEW Steve. Like we need another Steve, but this lad, a mate of Alex's was the hottest player on the park for us. They managed to get a late equaliser, but by now our confidence was pinging and we took the field against Ranui knowing we had a good shot at the final. The Ranui south americans kept them in the game, but in the end the 1-1 draw was easily enough for us to qualify. Now the final, without Steve Taylor, Wesley, In Taek, young Troy, Macca, Chris or Karl you think it would have been uphill (and with just 2 of those guys, maybe an easy win), but we were strong and Jim, well, words fail me, his first half effort was absolutely amazing, time and again getting down or over to steer the ball pass the posts and the 0-0 halftime score was a fair result. Unfortunately the Norwest team had much more downtime before the final and had rested their stars during the pool games and in the last 10 minutes we let 2 goals slip in and the cup was gone.

But I have nothing but praise for the effort our guys put in and with the great support from Danelle, Carrie, Anamaya, Katrina, Narelle, Steve T and Wesley.

Our record in the West Auckland Tournament:

Seven years, .. Six Finals, .. Three Wins, ..
Thirty two games,.. Fourteen wins,..Thirteen draws,..Five losses.

KIA KAHA, KIA TOA