Match Report 1 One Good Half Not Quite Enough Balmain Rovers 4A Reserves v Abbotsford Reserves Campbell Park, Chiswick Sat 23 June 2001 Kick-off 1.15pm Report by Ammon Mackie Well, it was a great day for the game - the sun was out, but not too much; the temperature was still down. Unfortunately, we were yet again tested as to the depth of our squad, but with some very skilful and most appreciated Conrads with us, we put together what was a fair display of the talents. The first half started and, if memory serves, not too soon after Abbotsford put one in the back of the net - all a bit of a shock, if I could say. Balmain again showed determination and, through a lovely solo effort by the Samantha, the scores were soon once again level. Then the memory went blank (or at least that is what I would like to think). My next memory was of half-time - and we were 3-1 down. I would consider the match not dissimilar to that on Thursday night: the second half was a great display by the whole team. No-one let us down as we tried desperately to level the score. One lovely run was made by Conrad Ian only to see the ball pass just to the right of the goal post. We continued applying pressure right to the end, but to no avail. The score line remained the same, but it was definitely a better half by Balmain. One can only say that we will no doubt have another chance in the near future to beat the only unbeaten side in the competition. A great effort by all. Pele points for the match go to some of our newest friends: Ian Ladkin 3 Points Paul Smith 2 points Sam is the man 1 point

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Match Report 2 Settling the Score Balmain Rovers 4A v Abbotsford Campbell Park, Chiswick Sat 23 June 2001 Kick-off 3pm Report by Nik Hopkins Well, the game that most of the team was looking forward to had finally come around and the team seemed very fired up for the start. Abbotsford have been the only team to beat us this season and everybody wanted to settle the score. The game started off indifferently for Balmain - a couple of early defensive lapses almost allowed Abbotsford to score but good battling back from Tim, Glenn and Denis with a great save kept them out. Then a through ball by an Abbotsford midfielder was greeted with cries of "Offside, ref!" with the whole Balmain defence turning around to look at the ref. After finishing his cigarette and his conversation with his wife, he amazingly waved "Play on" and Abbotsford almost made a terrible mess of the tap-in. Understandably, James Mackie threw his linesman's flag down in disgust, as the referee was obviously blind or stupid. The offending player was at least three yards offside and for about 10 minutes Balmain were a bit subdued and shocked that the decision went against them. Then the game turned into a midfield battle, which Balmain seemed to be winning. Great battling play from Sergio led to him slotting a ball through to Ally Haining who, out of nothing, flashed a lethal strike from an angle across the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner. It was a superb strike and it raised Balmain to new heights. In the last 20 minutes, Balmain were winning everything in midfield and passing the ball around quite well. Just before the end of the half, a well-taken free kick was floated to Tim who headed the ball down. It fell back to him nicely and he drilled it into the net: 2-1 to Balmain and again we used free kicks well to get a goal. The second half started with Balmain a little asleep. We really have to work on this, as we always come out in the second half and seem to relax and put ourselves under pressure. The game turned into a stalemate, with little or nothing going on. Abbottsford then scored from a defensive lapse and the game was wide open again at 2-2. A good ball up from the defence was met by Eddie "I score for fun" Edwards and he put it past the keeper - another tidy finish from the bald-headed master. Abbotsford didn't really recover from that and got a bit rash with their challenges. Ally had to go off with bad ribs and Clem got hacked down and hurt his ankle again, which was a shame as he was just getting back to fitness and was making more of an impression on the team as he got fitter. A world record was achieved by Sergio, as he got the most offside decisions awarded against an individual in a five minute period. In the very last minute, Abbotsford had a great chance to level but Denis made a fantastic reaction save that was the last action of the match and Balmain won 3-2. Well done boys - the best performance of the season and we looked confident all through the game. I also wish Tim Hinds the very best of luck. It has been a pleasure playing football with you and I wish you all the best for the future. The Pele points go to: 1 - Ally Haining, great goal 1 - Paul Edwards 1 - Denis Jozic, for some good saves especially the one in the last minute 1 - Kon Tsalikis, for keeping a sensible head throughout the game 1 - Glenn Bacic, always first to the ball and made some great tackles 1 - Tim Hinds, for scoring and you have to give him a point for working for One.Tel I would have liked to have given everybody a point but I wasn't allowed. Well played lads - great effort.

Upcoming Fixtures Balmain Rovers v Balmain B Birchgrove Park, Birchgrove Sat 30 June 2001 Kick-off 1.15pm, 3pm Balmain Rovers v Five Dock Callan Park, Rozelle Sat 7 July 2001 Kick-off 1.15pm, 3pm

Award Standings Pele Medal 11 - Craig Brown 10 - Paul Edwards 9 - Tim Hinds, Gary van Heugten, Ammon Mackie 8 - Paul Millard 7 - Nick Hopkins 6 - Emrys Hughes, Sam Tekin, Kon Tsalikis 5 - Andy Farmery, Ricky Onsman 4 - John Barker, Donny Nicholas 3 - Glenn Bacic, David Birds, Pier D'Angelo, Ian Ladkin, Lachlan Mackie, Joey Nicotra, David Wright 2 - Sergio Fiorenza, Ally Haining, Denis Jozic, Paul Smith 1 - Eddie Briggs, Matt Clementson, Sohail Dahdal, Carlos Morata Golden Boot 8 - Ammon Mackie 7 - Paul Edwards, Paul Millard 5 - Alister Haining 4 - Gary van Heugten, Sam Tekin 3 - Sergio Fiorenza, Tim Hinds, Dorian Nkono 2 - Craig Brown, Nick Hopkins 1 - Eddie Briggs, Sohail Dahdal, Pier D'Angelo, Andy Farmery, Emrys Hughes, Carlos Morata, Joey Nicotra

Other News Audited! Balmain Rovers 4A Combined v KPMG Doyle Ground, North Parramatta Thu 21 June 2001 Kick-off 7.30pm Report by Matt Clementson Location: Middle of nowhere Conditions: good pitch, good lighting and bloody freezing .....and so the second half began. With Clem and Eddie giving the team some good advice on how we were going to take this bunch of auditors on in the second half, the spirits were high and determination was on the faces of all the players. This was a great chance for both the Firsts team and the Reserves to play at a level which was high, no doubt - probably the best team we will play - and experiment with new players in different positions. The pitch was pretty good and the floodlights (once they found the on switch) lit the pitch superbly. With the temperature dropping to get pretty cold now, KPMG kicked off. The line-up was changed for the second half, with Ally dropping back to a more defending midfield role and Eddie taking control of the centre just in front of the defence. Tim was pushed up front, Kon went between the posts and Browny turned in to "Paul Gascoigne" in his hey-day. Clem stayed in the middle of the park with Ammon causing trouble down the right. As we had been so under the cosh in the first half, the only way we could come back was to man-mark two of their key players (I found out today that one is practically pro and the other has scored 28 in 12 games for his club). We hustled well, got to the ball first more often, and basically killed their running play dead. On the odd occasion, we caught them on the break but didn't really have a solid forward line due to defending heavily and thus squandered a few chances. Tim made some quality moves down the left linking well with Browny and Clem. Lachie found his feet more in the second half and turned out a good 40 minutes of solid left back performance, stopping any lightning runs in their tracks. The first half saw some early chances for Rovers with Eddie practically making it all the way through, Ally down the left was unlucky and ended up winning some free kicks in positions we need to capitalise on more. Clem put one just over the bar from about 20 yards out (story of my fricking life!!) and Kon was unlucky with some good through balls for players to run on to getting cut out by some of their lightning fast players. The second half was one of the better performances I have seen from a mixed bag team with NO official keeper and showed that we can lock down the hatches when we need to. It is in games like this when we will get something on the break and win matches against excellent sides. We created the odd chance and yet again Clem tried a long range effort from about 35 yards after Browny and Tim's run had seen the ball come back to him off the keeper who was in no man's land. Again it went over the bar and he was up all night having nightmares of Tim screaming "Give me the F#&$*&G ball, CLEM!!" He did hear you and is going to give the ball to you all the time from now on, as he nearly cried. Ammon was strong on the right, Nik stuck with the runners at the back well, as this was their main form of scoring. The result for the last 60 minutes of the game was 0-0. The final score of 6-0 to KPMG is not a true reflection. It hit home some key facts that we go on and on about each week. A lesson was learnt that teams of a good level will punish any team for poor marking and defensive errors. Bring on Abbotsford this weekend for a complete arse-whooping if play as good as we did in the second half. The Pele points go to: 1 for Tim for shouting really really loud and creating some good moves in the second half. 1 for Browny for finding players with good positioning, linking well with the midfield and generating some exciting moves 1 for Clem for running hard, hustling and having a crack (one will go soon - you watch) 1 for Lachie for a 100% improvement in the second half and taking on board the half-time team talk 1 for Ally for taking the initiative to come back and battle hard. Hope the ribs are OK. 1 for Eddie for holding the backs together and using his experience of high level football to take control. Thanks again fellas, the lads from work have sent me a thankyou note and appreciated the turnout.

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