BNU Masters 3 v Western Suburbs - 4/3/10
5-2 (HT 4-2)

The squad has come through the off-season almost intact. We've lost central defender Simon to Christchurch but gained Paul B and also have Chris T back from a knee injury which had kept him on the sidelines most of last season. For the first match of the season we were up against a team we'd never met before, as this year's Masters 4 is made up of the top 3 from last season, the bottom 4 from Masters 3, and Uni Bombers from Capital 16. Western Suburbs turned up looking a few years younger than us, so initial thoughts were that we might be doing some chasing this game. Fortunately, first impressions are often wrong, and we got some confidence from seeing their pre-match argument over who was going to keep. And it turned out we were the faster fitter team and ended up winning comfortably.

Today's captain, Chris L, won the toss and chose to run uphill into the stiff northerly, possibly mindful of the number of times in  past seasons we've wasted good conditions in the first half. But we quickly started dominating in the midfield and soon Chris L (well out of position) dispossessed one of their central midfielders near half-way, burst down the left through the back line and picked the gap between the goalie's legs. Western Suburbs started playing a bit more, but relied too heavily on high balls over the top or through balls down the right which usually accelerated downhill harmlessly for goal-kicks. However, eventually, one of the hopeful lobs into the box led to them having a spare man near the penalty spot who picked up a loose ball and put it away. Then a few minutes later, another bouncing ball in the box was flicked into Kevin's raised arm and they had a chance to go 2-1 up. Steve managed to get a hand on the penalty and deflected it on to the bar and out. Soon after, they handled a cross in the box at the other end and we had a chance to go ahead.  Ian's penalty clanged off the cross bar (following Bergkamp's penalty philosophy as quoted in http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/3555585/The-psychology-of-penalty-shootouts but Bergkamp never had to deal with the Happy Valley wind-tunnel) and no-one could get the rebound. But it didn't take long to get in front - after a couple of corners that Ian had hit too long, he went near post, skimmed over the first defender and Chris L chested it in. Another foray forward saw Ian having several options of who to play into space, and he found Phil (or was it Dave R?? - at least it was a guy in a red shirt) on the left, whose shot was knocked down in front of Paul G for an easy tap-in. Western Suburbs continued knocking long balls over the top, and eventually one of their forwards got to a bouncing ball first and lobbed Steve. But we hit back immediately, Ian taking the ball forward from the kick-off, seeing Cliff racing in from the left wing and playing him in clear on goal, which he put away well. So, 4-2 at half-time.

The second half was very one-sided. Western Suburbs were obviously worn out (or demoralised) and had no energy to attack into the wind, so it was mainly shooting practice for us. We need more practice. Paul B and Dave had several cleanly hit shots which went a bit too high; Paul G couldn't quite finish off a few half-chances in the 6-yard box; Cliff had an amazing ball-chase down the right wing, running down what looked like a certain goal-kick, stopping the ball on the line and running past then turning back to lay off a close-range chance for Dave R to hit straight at the keeper; and Ian put a couple wide of the near and far posts before getting one on target which sent their keeper to the After-Hours with a dislocated finger. This also revealed why they might have been arguing about keepers before the game - the replacement struggled to fit the sweaty jersey over his head and contemplated playing skins, but finally squeezed it on. Ian stuffed up a late breakaway and needed to either chip the keeper or play across the face of goal, but split the two and knocked it too close to him. It wasn't until near the end that we finally put one away, a nice corner from Dave D dropping on Phil at the far post and he doesn't miss those. All this time, Steve had had a very quiet time in goal, mainly acting as ballboy for the game on the upper field. Western Suburbs made one attack late in the game where they had an extra man, but moved too slow to take any advantage.

All in all, a not too bad performance for a season opener. We weren't put under too much pressure in the middle, and were able to move the ball around nicely at times, defended well at corners, and often won in the air on our corners. Rob, Mike B and Kevin dealt well with the occasional threats when Western Suburbs attacked out wide. Chris T did a great job reffing the first half, looking the part in his official top, and Chris L took a break from his goal-spree to ref the second half. The game was played in good spirit with very few fouls, but we expect the return match in Round 2 will be a bit tougher when the fields have softened and Western should be better organised.

Ian Smart