DIV 1 FIRSTS 3 v 2 AFRICA UNITED ALLSTARS

Stenta (1 – not sure how!!), Ripa (1), Pavia (1)

Sparapani, Ciano, Condon, Matthews, Barolo, George, Drazetic (Pavia), Ripa (DeIeso), Stenta, Sawicki, Manou

The Wolves are on the march and gaining momentum!  That’s what Saturday’s games against Africa United proved.  After a slow start to the season, OISC strung together its third win in a row against a very gifted outfit.  It wasn’t necessarily all that pretty, but our improving ability to grind out results is very pleasing.

Upon arrival at the ground one could have been forgiven for thinking we were actually playing in Africa.  The pitch was a combination of that continents most famous terrain…the Sahara Desert in one corner and the Savannah grasslands on the opposite wing.  Despite this though, the mood within the playing group was very upbeat.  Over a cup of Barolo’s finest brew, Matthews regaled us with tales of Friday’s ‘long lunch’ which included a dreamtime story on how Drazetic abseiled down his own garage wall.  Ciano informed all and sundry of vice-captain George’s leadership qualities by letting us know that George was the first of the young brigade to go to sleep on Friday night (even if it was at Elysium).  And the mood was further enhanced with Coach Romano’s ‘good news’ that Kari, Sommerville, Rossi, Zanin and Siklich were missing.  Had they all played we surely would not have won.  Kari was out due to the birth of his second child Jonathan (congratulations skip), Sommerville was out due to injury, Rossi and Zanin went on a shopping trip to Melbourne which included facials, waxing and pedicures, whilst Siklich was out due to the funeral of his grandfather.  For the second time in 3 weeks the Wolves would hold a minutes silence prior to the game and wear black armbands in honour of the Siklich family.

Attention would soon turn to the game though.  The Ripa – Sawicki experiment was again on the cards with these two fine players swapping roles throughout the match.  Barolo, who was pushed into a midfield role alongside George, was beginning the first leg of his non-stop 3 day run.  This meant that Drazetic slipped back into the holding midfielder’s role in front of our back three – Ciano, Matthews and Condon.  This had the potential to cause us great problems throughout the afternoon but, thanks to Coach Romano’s quick thinking, the crisis was averted, and it was agreed that we refer to Condon as ‘Sam’ and Matthews as ‘Budgie’.  In what some may call an omen, Sparapani and Manou would again start, the former between the sticks and the latter up front.  It must be noted that since these two have been playing together in the team, the Wolves have won 3 straight.

We were supremely confident prior to and throughout the match.  This was the third instalment of the growing Ignatius-Africa rivalry and to date we’ve had the wood over them with 3 victories.  The game started slowly with both teams sussing each other out.  The lack of pressure and intensity on the park was in stark contrast to our previous encounters and for a while it seemed like both teams were out for a nice Saturday afternoon kick in the park.  Iggies soon took control though and stepped up the pressure on Africa dominating possession.  All that was missing was the final touch in many of our forays forward as we seemed to be playing too quickly for our own good.  Many fine forward movements would end fruitlessly.  Ironically, it was one of our poorer passages of play that led to the first goal.  Stenta appeared from out of the tall grass on the left to chase down a Ripa through ball.  Taking the ball to the touchline, all Stenta needed to do was cut the ball back to the unmarked Ripa in the box and the Wolves would have scored.  He preferred instead to ‘cross’ from an impossible angle (hog!).  His ‘cross’ hit the post and bounced out of the goal and onto an Africa defender before crossing the line.  It was a clear own goal, but the referee gave it to the surprised skipper.  The goal stung Africa into life and the tempo of the game increased.  A cheap free kick was given away outside the box and was expertly put away by Africa’s little playmaker not long after to level the scores.  It would remain at 1-1 until the half.

Despite the setback, we still thought we could win the game and this was evident when Coach Romano asked us at the half if we wanted to win with which we replied yes (albeit in silence).  The second half saw us under pressure for the first 10 minutes as Africa went in search of their second.  The defence held steadfast though with Ciano marshalling the troops well.  He was aided in his cause by the constant commentary of his specific game from the sidelines by Coach Romano.  Condon and Matthews were having excellent games also, dealing with the very skilful forwards Africa had.  Matthews was constantly defending against two men; his opponent and the referee, in a brave performance.  Barolo was playing superbly in his new midfield role and provided the team with plenty of lift and drive.  The 20 cups of coffee he had before the game, supplemented by the shopping list (including garlic) that his wife had tucked into his uniform meant that he was bouncing around and smacking into opponents with even more vigour than he usually does.

The Wolves would again go ahead after withstanding the early pressure and the goal had an air of familiarity to it.  Manou had been pounding in long throws expertly all game that put huge pressure on Africa’s defence.  Since getting married and the birth of his first child, Manou’s throwing capacity has increased by about 20%, undoubtedly as a result of the extra ‘quality time’ he has been forced to spend with himself.  One such long throw landed at the feet of Stenta who turned and shot at goal.  His shot was smothered by a tackle, but managed to make it past the outstretched keeper’s hands and to the feet of the ever present Ripa who tapped in.

This time we were keen not to give up the lead, but a change needed to be made.  George and Drazetic seemed to be struggling a little with the increased pace of the game in the second half as both were feeling the effects of a hard days ‘work’ on Friday.  As a result, Drazetic was replaced by Pavia with the nuggetty little forward rewarded with his first game for the A’s this season after a string of fine performances at training and in the B’s.  It would prove to be a coaching masterstroke by Coach Romano who totally caught both teams off guard by playing with 3 strikers for a while until Ripa took it upon himself to move back out wide and restore the team’s balance.

Africa would again come at us though and with about 20 minutes to go, they drew level.  A turn over in the middle of the park and a sloppy attempt at a clearance would give Africa the impetus they needed to equalise.  Once again we were being challenged.  For the most part of this season we have thrown away leads and gone onto lose, but this group is beginning to find some bottle.  We did it against ‘Adelaide United’ two weeks earlier and we would again do it this week.  It involved an ounce of luck though, as a defensive blunder by Africa gifted Pavia with a golden opportunity to etch his name into the Old Ignatians Amateur League history books.  The young forward took his chance beautifully and the match had a winner, the club a saviour.  OISC nervously played out the final 10 minutes which seemed to go on forever (I think it was dark by the time the referee blew the final whistle) and survived some dicey moments right up until the last few seconds.  Sparapani again proved his worth in goals by thwarting a couple of last minute raids on our goal and the win was ours.  President Uren was content as the win eased the pressure on the clubs relegation battle and moved us to mid table.  President Uren added that, “The good form of all players (except for the battling Ciano) will make Coach Romano’s job at the selection table this week very difficult with several quality players likely to return.  Bring on Stirling!”  Well said Tubby.

(This match report is an ode to Coach Romano’s pre-game address…hope you can follow it.)

DIV 1 RESERVES 5 V 0 AFRICA UNITED ALLSTARS

Goals: Hawkes 4, Egg 1

DIV 3 FIRSTS 0 V 2 STRATHALBYN STRIKERS

Goals: NONE!

Lineup: Bacon, Butters (Ciccarello), Gilbert, Wills, A Rossi, Woods, Vossy, A Kitching, ZEEEE (JD Bolognese), Andrawos, Radcliffe

After putting up an admirable performance against Salisbury Villa last week we came to Strath hoping that we'd take three points back home with us and put us in good stead for the relegation battle taking grip. We had a very strong line-up this week that saw new faces to the team, Radcliffe, Andrawos, Vossy and returning to the fold Big Wills and Butters, one Kitching made his way to the Div 1 Reserves and another one slotted into midfield, however like his brother still wore a stupid headband!

The pitch was just as i remembered it, a complete paddock, both in reflection of its size and its terrain. Not that we can complain about terrain with our home ground at Glenunga, i'm sure there was an article in the messenger complaining about its state. We found it hard to get into stride and weren't able to string more than three passes together before playing a long hopeful ball forward. Now, against teams far superior to us playing long balls into our half is fine but we were definintely more than equal to Strath in terms of quality on the park. So the game was a frustrating mess, much like manic depression (rip jimmy hendrix). Instead of building attacks we went direct to our front two, who often held the ball well but lacked the support from wingers and midfield, and when this did arrive it was too sparse. Hence the gaps at the back started to appear, and Strath capitalised taking a 1-0 lead into the break.

The mood around the playing contingent at the half was one of annoyance and dare i say again, pure frustration. A game that we should have been playing at a higher level and looking to take points was crumbling before us. Big Wills asked for another 20% and to start the second half with a bang.

What followed was five minutes of effort then sheer capitulation, whether it was tiring legs or something else we just couldn't work as a team, and a second goal duly followed after a mix up at the back. Yet another foray forward ended in a strong collision between Wills and a Strath player, the big man went down hard clutching his back and looked in sheer agony, the cry of "get an ambulance" (s george quote) was frantically followed up by Jimmy, unfortunately whoever he spoke to didn't understand geordie and sent the helicopters and fire engines to south melbourne, not Strathalbyn. But that was ok, because just like England's Brave John Terry, Wills struggled off the pitch and was ready to enter the action ten minutes later, could he do that for his country i think not.

This revved us up a bit and extra effort was put in, Strath were able to match us easily as our effort was not matched by good decisions. There was no off the ball work and any attempt that made it into the box was snuffed out by there ever present keeper. Let me tell you we did have a few chances on target and if it wasn't for the Strath keeper having a blinder it may have been more interesting. Strath came at us again and one of their sheep shaggers missed an open goal, one guy decided to mess with Andrawos...and lose, smart cookie that one call Wills "shrek" without looking at himself in the mirror first, doesn't matter though they can do and say what they want they were up 2-0 and they finished winners.

Everything hurts when you lose, but nothing more than losing to a team that just jumped you on the ladder and then being able to belt out their song after the game. You sit there and go, that could have been us but now we've gotta travel 8000km's back to Adelaide.

Honestly what a disappointment, with enough quality on the pitch we just couldn't get it together, after a few great performances this is a complete letdown and we all need to look ourselves in the mirror and decide to start playing as a team rather than to look better than the guy next to you. How we continue is upto us but i think we've got enough pride about our club and ourselves to play much better, and that starts this week with a team higher on the table, we need to take it to them and get rid of this inferior complex.
DIV 3 RESERVES 1 V 2 STRATHALBYN STRIKERS

Goal: Ciccarello

Murry, tallarida, Hurt (Tony), patten, trengrove, green,  Angley (Ciccarello), Leach (c), Nastasie, Earls, Innamorati (Bolognase) 

While the boys were setting their GPS navigation systems there was a unified sense of the glory to come after what was an absolute lesson in football last weekend, they were all keen to show what they could do. However this season has shown the importance of winning the home legs as the distances being traveled are far greater than any we’ve ever had to travel before and as Strath showed this weekend, being undisciplined on unfamiliar territory will be costly.

With a couple changes to the system to accommodate the crowd favorite D Leach, the game started well with iggies pushing forward constructively. Green and Nastasie worked well on the wings to provide support to Innamorati and Earlsy. The ridiculous size of the polo field, sorry football ball pitch, allowed Leach and Innamorati an unheard of amount of time on the ball to play their passing games. Iggies looked the goods for the 1st 20minutes. Danzo coming into the center of defence for his 1st start of the season did himself proud with some excellent positioning and straight line running. Patten looked professional and Tallarida was a true foot soldier. Trengrove played his role well covering for Dragos when the midfielder pushed further forward.

Unfortunately cracks in the iggies game began to unfold, Innamorati getting frustrated with continually being incorrectly called offside and the wingers being forced wide into ineffectual positions often. Strath knew their pitch and new how to use it. Strath played their back 4 very narrow and their side allowed us to waste time and energy in useless space. With the wolves starting to tire from all of the useless chasing, Strath started to moved forward efficiently and created several chances that Paul “Maverick” Murry did well to stop. Unfortunately Strath managed to pip one from a corner in the 30th. Jimmie reacted almost immediately using his “emergency” 4th super sub, Dean “El Diablo” Ciccarello, to assist in attempting to break down the Strath backline.  With Leachy looking for his 400, Innamorati searching for form and Super “Superlative” Earls chasing his first the boys came out hard again. Ciccarello had a good chance off a short corner which was well saved by the untested keeper; Earlsy also tried his hand at shooting, had it been slightly wider it would have most definitely been a goal.

Half time came and Danzo had had enough, after his ankle being on the recieving end of a ferocious studding his part in the game had ended. Tony came on to what was hoped add experience at the back and take on the strength role of Danzo. The whistle blew and within minutes the wolves were caught napping and a ball that should have been cleared was put comfortably in the back of the net.

After 25 minutes of kilometers and kilometers of running Diablo broke free, beating 2 men like a Satanic devil chicken on steroids! With some intelligent play the ball was put through to Innamorati who, with the vision of Nostradamus, dummied by kicking as much air as possible, only to have the ball deflect off of a Strath defender and land in perfect striking position for the Ciccarello to provide the professional finish. Iggies were back in it.

Innamorati then made way for Bolognase to provide some creativity in the middle. Iggies created a few more chances with Ciccarello coming close on several occasions and Leachy searched with some strong striking from distance. However it was not meant to be. The pitch took its toll on the team and by full time there was absolutely nothing left in the tank. As has been the way all season, the boys have not been able to replicate their composure and tactical movement they show at training in their game.