Match Report 1 Paydirt! Balmain Rovers 4A Reserves v Five Dock Reserves Timbrell Park, Five Dock Sat 12 May 2001 Kick-off 1.15pm Report by Donny Nicholas You Am I at the Enmore Theatre Friday night, about half a dozen beers there, a dust-up with some security personnel, another half dozenish beers at the Town Hall Hotel in Newtown (or was it the Duke?), fail miserably to pick up a bird, stagger across a busy main road and fall asleep at two o'clock in the morning still wearing the clothes I wore out. I was now ready for Saturday arvo soccer. And I don't think I was the only one so aptly primed. We arrived at Five Dock to find another picturesque pitch that, thanks to the endless rain, was pretty heavy, but a fairly predictable playing surface. The new wetlands feature on the far side of the ground attracted plenty of local wildlife and proved difficult to play through, but only took up a small area of the playing field. Rovers started the game, I think, quietly confident, and settled into some nice forward movements, with improved levels of communication between the team members starting to pay off. The guys up front were looking hungry, with Ammon, Paul Millard, Sam and Emrys again leading the way with plenty of shots to keep Five Dock's goalie covered in as much mud and dirt as possible. Browny was a welcome return from injury/alcoholic poisoning, and was constantly winning ball in the midfield and pumping it up front to the strikers, while plenty of good passing all round and clever football kept Five Dock at bay. The pressure finally told with a strong first goal from Ammon, proving that determination and perseverance does pay off, eventually. Then they just kept on coming! Paul Millard with a great individual effort: 2-0 Rovers. Paul Millard again, Ammon again: 4-0 Rovers. And to top it off came a great goal from Dorian, finishing up some great leadup work from Dave the Superdefender and occasional corner taker. 5-0 Rovers. I could feel my hangover disappearing! A bit. Our defence had another solid game, with Lachie chasing plenty of runners and Ricky regularly turning defence into attack. Johnny in goal pulled off some (dare I say it?) champagne football (there, I've said it), with some inspiring saves and great clearances. We nearly kept a clean slate at the back, until a late consolation goal from Five Dock saw the final score at 5-1 Rovers. Yee-bloody-hah!!! Our first win, and a big one at that! Let's hope for plenty more, as we are all starting to enjoy our football, and it's showing on the paddock. And we polished off that carton of VB after the game in record time! Well done, lads. The Pele points go to: 3 points - Craig Brown, for being a tireless runner and intimidating that bloke with the ginger beard 1 point - Ammon Mackie, for two great goals and some strong tackling 1 point - Paul Millard, for plenty of great runs to keep Five Dock on the back foot 1 point - Johnny Barker, for some fantastic work at the back and making the defence look good!

Our Sponsor This newsletter is sponsored by the fabulous folks at The Orange Grove Hotel 31 Balmain Rd, Leichhardt Ph 9810 1435 Table football * pool table * pokies * TAB * cable sports TV Regular live music * Friday night raffle Stay tuned for news about The Grove's new restaurant

Match Report 2 Balmain Fight For Deserved Win Balmain Rovers 4A v Five Dock Timbrell Park, Five Dock Sat 12 May 2001 Kick-off 3pm Report by Nick Hopkins Once the opposition decided to join Balmain, we struggled to get used to the small pitch - our usual style of passing and movement proved to be very difficult due to lack of space across midfield and out wide. Eddie went on his usual surging runs at the heart of the Five Dock defence but kept running into brick walls as Five Dock held firm. We seemed very subdued in the first 20 minutes, but then gradually we started to pass the ball more positively and started to turn the screw on our opponents. Gary went on a run across the face of goal and let fly from 20 yards (actually about 15 yards as the penalty areas were quite small) and BOOM! A screamer made it 1-0 to the Rovers. So with all the hard work achieved and having taken the lead, Balmain then decided as a whole team to fall asleep. A long ball that was poorly dealt with fell to a Five Dock player. He crossed over for an unmarked player to score. Although the finish was of some merit, the defence, who actually had a solid day in general, had conceded a quite sloppy goal. That seemed to wake up the whole team a little and again we started to pass the ball around with some conviction, although most of this seemed to come from the right hand side and Andy seemed like a bit of a loner marooned on his own on the left. When he did get what scraps he was given (mostly won for himself I might add), he did use the ball to good effect and put in some good crosses. Gary then decided to take matters into his own hands and after a one-two (I think) crossed in for Eddie to put one in the roof of the net. 2-1, and we went into half time relatively happy with being in the lead. There were some golden chances missed by all the players just before half-time which could have killed our opponents. We passed the ball around well at the start of the half and looked in control apart from some long throw-ins from some fat bloke with a mullet which were hard to deal with but we coped, as he did the same thing every time. We then went through a period where we couldn't seem to get any fluency up front, and frustrations began to show. Ally and Andy really started to link up well and they were getting lots of joy down the left. The Balmain defence was dealing with everything very easily and Tim was making some very good clearances with both head and feet. Joey and Kon were also getting forward more and more, and eventually I knew that it was only a matter of time before we got our third. Gary again ran down the inside right channel and crossed for Dorian, who grew in confidence as he played himself into the game, to tuck the ball in under the keeper for a well worked goal. After that, there were numerous chances for Balmain including a thunderous shot against the bar from Ally and also a few sitters being missed by a few people. Shortly after the third, a fourth arrived. Andy and Ally, who were working together brilliantly by this time, linked up again and Ally crossed for Sergio to pivot and score a well taken goal. 4-1, game over and a good performance all round. The Pele points go to: 2 - Gary. Set up two and scored one. Also covered every blade of grass on the pitch and kept everyone on their toes. 1 - Eddie and Tim both played very well and worked hard - Tim has been a rock at the back. 1 - Joey, for being solid all game rarely made any mistakes. 1 - Andy, because he didn’t get much of the ball in attack but when he did in the second half used it really well. I decided not to mention anything else as I feel it is best forgotten. Also, well done to the Reserves for a great win. The first time I haven’t come for the duration, you win - so I am staying away from now on. Also I would like to thank them for their continued support - it is most appreciated, you bunch of drunken bums.

Upcoming Fixtures Saturday 19 May 2001 Balmain Rovers v Strathfield Strathfield Park, Strathfield (away) Kickoff Reserves: 1.15pm, Seniors 3pm Sunday 20 May 2001 Balmain Rovers v Como-Jannali Strathfield Park, Strathfield (away) Kickoff Reserves: 1.15pm, Seniors 3pm Saturday 26 May 2001 Balmain Rovers v Canterbury Lees Park, Ashbury (away) Kickoff Reserves: 1.15pm, Seniors 3pm

Award Standings Pele Medal 7 - Gary van Heugten 6 - Craig Brown, Ammon Mackie 5 - Paul Millard, Sam Tekin, Kon Tsalikis 4 - Tim Hinds 3 - Paul Edwards, Nick Hopkins, Emrys Hughes 2 - Andy Farmery, Sergio Fiorenza, Joey Nicotra, Ricky Onsman 1 - John Barker, Eddie Briggs, Sohail Dahdal, Carlos Morata, David Wright Golden Boot 4 - Gary van Heugten 3 - Sergio Fiorenza, Paul Millard, Ammon Mackie, Dorian Nkono 2 - Paul Edwards, Sam Tekin 1 - Eddie Briggs, Sohail Dahdal, Pier D'Angelo, Andy Farmery, Carlos Morata, Joey Nicotra

Other News What some Rovers get up to. This is from Sohail Dahdal in Jerusalem: "Yesterday I went to a meeting in Ramalleh. On the way there, I didn’t see any demonstrations - nothing out of the ordinary and carrying UN id and driving a UN car you don’t get hassled by the Israelis or the Palestinians. The meeting was in the Ministry of Planning and International Co-operation (MOBIC) building. We went in, sat around a round table: Deputy Ministers, UN people, policy makers - and me. The room was dim, in preparation for the screening of a presentation about a draft plan for a national Internet Network in Palestine. Someone switched the projector on, the light is projected on the wall, illuminating a map showing the suggested Internet hubs around Palestine. I notice two large holes on the wall covering some parts of the projected powerpoint presentation; the light escapes through the holes and leaves a dark shadow in place of two of the cities on the map. The presenter explains that this building had come under Israeli fire through the night before - the two holes are bullet holes! After the meeting, I’m taken next door to see the office of one of the deputies. His chair has a large hole from a bullet that went from the window through his chair (chest high) to the wall behind him, to the next room and through the window on the other side of the building!" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ricky Onsman has been appointed the Editor of the Australian Soccer Clubs section of the Open Directory Project, a worldwide effort to list and index websites. Sites using ODP listings include All the Web, AltaVista, Deja, Google, HotBot, Infoseek, Lycos, Northern Light and Yahoo, as well as any number of smaller specialty search engines and portals. You can see the clubs listed here. Suggestions for additions are most welcome by emailing Ricky. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To UNSUBSCRIBE from this newsletter, send a blank email with the subject line "BALMAIN ROVERS - UNSUBSCRIBE" to Balmain Rovers Email comments and suggestions for this newsletter to Balmain Rovers Newsletter content © 2001 Balmain Rovers Tuesday 15 May 2001