Ah, the Annandale Hotel. You want live music? Here 'tis. There's also the Locals Club going bananas with giveaways, are classic tacky movies from The Sounds of Sinema, a trivia comp on Tuesdays and, all in all, it's the best pub atmosphere to be found in Sydney. For a full rundown of weekly activities at the Annandale, click on the image below -

The morning started well enough. To my surprise, there were hardly any Sunday drivers on the road. They usually get me all fired up for the game as they like to hog MY right hand lane at 50kph. I parked right next to the field we were playing but I couldn’t find an opening into the park. I ended up having to climb a waist high fence and nearly strained my already fragile hamstring, but I got through the ordeal alright. Everyone seemed to be on a high for getting into the finals and nobody was too concerned that our 30-goal-a-season striker has gone skiing.

Right before the game was about to start, Earlwood couldn’t find the person responsible for holding their registration cards. Apparently he had gone to a wedding and had switched off his mobile phone. I wondered what would happen to him when he faced his team-mates, but then, hey - everybody has his own problems.

We agreed to delay the kick-off for 10 minutes, but in the end Earlwood had to forfeit this game. What a disappointment! The whole Balmain team was looking forward to a good game but in hindsight it was a blessing in disguise.

After the referee abandoned the game, we agreed to play a friendly against the Earlwood players that were still there. Even though on record we are through to the finals, we still wanted to beat them to show that we reached this point through merit rather than others’ misfortune. The game started without incident, with much of the action happening in the middle of the park. We had some good passing going on, a solid defence and had several shots on goal but Rob’s finishing was sorely missed and we went behind to a lucky goal (yes, I don’t like to give credit to the other team) that went just underneath the crossbar. Apart from an injury scare on Bruce’s ankle, the first half was quite uneventful. Half time score 1-0 to Earlwood.

The second half saw a typical Balmain Reserves performance (apparently, since I missed most of the season so I cannot really judge). As the match wore on our mid-field disappeared, our defence got sloppier and the whole team’s concentration went out the window. A few individual errors early in the second half saw us trailing 3-1. James Mackie, playing in the unfamiliar target man role, pulled one back for us and but when Earlwood scored another to put the score at 4-1, we knew we were in serious trouble, pride on the line or not. Soon after, Mark Bamford scored from close range but it was too little too late. We lost 4-2, but we are through.

The results from the Major Semi Final matches us with Marrickville A next week, against whom we managed to throw away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 in the last home and away game. The Reserves really need to tighten the ship from now, especially in the second half, if we want to have any chance of reaching the Grand Finals.

The Pele points go to:

This match report was delayed as the Manager for Balmain Firsts was still trying to get his head around our first defeat of the season. We knew this was going to be a hard game, but we didnt realise we would be totally outplayed and outfought.

The pitches at Rudd Park were the best we had played on for quite a while and Balmain anticipated a great footballing day with plenty of space and passes running true. Due to injuries and absentees, Balmain were unable to field a full strength side. However, this really only affected our forwards and midfield rather than our defence.

After careful consideration, we started with a 4-4-2 formation as opposed to the 4-5-1 deployed recently. We felt goals were needed and have been fairly comfortable defensively all season.

The first 20 minutes was, as usual, a torrid affair with both teams going hammer and tongs, but the better chances seemed to fall to Abbotsford. Sure enough, they took the lead early on and extended this midway through the first half. Our defence was having trouble marking and mistakes crept in. We knew now we were in a fight to survive and Paul Edwards thankfully created and executed another timely goal to keep us in touch as the first half ended.

At halftime the troops were reminded about a few basic requirements we were not fulfilling, the main ones being communication and hard work. No matter how much skill we have, nothing will ever cover a lack of effort - which was the main problem. We were encountering a team who really wanted this result and our attitude did not match theirs.

With no changes at halftime the team entered the fray knowing what they needed to do to be competitive. I was hoping that Abbotsford would run out of steam but alas this wasn't to be the case today. Within minutes the lead had stretched to 3-1 - and then disaster struck. Both Matt Linton and Paul Edwards hobbled out of the fray to be replaced by Kon and Ben who hopefully would lead a revival. However, heads dropped as for the first time this season everyone knew we could be beaten. With no Dave Hynd to help dominate midfield we looked a beaten side. Abbotsford forwards attacked at will and each time they were allowed through.

The introduction of James Mackie towards the end gave us hope and a well-taken goal reduced the margin but Abbotsford ran out 6-2 winners. Three weeks ago, we talked about the need to up our game and work harder as the playoffs approached. Everyone has convinced themselves that we are unbeatable, which no one is. People have neglected training and the fitness showed against Abbotsford. We are now on a wing and a prayer to win something that was within our grasp. Injuries and absentees have not helped the cause but we only have ourselves to blame for a lack of effort and commitment. Do we want it? Only next week's report will tell you that.

The Pele points go to: