Man Utd NZ vs East Coast Bays
After such a great start to the weekend, (the Dragons, Blues and Tigers won), I didn’t really think the rest would mesh out so fine, but boy was I wrong.
Strangely, I was the early bird at the East Coast Bays ground (Superb pitch and spectator viewing) and as the ex reps rolled up, I thought we were in for our usual kicking.
Slowly but surely our lads came in and when Cardiff appeared in the dressing room, the whole day turned around. When we got out on the field, the team began shaping into one of the great Man Utd NZ teams, Jim was late so Cardiff went into goal, Steve Mellor, Mike 2 (Cardiff’s mate), Marc and Mark 3 (Gareth’s mate) made the backline, Gareth, KJ, Rob and Jan in the middle with Wes and Steve Taylor up front !
The game was the usual frantic pace (us) and the slow controlled passing (them) that shows the difference in technical abilities of the teams and twice in the early spell their main man Willie was given too much room but luck kept him out. A couple more close ones were repelled by Jim (newly arrived). In general we passed the ball around well, usually only suffering on the last touch and then lo and behold, who walks over the hill but half of the Korean national team ! Not quite, but if you thought In Taek was good, I now believe his mate Lee may be BETTER ! We battled out the rest of the first half for a well deserved nil all draw.
Early in to the second half we started with a new defensive line and a formidable Korean strike force, but of course those old buggers didn’t get to the higher levels without a bit of nous and 5 minutes in they had scored TWO cracking goals, after they scored the second the United heads started dropping, but Steve T quickly wound everyone back up and Lee, Taek and Wes sprung into life, with a dynamite display of passing, leading to our opening goal scored by Taek, then ten minutes later Lee made another dazzling run into the area only to be hacked down. Steve T calmly strode up to the spot and slotted home the penalty, 2 all, this really rankled a few of the old boys and Willie quickly put them back in front, but this only intensified our attack force and the thunderous applause from the United bench as we moved down the pitch was fantastic, esp when one of the young Koreans (playing from the back) stormed up the field and let fly from 40 out on the diagonal giving the old boy in goal a heart attack as it hit the crossbar and after having a couple of penalties turned down, the atmosphere was electric, then Lee just zig-zagged past 2-3 defenders and around the keeper to slot home our third. By this time the bench and supporters were going crazy and I have never heard clapping and cheering like this in all my years playing with the team. But sadly it wasn’t to be and in the last two minutes they set up a beautifully worked move down the right and a great cross in to Big (6ft 6) Mac (again familiar face, just can’t pin the name) who headed it home, like they had done it a hundred times before.
So we went down, but only just and when you consider their record and the number of old reps, I think we did a fantastic job.
I would like to thank all the guys and gals for their support on this great day. And I would also like to thank the East Coast Bays guys and their ladies for their wonderful hospitality (chicken, cheese, bread etc) and great beer. Jim won the $50 bar tab
And then to top off the weekend in great style we won the Premiership.
We have a break in our schedule now, so we might have a Family Runabout and BBQ in a couple of weeks at Onepoto or Owairaka (Mt Albert). ALL WELCOME
Strangely, I was the early bird at the East Coast Bays ground (Superb pitch and spectator viewing) and as the ex reps rolled up, I thought we were in for our usual kicking.
Slowly but surely our lads came in and when Cardiff appeared in the dressing room, the whole day turned around. When we got out on the field, the team began shaping into one of the great Man Utd NZ teams, Jim was late so Cardiff went into goal, Steve Mellor, Mike 2 (Cardiff’s mate), Marc and Mark 3 (Gareth’s mate) made the backline, Gareth, KJ, Rob and Jan in the middle with Wes and Steve Taylor up front !
The game was the usual frantic pace (us) and the slow controlled passing (them) that shows the difference in technical abilities of the teams and twice in the early spell their main man Willie was given too much room but luck kept him out. A couple more close ones were repelled by Jim (newly arrived). In general we passed the ball around well, usually only suffering on the last touch and then lo and behold, who walks over the hill but half of the Korean national team ! Not quite, but if you thought In Taek was good, I now believe his mate Lee may be BETTER ! We battled out the rest of the first half for a well deserved nil all draw.
Early in to the second half we started with a new defensive line and a formidable Korean strike force, but of course those old buggers didn’t get to the higher levels without a bit of nous and 5 minutes in they had scored TWO cracking goals, after they scored the second the United heads started dropping, but Steve T quickly wound everyone back up and Lee, Taek and Wes sprung into life, with a dynamite display of passing, leading to our opening goal scored by Taek, then ten minutes later Lee made another dazzling run into the area only to be hacked down. Steve T calmly strode up to the spot and slotted home the penalty, 2 all, this really rankled a few of the old boys and Willie quickly put them back in front, but this only intensified our attack force and the thunderous applause from the United bench as we moved down the pitch was fantastic, esp when one of the young Koreans (playing from the back) stormed up the field and let fly from 40 out on the diagonal giving the old boy in goal a heart attack as it hit the crossbar and after having a couple of penalties turned down, the atmosphere was electric, then Lee just zig-zagged past 2-3 defenders and around the keeper to slot home our third. By this time the bench and supporters were going crazy and I have never heard clapping and cheering like this in all my years playing with the team. But sadly it wasn’t to be and in the last two minutes they set up a beautifully worked move down the right and a great cross in to Big (6ft 6) Mac (again familiar face, just can’t pin the name) who headed it home, like they had done it a hundred times before.
So we went down, but only just and when you consider their record and the number of old reps, I think we did a fantastic job.
I would like to thank all the guys and gals for their support on this great day. And I would also like to thank the East Coast Bays guys and their ladies for their wonderful hospitality (chicken, cheese, bread etc) and great beer. Jim won the $50 bar tab
And then to top off the weekend in great style we won the Premiership.
We have a break in our schedule now, so we might have a Family Runabout and BBQ in a couple of weeks at Onepoto or Owairaka (Mt Albert). ALL WELCOME
posted by Swanson Red at 10:58 pm
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