After an incredibly tough game last week Brooklyn were keen to get back to winning ways.  Unfortunately Capital Football decided that players would have no interest in having an Easter holiday and scheduled the game for Easter Sunday.  A few pleading phone calls later and BNU managed to field a team of 12 players (not a bad effort at all given the number of players missing!!)

Warm-up began and the Division 1 players all started arguing as to who would have the luxury of half a game and which sucker would have to play the full 90 minutes.  Helen, clearly a master in the art of persuasion, managed to secure the one available spot on the bench for the first half (damn her!!)

First half, and although Brooklyn were battling into the wind the game was an incredibly even contest.  BNU looked the more likely team to score, with numerous penalty appeals denied by the referee (apparently using your hands to catch the ball if it’s coming at your chest is now perfectly acceptable??!!)

Wellington United also had their opportunities, but BNU’s backs (with new addition Jacki - aka Peeves) were quick to shut them down.  Anna, making her Central League debut, was solid as ever in goal and looked completely in control and un-phased by the step up in grades.  Sick and tired of trying to battle with the Wellington wind, she was even generous enough to give the goal-kicking responsibility to Denise who repeatedly managed to defy the odds and pump the ball up-field despite the gale blowing in her face.

0-0 at half time.

BNU finally had the wind at their backs and went into the second half determined to score and walk away with the win.  And low and behold soon after the second half began, Brooklyn had their goal.  Anja got the ball in the midfield and chipped the ball superbly over the Wellington United defence.  Jo ran onto the ball, and with no one but the goalie left in front of her, she managed to put the ball in the back of the net.  1-0 Brooklyn!!

Brooklyn began to take control of the game and Wellington United were clearly becoming frustrated (helped a little bit by the fact that the referee - possibly in an attempt to make up for the missed first half penalty - decided to award a free kick to BNU any time a Wellington United player so much as touched them).  Unable to handle the injustice of it all, one poor little Wellington United player threw her toys and had a little tantrum (I do believe there was even foot stamping!!) and was rewarded for her efforts with a yellow card….and a free to kick to BNU.

Not long after Wellington United made their first substitution.  It took her 5 minutes to also end up in the referee’s book with a yellow card next to her name.

Brooklyn kept their minds on the game though and continued to attack the Wellington United goal.  Fi was unlucky not to score and Anja had a shot that looked certain to drop just under the crossbar but somehow rebounded off the woodwork and after a manic goalmouth scramble, Wellington United managed to clear the ball.

Laree looked as threatening as always with her fantastic runs down the sideline and Katy and Jess were solid as ever in the middle of the park creating chance after chance while staying strong on defence.

Suddenly, against the run of play, Wellington United managed to push out of their half and attack the Brooklyn goal.  One of their midfielders got the ball and ran towards goal.  As much as it pains me to admit it, she released a truly fantastic shot that was blasted into the top left hand corner of our goal, leaving Anna with no chance of saving it.  1-1.

Despite numerous opportunities to secure a win and all three points, Brooklyn were unable to find the back of the net again (Jo, it would probably help if you shot either side of the keeper and not straight at her - Peeves, thank you for insightful advice (bitch)!!)  1-1 the final score - a slightly disappointing end to a good game of football, but the re-match later in the season with a full-strength BNU side should be a fantastic game.

 Jo Crook

After a fantastic victory last week, Brooklyn knew that they were up against it this week - away to Massey, one of the in-form teams this season and possible title contenders.

In a show of team cohesion (that was tragically, unplanned, but yet brilliantly executed) all the BNU players magically descended on McDonalds at exactly the same time for a healthy pre-game breakfast.  From there the team travelled in convoy to the bright lights of Palmerston North - only to then got lost in convoy as, in a terrible oversight, no-one had actually bothered to look up where the ground was.  Still, Massey University has a stunning car park - I should know, we saw it five times…. (Denise you are officially banned as team navigator!!)

When JB finally awoke from her slumber and informed everyone that she knew exactly where the park was - the convoy was back on track and Brooklyn arrived at the ground to find a very professional looking Massey side already warming up and looking like a formidable opposition.

Brooklyn learnt last week though that they well and truly belong in the Central League and were going to show Massey that they were no easy beat.

Bag debacle sorted and the game was underway.  It started at a frantic pace with an incredible amount of pressure being put on the Brooklyn defence.  Brooklyn rose to the challenge though and JB (clearly well rested after her sleep in the car) was solid as ever cleaning up everything that Massey threw at her.

Emma in goal was straight into it making some brilliant saves, coming out to the ball and yelling at her backs to let them know that she was there.

The pressure was relentless but Brooklyn slowly began to settle into the game and picked up their communication.  With the marking becoming tighter, Massey were shut down earlier and Brooklyn managed to get some attacking play of their own underway.  Laree kept pushing down the left wing and on several occasions managed to get the ball to Fi who looked dangerous on attack.

Massey, clearly frustrated, refused to give up though and continued to launch attack after attack.  Eventually a shot came from outside the 18 yard box that landed awkwardly in front of Emma and, instead of bouncing, skimmed along the ground and into the back of the net.  1-0 Massey.

Brooklyn refused to let this deflate them, however, and the phenomenal performance continued.  Cynnie (I’m going to spell your name differently every week because I have no idea how it’s actually spelled) battling hard in defence, won the ball back on half-way and passed the ball up to Fi, Fi ran through the midfield and put a great ball through to Laree who was unlucky not to score.  Attacking opportunities continued to be created and at half time the score remained 1-0 and Brooklyn were still well in the game.

The second half started at the same frantic pace as the first.  Brooklyn’s defence continued to be tight and this time Anja and Katy came together to create a great attacking play that saw Brooklyn pushing forward again.  Unfortunately Massey’s class came through and when they managed to dispossess the ball from Brooklyn they launched a stunning counter attack and put themselves 2-0 up.

Still Brooklyn refused to give up and fought on, defending solidly and attacking whenever they could.  Eventually though the frantic pace of the game, and the insane amount of running that Brooklyn had to do, began to take it’s toll (nothing to do with the MacDonalds breakfast!!) and cracks began to appear.  It what appeared to be a cruel trend, every time Brooklyn launched a promising attack, Massey would counter and manage to put the ball in the back of the net.

Everybody ran themselves into the ground and Emma continued to pull off amazing save after amazing save (with Ritchie happily standing on the side-line taking all the credit for her work!!).

Mo easily won quote of the day though…. Laree again received the ball on the left wing and took off on one of her blinding runs….her defender came across to shut her down and with no real passing option available, Laree took the defender on…. with her ridiculous pace, Laree ran straight past the defender who was left eating Laree’s dust…. at which point Mo yells out, “how does it feel to be skinned by a grandma??!!”….

The final score was 5-0.  Not really a fair reflection of the game.  Brooklyn fought hard for the full 90 minutes and were unlucky to concede a few late goals that produced a score line that flattered the home team.  It can’t be argued, however, that Massey are an incredibly talented team who will be hard to beat this season.

Jo Crook

After a close fought game last week that saw Brooklyn just pipped by last season’s Central League winners, enthusiasm was high and the BNU bitches (insert JB’s high pitch shriek when you read this) were ready to take on their next opponents - Lower Hutt (I for one am really looking forward to the day when Sandy finally brings out the ‘bitches’ call!!).

Brooklyn began the game tentatively and Lower Hutt pushed forward attacking the BNU goal.  New recruit Emma, in goal, was up to challenge however, and stamped her authority on the game early with some good loud calls and impressive saves that continued throughout the game.

Clearly feeling slightly redundant on the side-line the linesman then decided to take a more active role in the game.  His first call was to stop the game to ask Bexs to move her chair 3cm to the left so that she was no longer inside the ‘technical area’ only to then stop the game again five minutes later to demand that all the spectators be moved from his side of the pitch to the other side of the pitch as the number of spectators was just becoming too many??!!  In all my years of playing women’s football I can not ever recall a time when the number of spectators was becoming ‘too many’!!

Still, back to the game - after their initial nervous beginning, it seemed to slowly dawn on the BNU players that not only were they just as capable as Lower Hutt of playing football, but that they were in fact, better than Lower Hutt.  All of sudden BNU confidence grew and the team began to dominate the game stringing together some stunning passages of play and mounting some promising attacks on goal.

Anja and Laree out on the wings tirelessly ran up and down the pitch and, at times, closely resembled yo-yo’s - if someone could please teach either of them how to do the ‘round-the-world’ or ‘rock-the-baby’ for next week’s game I really think we could be onto something!!

Towards the end of the first half Brooklyn continued to push forward and Fi went on one of her amazing little runs through the opposition.  From out wide she crossed the ball perfectly into the middle of the goal box just as Hilary came flying in from the midfield.  Hilary made contact with the ball and the crowd went silent…. unluckily the ball went just wide of the upright and both teams went into half-time scoreless.

The second half began and Lower Hutt came out strong - it was their turn to dominate play.  Brooklyn’s back-line was outstanding though and continuously shut down Lower Hutt’s attacks.  JB, Trish (later to be named player of the day for her outstanding efforts), Denise and Sinny combined to not only make sure that no-one was going to get past them, but also worked together to help BNU push forward and attack.

And attack they did!!  Hilary got the ball up front and I wish I could give you a blow by blow account of why (but I actually have no idea!!) BNU were awarded a penalty!!

Fi stepped up and, cool as a cucumber (never really got that saying - cucumbers aren’t cool at all!!) slotted the ball low and left and past the keeper into the back of the net!!  Sandy and Scott danced around in jubilation like  four year olds on a Fanta high (as did the rest of us, only in slightly more subtle fashion).

1-0 BNU!!

With their tails up and the real belief now that they could win this game Brooklyn lifted their game again and showed exactly why they deserve to be in the Central League.  The midfield work rate was phenomenal and there was no way that Brooklyn was going to give their lead away.

Another Lower Hutt attack was thwarted by the Brooklyn backs and Sinny pushed forward this time.  Seeing Fi in space she played the perfect ball through and Fi collected it and headed for goal.  Seeing the keeper off her line, Fi paused for a brief moment…. established the wind factor…. the distance from goal…. the anticipated curl of the ball…. did a few calculations…. and then cool as a box of chocolates (lets be fair, chocolates are way cooler than cucumbers!!), lobbed the ball over the top of the goalies head and into the top right corner of the net.  This time all the supporters joined in the Fanta dance!!

2-0 BNU!!

From here out the game just becomes a bit of a blur (possibly due to lack of oxygen as I ran around the park trying to actually play) but the final score remained 2-0.  What a brilliant way to start the season, a narrow loss to the reigning champions of Central League and victory over a team that beat us twice last season.  Third on the table - who’da thought  ; )

Jo Crook

2011 Season

BNU Platoon Black v Wellington United 24 April 2011

BNU Platoon Black v Massey 17th April 2011

BNU Platoon Black v Lower Hutt 10 April 2011