balmain rovers
Newsletter - Wednesday 31 August 2005
Published by Balmain Rovers, part of the Balmain & District Soccer Club.
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Sydney Amateur Top Four Knockout
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Balmain Rovers v Prestons/Racing: Bark Huts Reserve, Belfield: Sat 27 August 2005
Reserves match report by Mike Stubbs
Crowned champions one week before, Rovers were looking to add the icing to the premiership cake by finding further success in the post-season finals series. However, it was not to be as a hard working, if a little scrappy, performance from Rovers just couldn’t match Prestons’ desire to turn the tables. An unlucky start to the game saw Coutts suffer a relapse of the hamstring injury, he’d recently been carrying, in the first minute. Much to his own surprise, substitute Morgan was introduced fresh from a six-week winter sabbatical, having turned up on the day unaware of the limited playing resources available to manager Liney.
An open game developed during the first period with Prestons first to net on the 20-minute mark. The anticipated chants of "1-0, 1-0, look at the scoreboard it's 1-0" erupted from the Prestons faithful, with all others simply bemused as to the whereabouts of the now infamous scoreboard. However, 1-0 it was and Rovers needed to lift their game. Never in need of an invite to take a pop, player-manager Liney responded well to this prompt and scored a trademark goal from 10 yards to level the game on half-an-hour. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be built upon by the boys in orange and before half-time a second Prestons goal saw a 2-1 deficit at the break.
The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, with both sides doubling their score. Liney netting again from a yard out in a post-corner melee (the final touch may have been a well directed back-heel, but this observer couldn’t be sure). Prestons scored from a near post flick on after a corner that appeared to be taken several yards from the corner flag, and finished in a flourish with an excellent lobbed drive from 25 yards for the fourth goal.
All in all an enjoyable match, played in front of Rovers' record crowd this season (15 or so supporters drawn by the boys in orange). A shame about the result, but good luck to Prestons in the final. Their vocal supporters will enjoy the day out, and may yet locate that scoreboard. 2-4.
Goals: Rob Liney (2)
Pele Points: 2 - Ricky Onsman, Rob Liney, 1 - Matt Linton, Drew Schaper
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That wraps up the winter season for another year - and what a season it's been! Two out of four Balmain Rovers teams took out championships this year. All four reached a number of significant milestones and established themselves as competitive forces to be reckoned with. Each team featured a seductive combination of experienced players and exciting new talent. Genuinely exciting goalscorers were balanced by creative midfielders, committed defenders and four of the best goalkeepers at our level of the game.
It looks like these four teams will keep developing into next year. If circumstances allow, we will continue to have a presence in both the Sydney Amateur Football League and the Canterbury District Soccer Football Association. We should also note that Balmain Rovers spin-off team Thirsty Thirds made a successful entry into the SAFL competition, finishing top four in the both grades of the Second Division. That brings the total of Rovers-related teams in local competition to six, a remarkable achievement in just eight years. It's possible we may start the Over 35 team next year - the main hurdle will be convincing our geriatrics that they should stop competing with the youngsters, a pretty tough call at this point.
We now enter a couple of weeks of celebrations, including trophy nights for the teams, the club and the leagues. This summer will see a number of Rovers activities. We have enough interest to enter three teams in the annual six-a-side outdoor competition. There will probably be two teams in indoor five-a-side competitions. We'll start up the casual weekend pickup games again after a bit of a break, perhaps not at Wentworth Park as some of us have seen too much of what has become a dustbowl this season. Significantly, the website continues to attract new players, some of whom haven't even arrived in Sydney. Quite a few say they have been referred by previous Rovers, and some even by teams we've played against.
At this point, we should acknowledge the great support given to us by Balmain & District Soccer Club, who continue to be puzzled and amused by this maverick group of teams in their midst, determined to have their own identity under the protective umbrella of a club devoted to the interests of nearly a thousand junior footballers. We do appreciate the resources made available to us and the freedom we get to be who we are.
Have a great off-season, and if you're not involved in any of our summer activities, I hope we'll see you back in the orange shirts next year
Cheers
Ricky Onsman
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Award Standings - Final
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Pele Medal (all teams)
24 --- Andy McLeod
21 --- Marshall Moir
17 --- Drew Schaper
16 --- Rob Liney, Tony Madau
15 --- Stewart Shaw
14 --- Dale Humphries, Mark Wootton
13 --- Gavin Carey, Paddy Denvir
12 --- Gabe Cataldo, Dean Lenz, Erin Owens
11 --- Martyn Farnworth, Simon Goodman, Jim Wragg
10 --- Roberto Arocha, Pete Boyle, Ben Jones, Kristian Wiles
9 ---- Michael Penman
8 ---- Rich Briscoe, Dom Salomoni, Mike Stubbs, Gareth Williams, Paul Wright
7 ---- Jacob Cavallaro, Amir Hatami, Matt Mahony, Richard Raward, Dan Whaite
6 ---- Akin Karaca, Cormac O'Shea
5 ---- Michael Bosnich, Morgan Bowling, Ricky Onsman, Tony Unsworth, Nick Vince, Adam White
4 ---- Steve Ashcroft, Brendan Coutts, Omar Elsadik, Dave Hanna, Matt Linton, Jeff See, Ere Sihalath
3 ---- Allan Frydman, Ruben Davis, Dan Higson, Antoon Visser
2 ---- Steve Adams, Martijn Baars, Andy Henderson, Justan Kitchener, Gotaru Uematsu
1 ---- Steve Ashton, Sergio Fiorenza, David Ford
Golden Boot (all teams)
39 --- Rob Liney
19 --- Simon Goodman
18 --- Andy McLeod
10 --- Paddy Denvir
8 ---- Roberto Arocha
7 ---- Martyn Farnworth, Paul Wright
6 ---- Dean Lenz, Mike Stubbs
5 ---- Steve Ashcroft, Steve Ashton, Rich Briscoe, Jeff See, Tony Unsworth, Antoon Visser, Adam White
3 ---- Martijn Baars, Sergio Fiorenza, Dave Ford, Dale Humphries, Ben Jones, Colin Mitchell, Cormac O'Shea, Dan Whaite, Kristian Wiles
2 ---- Jacob Cavallaro, Ruben Davis, Michael Penman, Kader Tamsaouit, Gotaro Uematsu, Nick Vince
1 ---- Pete Boyle, Gabe Cataldo, Brendan Coutts, Allan Frydman, David Hull, Akin Karaca, Marshall Moir, Ere Sihalath, Mark Wootton, James Wragg
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Wednesday 31 August 2005
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