Balmain Rovers 4A Reserves v Concord Reserves
Edwards Park, Concord
Sat 6 April 2002
Kick-off 1.15pm
Report by Darren Lynn

For a first outing together in a competition game, the Thirds team moulded very well. Even winning 7-0 didn't show how much we dominated the game. With Captain Adam Freeman unavailable on the day (to his great regret) and Manager Colin Johnson househunting, the team experimented with several players moving from position to position during the game. Our backline of Richard Lyne, Kelly Baigent, Neil O'Donnell and John Pereira worked well enough to give keeper Michael Arthur little to do, while midfielders Adam Brzozowski, Michael Badman, Sohail Dahdal and Jared Carter played havoc with the opposition, controlling the game and giving strikers Darren Lynn and Fergal Murphy plenty of opportunities to attack the Concord goal.

In the end, Lynn scored a hat-trick, Murphy grabbed two and one each went to stand-in captain Dahdal and speedy wing-half Carter. Pereira came off at half-time, giving Irish import Darren Taylor a chance of a run, while O'Donnell came off for Phil Davis about ten minutes into the second stanza.

While our team has work to do in terms of onfield organisation and individual player fitness, this was a great start to the season and gives fair warning that we have no intention of being overshadowed by the Balmain Rovers teams in the 3rd Division.

The Pele points (by Richard Lyne to spare Darren's blushes) go to:

2 - Darren Lynn, for a hat-trick on debut
2 - Fergal Murphy, equally outstanding in attack
2 - Jared Carter, youth and speed delivered the goods

Thoughts came rushing through my mind as I sped to Easton Park on Saturday for our first match of 2002. Had I said no to enough beers last night at the local? Was giving up the ciggies the Tuesday beforehand enough preperation to give me the edge against the mighty Enfield? Would I survive till halftime? How many subs did we have? Did I remember my socks? And where the bloody hell was Easton Park? Well, as it turned out I had little to worry about as the Rovers Reserves kicked off in fine style last Saturday and I survived to tell the story.

We had a pretty full contingency of players, with some previous Rovers and a few offseason buys adding to the lineup (well done Ricky). Our European imports were still acclimatising to the warmer weather we play in here - about 25 degrees by lunchtime kickoff. We had a good pitch with the option of a cricket match in the centre of the park should anyone have felt the urge.....

The game started well with some good forward movement and hunger to win the ball early on. For a team that was still fairly new to each other there was some good passing and positive running as we started to test the Enfield midfield and defence. Ten minutes in and the Ingleburn transfer James Mackie supplied us with our first goal for 02! It was a strong hit and gave us great confidence early on. From that point Rovers continued to pepper the Enfield goal with some strong runs from Ben on the right and Jon on the left. There were plenty of shots but no more goals as halftime arrived: 1-0.

The second half started with the same sort of enthusiasm as the first. Our halves were winning plenty of ball midfield and the defence was also keeping Enfield in their half for much of the time. This allowed us to push forward and experiment with different combinations up front. Ben Jones was looking dangerous with each touch and making space for Nick and Mark to start firing away. Again, plenty of shots but no goals!! We were starting to wonder if 1-0 might be it. But with a welcome patience Rovers stuck at it and reaped the rewards. In a short space of time we racked up four more with Ben scoring two in quick succesion (one a glorious solo effort), then Mark Bamford with lovely volley, and Nick Agafonoff showed that persistence pays with a fine finish to take us to 5-0 and looking comfortable.

A clean sheet at the back was also a great effort with Mikee organising well, Paul making some good clearances and Ricky even having a couple of shots at goal (one from Donny range)!! The birds in the trees should be very afraid.... Johnny in goal also saved our butts on a few occasions with some good calling, and most importantly trounced Browny from Firsts in the goalkeeper fashion stakes, with the blue/black ensemble as opposed to Browny's "been sick down my front" number.

Overall, a great result for Rovers and we look forward to Marrickville next weekend.

The Pele points go to:

3 - Ben Jones
2 - James Mackie
1 - Mikee Sommers

Rovers Firsts took the field with a core of last year's side plus four debutants, in what might be described as the first game of the post Van Heugten/Fiorenza era. After an indifferent pre-season our supporter(s) may have been concerned as we took the field, but the greatest worry proved to be whether or not the referee would let us play without a full deck of ID cards. That problem solved, we kicked off and proceeded to totally dominate Enfield, scoring at will. So much for promotion to a "higher" division, but such is life in the "Mad Magazine" Canterbury and Districts Soccer League.

The first goal came when Nick strolled out of defence - Beckenbauer style - and found Ammon on the edge of the box, who squeezed past a couple of defenders and put it away. Not long after Nick demanded control of a free kick on the edge of the box and blasted it 30ft over the crossbar - Hopkins style.

The game progressed with Rovers dominating possession, thanks to a commitment to simple, and let me say that again, S-I-M-P-L-E, movement and passing. New boys Dave and Dean contributed greatly to this, and they complemented Clem and Eddie beautifully in midfield. Millard and Ammon terrorised the Enfield backline, and both should have had a bag full by half time. In fact, Ammon did have a bag full. Millard had one, and a whole lot of memories.

The backline did have some work to do, and did it well, barring a couple of "vaudeville" touches from Kon in the opening minutes. Glenn and Nick were rarely troubled, and Andy was more comfortable at sweeper than Dick Van Dyke.

The goalkeeper? Well, lets just say I took a couple of fine goal kicks. Thanks of course to The Kaiser for the clean sheet.

It took us a while to hit the score sheet in the second half, but eventually we did, another 4 or 5 times (goals cease to become memorable at some stage when you win 11-nil).

With half an hour to go Pier, Matt and Patrick came on and all made a significant contribution to the final result, with Patrick and Pier both getting on the score sheet.

The score ended up 11-nil, so we’re off to a flyer. Should have been at least 12, but Ammon and Patrick decided to play Good Samaritans in the Enfield six yard box, passing the ball to one another about eight times. In the end nobody scored. The dialogue went something like this:

Patrick: After you
Ammon: I couldn’t possibly
Patrick: Go ahead. You deserve it
Ammon: But I’ve already got 4
Nick Vince: Just kick the f#@king thing one of you

With the other results, the club scored 23 without conceding, so well done to everyone.

Goals:
Ammon Mackie 4, Dean Da Silva 2, Paul Millard 1, David Hind 1, Paul Edwards 1, Patrick Nolan 1, Pier D'Angelo 1.

The Pele points go to:

1 - Ammon Mackie
1 - Paul Millard
1 - Paul Edwards
1 - David Hind
1 - Dean Da Silva
1 - Nick "The Kaiser" Hopkins