Mens Metro

After a very strong team effort at The Creek on the 30 August we were determined to put the pressure straight on to the ‘Creek and not let them get over us. They too came with the same attitude and the first half was a real dog fight with some of the more experienced players from the opposition really giving our younger team a lesson in hard knocks.

Our ground work again this week was probably our strongest point and sheer determination was keeping our boys in front. Good sharp passes found the target most of the time and we kept pushing the ball around to make them chase.

The mid field players were unrelenting and not long before half time some nice wall passing put Peter Hill in a position where he and Matt showed what the outcome of a quick pass can do. Big Pete thumped a rocket past the ‘kepper and the bench was ecstatic. Up 1-0 at half time.

Mick and Glenn once again enforced that a one goal lead would not be enough to hold them out. We had 45 minutes of tough grind to go through to reach our Grand Final…the target was within reach. At the start of the year we set ourselves a target of reaching the finals.

We ended up taking the match with that solitary goal and won 4-1 on aggregate, so away we go to Park Ridge next Saturday to take on the undefeated Ipswich City.

Stranger things have happened in finals and our players are ready to lay it all on the line. This week we are missing one of our strikers Matt, who is also the leading goal scorer with 18, and our assistant coach Glenn who jet away overseas for a four week holiday. Hope we can text you some good news on Saturday night.

We would like to thank all of the supporters who came to the game to cheer us on, and hope you can all come out again for our 4.45 kick off.

The boys were all raring to get back on the paddock as wet weather and a bye had kept us away since 12 July. Three weeks is a long time to go without a game. As the team was carrying a few niggling injuries the break was a relief. Now we have five games in18 days coming into the end of the season. We are still placed second and our performance tonight showed why we are there. Playing Easts was going to be a tough match as last time they played they drew with us on the pitch, even though they used 17 players, but lost the game on a technicality. All of our boys started very strongly and after 13 minutes Scotty Gabolinscy had potted 2 goals from some well constructed play up both sides of the pitch. Our crosses were just a little off target, had they been on target Joe Patino would also have had his name on the score sheet. A further 10 minutes had gone past before we managed to find the net again, once again by some strong team work, this time up the centre and Scotty slotted his third. At this stage Easts were struggling to match our skills but still kept us under pressure as they managed to sneak a goal at the 44th minute. Mick and Glenn laid it on the line in the half time talk, and our captain Andy also inspired with some words of encouragement. We knew they would come back very strong. They put 2 shots wide in the first 3 minutes after the restart. Not to be phased Scotty decided a hat trick was not good enough and put in his fourth in the 50th minute. He has now equalled Jay as the only other player to net four times in a match. What would the score have been if Jay was not out with a torn hamstring? We did not ease and continued to mount pressure with our strong bench players taking it to the opposition too. Some more solid team work saw us control the centre of the pitch for the next 10 minutes and this culminated with a corner in the 73rd minute when our high flying Costa headed home an absolute ripper. He was up well above all in the box and thumped the ball into the back of the net. (I felt sorry for the ball!) It has been a long time coming but it was just so good to watch. We left feeling very happy with our performance as no player had a poor game, and we really made the ball do all of the work. We hope to hold 2nd spot and look forward to playing some good football in the finals.

This round 10 clash found us travelling to the ‘graveyard’ to take on Brighton who sit 4th on the ladder and are unbeaten at home. Coach Joe Borg spoke to each man before the kick off to reinforce the danger of this team and to explain their role today with a lot of key players missing. The talk did wonders because right from the kick off we clicked straight into gear. It wasn’t too long before Agim put us one in front after good chasing from him and fellow striker Daniel forced an error from their defence. 15 minutes later Agim scored another, this one was a cool finish after a good team build up. 30 minutes into the game the referee who to this point could be best described as awful made a decision which could have buried us. Young gun Chris was sent from the field after a fair sliding challenge was deemed to be illegal and worse still inside the box. With the spotlight on Luke Head he reflexes were superb to pull off a fantastic penalty save to keep us with a 2 goal cushion. We made it to the break with the same goal advantage but still had 45 minutes to go with 10 men. Joe had the boys fired up again with another important team talk and the second half was all one way traffic. The ref seemed to upset the other team in this half and their coach was sent from the dug out after another poor decision. Agim finished off Brighton with another classy finish and also completed his well deserved hat trick. We could have and maybe should have scored more but to leave that place with a 3 nil victory playing the majority of the game with 10 men will do us. Agim with his hat trick was the player of the match but you had to give a special mention to the 2 Lukes, Head and Muscat for their fine contributions. Joe was pleased with big Sam and Dale for doing the job he asked of them and left the graveyard a proud and happy coach. This team to a man are playing well and Brisbane City better watch out this Tuesday night because we will be ready to them on in this mouth watering top of the table clash at home. C’mon on down and get behind the boys this Tuesday night at 7.30 they will appreciate the support. C’mon Lightning and C’mon Queensland the next night!!!

Our Metro 2 side have put away the drama of last week’s pitch invasion and won their replayed Cup match 2-1 against an evenly matched Holland Park Hawks outfit. Coach Borg had our side with their game heads on straight from the 1st whistle. It didn’t take long before Agim headed home a fine opener from a pin point cross from Wazza. From that point to the next goal late in the half, the crowd were entertained by attacking football from both sides with both keepers pulling off fantastic saves. A mix up and the only mistake on the night from our defence led to the 1 all score line at the break. The 2nd half was nearly a carbon copy of the first with both sides striving for that winner. Luke was keeping well again but was not as busy as the Holland Park keeper who pulled off some remarkable saves. It looked like a penalty shoot out would decide the outcome of this match when with a minute to go a sweeping run down the left found Agim beating his man and laying off a superb diagonal ball to our money man and captain Jimmy who also beat a man aimed right and put the keeper off for that split second and slotted home the winner in the bottom left corner. Many exhausted and gallant Hawks players fell to the knees in disbelief when the final whistle blew and hats off to them for their part in this thriller. New signing Luke Muscat was named player of the match with Wazza Lowth, Luke Head and the inspirational Jimmy Hodsdon not far behind. Well played guys!!!!

Mens Metro (2 & 6)