| BNU v. Marist, 10th June 2006 |
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| Written by Matt Dillon | |
| Saturday, 10 June 2006 | |
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There was a bit riding on this match. Cross-town rivals, Marist, were the visitors and BNU had less then a stellar recent record against the Dulies. In fact, you had to go back several seasons to find a BNU victory from this particular fixture. Added to this was Brooklyn's current form which had seen them concede 13 goals in the last 4 matches. Considering they'd only picked the ball out of the net 4 times from the preceding 7 league games this represented quite a change in defensive fortunes for the red and blacks. Indeed, if BNU kept leaking goals like they had been they would soon be announcing crowd changes in the programme.Sandy returned to the 4-4-2 formation which had been working well before the form slump. There were still a few players out but there was also a big welcome back, to the bench anyways, for BNU stalwart, Chris Sperring. Chris had been out for months adapting to his new lighter-weight, bionic knee. But it was his chronically itchy feet that resulted in his eagerness to participate today. Paul O'Call was also available again after his sojourn to the deep south to attend a ripping 90th birthday party. Singles and Mark continued their absences however. Mark's place at centre-back was being kept warm by Sandy while Matt Woods continued to deputise up front. Marist were also struggling with absentees and injuries however. Half their squad appeared to have headed to Germany to support Australia at the World Cup. Or had moved on to other clubs. Ex-BNU svengali, Brian Blellock, now coaching at Marist, shuffled his pack as best he could. As to be expected from teams that average a goal every 164 minutes, this was never going to be a high-scoring goal-a-rama. A repeat of the dour nil-all draw of the first round was where the smart money was going. And the early exchanges appeared to back this up with BNU probably edging it in chances created. And bruises and abrasions produced. Marist fashioned a little bit of pressure on the BNU goal from a couple of the 15 or so free-kicks they earned in the first 10 minutes. Brooklyn created a couple of clear cut chances but poor finishing saw the Marist keeper untroubled. When the first goal did finally come it was from a half chance on the edge of the box. Babysham had a speculator from 20 yards, which appeared to bounce several times, before passing the bewildered and temporarily immobile Marist keeper and nestling in the corner of the net. Sammy did definitely get something on it but a thunderbolt it was not. So 1-nil up and BNU were keen to kick on. Unfortunately, this match is only 90 minutes in duration and, statistically speaking, the next BNU goal is not due for nearly 3 hours so the home side had to settle for the 1-0 score line. The Marist keeper was called upon to make a couple of tidy stops and the visitors did manage a bit of pressure on the BNU goal box near the end of the game but on balance, the result was consistent with the endeavour of each side. Tough to pick a player of the day as there were several solid displays but Sandy opted to give the plaudits to Sua, who once again toiled away up front. Sandy himself must have gone close, after a good performance at centre-back. And Sam was also worth a mention as he put himself about in midfield before being subbed off with a dodgy back not long after half-time. All in all, it was a successful day out, with Chris Sperring's knee surviving 45 minutes of football and BNU climbing away from the 3 sides at the bottom of the Champs Premier League table. The next match sees Brooklyn head out to the 'burbs to take on Western Suburbs at Porirua Park for Friday Night Football. |
