A vs Southern Breakers

11-4

Goals: M. Ciccarello 4, Carbone 3, La Vista 2, Panagos, Leane
Lineup: Gouzos; Mihalopoulos (J. Kitching), Dew, Stenta, Sabatino; M. Ciccarello, Manou, Carbone, Siklich (S. George), La Vista; Panagos (Leane)

After watching the dark clouds following them in all the way from Port Elliot, the Southern Breakers knew they were in for a torrid time at Glenunga Superdome. After checking that Bill Cagialis hadn't named himself as captain, Stenta donned the armband and informed us all in the pre-match huddle that only our best would do today. Andy Sabatino and Alex Panagos were making their starting A-Grade (and OISC) debuts, whilst Adam Carbone had returned from 11 years playing in the FFSA.

Both games against Breakers last season were 5-goal-affairs - there were 5 scored within 25 minutes in this one. We dominated early, with Carbone and La Vista prominent through the left channels. Mark Ciccarello was the fortunate beneficiary, scoring twice, before Carbone scored a sublime chip with the outside of his left foot, whilst moving at pace. 3-0 up after 18 minutes, and the bookies had suspended betting on the result of the match. Within 5 minutes, however, they reopened the market after we conceded two very silly goals. An unnecessary freekick was given away 30 yards from goal on the right touchline, and the resulting set piece saw no marking at the back post and an unmarked Breaker scoring with his head. Within two minutes, Breakers scored again after another defensive mistake allowed their striker to waltz in one-on-one at beat Gouzos at the near post. We upped the ante in the final ten minutes of the half, and La Vista finally scored right on half time, not before the Breakers linesman almost developed RSI through the amount of times he kept lifting and dropping his flag (the majority of which were incorrect).

We deserved and received a spray at half time from Bill, and it had the desired effect on the team. Any chance of a comeback from our country opposition was snuffed out by Ciccarello nabbing his hat-trick directly from the kickoff (12 seconds), and further goals from Panagos (a stinker from 25 yards) and Carbone within the first 10 minutes. After 65ish minutes and 7-2 up, Bill rang through some changes, with James Kitching replacing Chinga for his A Grade debut, Shaun George replacing a tiring Siklich, and debutant Shane Leane replacing Panagos. The final 25 minutes reflected much of the first half - 6 goals were scored and the Breakers linesman against threatened to contact WorkCover for his RSI problem. Leane, Carbone (hat-trick), Ciccarello (again) and La Vista all added to the deficit, and we could have had 15 or 20 on the board, but for the aforementioned linesman and some desperate work from the Breakers 'keeper. Disappointingly, we conceded two goals which were preventable and were very fortunate that those lapses came at this stage of the season against a lesser quality of opposition we are unlikely to meet for the rest of the season.

Much to take away from this match, but also much to build on. Whilst we are on top of the league on goal difference, it will mean little unless we can back up the performance next week against Navarino.

A at Navarino FC

3-0

Goals: M. Ciccarello 2, Carbone
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, Chitti (Barolo), Stenta, Sabatino; M. Ciccarello, Manou, Carbone (Ricci), Siklich, La Vista; Panagos (Leane)

The A Grade travelled to Navarino in high spirits (and on top of the league) after their thumping win over Southern Breakers. The team welcomed Peter Chitti in for his first game since 2005, Paul Barolo back from suspension, and Daniel Ricci into the squad for his maiden first-team appearance. After conceding four goals last week, we knew that Bill would be making us do extra laps at training if we conceded any more goals. Plus, we had to defend his honour, playing against a club that if he was born 30 years earlier he probably would have ended up being the President of.

The last time we were at Navarino (Round 10, 2009) there were 7 goals, 2 red cards, and end-to-end action. This time, the first half was pretty uneventful as both teams struggled for cohesion on the rather big pitch. We crafted few opportunities, and when they did come, the left-footed duo of Michael La Vista and Adam Carbone were in the thick of the action. Our best chance came from a corner which we thought had crossed the line, a sentiment which the referee did not agree with. Alex Panagos also created a good half-chance for himself on the half hour with a delightful back-heel turn which narrowly missed the right post. Our defence of Ryan Dew, Captain Stenta, Chitti, and Andy Sabatino lapped up everything thrown at it, and Goose in goal only had one save to make (which was a cracker).

As the second half progressed, it was obvious that we were getting on top, with Carbone, Mike Manou, and Mato Sikilich dominating the centre of the park. The first goal eventually came from an absolutely delightful cross-pitch through ball from Carbone which opened up Mark Ciccarello on the right hand side of the box to slot home on 60 minutes. This observer is decidedly impressed with the meteoric leap 'the wrong' Ciccarello has made to the leading scorer in Division 2A since his debut OISC season as a C Grade player in 2008. Coach Bombay made a tactical switch soon after the goal, swapping a tiring Carbone with an energetic Panagos, and the move instantly paid dividends. Panagos won a ball deep in midfield which Manou threaded through to Carbone, who changed into third gear, accelerated past his defenders, and scored a diagonal shot from the left hand side of the box. The third goal was soon to follow: another through ball behind the defence saw Ciccarello released on the right, and having his missed his previous opportunity from exactly the same spot, he slotted the ball past the 'keeper. La Vista and an opposition defender both managed to beat the ball to the line, but it was scrambled over, and the referee credited Ciccarello with the goal. With the game in the bag, Coach Bombay subbed Carbone and Panagos after excellent displays. We ran out the rest of the match with ease, with both substitutes, Shane Leane and Daniel Ricci coming close to increasing the margin. The only negative to come from the match was the re-occurrence of the hamstring injury that has kept Peter Chitti on the sideline for the last 4 weeks. Typical of the commitment of the man, he aggravated the injury making a sliding block of a Navarino shot, to ensure our first clean sheet since September 2007 was kept.

Next week sees FC Adelaide visit Glenunga. They have lost both games so far this season, but whilst we are in a confident mood, we remember that although they finished below us last year in Division 2 they beat us both home and away.

A vs FC Adelaide

2-1

Goals: Stenta (pen), Carbone
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, Barolo, Stenta, Sabatino; M. Ciccarello, Siklich, Carbone (Thomas), Manou, La Vista; Panagos (Leane)

"You know, I have said it before, a win's a win. To put it in gentlemen's terms, if you go out on a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, you know, well, that's it. Sometimes they're good looking and some weeks they're not the best and our performance today would not have been the best looking bird, but at least we got into a taxi with her. If that makes any sense? She wasn't the best looking lady we've ever taken home but she was pleasant, very nice and thanks very much let's have a coffee…a win is a bird and we take her out. At the end of the day we want a better looking one than that but, if not, we'll take her home anyway."

Ian Holloway
(describing an ugly win whilst managing QPR)

Need I say more? Ian Holloway does a fantastic job describing our performance against FC Adelaide this week. Yes we won ugly, but we still won. There were some pleasing and not so pleasing things about the A grade performance on the weekend. What was pleasing was the fact that we managed to pull of a hard fought victory against a side we have struggled against for some reason in recent years (they beat us 1-3 twice last year). Inevitably we would have lost this match last season, but today we stood firm. Another pleasing aspect was the way we defended. For the second week in a row we did not concede a goal in open play (FC scored a penalty). In fact there was very little Gouzos had to do in goal all day. Also pleasing was our ability to come from behind to secure a victory; again not something we have been accustomed to at OISC in recent years. Finally, we kept our perfect record in tact with our third win in a row from as many matches to start the season.

Not so pleasing was the way we performed against a team that appeared undermanned and lacking a little in confidence due to a poor start to the year. What FC Adelaide lacked in these areas though, they more than made up for in determination as they matched OISC for long periods in the first half, even if the blustery conditions brought the two sides closer together.

The Wolves tried to play with the same quick passing, silky movement of the ball that has been a feature of the team's play in 2010 and should have gone ahead after 15 minutes. Some fine triangle work involving Sabatino, La Vista and Manou resulted in Carbone being released down the left flank. His centre found Panagos right in front of goal with only the keeper to beat. Despite his firm shot, the keeper pulled off an amazing save to keep the score at nil all. As the Wolves continued to pile on the pressure through creative play by Manou, Panagos and Carbone and hard running from Ciccarello and LaVista, FC Adelaide were increasingly on the back foot. They were the first to score though.

A fast breaking move from FC Adelaide put OISC under some pressure. A rather harmless cross that should have been easily dealt with by Stenta was not and his botched clearance struck Siklich on the arm. It was a harsh decision, but I've seen them given before. The visitors went ahead from the spot despite Gouzos guessing correctly and getting his hand on the ball. That goal seems to spur OISC into action and with seconds left in the half, La Vista beat his man on the left and made his way into the box. Whilst the cross he delivered came to nothing, the referee said he was taken out after it and awarded OISC a dubious penalty (perhaps a square up?). Stenta stepped up from the back to calmly slot away the equaliser and immediately after it was half time.

Some inspiring words from Coach Bombay did the trick at half time. From the kick off we had our opponents on the back foot, scoring within 5 minutes of the restart. Carbone showed real class with a superb finish after some excellent build up play through the midfield. No more goals were scored and we were made to battle and scrap for the win for the majority of the second half. We panicked a little on the ball putting ourselves under pressure for no particular reason. For some reason we were determined not to pass to Dew or Manou despite their pleas and excellent positioning. Barolo was solid at the back in his first start of the season, whilst Leane and Thomas came on to provide much needed run and fresh legs, the latter making his A Grade debut after some excellent performances in the B Grade so far this year. Ciccarello finished the match with what looked like a broken nose after showing courage defending one last attack and this typified his attitude and hard work on the day.

"You know, I have said it before, a win's a win…at the end of the day we want a better looking one than that but, if not, we'll take her home anyway."

A at Gleeson

2-1

Goals: M. Ciccarello, La Vista
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, Barolo, Stenta, Sabatino; M. Ciccarello, Manou, Carbone (D'Argenio), Siklich, La Vista (P. Barone); Panagos (Leane)

OISC travelled to Gleeson as the only unbeaten team in Saturday Div 2, and the pregame message from Bill was focused on establishing a gap for ourselves at the top of the league. For the first time in his coaching at OISC he was able to name an unchanged 11 from the team that beat FC Adelaide at Glenunga last week.

OISC quickly found themselves 1-0 up after 2 minutes when a Manou through ball was not dealt with by Gleeson's left back (he totally missed it), allowing Ciccarrello to finish the one-on-one and notch his 7th for the season. Despite the promising start we quickly found ourselves under the pump as Gleeson upped the ante. The next 20 minutes of the half passed rather uneventfully as neither team could create an opening in what was a very scrappy afair riddled with skill errors and poor decision-making from both teams. Gleeson managed to draw level after some neat work down the left ended in a soft cross and even softer shot bobbling its way into the net. To our credit we lifted and were all over them in the next 10 minutes untill the half, and managed to get a second. Carbone played in La Vista who managed to belt the ball into the keeper and have the rebound come back off him, jumping over the keeper into the open net. This fourtious second meant we went into the half unconvincingly up 2-1.

Understandably Bill was not pleased by the performance, but stressed how despite this we were still up where it mattered. Some strong words were aimed at the group as a whole, and the gauntlet laid down to up the intensity.

We started the second half much more positively, and good work from Carbone down the left ended in Ciccarello rushing onto a bouncing ball near their penalty spot, but unfortunatley unable to finish the half volley. A tiring Panagos was replaced by the Future Leane, who promplty showed his worth to the A-Grade with tireless running and a committed effort. In truth the second half was relatively uneventful as Gleeson's only chance came off a miscued free-kick that brushed the top of Gouzos' crossbar. Meanwhile, we failed to take advantage of numerous promising moves (D'Argenio this means you!) . A special mention must go to Gleeson's young #24 who, after being frustrated by a professional foul, lost his cool and was the recipient of two yellows within 2 minutes, both for petulent hacks. Barolo's call of, "Are you going to tell your mother you did that?" as he left the field is surely worthy of the OISC quotes thread.

So despite playing very averagley for the second week in a row, we yet again recorded a decent win against an opposition team fired up for the occasion. This author feels it is a sign of the times as teams are lifting against us, eager to knock off the top dog. Special mention for this game goes to Barolo and Sabatino who were instrumental in nullifying a dangerous gleeson forward line. After results went our way (draws), we find ourselves with a 4 point lead over Comets and Hawks and looking forward to a tough cup game next week against cup holders and Div 1 Sunday team Ingle Farm.

A vs Ingle Farm

3-2

Goals: M. Ciccarello 2, P. Barone
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, Barolo, Stenta, M. Ciccarello; Ricci (S. George), Manou (J. Kitching), Carbone, Siklich, La Vista; Panagos (P. Barone)

Four games, four weeks, four wins. Coach Bombay had so far guided OISC to the perfect season, getting the best out of all of his players. The visit of Ingle Farm, the 2009 Challenge Cup winners and runner-up in Sunday Division One, however, was akin to the final match of that epic match in the Goodwill Games against Iceland - the dominant power led by an evil-looking coach (in this case, the barking-loud fat man from Ingle Farm) up against the upstart underdogs with the reformed former great leading the way (naturally, Coach Bombay). Playing a quality opposition like Ingle Farm doesn't happen every week in Saturday Division 2, and it would be a significant litmus-test for us.

The game started at a breakneck pace, with Ingle Farm dominating possession and former NSL player Lachlan Campbell prominent. We were wasteful in possession and struggled with the sharp closing-down from our opponents. When we did attempt to move forward, we were far from clinical in the final third. Our only attacking thrusts in the first 20 minutes all came from set pieces, with Mark Ciccarello coming closest with a back post header. Ingle Farm hadn't forced a save at that point, but had managed to get the ball in much-more dangerous positions, with only Stenta and Barolo to thank for the scores remaining level. At the 25 minute mark, Ingle Farm took the lead. A mis-cleared header from the defence found its way to an Ingle Farm midfielder about 30 yards out. He controlled the ball on his chest and volleyed first time over the despairing arms of Gouzos. It was a quality goal and was well deserved after Ingle Farm had controlled much of the flow of the game to that point. They continued to press for the second goal, and despite Gouzos' best efforts, scored within ten minutes with a curling shot from the edge of the box. Panagos was injured late in the half, giving Peter Barone an opportunity to use his pace to unsettle the defence, however the Ingle Farm sweeper was on top of his game, reading everything coming over the top as we resorted to playing long balls to Barone's head and bypassing our technically-gifted midfield. We were extremely fortunate that Ingle Farm did not extend the lead before the break, with the midfielder who had earlier scored from 30 yards managing to miss an open goal from 5 yards, and the aforementioned Campbell hitting the crossbar from a 25 yard freekick.

The half-time break brought with it a slight tweak in formation, with Mark Ciccarello moving back to his wide-midfield role and Daniel Ricci being unleashed in a two-pronged attack alongside Barone. The message from Coach Bombay was to utilise our creativity and play without fear, as this game had no bearing on the league, which was our ultimate focus this year. What followed was perhaps one of the most involving and gripping thirty five minutes of football ever witnessed at Glenunga.

Ingle Farm almost ended the game with a Damian Mori-style attempt from kick-off, which Gouzos managed to get a fingertip too and tip over for a corner. The first ten minutes of the second half were relatively uneventful as neither side were willing to over-commit going forward. Then, the match suddenly changed. An Ingle Farm midfielder committed two bookable offences (I've seen a red produced for similar tackles to the second one that was put in) literally within 30 seconds of each other, and suddenly we had a numerical advantage and some attacking impetus. Carbone and La Vista found themselves with significant space in midfield, and their telepathic understanding began to show, at one point Carbone playing La Vista into a wonderful position in the box only for him to scuff his shot. Within five minutes we had capitalised on our numerical advantage, with Carbone releasing La Vista down the left, and he put a perfect cross to Ciccarello's head which was headed into the bottom left corner. 1-2 and it was game on.

Another superb through ball by Carbone within 3 minutes released Ciccarello down the right-hand side. He won the ball in front of the keeper, who engaged in a tackle reminiscent of Schumacher's tackle in the 1984 European Championships. Unfortunately, despite Ciccarello having 6 stud marks across his chest, the referee awarded a goalkick. The amount of time that Ciccarello required for treatment added an extra 6-7 minutes at the end of the game which would only extend the drama that was to unfold.

The next significant passage of play involved another poor refereeing decision. A long ball was played out on the left hand side of the field near the half-way line. Barolo was first to the ball with a raised left foot, as he won the ball, he was cleaned up by an Ingle Farm attacker and the whistle was blown. The referee pulled a yellow card out of his pocket and Ingle Farm immediately began protesting, believing that their player was being carded. It was to the astonishment of all that the referee gave Barolo his second yellow-card of the match, evening up the numbers. Coach Bombay remained calm, however, and we maintained our formatin, reverting to 3 at the back, marshalled by the ever-present Stenta. There were 17 minutes left (of normal time) and we still believed we were a chance.

Completely against the run of play (in which Gouzos made two crucial saves), we somehow managed a second goal. This observer for the life of him cannot remember how the build-up went, but it was another La Vista cross and another Ciccarello header, this time at the back post. All this observer can remember is 50 blokes suddenly screaming, dancing, and singing in unison, and the Ingle Farm body language obviously dropping. All the momentum was with us and we had approximately 12 minutes remaining. Within two of those minutes, we had the lead. Some great work by Carbone fed the ball to Barone, who beat two defenders and slotted home from the top of the box with a placed shot in the bottom corner for his first senior goal for OISC. Pandemonium followed!!!

The final 10 minutes (plus injury time) were perhaps the longest in OISC history. Captain Stenta and his defence consisting of Gouzos, Siklich, and Dew were immense, dealing with every ball in the air, even when the big sweeper from Ingle Farm came forward. The opposition still managed to create space for one or two chances, which Gouzos managed to keep out or watch go wide. The Ingle Farm President was the best-dressed ballboy at the ground, having arrived just as we scored the third goal in a suit having been at a wedding. As they pushed forward, we had chances to wrap it up. Peter Barone found himself one-on-one but was thwarted by a superb one handed-save, whilst Shaun George (on for Daniel Ricci in the 90th minute) managed to get behind the defence after a Carbone through ball, but his final touch was too heavy and dealt with by the 'keeper. Ingle Farm launched one final attack, which ultimately resulted in a goalkick. As the final whistle blew, the OISC players embraced, knowing the magnitude of the win. Former President Ronnie Arboit called it "one of the top 5 OISC moments", whilst former Secretary Rob Lorenzutti described it as "one of the greatest all-time OISC wins in A Grade". The benchmark had been surpassed and a message had been sent to the rest of the SAASL - beware the Wolves.

A at Adelaide Cougars

6-2

Goals: Leane 3, M. Ciccarello, Stenta (pen), Carbone
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, J. Kitching, Stenta, Sabatino; M. Ciccarello, Manou, Carbone, Siklich (Mihalopoulos), Ricci (Ortner); Leane

After last week's epic cup win at home against Ingle Farm the As made another trip out into the shady western suburbs of Adelaide, visiting mid-table Adelaide Cougars. Bill stressed the importance of forgetting last weeks result, for it would count for nothing if we surrendered points and a chance to maintain our 4pt gap at the top of the league. A somewhat changed lineup saw Sabatino return to leftback, 'The Future' making his starting debut in the central striking role, and Big Kitching replacing the suspended Barolo in the back 4.

The first 10 minutes were fairly even, Cougars being ok going forward and causing us one or two worries. Mark Ciccarello was on hand to pick up a poor goal-kick on the edge of the box and easily carried it in, finishing well to give us a 1-0 lead. One became two soon thereafter as Future Leane got on the end of a Sab long ball, just getting there before the keeper and defender to tap it over and into an empty net. It was around this point that the true ethnic flavour of Cougars became apparent, alot of bickering and complaining ensued. Unsettled as they were, one of their defenders decided to rugby tackle Leane before the ball had even been crossed from the left, giving Stenta a chance from the spot (which he duly converted). Somewhere around this point their leftback imploded, picking up two stupid bookings in about 30 seconds to get himself sent off. Cougars pulled one back just before the break as they converted the rebound after a penalty save by Gouzos. However, shortly after they were dismanlted by the rampant Future. Controlling the ball under pressure, he spun one man on the edge of the box before ghosting across the 18 yard box, then rifling the ball into the opposite top corner. A wonderful finish on his starting debut.

This observer does not remember much of the second half. We scored some good goals, Carbone carrying the ball a fair distance and slotting as well as Leane getting on the end of some nice Ciccarello work down the right to complete his hattrick. In truth we probably could have scored 10 today. A defensive mixup towards the end gifted Cougars a simple second, making the final result 6-2. In the end it was a solid result, achieved with a good all-round performance. Also congratulations to Kitch and Shane for their debut starts, and Ortner for putting in a solid 20 minutes in his first A-Grade match of the season.

Special mention must go out to Cougars for their ability to continue to hurl insults even in the face of such a shellacking. For a a team so unblessed with talent, they make up for it with epic trash-talking skills. The pick of the bunch was one of theirs who claimed we were being given the title by biased refereeing on the basis of us being an "Australian club from the Eastern Suburbs". This reporter hopes the Cougars lads enjoyed their weekly trip to Fulham Macca's on Saturday, and that many a burnout turned out successful and smoky in the adajacent carpark.

A vs MA Hawks

5-0

Goals: TOG, M. Ciccarello, Stenta (pen), Manou, A. Rossi
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, J. Kitching, Stenta, Sabatino; M. Ciccarello, Siklich (Barolo), S. George (A. Rossi), Manou, P. Barone (Ortner); Leane

Another fine victory for the Wolves on Saturday saw the table toppers stretch their lead on third place to seven points. With most teams continuing to take points off each other, promotion is now Ignatians’ to lose.

The match opened with Iggies somewhat changed from their settled line up. Despite some big outs, the players stepping into the squad were all capable and it was a team in a bullish mood that took to the hallowed turf. It was a bright opening from both sides as the play swung from end to end. Hawks were keen to impress their promotion credentials and gradually began to take control of the game as Iggies relied on breaking with speed and purpose. In the last few weeks, the defence, marshalled by Skipper Stenta, has been the cornerstone upon which Iggies have built their success. Sabatino has without question been a standout player in that period and it was through his inventiveness that Iggies scored their first goal. Receiving a short corner on the edge of the box and despite running at full tilt, Sabatino swung a dangerous low centre across the six yard box. Ciccarello and George created enough confusion for Leane to pivot and shoot, via a deflection, into the roof of the net and an unlikely 1-0 lead.

With Kitching keeping their striker quiet and away from the box, Iggies began to create more opportunities and it was not surprising that they extended their lead. Barone, who was impressing on the left, received the ball near the halfway line before making a mazy run down the touchline. Having turned his marker for a third time, Barone swung a beautiful centre where Ciccarello outjumped his opponent to nod into the top corner. It really is becoming a trademark of the league’s top scorer and further proof that if you put in the hard yards to present yourself at the back post, rewards are plentiful.

The match was effectively decided within a five minute period either side of the half time break. Just prior to the interval, the Hawks found themselves with their first clear cut opportunity as their striker bore down on goal. Gouzos, who had spent more time retrieving long distance shots rather than actively saving attempts at goal, was quickly off his line to pull off a fine one-on-one save – the mark of a top quality keeper which undoubtedly the Goose continues to grow in to.

Coach Cagialis reinforced to his charges that the warning served up prior to the half time whistle would be indicative of what was to come unless Iggies could kill the game with a third. He implored his side to push for that game breaker early, which they duly delivered via an incisive Ciccarello diagonal ball. Manou, running away from goal, reached the ball just prior to the keeper and was brought down for a cast iron penalty. Stenta stepped up and dispatched the spot kick in a manner that could be described as effortless – something the English national team will hope but probably fail to emulate at the quarter final stage in a month or so.

With the desired three nil lead, it was a matter of how many from there. Whilst the Hawks continued to provide stiff opposition, Iggies were well and truly on top as their evenness across the board shone through. Dew and Ciccarello on the right; and Barone and Sabatino on the left were providing significant run and carry on the flanks and numerous opportunities were created by getting behind the Hawks defence. George, who was making his first and second last start of the season prior to his South Africa odyssey, continuously stamped his class on proceedings with his ability to create space and time for himself and team mates. Siklich controlled the centre of the park while Leane ran himself into the ground and was unlucky to not be rewarded with further success.

Ultimately it was a couple of set pieces that put the stamp on the Wolves efforts. The first was a fortuitous goal as a Ciccarello long throw was directed straight to the keeper. Unfortunately for the Hawks custodian, he dropped it at the feet of Manou (who claimed he had followed it in, but I suspect had been too slow to begin tracking back) and it was dispatched from 25 cm for a 4-0 lead. Rossi, making his debut (for the season Rossi!) had been a flea like menace for the 35 minutes he was on the park, almost in the fashion of the old box to box player. Demonstrating he belongs at this level, Rossi’s performance was rewarded via a well taken goal from 4 yards, directly from a corner, 5-0, good night and good luck.

OISC have significant respect for the Hawks who have been somewhat of a bogey side over the journey. The Wolves had braced themselves for a tough test and they were not disappointed. To run out 5-0 winners and to put further space between themselves at the top and third spot was a testament to the professionalism of the outfit Cagialis has put together. Next week brings an away trip to Comets, 1vs2 and the ultimate test of where Ignatians are at for season 2010.

A at Comets

2-0

Goals: P. Barone (2)
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, J. Kitching, Stenta, Sabatino; M. Ciccarello, Manou, S. George (Chitti), P. Barone, La Vista; Leane

A vs Budapest

4-2

Goals: M. Ciccarello, P. Barone, Carbone, Stenta (pen)
Lineup: Kyriacou; Dew, J. Kitching, Stenta, Barolo; M. Ciccarello, Manou (Dal Broi), Carbone, Chitti (Ortner); Leane (A. Rossi)

Adelaide Budapest are always a tough challenge and this week was no different. Rain during the week coupled with the heavy use of the pitch meant that the surface was not ideal for the fixture. If anything it brought the two sides closer together as it played into our hard tackling opposition’s hands.

Some forced changes were made prior to the match. Kyriacou came into the squad for his first A Grade start in goals for Gouzos who was unavailable and Barolo was welcomed back into the defence at left back replacing South Africa bound Sabatino. Chitti started as a defensive midfielder next to Manou as Siklich didn’t come up for the second week in a row with his dodgy groin. Carbone returned from the mines to replace George (World Cup duties) and Barone reinforced his ‘utility man’ credentials by returning to the left side of midfield as La Vista was unavailable.

The Wolves started brightly, and inside the first 20minutes we were 2-0 up. Carbone was the architect of both goals with his defence splitting passes setting up Barone first and then Ciccarello. The OISC faithful could smell blood and perhaps the players caught a whiff of it too because from that point on the first half belonged to Budapest. Instead of getting on with the job of pumping our opposition, OISC sat back and paid their opponents far too match respect. The defence was sitting far too deep and not marking tight enough and OISC were turning the ball over cheaply putting the team under pressure. We conceded before the half was up when a short corner left Dew isolated against two opponents. A difficult ball came across the goal mouth and was unfortunately bundled in by Barolo for an own goal. This spurred Budapest on and they were unlucky not to go level before half time. 40+ year old Popovic was leading the line for Budapest well and made Stenta look second rate on a number of occasions, first by nut-megging him and later by turning him inside the box to narrowly miss a shot. Stenta responded to this by blaming Dew (unfairly) for his poor defending.

Half time came at the right time for OISC with the players having a chance to catch their collective breaths. The first half performance was disappointing, but we were still 2-1 up. This is a clear indication of how our goals and expectations have risen dramatically this season. The second half began slowly for the home side and we paid the price for missed opportunities. Budapest equalised after their striker (who was clearly in an offside position) reacted first to a rebound off the crossbar from a stinging shot to head home. 2-2 and Budapest had the momentum. Manou hobbled off with a quad injury allowing Gary to make his first appearance for the club after crossing from NSW. After missing some earlier opportunities, Carbone finally found the back of the net unconvincingly turning in a cross from the right. Leane won a penalty a little later in the half which Stenta converted to round out the scoring.

We look forward to the challenge of taking on BOSA this week in the cup. They are top of Division 1 and will give us a clear indication of just where we are at.

A vs BOSA

1-1 (OISC win 5-4 on penalties)

Goal: M. Ciccarello
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, J. Kitching, Stenta, Barolo (Chitti); M. Ciccarello, Manou, Carbone, Siklich (Condon), P. Barone (Dal Broi); Leane

BOSA presented the biggest test of the year for the Wolves and a true indication of where the team was at. Top of Division 1 and a comfortable victory over us in preseason meant a good performance was essential for victory this weekend.

There were some welcomed and unexpected returns to the squad. Siklich had recovered from his groin twinge to add strength and steel to the centre of the park, Chitti was also fully healed from his self diagnosed and treated hamstring strain and ready to plug up any holes Bill could spot, whilst Condon made his first appearance for the As this year.

The Wolves were surprisingly on the front foot from the get go as the sleep deprivation began to wear off and confidence gradually grew throughout the team. The defence was putting in another solid display which allowed the Wolves’ midfield to express themselves, with Carbone especially, causing the BOSA defence all kinds of problems. BOSA were quite fortunate to keep it at 0-0 at halftime as the Wolves missed numerous chances to capitalize on their early dominance. Bill’s halftime speech reiterated the point that we were on top in this game and that our fitness should see us run over the top of BOSA. The good showing against quality opposition had Bill contemplating the possibilities for next season.

The second half was a much more even affair. The width of Barone and Ciccarello began to stretch BOSA, which allowed Leane to find some more space but he also failed to trouble the keeper. An end to end game ensued as both keepers were tested and made some great saves, but the best chances were still spurred wide of the mark, with BOSA’s very own impersonation of a modern day Jesus hitting a 1 on 1 comically wide, a sign that maybe this was meant to be a day for the Wolves. Full time grew closer and the score remained 0-0, though this must have been one of the most exciting 0-0’s that the enthused Glenunga Superdome had seen.

The fitness of both sides was tested in extra time, with the Wolves again starting the brighter. A throw in from the right wing, found Carbone near the edge of the box, who then slipped a through ball down the line to Ciccarello, whose low drive went through the keeper’s grasp and trickled over the line to send the Superdome into overdrive. However this spurred BOSA into their most dominant period of the match and they eventually got their reward in the second half of extra time. Some good work down the right resulted in a corner deep into extra time. A great ball was whipped into the back post and the BOSA skipper escaped his marker and rose highest to head into the roof of the net. Momentum was now well and truly with BOSA, who were very unlucky not to find themselves 2-1 up shortly after when a rocket cannoned into the cross bar and a low cross was also volleyed onto the cross bar from 6 yards out. The Wolves were unlucky not to have won in normal time, but also lucky to make it to penalties.

The game would be decided from the spot, with Carbone, Stenta, Dal Broi, Ciccarello and Manou putting their hand up to cope with the pressure, while others (Dewy) couldn’t bare to watch. The hopes of the Superdome were pinned on the back of these 5 players and of course the keeper Gouzos, who had already put in another solid performance between the sticks. The first 4 penalites were duly converted, but the fifth would prove decisive. The BOSA player shot to the left of the goal, but Gouzos had flung his big frame in the exact direction and the ball cannoned off his legs and away from the goal. All that was needed now was for Stenta, Ciccarello, and Manou to convert and the Wolves would be through. Stenta scored with ease, and BOSA reciprocated. Ciccarello coped well with the pressure and put his spot kick into the bottom left corner, the next BOSA player converted and the chance to win the game fell on the wise, experienced shoulders of Manou. He coolly converted into the bottom right corner and sent the Superdome into a state of ecstasy. Both Manou and Gouzos were deservedly mobbed by the crowd and chants of ‘Gouz, Gouz, Gouz’ were as loud as the vuvuzelas that deafen anyone hoping to enjoy the World Cup.

A great win and another message sent to both Div1A and Div2A, a 10th consecutive victory and hopes of Hindmarsh ever growing on the minds of all OISC members, with next week another test against the in form All Stars who would be eager to end this winning run.

A at Allstars United

1-2

Goal: Barolo
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew (D'Argenio), J. Kitching, Stenta, Barolo; M. Ciccarello, Siklich (Ricci), Carbone, Chitti, P. Barone; Leane

OISC travelled to Cowandilla on the back of an epic cup win, hoping to maintain a 9point gap over its nearest rivals at the half way point of the season. One change saw Chitti come into the lineup for the injured Manou.

We started relatively poorly on the small pitch, our 4-5-1 crowding the middle too much. Bill swapped to 4-4-2 early on, and our pressure off a corner gave us an early 1-0 lead. This was to be the high point for Iggies in a performance worth forgetting.

For the remainder of the half we were on the back foot and Africa found a deserved equalizer just before the break, a nice cross from the left finding its way past Gouzos into the corner. At half time the message was stressed that we needed to lift our intensity in the second half.

Unfortunatley the message was not taken on board by our players who were distinctly flat in the second period. In truth, maybe 2 or 3 of the us can probably put our hands up and say we had a game today where we beat our direct opponent. Africa found a winner halfway through the second, a relatively tame long ball finding its way to a skillful winger on the edge of the box who finished expertly into the opposite corner past Gouz.

Not much else to say about this other than I hope this will spur us on for the second half of the season. The job (promotion) is nowhere near completed, and hopefully todays performance and more worryingly effort levels were just a blip on the radar.

A at Southern Breakers

10-0

Goals: M. Ciccarello 4, P. Barone 3, Ricci, Carbone, Leane
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew, J. Kitching, Stenta, Chitti; M. Ciccarello, Manou, Carbone (Sparapani), Ricci (Condon), Ortner (Leane); Barone

The wolves had an interrupted and far from ideal preparation for the game due to lateness and the surprise absence of Bill, who was attending the birth of his second child, a baby girl, for which congratulations is in order. This saw second in command, Piero, take the reins of A’s coach and continue on with Bills formation and tactics. The wolves were on top from the very start and asserted their dominance on the match with Mark Ciccarello, Daniel Ricci and Peter Barone all getting on the scoreboard early. The backline was well on top and in command with all members comprehensively controlling their postion and saw the Breakers with no memorable chances. The wolves went into the half time break 5-0 up and hoping to continue on with the good showing and determined not to concede any soft goals.

The second half was much of the same with Barone, Ciccarello Carbone and Leane all troubling the scorers and the Breakers only opening up the Wolves defence once but saw their replacement striker for Shaun’s missing uncle fail to work Gouzos who was enjoying the solidarity of back four. The Final scoreline ended up 10-0, a fair result that refelected Iggies dominance it could well have been more, but you can’t ask for more than 10 goals and a clean sheet. The only blimp on the day was the unnecessarily high amount of yellow cards, whether this was due to the referee or the nature of our challenges is debatable but the cards were needless either way.

A vs Navarino FC

5-0

Goals: P. Barone 2, Carbone, Stenta (pen), TOG
Lineup: Gouzos; Dew (Dal Broi), J. Kitching, Stenta, Chitti (Barolo); M. Ciccarello, Siklich, Carbone, Manou, La Vista (Ricci); P. Barone

After clinically dispatching Southern Breakers last weekend in an unforgiving performance, the Wolves hosted a Navarino FC team that had climbed the ladder into fourth and were putting pressure on the promotion spots. With Africa (2nd) and Comets (3rd) also playing, we knew that any dropped points would let one of those two teams back into the title chase, whilst if results went our way, we could finish the day with a 10 point gap, our biggest of the season. Coach Bombay only made one change, with Siklich returning from suspension at the expense of Ortner. La Vista, Dal Broi, and Barolo all returned to the team (and the bench) through various absences giving the A Grade arguably its strongest 14 man squad of the season.

The match started with Navarino creating a raft of early chances that were wasted which would ultimately come back to haunt them. The defence failed to deal with their consistent bombardment down the right hand side, and OISC were extremely fortunate not to fall behind. Gouzos was forced into a number of key saves by a switched on Navarino. However, as the half grew, we took the ascendancy through the hard work of Siklich and Manou in the middle, and it was no surprise that we took the lead. Before the game we spoke about pressuring the opponent's within their own half, and Carbone made a 'hard ball get' before slipping Barone through to continue his fine scoring form. Ciccarello had a few chances to extend the lead but failed to trouble the 'keeper. The match completely swung in our favour when the Navarino captain was comically (but correctly) given his marching orders by the referee for deliberate handball. Again, forward pressure, this time by Barone, caused the captain to simultaneously lose the ball and handle it, preventing Barone an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

We knew going into the second half that a second goal would knock the stuffing out of Navarino. It was hard work getting there, however, as they continued to graft out in the midfield, and create some attacking momentum. However, the back four, having adjusted to their early onslaught, were now completely switched on and able to repel the majority of forays forward. Kitching in particular was having a running battle all day with their sole striker, a battle which he comfortably won, and continued to let their striker know about. The second goal came midway through the half, after a low cross on the left by Carbone was turned in by a Navarino defender. The floodgates threatened to open after Carbone won a penalty, converted by Stenta, but Navarino admirably held on. Ricci had a number of opportunities but was wasteful, whilst Ciccarello failed to make space on the few occasions he got loose. Eventually, Barone and Carbone both got on the scoresheet, after being provided by substitutes La Vista and Dal Broi. Barolo acquitted himself well after coming on, showing no signs of the broken toe which had forced him to miss the trip to Port Elliot.

Coach Bombay will have a selection headache this week for the big Cup match against Salisbury Villa given the all-round performance of all 14 players. The A Grade has only made the Challenge Cup quarter-finals twice previously, with the class of 2010 having another opportunity to make history, having already set club records in the SAASL (spanning over the last two games of 2009 and 2010) for the number of matches (league and cup) undefeated, and number of consecutive wins (league and cup).

A vs Salisbury Villa

5-2

Goals: P. Barone 2, M. Ciccarello 2, Ricci
Lineup: Gouzos; Dal Broi, J. Kitching, Stenta, Chitti (Dew); M. Ciccarello, Siklich, Carbone, Manou, Ricci (Panagos); P. Barone (Leane)

After a comfortable win against midtable Navarino in the league, OISC hosted last years Div 2 Satutday champions Salisbury Villa in the 3rd round of the cup. We lost twice, 2-1 and 1-0, to Villa in the league last year and those 6 points effectively gave them the title and resigned us to another year outside the top flight. Coach Bombay made one change to last weeks team, bringing in Dal Broi at rightback for Dew.

We started fine form, going 1-0 up after about 2 minutes. A few short passes down the left ended with Carbone bursting down the edge of the box, beating his man and centering for Barone to finish from close range. We didn’t keep our lead long as a lapse in concentration at the back saw Villa profit from a harmless long ball, scoring a gift. From then on the game was effectively OISC’s as we piled on 3 more goals in the first half to be 4-1 at the break. Ciccarello scored two headers of Carbone set pieces, and Ricci sent in a cross from the left that ended up in the top right corner (it was epic). Whilst the game was not over at half time, we had clearly been the superior team and the scoreline reflected that. Skillwise there may not have been a huge difference between the team but I would say that our heart and endeavour was far above Villa’s, intensity being the key word of the season for us.

Barone effectively killed the game off in the first 5 minutes of the second half as he turned in circles for an eternity before firing in from outside the box. From here Villa’s frustrations seemed to get the better of them as they began engaging in off-the-ball assualts and provoking. They did manage to pull one back late as a shot was deflected in over the unfortunate Gouzos. All in all the second half was a more even affair as we backed of slightly and Villa got into a bit more of a passing groove. Both teams missed a couple of chances as the game petered to a close.

As Stenta has been saying pregame for the last few weeks the results will take care of themselves if we continue to follow team rules and keep the intensity high. Cup Round 3 was no different as a highly disciplined Ignatian unit thoroughly crushed last year’s champions. We are only one game from Hindmarsh now and it would really be a reward for the teams efforts to play there this year. After disposing of last year’s cup champions and now 2 of the top 3 (league standings-wise) from Saturday Div 1, we should rightly look forward to the next draw with optimism.

A vs FC Adelaide

6-0

Goals: Ricci 2, Carbone 2, Manou, La Vista
Lineup: Gouzos; Dal Broi, J. Kitching, Stenta, Chitti (Sabatino); M. Ciccarello, Siklich, Carbone, Manou, Ricci; Leane (La Vista)

The Wolves traveled to FC Adelaide on the back of a convincing cup victory the week before. Leane came into to replace the in-form Barone, who was working on his tan on the beaches of Bali, and Sabatino returned for the As squad for the first time since his World Cup antics.

The aim was to not just beat FC Adelaide but to outplay them a put another nail into their relegation coffin. The Wolves started the game well on top and it soon became clear that the lack of pace of FC Adeladie’s central defensive paring could be easily exploited. Carbone, Manou and Siklich dictated the pace in midfield and often sent Leane, Ciccarello, and Ricci through into the space behind the FC Adelaide defence. After a sustained period of possession Ricci opened the scoring after he was sent through on the left wing, and to everyone's surprise he took a touch before shooting, calmly slotting it past the keeper.

The first half finished 1-0 but it could well have been 3 or 4. The back four were again instrumental in OISC having the upperhand, with a stern and calm approach that left the FC Adelaide strikers with little time on the ball despite the strong breeze blowing against them.

The focus at half time was to lift that extra 10% and assert our dominance on the scoreboard. The second half followed the same pattern as the first with the Wolves well on top, Carbone got to another delightful throughball from midfield to cooly slot over the keeper 1-on-1, definitely the goal of the game. Carbone was then sent through by Ricci and again slotted it 1-on-1 with the keeper. The next three goals followed in quick session, with Ricci, Manou and La Vista all tucking away their chances resulting in a score line that reflected the difference between the two teams.

A solid performance and another week closer to promotion and hopefully the championship, and with the return of Barone next week the As will be its strongest its been all year.

B vs Southern Breakers

8-0

Goals: A. Rossi 4, Sparapani 2, Thomas, D'Argenio
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; D'Argenio, Surman, Eldic, De Simoni (Culshaw); Kangas (Cavuoto), Thomas, Rayner, Ortner; Sparapani (Woods), A. Rossi

Well Well Well, another season, another story. A couple of new faces for the B grade this year under (old) new coach Piero Sparapani paid immediate dividends with a comfortable 8-0 win over Southern Breakers.

The match was very comfortable for the Wolves, with an Andrew Rossi hat trick in the first half meaning another piercing in his left ear is all but certain. The other vice captain managed to put two spectacular performances together on the day, controlling the midfield from pole to post, and guiding the Brisbane Lions to a 3-0 start to the AFL season. Rowan Thomas was as lively as ever; with pace to burn, but in all fairness, this match should have quite easily gone into double figures.

The only real moment of controversy came from the referee disallowing what would have been Piero's hattrick for offside, after the Breakers defense simply stopped. Hopefully the rest of the club was watching and remembered to learn to "play to the whistle".

From the newbies, mini D'Arge scored on his league debut, and Kangas will provide width throughout the season. Culshaw was solid at the back when he came on, whilst Woodsy was still stuck in the mentality from the Es/Fs 8-a-side trial game as he was well off the pace. Davide came off the bench to bamboozle anyone that came in his way, as the Bs announced themselves as fierce competitors for the title this season.

B at Navarino FC

2-3

Goals: Leane 2
Lineup:E. Ciccarello; D'Argenio, J. Kitching, Surman, De Simoni (Cavuoto); Thomas, Ricci (Kangas), Mihalopoulos, Ortner; A. Rossi, Leane (Sparapani)

Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible c*nt...Navarino FC.

Our opposition had cost us the title last season, the only team we did not pick up a point against, with the 5-1 defeat midway through the season the turning-point at which we dropped points in 3 consecutive matches. As such, the message from the staff involved being 'switched on' from the start and ensuring that gave this match the dedication it deserved. We welcomed big Kitch into the lineup after he got lost in the (A Grade) clouds, whilst Daniel Ricci, Shane Leane, and Chinga Mihalopoulos were playing their first B Grade matches for OISC.

The match started at a very slow pace, but we were soon under the pump. Navarino threatened through the middle and down the right as we struggled to deal with long, high balls. Our main issue from last week, which was that we allowed too many balls to bounce in defence, was not being addressed, and we were lucky not to concede an early goal. We did ultimately concede after 25 minutes. An innocuous long-throw from the attacking left was not properly dealt with, and a Navarino striker was able to steal in and score a very soft goal. Within 10 minutes Navarino had doubled the lead. A long-ball free kick was aimed at the left side of our defence, and both OISC defenders managed to miss the header, allowing the Navarino attacker time and space to hoof the ball into the roof of the net. Aside from those two moments, Emerson was untroubled in goal in the first half, which goes to show that the team which takes its opportunities is always going to be the one that ends out on top. To our credit, we rallied in the final 10 minutes of the half, with Rowan Thomas and Joel Ortner prominent in our attacking forays. It resulted in two quality goals, bother scored by Leane, one from a direct Ortner cross, and one from a Thomas through ball. We thus entered half-time with all the momentum.

Unfortunately, we failed to recognise the correlation between conceding a third goal one minute into the second half, losing all of our momentum, and a good deal. After a long clearence from a Navarino defender, a horrible mix-up between defender and 'keeper allowed a Navarino attacker the simplest of finishes. For the next 44 minutes, we needed goals, and we pushed forward. However, the Navarino 'keeper was up to the task, and claimed anything in the air within 5m of his goal. We tended to rush our play a bit and tried to 'play African', passing the ball into the net as opposed to shooting. This led to our downfall, with only one memorable attacking foray, a shot by skipper Andrew Rossi that was wonderfully saved by the 'keeper. The final period of the match was less than memorable, with poor (verbal) discipline costing us valuable seconds and the majority of the 50/50 refereeing decisions.

Many lessons can be learnt from this match. In terms of our opposition, it turned out that the fat-bodied, mullet-sporting Navarino squad was the equivalent of the gypsy bare-knuckle boxing champion. All it took were three punches, and we were knocked out three times. In terms of ourselves, we understand we have a long way to go mentally if we want to emulate the results of 2009.

B at FC Adelaide

2-0

Goals: TOG, Rossi
Lineup: Kyriacou; D'Argenio, J. Kitching, Surman, De Simoni (Rugari); P. Barone, J. George, Ricci, Sparapani (A. Rossi), Ortner; Leane (Kangas)

We entered this match with our last performance firmly behind us, determined to make amends for some lacklustre defending and ordinary discipline. Although the table suggested otherwise, FC Adelaide always are a tough opponent, and have always challenged us for the title in Division 2B. Indeed, in 2007 they finished second to our Championship, whereas last year they were crowned Champions after we lost in the final round of the season. Piero made a slight formation tweak, changing to 4-5-1 with two attacking midfielders, and bringing Jason George, Peter Barone, Kristos Kyriacou, and himself into the starting lineup for the first time this season. Interestingly, none of the 'leadership group' was in the run-on side for various reasons, so James Kitching inherited the armband for the first time. Andrew Rossi was spotted posting on Facebook about it.

We dominated the match from the get-go, and were rarely troubled at the back. Pez had kept faith with the same back four from the previous week, giving them an opportunity to make amends. Another slight tactical adjustment saw Kitching play more of a sweeper role, whilst Andy Surman man-marked and challenged the ball in the air, whilst the vocal Kyriacou in goal ensured that no player went unmarked. We were less fluid going forward and threatened predominantly from set pieces. The pace of Ortner and Barone on the wings meant that we got the ball behind the defence on numerous occasions, but did not get the finish that we craved. The breakthrough came midway through the first half. Good work by Ortner and Leane on the left wing saw Leane fouled on the edge of the box. Sparapani swung the ball into the box, Surman attacked it diagonally, which fooled the 'keeper and FC Adelaide defenders, causing one of them to turn the ball into his own net. The half ended in acrimonious circumstances, with George on the ground clutching his face after a misplaced elbow from an FC Adelaide midfielder.

The second half was much of the same; OISC lapping up anything that FC Adelaide could throw at them, whilst wasting their possession and attacking advantage. The highlight of the half were the continual vocals of that same FC Adelaide midfielder; each time he opened his mouth the OISC players knew that they were winning the battle mentally. The second goal was inevitable, and it came with about 20 minutes to go. We were consistently threatening down Ortner's left wing. Barone, moved up front after Leane had been subbed, received a ball wide on the left. After some off the ball movement, he swung a ball through to the oncoming Rossi who tapped in from 6 yards with his first touch. That was also part of his post-game Facebook status.

This was a much-improved performance, and a significant step in the right direction.

B at Gleeson

2-0

Goals: Sparapani, Thomas 2, Leane 2, Ortneri
Lineup: Kyriacou; Mihalopoulos, Radcliffe, J. Kitching, De Simoni; Kangas (Culshaw), J. George, Thomas, Ortner; Sparapani (Leane), A. Rossi

After comfortably dispatching of last year's champions FC Adelaide, we faced another test this week against the relegated Gleeson. The lineup once again was significantly altered by player unavailability, with Captain Marty (in his first appearance for the season) and Chinga moving into the backline, Rowan Thomas returning from A Grade duties, Adam Kangas starting for the first time since Round One, and Andrew Culshaw being rewarded for his C Grade form with a call-up. Whilst we had played (and comprehensively destroyed) Gleeson last year on the way to the Reserve Cup Final, we knew that the derby game always required 100% focus and intensity from the beginning.

Coach Sparapani would have been thrilled, therefore, that he could lead by example by scoring a stunning 25 metre free-kick within 2 minutes of the kickoff. The cheeky bugger turned actually called it before he hit it, after getting the nod of approval from Jason George. We doubled the lead within 10 minutes after some quick thinking by Chinga saw a long throw turn into a through-ball for Rowan Thomas to slot home a second. Some solid defending at the back meant Kristos Kyriacou had another quiet first-half, with De Simoni playing probably his best game in an OISC shirt. The link play between De Simoni and Joel Ortner on the left hand-side was a joy to behold, and as their understanding develops so does the attacking impetus of the B Grade. Our third goal came about 5 minutes before half time, a well worked move involving Jason George and Adam Kangas saw Andrew Rossi released down the right flank. He beat a defender and brought the ball along the touchline, squaring to Thomas to knock in his second goal.

The half-time message was 'more of the same'. Gleeson came out revved up and had a crack in the first fifteen minutes, with Kyriacou forced into one save, but Martin Radcliffe, James Kitching and Jason George through the centre comfortably dealt with the Gleeson long-balls and physicality of their centre forward (which dropped off significantly as the half wore on). Shane 'The Future' Leane came off the bench, after being dropped for rocking up 2 minutes before kick-off (too busy watching Justin Bieber on Video Hits), and within 10 minutes had scored another brace. The first came from a superbly timed long-ball which Chinga hit from a free-kick, and the second came after a fast break from a Gleeson penalty. With about 20 minutes to go, Joel Ortner also managed to get on the scoresheet for the first time this season, after a run and cross by Rowan Thomas was met by his right knee at the back post.

We took the pedal off in the last portion of the match when we really should have gone on to kill it, but the game was definitely over as a contest as soon as we scored our fourth goal. This was probably the best performance of the season (particularly given Gleeson's previous results), and bodes well for our Reserve Cup fixture this week against Saturday Division One side Stirling. As Coach Sparapani noted, we definitely demonstrated that they were no better than our "G Team" (cue laughter).

B vs Stirling

4-2

Goals: Rayner 2, A. Rossi, Eldic
Lineup: Kyriacou; D' Argenio, J. George, Radcliffe, De Simoni; A. Rossi, Rayner, Drazetic (Eldic), Thomas, Ortner (Culshaw); Sparapani

With the World Cup looming Coach Pez took a leaf out of Pim's book and employed a 4-2-3-1 formation, bringing in Dali "The Head" Drazetic to partner Vossy in the holding midfield role. Kitching & Chinga were required for the As and Shane Leane had a "tricep twinge" (what the? must be a Gen Y injury, or is he Gen Z?) so Kristian Eldic, Davide Cavuoto & Joe Rugari also got the call-up.

We defeated Stirling 4-2 with a dominating performance. The first half we had the vast majority of possession with Dali, Rowan & Joel combining well in the midfield, and the defence was rarely troubled. We could only manage the one goal though that came from Vossy putting one away late in the half, which he followed with the classic aeroplane celebration.

Stirling pressed relentlessly for the next 20 minutes, with their captain "Sideshow Bob" scoring a free header from a corner to bring it back to 1-1. Kristian Eldic had come on for Dali at the interval and had an immediate impact up front, scoring a screamer from his "cross" virtually from the left corner post to the top-right corner to send the vocal Iggies crowd into raptures. 2-1 and it was game on. Andrew Rossi pounced on a loose ball and restored our two goal lead for 3-1, before a defensive error just outside the box gifted them a 2nd and it was 3-2 with 10 to go.

To our credit we managed to switch the momentum back our way for the remainder, and the performance was topped off with a solo run and clinical finish from Vossy for his 2nd, followed by him puffing and panting back to the halfway line just in time for the restart, narrowly avoiding a yellow for time-wasting from the card-happy ref. 4-2 to the Wolves and the Iggies song was pumped out proudly.

A fantastic result to outclass this Div 1 team - those of us hoping for some weekends off during the season may be disappointed, as with a bit of luck this squad has the capability to repeat last year's Reserve Cup finals appearance

B at Adelaide Cougars

2-0

Goals: TOG, A. Rossi
Lineup: Kyriacou; D’Argenio, Surman, Radcliffe, De Simoni; Cavuoto (Kangas), Rayner (Culshaw), J. George, Thomas, Sparapani; A. Rossi (Tavella)

Not submitted yet.

B vs MA Hawks

2-1

Goals: Ortner, Rayner (pen)
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Culshaw (Condon), Radcliffe, Surman, De Simoni; D'Argenio, J. George, Thomas (Cavuoto), Rayner, Ortner; Sparapani

A glorious day set a fitting scene for the B Grade’s big clash with league leaders MA Hawks. You could feel the excitement in the dressing room before the game, with Luke Rayner explaining to the team the effect of the various possible results on the league table. If only he had done the same to his Lions team at West Lakes on Sunday, they might still be in the top 8.

We got started and after some pressure from Hawks, we scored somewhat against the run of play. Some good persistent work from Rowan Thomas and Daniel D’Argenio down the right kept the ball alive and the ball was squared to Joel Ortner coming in from the left, who finished nicely into the bottom corner. We took control after the first goal and had Hawks under pressure for the rest of the first half, winning a string of corners. We did have the ball in the net from one of the corners at one stage but the referee blew for a foul for no apparent reason. It would not be his last bemusing decision of the day.

Piero Sparapani also hit the bar just before half time with a nice lob from distance, but we would have to settle for a 1-0 lead at the break.

Hawks were down to 10 men early in the second half, when a cynical foul on Rowan was harshly punished by the referee. The game got a little spicy from there, but our opposition seemed to be inspired by their numerical disadvantage and put us under a spell of sustained pressure. We mainly dealt with it well but conceded a soft equaliser when a long throw was volleyed home by the Hawks striker. This seemed to wake us up and we pushed forward in search of a winner. Shortly before the end, I briefly stopped paying attention and when I turned back around, Vossy was placing the ball on the spot. I’m told we got the penalty for somebody elbowing skipper Martin Radcliffe at a corner, so well done Marty.

Vossy coolly put away the pen to the keeper’s left, and we closed the game out comfortably to record a 2-1 victory, despite Piero seeing red late on for retaliating to a series of blatant but unpunished fouls while he held the ball in the corner.

B at Comets

2-2

Goals: Rayner (pen), TOG
Lineup: Kyriacou; D'Argenio, Radcliffe, Barolo, De Simoni (Culshaw); Condon, J. George, Rayner, Thomas (Surman), Ortner; A. Rossi

Iggies reserves arrived at a very wet Comets ground, with a win important to establish a firm presence at the top of the table, particularly after a good win over MA Hawks in the previous game.

Piero sat this one out due to suspension, with Barolo making a welcome appearance.

The wind and rain made for a scrappy start to the game, with Iggies taking a good 15 minutes to settle. Comets playing a very high game, pushed forward for an attack with our defence stepping forward prior to an overhead pass leaving 3 Comets players a good way off-side ... the linesman's flag clearly up, the ref makes the bizarre decision to over-rule, leaving Comets players free to put the ball in the net. Not sure which set of players looked more surprised.

On with the game and to our credit, Iggies started to play much better. Jason, Vossy and the wing backs getting some useful balls into Ortner, Rossi and Rowan. A period of good pressure sending Rossi clear only to be brought down in the box. Up steps Vossy to slot away, keeping that 100% penalty record in tact. Comets keeper's goal line distraction antics more humerous than effective!

More Iggies pressure then lead to a free kick at the half way line. Radcliffe's ball picked up by Rossi on the right flank, with interchanges in the box finding Thomas to bundle one in just before the half time whistle.

Back out for the 2nd half, and for some reason we again took too long to find our feet in the blustery conditions. Comets still playing a high game, pushing forward through the middle. A shot from well outside the box, blocked by Radcliffe but not cleared, with the Comets player latching onto the rebound and hitting a superb dipping shot over Kristos into the net.

Iggies still had plenty of time to find a winner, however we were in too much of a hurry to find the forwards, overlooking necesary link-play for predicatable route 1 stuff. Ortner, one of our better players, finding some joy on the left flank. Some good chances starting to materialise for our forwards, however in-between his obvious and irritating bouts of time wasting, the Comets keeper did pull off some very good saves from our boys.

Piero reverted to 3 at the back, throwing another a man forward in an effort to grab a winner. In the end however, a draw it was to be and a frustrating one at that.

In summary endeavour and heart was there, composure, creativity and patience unfortunately missing.

With other results doing us a favour a hard week of training is now required, with a chance to get back to winning ways next week at home.

B vs Budapest

3-0

Goals: Rayner, De Simoni, A. Rossi
Lineup: Cicchiani; Culshaw, Radcliffe, J. George; Condon, Mihalopoulos; Kangas, Rayner (Photakis), De Simoni; A. Rossi (D. Ciccarello), Cavuoto

Iggies reserves arrived at Glenunga and were determined to overcome Budapest who were at the lower end of the table. Piero informed the team of how important it is to not drop points at this stage as the other teams around us certainly wouldn’t. Piero made a slight adjustment from a 4-1-2-1-2 formation to a 3-2-2-1-2 due to the unavailability of 6 players for this week.

With Kyriacou keeping for the A’s this week we had Cicchiani in goals for his first game of the season.

With the sun out to start the game, Iggies knew that we had to get a couple of goals up before the rain came. With not even 5 minutes played, the rain came down and it was looking as though it would turn out to be a scrappy game but it didn’t last long. With 15 minutes gone, I don’t remember much of the buildup play but Rayner received the ball just outside the box, took a couple of steps and slotted our first for the match.

Iggies kept the pressure on and continued to push forward but with little happening with the score until a mix up in the middle from Budapest and the ball spilled out. Kangas then managed to pick out a pass from the middle of the park which split the defense and De Simoni was able to run into the box, run around the keeper and slot in our second. The Budapest keeper was quite upset and just booted the ball out of the goals which accidently smashed the umpire in the face and the game was on hold for a couple of minutes while the umpire received some treatment.

Not long after the half time whistle went and Iggies went to the break 2-0 but we felt like it should have been a bigger margin. With the defence of Culshaw, Radcliffe and J.George, Condon and Mihalopoulos holding strong at the back our defence was impenetrable.

In the second half the Iggies kept the pressure up but were unable to convert. With one of the few times that Budapest got into their forward area, one of their players thought that a throw in should have been a free kick and decided he would mouth off at the Ref. The ref turned around and yellow carded him, to which the player obviously didn’t agree and he hurled another wave of abuse at the ref which in turn the Ref once again turned around and red carded him.

Our second half was full of chances but only one of them was converted. It was a wide ball down the wing which De Simoni fed through to Cavuoto up forward. He was stuck close to the line and tried to get the ball back into the middle, a deflection off the Budapest defender and the ball had spilt out to Rossi who was able to easily add to his tally for the season.

The rest of the second half was not very eventful except for a couple of notable yellow cards to Cavuoto and Kangas for kicking the ball after the whistle was just blown. There was also an incident where Condon received the ball out wide, and was able to cross it into the box. The ball came in and Kangas saw an opportunity to pounce. The Budapest keeper thought otherwise and decided to come off his line to get to the ball. With Kangas going up for a header, the Budapest keeper decided to try and fist the ball out. They both collided and both hit the ground hard. Kangas was up but the game had to stop for a couple of minutes as the keeper stayed on the ground apparently hurt.

With so many chances missed thoughout the game, I do recall during this break Rayer mentioning to me how many chances we missed and that we should have been up by much more. Upon the restart I recall Rayner reciving the ball at around the penalty spot and he had no one in sight and all eyes on the Goals. He took a step and the ball went flying over the cross bar. He looked in dismay and fell to the ground heartbroken not to get his second. Once he got up, he was subbed by Piero.

With D. Ciccarello and Photakis coming on for the dragged Rayner and superstar Rossi, the Iggies continued the pressure but were still unable to convert.

It was a strong game all round with a solid team performance. This win put the B’s on top of the table 2 points clear of Navarino. Next week we host Modbury Jets for Round 2 of the Cup.

B vs Modbury Jets

4-3 (aet)

Goals: Ortner 2, Rayner (pen), D'Argenio
Lineup: Kyriacou; D'Argenio, J. George (Surman), Radcliffe, De Simoni; Kangas, Rayner (D. Ciccarello), Sparapani, Thomas, Ortner; A. Rossi

Iggies reserves lined up for what was sure to be a physical game against a largely English Modbury side sitting at the foot of Div 1.

Piero had a strong squad to select from, and reverted back to the 4-1-3-2 formation.

From kick off it was obvious how our opponents were going to play, a high game with two very central strikers. The size of their scouse centre forward presenting issues from the onset and after 5 minutes Radcliffe's headed challenge from a throw fell into the box and our defence failing to clear allowed an easy tap in to send Modbury 1 up.

It took another 10 minutes, however Iggies then settled and got into our stride. Vossy and Piero linking well with Kangas and Joel on the flanks and Rossi and Rowan lively up front. Defence doing well to contain their forwards, with some direct balls down the flanks and to our front men. Not long before half time a good period of passing across midfield, teed up Rossi on the edge of the box whose goalbound shot handled on the line by Modbury defender. The defender shown a straight red our '100%' man steps up to slot home the spot kick.

More of the same after the interval. Some crunching tackles coming in, with plenty of mistimed ones from Modbury. Jason in particular tackling hard from our end, an approach which saw him take a hard knock on the head mid way in. Darge also doing well carrying ball out of defence, and a few minutes later was taken down late and another red comes out for our opponents.

Iggies getting on top now, Modbury supporters getting frustrated, Rossi very lively and Rowan carving a number of scoring opportunities.15 minutes before time, our cross from the right finding Ortner who headed down to his right foot and slotted home.

Iggies striving hard to hold on, however at a Modbury corner, their man timed it well and beat our defence to head in an equaliser.

Game turning sour toward final whistle, a handful of dimwitted monkeys on the Modbury sideline letting their club down.

A bruised Jason forced to come off, replaced at the back by Andy. Against the 9-men Iggies did come out stronger, our midfield getting on top. A Modbury clearance then fell to Radcliffe, whose first time volley sends Darge through, who then does well to score from the right side.

Not long after and the goal of the game, ball played out to Ortner to the left of the box, who controls and hits a superb curling shot into top corner, champagne stuff.

Then (and remembering we are only against 9 men) Iggies went to sleep periodically. A quickly taken ball releasing their left winger, who squared across for the forward to send past Kristos. This set up a nervy finish, however we saw the game out and progress to the next round.

Overall a good hard fought win for Iggies. Some good attack play and combative work in midfield and defence . It wasn't that pretty though and perhaps more focus needed to get back to the more measured passing game on display earlier this season. In closing credit does need to be given to the Mobury captain, a good bloke, who, obviously embarrassed by some of his support's sideline antics, came over to apologise and wish us well for the season.

B at Allstars United

0-3

Goals: A. Rossi 4, Rayner, D'Argenio, TOG
Lineup: Arboit; Lai, Radcliffe, Surman, D'Argenio; Thomas, J. George, Panagos (De Simoni), Sparapani (Mercuri), Rayner; A. Rossi (Tallarida)

B at Southern Breakers

8-0

Lineup: Kyriacou; Condon, Radcliffe, J. George, De Simoni (Surman); Kangas (Lai), Rayner, Thomas (Panagos), Ortner; Sparapani, A. Rossi

B vs Navarino FC

3-0

Goals: Rayner (pen), Di Rito, Ortner
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; D'Argenio (Kangas), Radcliffe, J. George, Surman; Thomas (Sparapani), Rayner, Panagos, Condon, Ortner; A. Rossi (Di Rito)

B vs Elizabeth Downs

5-4

Goals: A. Rossi 2, Surman, Radcliffe, Kangas
Lineup: Kyriacou; D'Argenio (Kangas), Surman (Lai), Radcliffe, Sabatino; Thomas (Di Rito), Rayner, Sparapani, J. George, Ortner; A. Rossi

Elizabeth Downs arrived at Fortress Glenunga eager to avenge their final loss back in ’02. Before the game, Piero spoke about all the little things we had to do in order to match a team who is currently sitting 2nd in Sunday Div 1.

The perfect storm from the night before had calmed only slightly by the time we kicked off. There was a strong wind blowing towards the high school end, which meant defending that end would be a nightmare.

However it was Downs who started the game strongest, setting up plenty of opportunities on goal. They had the majority of possession in the first 20 minutes but were unable to capitalise. Their closest effort came from a corner but was saved off the line by D’Argenio. We were attacking on the counter and soon took the lead through Rossi.

Our lead didn’t last long though, with Downs answering within a few minutes. After a menacing run through the middle of the park a free kick was awarded about 23 yards from goal. One of their midfielders calmly stepped up and slotted it over the wall and into the top right hand corner via the underside of the crossbar.

Our lead was soon restored however, with Andrew Surman nodding home his maiden OISC goal from a Piero corner. Downs pressed for an equaliser but were caught on the counter with a marvellous team goal. Rowan collected the ball in his own half and, after a one-two with Piero, charged towards the Downs defence at pace. He then squared the ball to Rossi who beat the keeper from just inside the box.

Trailing 3-1 at half time, Downs started the 2nd half on a mission. Their relentless forays forward were nullified until about the 70th minute when their striker decided to send a pile driver into the top left hand corner of our net from about 35 yards out. Soon afterwards, they had squared the ledger at 3-3 after our defence failed to clear a bouncing ball in the box.

We soon went 4-3 up after the Downs defence failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to stopper Marty who made no mistake from inside the box. As Downs pushed for yet another equaliser, Rossi was able to break free from his marker, race towards goal and then unselfishly (it would have been his hat-trick remember) give the ball to Kangas, whose left foot shot beat the keeper. 5-3 up with not long to go but Downs made it interesting by scoring a fourth from just outside the box in the dying stages.

B vs FC Adelaide

1-3

Goals: Ortner
Lineup: Kyriacou; Dew (J. George), Radcliffe, Surman, D'Argenio; Thomas (Kangas), Condon, Panagos (Di Rito), Barolo, Ortner; Sparapani

The B-Grade approached this week with much confidence after a thrilling 5-4 win against Elizabeth in the cup last week, however, it was a different squad to the previous week which meant that it would be a completely different game against an always competitive F.C Adelaide.

The match was an arm wrestle in the first half, with both teams struggling to create any real opportunities, before we were unlucky to concede a goal from a misjudged goal-kick. FC Adelaide then lifted and quickly slotted a second goal which left us 2-0 at the break.

We came out firing in the second half, dominating the first 20 minutes which allowed Joel Ortner to put away a goal. We continued to attack and were unlucky not to score from any of the chances we created. FC Adelaide managed to create a quick counter attack, moving the ball quickly from their defence catching us out, which then allowed them to score their third goal. We continued to press forward creating even more opportunities but still could not find a way into the back of the net, even via a penalty.

Much is to be learnt and taken from this game. This leaves us in second place on the table, 3 points behind MA Hawks with 6 games remaining in the season.

C vs Greenock Town

1-4

Goal: Ripa (pen)
Lineup: Lissner; Huang (Woods), Andrawos, Jahangiri, Earls; Balestrin, M. Bolognese, Kari, G. Bolognese (M. Sorgini); Ripa, A. Sorgini

It wasn't to be for the Cs in the Cup this season, as a makeshift lineup was defeated in the Premilinary Round by a hungrier and better organised Greenock Town team. Seeing players hurriedly introducing each other to their teammates five minutes before kick-off is never a good sign, but several last-minute changes due to absences required just that, with a shortage of defenders and the inclusion of Balestrin and Woods who had just played in the Es fixture.

Despite the difficulty in fielding a team, the start was encouraging, with good passages of play for the first 20 minutes and the ball flowing well from defence through to Branko and Adam up front. Unfortunately, the good build up resulted in nothing but a few tame shots on goal from Branko and Darcy, while Greenock had come closest to goal with a good counter culminating in a shot which trickled past Bacon but wide of the far post. Shortly thereafter, Greenock did claim the lead, finding Ali exposed in defence and slotting past Bacon. Determined to find a quick equaliser, some good work from Darcy on the left wing was followed by a low cross to the back post, but the simple finish from Mich Bolognese was not there. Around the half hour mark, however, a poor corner from Darcy found the hands of a helpless Greenock defender deep in the box. The infringement was spotted by the referee and Branko coolly slotted the penalty to make it 1-1. Just before the break, Greenock again found the lead, with a header off a corner finding the crossbar but being tapped back in to the net after some inattentive defending.

After the break we continued being wasteful with long hopeful balls to the forwards, and after some more off-target shots from Darcy and Branko, Mich Bolognese again had a good chance at the far post off a corner, this time his low shot finding the post twice after an unlucky ricochet and finally being cleared. Greenock, meanwhile, made us pay dearly for missing opportunities, and found a third goal with a cross into the box being poorly handled by the defence. Again, the chances to get back into the match were there, with Adam not finding the time to get off a shot deep in the opposition box and a shot from the edge of the area by Mich flashing just wide of the post. Though the defence was made more solid with the introduction of Woods, it was left exposed by the midfield in the search for goals, and this resulted in a fourth Greenock goal with little over 10 minutes left in the game - a fortunate deflection from a weak shot just inside the box fooling Bacon and effectively killing off the game. There were more chances to score, most notably with Balestrin whose shot was powerful but too central to beat the keeper, but it was too little too late.

Though already out of the Cup, there were a few encouraging signs from a team which will be strengthened with the introduction of players missing from the first game. Next week the League begins, once again with a fixture against Greenock Town. They're a well drilled team who can cause us problems, but there is undoubtedly more talent in our side, and a more composed and efficient display can definitely see us coming home with the three points.

C at Greenock Town

2-2

Goals: Ripa 2
Lineup: Lissner; J. George, Andrawos, Culshaw, Earls (Huang); Eldic, Kari (M. Bolognese), Lai, Ripa, Ventura; Drazetic

With Murray Bridge promoted to Div 3 this year, the Cs were given their longest road trip for the season in the first round. Players that had heard of the northern town were given designated driving duties. The referee had never officiated a seniors game, which led to some interesting decisions throughout the game.

The game started off at a frantic pace, with OISC eager to reverse the result from last week's cup loss to the same team. Both teams seemed to panic when in possession, leading to numerous turnovers. Each side had half chances to take the lead, however wayward shooting ensured the scorers weren't troubled. Greenock's best chances were created out wide, which kept our two fullbacks busy, whilst our best chances were when we attacked through the middle of the park.

Greenock opened the scoring from their only corner in the first half. A well weighted cross was met by one of their strikers who nodded home from about 8 yards. This acted as a wake up call for the team, who then started to find feet instead of missing targets. A quick set of passes between Ace Ventura, Darcy and Dali resulted in Branko beating the offside trap and he made no mistake with only the keeper to beat.

With Greenock's confidence dropping, we found time to take the lead late in the half. A string of passes between Kristian, Dali, Branko and Darcy ended up with the latter having a shot on goal. The keeper was able to parry it away, but only into the path of Branko, who followed up with a firm strike from an acute angle.

In his half time talk, coach Pendez insisted on utilising Darcy and Butter more often in the centre of the park in the hope of opening up the game and switching the ball from side to side. The second half was one of stalemate, with both defences (led by holding tight and scoring opportunities few and far between. A Dali corner was cleared off the line by one of the Greenock defenders, in what ended up to be our best opportunity of the half.

Mick Bolognese replaced the injured Darcy, and Glen came on for the rampaging Tom Earls, who had found himself in the referee's book for a late challenge. One of our last opportunities came when a ball was played over the top, or what we thought was over the top. One of their defenders decided to parry the ball away in a brain-freeze moment, before reality hit and the referee marched up to him showing yellow.

The last foray forward for Greenock was successful, with a cross from the left met by one of their strikers who had ghosted in at the far post. Although Bacon was able to get a hand to it, he could only manage to push it into the inside of the side netting.

Even though conceding in the second-to-last minute was a disappointment, a draw away from home is encouraging, especially when you take the previous week's result into account. The goal will serve as a reminder for the rest of the season that we have to stay focused for the full 90 minutes.

C vs Red/Blue Eagles

4-1

Goals: Kari 3 (x1 pen), TOG
Lineup: Ilicic; Huang, Andrawos, Culshaw, Tavella; Cavuoto, M. Bolognese (Fimiani), Eldic, Ventura (Rugari); Drazetic (A. Rossi), Kari

Ivan looked happy to see every selected player finally rock up to Glenunga for the first home match of the league, against Red Blue Eagles. Knowing that a rubbish reserve team doesn't necessarily mean the As will be bad, we started determined and focused against a team that, in the Andy Warhurst era of darkness, pumped us quite badly. Dali and Darcy were doing excellent things up front from the word 'go', Davide was seeing a lot of the ball in his first Cs game of the season, and the defence with Culsh and Andrawos at the centre was absolutely rock solid. We quickly nabbed the lead with some play through the centre setting up Darcy and Dali to fox the opposition defence with a lovely short triangle in the area, Darcy coolly slotting past the keeper. Not much later, we doubled the lead, this time with a long punt from Andrawos finding Dali's head (hard to miss), and subsequently Darcy's feet. Darcy was on fire so he needed no further invitation and sent in an unstoppable low shot. The chances kept coming, and finally, just before the half time break, we were given a penalty when a lovely ball up the line from Andrawos found Davide, who beat two players and cut into the box, where he was unceremoniously flattened. Darcy stepped up and fired in the spot kick for a first-half hat-trick.

In the second half, Red Blue Eagles came out fired up, though this produced more dirty tackles than pressure on our goals. However, they did reduce the margin when the ball was given up cheaply deep on our right hand side. The forward skipped past Mark and at the first contact with Bolognese, dove to ground. The senile referee blew for a penalty, to which Ilicic got a hand but could not keep out of the goals. At this stage, our only bad period of the match began. Red Blue Eagles actually nabbed a second goal, when their forward knocked the ball out of Ilicic's hand and tapped it in, but thankfully the referee was hopeless and disallowed it. Then, their captain (a little bald champion who stood about 3 cms taller than Manou's 3 yr old who was watching from the sidelines) decided to punch Dali in the head following a bad tackle from the Croatian wiz. He somehow managed to survive that silly move, though for the 10 seconds before Dali was properly restrained, people on the sidelines were readying themselves to explain the guy's death to the police parked next to Glenunga. Their player was given a yellow card and Dali sent off – however then the ref realised he was an idiot and rescinded Dali's card, changing it to a yellow. A couple of minutes later, Dali hobbled off injured for Andrew Rossi, who immediately recovered a ball on the right touchline and put in a cross that was turned into his own net by a Red Blue Eagles defender. At 4-1, the game was effectively over, and very little of note happened from there.

The Cs then get their first win of the season, showing some great improvement in just a couple of weeks, especially in defence, where both centrebacks had sensational games. Darcy showed the importance of good finishing, but everyone performed well and is looking forward to backing it up with a first away win for the season.

C at Adelaide Uni (3)

2-2

Goals: Ripa, Green
Lineup: Ilicic; Huang (Culshaw), Eldic, Tavella, Earls (Kedem); Lai, M. Bolognese, Rugari; Drazetic (Green), Kari; Ripa

The Adelaide Uni team that lined up against us this week was completely different to the team from last year's equivalent fixture – young, athletic and fit. On a wide pitch, they started the game well by exploiting the large area in central midfield patrolled by Butter, who often found himself outnumbered, with only a few last-ditch tackles by Tav and some poor finishing stopping Adelaide Uni from taking the lead. Conversely, we looked good when attacking, with Branko applying a lot of pressure on the backline, which resulted in us luckily taking the lead when the goalkeeper rolled the ball out to him, and Branko coolly getting past him and slotting into the open net. The lead didn't last long, however, as Uni were playing many channel balls through the heart of our defence and one was finally finished just before the half.

Culshaw came on at centreback after half time, with Tav moving to full back. Unfortunately it wasn't long before Uni took the lead, with a cross from the right being headed in masterfully into the bottom corner. We had been creating chances throughout the match, and now finding ourselves a goal down, committed forward more in an attempt to find an equalizer. Joe had a good chance off a corner, attempting a spectacular overheard which blazed over, and later turning over the bar a ball which had spilt out following a powerful left footed effort from Dali. Ilan and Matt Green both came on to make their C grade debuts for the season, injecting more pace and aggression into our forward thrust. While Uni still looked menacing on the counter, requiring some excellent saves from Ilicic, our attacks continued to fall short at the crucial moment, usually coming up against a flooded defence. However, at the end of the 90 minutes, Darcy was flattened about 35 metres out from goal. He played the free kick out to Kris on the left wing, who cut into the box and squared a ball to Green, who drove it low into the goals from the edge of the 6 yard box. It was a fitting conclusion to a hard fought game between evenly matched teams, and the Cs continue to show good signs for the season ahead, undefeated after 3 rounds.

C at Dragon Rangers

13-0

Goals: Ripa 6, Kari 5, Drazetic, Totani
Lineup: Crisci; Earls (Tavella), Lee, Andrawos, Huang; M. Bolognese (S. George), Eldic, Kari, Totani; Drazetic (Culshaw), Ripa.

Without having consulted the record books, the win against Dragon Rangers was surely one of the biggest in the club’s history. Against a decidedly lackluster formation (which included four players wearing spectacles on the park at one time, surely a SAASL record), the goals just kept coming from start to finish, and to describe them all would be a struggle. Suffice it to say that Branko’s 6 goals were all precise finishes, Darcy’s 5 were mainly one-on-ones with the keeper, Dali’s was an emphatic piledriver from 6 yards off the developments of a corner, and Totani turned in a header from just outside the goal line.

Branko was even awarded another goal in the first half, but showed good sportsmanship in telling the referee to disallow it, as the ball he’d tapped into the net had not rebounded off the post – as most of us thought – but off the 5 litre tub of water the opposition keeper had stupidly placed right next to the post.

Regardless of the clear technical superiority we enjoyed over Dragon Rangers, it was a good team performance, with all the goals resulting from carefully constructed passing moves. If we approach the next few games, against more competitive opposition, with the same attitude, the team will consolidate its position in the promotion spots on the high end of the ladder.

C vs Brahma Lodge (D)

5-5/h2>

Goals: Kari 2, Totani, Cavuoto, TOG
Lineup: Lissner; Huang (Lee), Andrawos, Tavella, Earls; Lai (Cavuoto), Eldic, Kari, Totani; Drazetic (M. Bolognese), Ripa

The C grade took on the fouth side of Sunday team, Brahma Lodge, the visitors having expanded their club to having a Saturday team as well. We were aware this would be a physical encounter, and the boys were ready for the battle.

The first few minutes were spent attacking, but the final ball was not to be found. Brahma were playing a 12 foot giant up forward, and their moves were spent hoofing it up to him, and having a few runners either side. Mark Andrawos was smart enough to be able to win a couple of headers off him early, but about 5 minutes in, one of the midfielders went for a long run, got through the defence and was able to put the ball past guest 'keeper Bacon at the far post.

This fired the boys up, and 2 goals were scored in quick succession. The first was a good ball over the top, allowing Darcy to run into the box unmarked and had plenty of time to put the ball away. This reporter doesn’t recall the manner of the second, but it was surely a nice piece of work, which was finished by John Totani. 2-1.

More to-ing and fro-ing occurred, until a free kick was awarded to Brahma just outside the box. The wall was set, but not far enough to the left, and the Brahma player was able to swing it around the wall. Bacon bravely dived and got his body to it, but it rolled underneath and in the net. 2-2.

The giant took a tumble, and had to be helped off. After some attempt to continue, he was subbed and this brought on their #5, whose sole purpose was to put a few hard bumps in.

Glenn had an exciting 30 seconds; firstly, a foul throw, which he followed up the subsequent Brahma throw, made a great tackle, but hurting his leg. This brought on Andrew Lee to right back.

Another Brahma forward move, and a ball into the box, which the keeper mistimed his run, and an easy goal was put in. 2-3 and still about 5 minutes in the first half. But parity was restored before the break, with another goal to OISC, this time an own goal. 3-3 at the break. Tavella was given the job of nullifying their #9 at the half, and this worked a treat.

Brahma took the lead again in the 2nd half, after a defensive mishap inside the box. Mark went to play a ball out, stretched for it, and appeared to juggle the ball twice just outside the six yard box. As he went to clear, the Brahma attacker stole the ball, turned Mark and slotted the ball past Bacon to make it 3-4. But this steeled OISC, who pushed back with another goal shortly afterwards, Darcy scoring again.

A few dodgy offside calls from the assistant ref was starting to frustrate the OISC attackers, with both Dali & Branko showing their anger at the calls, with the latter picking up a card.

With about 10 minutes to go, Mark Andrawos played a goal kick long up the right wing, which Davide Cavuoto ran onto, using his pace to beat the larger defenders and putting it past the Brahma keeper. 5-4, and it was looking like the great escape.

But it wasn’t to be. About 3 minutes from time, a long ball was played by Brahma, and Bacon made a move for the ball, but an attacker got a lucky loopy header over him, and into the net. The last minute or so, OISC looked for the winner, but it wasn’t forthcoming.

Still undefeated, only two points behind Strathalbyn.

C at Hazara

3-0*

Goals: Ripa 2, Drazetic
Lineup: Crisci; Eldic, Lai, Tavella, Earls; Cavuoto, M. Bolognese, Kari, Totani; Drazetic, Ripa
Subs not used: Huang, Ai Hinai, Ilicic

* match abandoned in first half after Hazara walked off in protest at what they perceived to be biased refereeing.

Hazara’s previous results looked ominous, and some warnings prior to the match about their good technique and superior pace meant we approached this fixture with a determined attitude, since the top of the Div 4 table is quite cramped and dropping points can be disastrous. The weather was perfect for a good contest, with a damp pitch and sporadic rain favouring the experience of the Croat Armada. The game proved to be rather evenly matched as far as possession goes, with Hazara favouring wide play and Darcy and Dali effectively orchestrating our attacking moves through the middle, but while our defence was absolutely rock solid, the only thing which prevented Branko from hitting the back of the net from very early in the game were a few dodgy offside calls.

Our first goal came after about 20 minutes, with Branko turning his opponent on the left edge of the box and laying off to Dali, who expertly weaved his way to the 6 yard box before being brought down for a penalty that even Stevie Wonder would’ve had no doubts on awarding. Branko stepped up confidently, despite the mud-patch that was the penalty spot, and tucked it nicely just inside the keeper’s right hand post to give us the lead. Ten minutes passed, and the lead was doubled when a nice long ball from Eldic found Branko again on the left of the box (linesman’s flag was up, but thankfully this time the ref correctly waved it down), and from the tightest of angles he squeezed it into the far post for a lovely brace. The Hazara boys were starting to get more angsty, and one of their midfielders kicked out at Darcy one time too many, earning himself a straight red card, which only flared them up even more. So when a hopeful ball from deep in defence from Totani found the run of Dali, who started his run in his own half (flag went straight up regardless, of course), nobody chased him down, and Dali ran (yes, ran!) straight through on goals, easily bamboozling the keeper and making it 3-0. This was all too much for some of the Hazara players, who decided they’d had enough and stopped playing. We couldn’t convince them to come back on the ground (though clearly not all of them agreed with such a childish end to the game), so it will go down as an OISC victory. The win puts us on top of Division 4, still undefeated and with a mouth-watering clash against perennial rivals Flinders at Glenunga next week that gives us a chance to cement top spot as the halfway mark approaches. Though the game only lasted just under 45 minutes, there were excellent signs, with the back 4 looking very solid against a pacey offensive lineup (Hazara did little to trouble Crisci in goals) and the attacking 3, well supported by the midfield, looking likely to bag many more goals as the season draws on. The As are all the rage at the moment, but the Cs too are starting to get some swagger in their style.

C vs Flinders (2)

4-1

Goals: Kari 2, Eldic, Andrawos
Lineup: Ilicic; Huang, Andrawos, Eldic, Earls (Lee); M. Bolognese (Photakis), Lai, Drazetic (Ventura), Totani; Ripa, Kari

Another crucial game at Fortress Glenunga, with Flinders only a point behind us and only 4 points separating 1st and 7th on the table. We could’ve slipped to 4th if we drew and 5th if we lost.

Coach Pendes was eager to try a different back four, with Butter moving into the middle of defence next to Eldic and Andrawos starting at right mid. OISC was set on controlling the middle of the park whilst Flinders tried to use their pace out wide to trouble our defence. Our opposition took the lead from a switch from the left which found one of their strikers whose shot was saved by Mike. However their left midfielder was the first to follow up and he scored the rebound with a volley that made him look like he was auditioning for Will Smith’s kid in the upcoming karate kid film.

We were on the back foot but didn’t drop our heads because we knew that we’d come from behind before. Their #10, who was Flinders’ equivalent to Harry O’Brien or Nic Natanui (minus the skill of course), started chatting like a little teenage girl who’d just found out what Facebook was. After what seemed like a 10 minute monologue, the referee had a chat to him and told him to focus on the game and not his next twitter.

Instead of taking our frustration out on little miss chatterbox (believe me, the temptation was there) or ourselves, we channelled our energy and Darcy had an equaliser soon after.

We manager to score a second after a great cross from Totani found Andrawos at the far post. Our resident Egyptian controlled the ball to perfection before beating his marker and poking the ball past the keeper at the far post.

At half time Ivan was pleased that we were in front and encouraged us to keep up our pressure on their ball carriers and put away our chances up front. Darcy didn’t let him down, adding to his tally after a goal mouth scramble.

A Flinders corner which slightly brushed Mark’s arm was picked up as a penalty and Flinders had a chance to reduce the deficit to 3-2. However the spot kick cannoned into the crossbar and the follow up shot by their most annoying player was both high and wide, threatening any of the resident wildlife on Windsor Rd.

Manoli, Will Ventura and Andrew Lee came on for Dali, Tom Earls and Mick Bolognese in the second half and continued the good hard work of their team mates. Kristian Eldic snuck up front for a corner late in the game to put Flinders out of their misery with a sensational volley from just outside the box.

A week off to refuel our cars before we head down to the gigantic Strathalbyn pitch the week after.

C at Strathalbyn

3-1

Goals: Ripa 3
Lineup: Ilicic; Huang, Eldic, Tavella, Earls (Lee); Cavuoto, Andrawos, Kari, Totani; Drazetic (M. Bolognese), Ripa

With Division 4 so tight up the top, this was a game we certainly didn’t want to slip up in. Add the fact that driving an hour to get back home sucks worse when you lose, and that Strath are notoriously douches – we certainly had enough motivation for this game. The contest started rather evenly, with OISC seeking to do the damage through the central channels and Strathalbyn looking to hurt us on the flanks, particularly on the right where they had some half decent players. The greater quality and experience of the OISC Croatian brigade shone through though about 25 minutes in, when Tav made a timely interception in defence and laid it off to Kristian, who slipped through Branko and Darcy for some slick passing move I can’t exactly remember but which was finished with composure by the captain. The backline held very strong for the rest of the half, despite a couple of occasions when Strath played their way into the box to have two or three lining up in front of a gallant Ilicic, but some desperate defending and a little bit of luck kept the ball out of our net. On the other front, near the end of the half, a long switch was sublimely flicked by Dali with the backheel into the path of Branko, who dribbled everyone and everything in his path about 3 times before tapping it into the net from 5 cm out. An absolute bravado goal, and OISC went into half time with a 2-0 lead and looking solid and comfortable.

Shortly after the break, Lee came on for a fatigued Earls and Bolognese took to the field for Dali, who had time for one last chase nearly resulting in a goal before coming off. With the game getting stretched, a younger Strathalbyn team started applying more pressure, and made the game interesting with about 15 minutes left on the clock by floating in a free kick into the far post. The two goal margin was restored soon after, however, with Mick slipping Branko through on goal to a foregone conclusion (that's right – humiliating a few defenders and the keeper and then a simple finish). We easily controlled the ball for the remaining 10 minutes in a good show of composure, and finished well in what was a tricky fixture against a good side on a large pitch. With results going our way, we now sit 3 points clear on top and with an excellent goal difference, finally giving us a bit of breathing space as we prepare for the second big trip up the freeway to play Hahndorf C2s.

C at Hahndorf C2

7-0

Goals: Ripa 3, Andrawos 2, Kari, Tavella
Lineup: Ilicic; Huang (Ventura), Tavella, Eldic, Lee (Cavuoto); Andrawos, M. Bolognese (Earls), Kari, Totani; Drazetic, Ripa

C vs Greenock Town

2-1

Goals: Drazetic, Totani
Lineup: Ilicic; Lai, Andrawos, Tavella, Earls (Kangas); Cavuoto, M. Bolognese (Huang), Kari, Totani; Drazetic, Ripa

Greenock Town is the only team to have beaten the Cs this season, and they did it at Glenunga in the Preliminary Cup Round. They also are one of the few teams to have taken points off us in the league, finding a late equaliser up in the Barossa early on in the season. With Ivan’s team having really hit their straps after that shaky start, we were in no mood to drop off more points against Greenock – a defensively solid unit – and the motto from the start was “pressure from the front”. Unfortunately we didn’t heed the coach’s words in a confused beginning to the match, and Greenock’s long goal kicks and free kicks (seemingly the only tactic they rely on) were often putting unnecessary pressure on our backline. They deservedly found the lead through one such free kick, with a flick-on header off a long dead ball falling perfectly into the path of an unmarked attacker whose shot could only be touched but not saved by Ilicic.

Earlier in the season, such a poor start would have rattled us, but we went in search of an equaliser with renewed intensity. Andrawos, Bolognese, Kari and Totani all found good openings to shoot from the edge of the box, but sprayed their attempts. However, as a corner was headed clear by one of Greenock’s talls, it fell nicely for Dali, whose left footed volley blitzed into the top left corner with swerve, precision and plenty of power. The veteran laughed it off with an “I just stabbed at it”, but it truly was a magnificent goal – only if the ball had been a Jabulani it probably would’ve ended up somewhere in Parkside, about 3 suburbs over. Though OISC were well and truly the better team on the ball, Greenock’s “Championship” style of football still caused us a few problems, however we were able to go into the break one goal ahead, courtesy of another well taken shot (on his weaker foot) by Totani, following some nice work on the right flank to open up the gap to shoot.

The second half was less exciting than the first, and we should probably have increased our lead through one of many chances that our superior possession allowed us to create. Uncharacteristically, Branko failed to convert a direct, two-pass attack up the left flank – he dribbled the only defender, as usual, but could not squeeze the ball past the oncoming keeper. Greenock had a late surge that kept Ivan nervous (thankfully Dan Rossi was nowhere to be seen this time), but thanks to the introduction of Kangas and Glen to solidify the defence and midfield, their best efforts were fruitless. We maintain our one game advantage over our nearest rivals, next opponents Red Blue Eagles, and look forward to beating those Abruzzese scumbags in 2 weeks’ time when Division 4 action resumes.

C vs Red/Blue Eagles

2-5

Goals: Cavuoto, Kari
Lineup: Ilicic; Lai, K. Eldic, Tavella, Earls (A. Eldic); Cavuoto, Andrawos (M. Bolognese), Drazetic (Huang), Totani; Kari, Ripa

A 1st v 2nd battle loomed for the boys as we travelled to SAASL headquarters to take on Red/Blue Eagles. The pitch looked in good nick and the only weather worry was the gale force wind blowing across the park towards Henley.

The first half was fairly even, with both teams enjoying a fair share of possession. However the crucial final ball through to the strikers from both midfields seemed to be missing. Our opposition scored first after winning a corner. The corner wasn’t cleared and fell to an unmarked Eagle. The lack of pressure meant he had time to turn and send a half volley into the top left corner.

We’d come from behind in previous games and therefore didn’t drop our heads. Before long we were on the attack and had earned a corner. Davide scurried around the cramped box before losing his marker and meeting the well taken corner with the outside of his boot to get us back on even terms.

1-1 at half time and coach Pendes stressed the need to bridge the gap between defence and attack, farken, as it allowed their ball players too much room to create opportunities, farken.

We took the lead midway through the second half after another set piece. A free kick was curled into the box and although Davide missed his opportunity at scoring another, Darcy made no mistake, scoring at the near post.

Ivan started ringing the changes, with Bolognese, A Eldic and Huang came on for Andrawos, Earls and Drazetic. New Eldic had a chance to make it 3-1 but his chip over the keeper unluckily hit the post.

Tired legs started to set in and the youthful Eagles used their knowledge of the bigger and wider pitch to take full advantage. They squared the ledger via a counter attack down the left and although scores were equal, our heads began to drop. Our midfielders started to press more and more, which left our defence to deal with the opposition counters.

Another attack down the left followed by some missed tackles by our defence ended in disaster after their right midfielder was allowed to waltz in unchallenged to accept a square ball and look up at the goals with only our keeper to beat.

They scored another 2 goals on the counter attack playing quick long balls through to their substituted strikers.

Our first league loss of the season, which will hopefully provide a wake up call with 7 games to go as we are now equal on points with Red Blue Eagles, with Flinders only one point behind.

D vs Adelaide Pumas

4-0

Goals: Leach 2, C. Gauro 2
Lineup: Crisci; Tallarida, Walker, Williams, Lee; B. Cosentino (T. Cosentino), Arboit (Durand), Leach, Callaghan, C. Nguyen (Fimiani); C. Gauro

The joys of a random cup draw gave the League Champion D Grade a chance to revisit the ground in which the 2009 title was secured. The team was a little different with over half the side being new although the style of play and tremendous team spirit was unchanged.

The bustling figure of Hawkesy was missing but the agile and nifty Gauro has slotted in well up front. The determined Crisci has shown a lot of ability and has settled well into the goalkeeping role, filling the big shoes of Paul Murray with aplomb.

An even game was broken open after 25 minutes when Leachy drove a low free kick into the box from the right. Gauro took control and drove the ball home from 8 yards. These two lads were involved again when Gauro attempted to hit a cross towards Leachy in the box. The keeper spilt the ball high in the air and what followed was a comedy of personal errors on his behalf. The imposing figure of the coach must have influenced his ability to flap twice at the ball and then basically push the ball into his own net. Perhaps the odd verbal from Leachy during this hilarious act may have helped him fluff his lines.

2-0 up at half time was looking good. Lots of pressure was then absorbed for the first twenty minutes of the second half as Pumas threw everything at OISC. The defence was solid, Craig and Will dominant in the middle with Talla and Andrew Lee keeping the crosses to a minimum.

Gauro was breaking well enjoying dribbling runs which were often halted by blatant fouls. He had one run abruptly halted by Pumas but the referee waved our protests away. Never mind, shortly after another foul sent Gauro crashing and this time we had a spot kick. The keeper attempted some crass move by moving the ball off the spot. Leachy replaced it, composed himself and then found the corner of the net. His call of "if you are looking for the ball keeper it is in the net behind you" was typical of the banter on the day.

OISC was not finished and following the introduction of Mario, Tom Cosi and Brett the fresh legs gave us more impetus. Shortly before the end Brett delivered in a ball that was headed out parallel with the 18 yard box. It fell kindly to Leachy who drove the bouncing ball with force towards the bottom corner. Another poor effort from the keeper and the 4-0 result was secure. More fun banter followed with calls of us being like Stoke in the way we played, that was fine since they must be Portsmouth. Note to Pumas - being well beaten is not an excuse to attempt futile sledging of an opponent who has just put you to the sword.

Crisci made a top save towards the end of the game and a solid defensive performance with Tavis and Moose dominant in front of the back four enabled a solid foundation on which the goal scoring talent in the line up was allowed to flourish.

D at Greenock Town

5-0

Goals: C. Gauro 2, Leach 2, TOG
Lineup: Crisci; Bollenhagen, Walker, Lee, Trengove; M. Gauro (G. Bolognese), Arboit (Fimiani), Leach, Callaghan, Rugari; C. Gauro

A long journey was well worth it as the lads a achieved a comprehensive 5-0 victory. Some tardy travel arrangements by 4 younger members of the team ensured the preparation for the games was not ideal, nonetheless the balance of the team was fine and we were well organised to cater for a number of changes. There was a welcome back for Paul Trengove at left back, Josh from the Hood played at right back whilst Matt Gauro slotted into midfield and some geezer called Rugart or Rugari made his OISC debut.

It was a large field so the energetic running of the midfield would be challenged. They settled into the task at hand well and it was a great break down the left involving Trengove and Rugari that saw the ball work its way into the box and Chris Gauro was on hand to opening the scoring. Another enterprising left sided attack ended with a free kick on the point of the box some twenty yards out. Leachy hit this one well and it flew into the top corner to take us 2-0 up.

Tavis and Moose (celebrating 40 years young) had the midfield secure and the former even managed some rampaging runs into the box which were only halted by lack of composure with his final strike on goal. Matt Gauro was up to his tricks again and his classic step over move saw him glide into the box and drive an effort narrowly wide. We were worth the 2-0 lead at half time.

The second half saw us challenged little. Some solid defending from set pieces saw Andrew Lee and Craig remove any danger which allowed the glamour boys in the line up to sweep forward time after time. There could have been a lot more goals but somehow the ball only found the net three more times. A neat run by Chris Gauro saw him round the keeper and cut the ball back which struck a retreating defender who nicely obliged with an own goal. Some raucous debate followed about whether the cross from Gauro had gone out but a vociferous coach ensured the referee eventually gave the goal.

Ronnnie and Matt had a break, the latter needed to find some privacy to continue his hurling and this allowed JD and Mario some run on time. Joe had an impressive debut and was frustrated as a near certain goal beckoned but his strike ballooned over from close range. Chris Gauro ran on to a nicely weighted through ball from Leachy and his first time finish was a treat to watch. Another goal came when Leachy swung a tempting cross in and everyone including the embarrassed keeper missed it and it nestled in the bottom corner. As with such crosses the appropriate thing to do was keep the celebration humble – note to Panuz, shame you were not there to see that done J

An excellent display all round and the result was testimony to the dominance on the day. Something to build on and competition for starting spots will remain fierce over the weeks to come.

D vs Red/Blue Eagles

7-0

Goals: M. Gauro 2, C. Nguyen 2, C. Gauro, Leach (pen), TOG
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Bollenhagen (Kantilaftas), Williams, Walker, B. Cosentino; M. Gauro, Arboit (Morgan), Leach, Lee (T. Cosentino), C. Nguyen; C. Gauro

A fine day for football and the boys began brightly. Our opponents were moving the ball well so it was entertaining stuff from the start. We created numerous opportunities in the first half hour but we seemed to fluff our lines as each good chance was wasted. Good thing though was the brand of football, flowing and decisive, it seemed just a matter of time till we scored.

A cross flew into the box and deflected up of a defender to his outstretched arm. The penalty was given and Leachy duly obliged although he was a bit jammy as the ball found its way into the net courtesy of the underside of the cross bar. We found another goal when a long goal kick was neatly controlled by Chris Gauro who then slotted a nice pass in for Chris Nguyen to run on to. His shot was not powerful but it was well placed and we went 2-0 up. The Eagles were mounting a number of forays but it seemed Josh and Ben Cosi had the flanks well covered. Some desperate, strong challenges from Craig and Will kept them at bay. A tough tackle in the box and the referee initially seemed to be pointing at the spot. Leachy and Emmo asked what it was for and when it was described as blocking off it seemed the result must be an indirect free kick since this incident is more like obstruction. The referee then made his instruction clear and the Eagles had am indirect free kick from just 8 yards. We did well to block this chance and we survived.

A quick throw in on the right and the ball was driven in towards the goal. Matt Gauro collected it well and then sent a stinging shot home from 20 yards. We took a 3-0 lead in at half time.

Andrew Lee and Moose were holding firm in the middle of the park which allowed the attacking players confidence to surge forward. Goals started to flow with Chris Gauro rounding the keeping and slotting home, Leachy took a dangerous in-swinging corner which was well headed in by one of their blokes and then Chris Nguyen was on hand to sweep a cross in from Matt Gauro. There was a welcome back for Adey as he came on and we also had the opportunity to give Tom Cosi and Jake some game time too. Emmo had a top day in goal, his diving save to his right was top drawer and another low shot was expertly shut out too.

The game was finished off by a lovely free kick from Matt Gauro. All sorts of supportive cries from the sideline will be noted as the player coach takes a break from being Stevie G and hopefully does a better job than Rafa Benitez from the sidelines. A nice brand of football, crisp passing and lots of goals built on 3 clean sheets has the season off to a good start. We will strive to maintain this momentum in the games ahead.

D at Adelaide Uni (3)

5-0

Goals: M. Gauro 3, Morgan 2
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Bollenhagen (Kedem), Walker, Williams, B. Cosentino; Lee, C. Nguyen, Arboit (Trengove), Morgan, Lee, M. Gauro; C. Gauro (Callaghan)

A superb surface greeted the lads and a fine day for football promised much. The game began in a confident way and the lads were dominant. A number of gilt edged opportunities were created but somehow the final finish would not find the net. A lob over the bar from close range, a shot drilled into the outside of the side netting and the post was struck before things turned around. Leachy cut the figure of the agitated manager on the sidelines. The ball ended up swung in dangerously and Adey was on hand to poke the ball home from close range. Matt Gauro then subsequently delivered a fine in-swinging corner which fell nicely to Adey and he had two before the half was up.

A flashing shot from Andrew Lee blazed narrowly wide and near the change Chris Gauro limped off with a hamstring tweak and some reshuffling saw Tavis take the filed. 2-0 was a comfortable lead since Uni threatened only rarely and Emmo was untroubled.

In the second half the lads found a little more composure in front of goal although Adey just missed capping off a fine day with a hat-trick and Craig and Will looked dangerous from set pieces. Further goals were added from direct football. Emmo launched a long bomb and Matt Gauro ran clean threw and slotted the ball past the despairing keeper. Gauro was able to add two more to his tally which interestingly now takes the Gauro brothers to double figures in season 2010. Some excellent play from Chris Nguyen saw him weave across the field and slot a delightfully crafted through ball in behind the Uni defence and Matt Gauro did not let such a brilliant through ball down and finished it well.

Matt even managed a long range free kick which found the net. There are murmurings of him claiming the set piece role from now on based on recent contributions but I have a feeling there could be some arbitrary decision making in store by the management.

A rock solid defence with Ben Cosi often going forward with his long throw potential. Ronnie was dominant in the midfield and we even had the chance to give Paul and Ilan plenty of game time. A cup trip next weekend should see the average age of the team slashed as Mother's Day commitments rule out many older guys. The team has plenty of depth and being part of the squad is an important ideal for many players who may well get a chance for a good run this week.

D at Para Hills East

0-6

Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Lee, Tavella, Arboit, Trengove; M. Gauro, Morgan, Callaghan, Bollenhagen, Durand; C. Gauro

This game was probably decided well before kick off when Croatia forfeited its first round cup versus PHE As, allowing them to give several first team players a run in the ressies without cup-tying them.

The Wolves had a good deal of early possession though with Tavella and M Gauro linking well down the right and C Gauro showing his dancing feet and proving a handful for the PHE back four. Tavis was flattened just outside the box. In the absence of Leachy, the resultant free kick didn't trouble the keeper.

PHE's first goal came from a scuffed Iggie clearance which exposed Emo to a one-on-one. The finish was clinical. By the twenty minute mark they had another. A speculative up and under was flicked into the net off the head of one of their better 'ring-ins'.

The defensive shape held well until the break and we went in 2-0.

It was probably inevitable the PHE class would show in the second half. They moved the ball in neat triangles and pushed us deeper and deeper. The Iggies shape was still good though and no-one shirked a tackle. Particularly solid were the older legs of Adey and Ronnie. We were doing a great job defending the heart but, unlike in Saturday Div 4, possession on the flanks against this kind of opposition can be fatal. Despite tireless work from Lee and Trengove PHE always seemed to create space and whipped in a procession of wicked crosses and set pieces. Emo attacked the ball fearlessly but inevitably the pressure told and the score mounted.

With the game stitched up PHE rested three of their stars and to their credit the Iggies started to get some ball at the right end of the park. A cross from C Gauro found Adey's head on the six yard line but his effort skimmed the bar. There was no way back though and the final whistle brought welcome relief on a warm day.

Considering the opposition, the unavailability of some players and the late withdrawal of others, the result could have been a lot worse. All who took the field can hold their heads high. Thanks especially to Andrew Tavella and Brett Durand for answering the call and at least making sure we could field a team. With the Carling Cup out of the way the team look forward to taking out their frustrations next week against Flinders.

D at Flinders (3)

3-3

Goals: Arboit, C. Nguyen, Leach
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Bollenhagen, Walker, Williams, B. Cosentino; Callaghan (Fimiani), Trengove (C. Nguyen), Arboit, Morgan, Leach; M. Gauro

A woeful performance really, not too many of the lads could hold their heads up high. Some good keeping is little excuse for a plethora of chances that were badly wasted. Their ref was insipid and completely lacked control of the game, being able to count to ten seems a very basic element of doing the task.

We were overrun early and a very bad clearance fell invitingly and was duly lashed past Emmo from 18 yards. Tavis and Paul were working hard enough but often they were left too exposed as the midfield failed to track back to cover. Craig and Will looked out of sorts as a partnership and Matt Gauro looked like a Labor cabinet minister as he dined out on chance after chance but not one found a worthy recipient. Adey and Moose were holding their own in the centre whilst Leachy cut a forlorn figure as he created a number of good opportunities that were just spurned.

1-1 at half time as a result of a scramble in their box that Moose was able to sweep home from close range. A change was inevitable at the break and Nguyen came on to give us more attacking flair. This paid dividends during the half when Chris hit a peach of a volley from 20 yards into the net to restore parity after some comical defending gifted them a penalty. We had even more chances to waste and the day of frustration just grew. Mario came on in his resplendent yellow boots and his short corner to Leachy enabled the latter to move unchallenged into their area and rifle a shot home to put us into an undeserved lead.

The remaining time we played seemed to reasonable the books an Underbelly accountant might keep as the number kept moving when we asked. A dangerous corner was netted by them and strangely enough the full time whistle sounded virtually thereafter. No crying over spilt milk though these days are meant to test the character of good sides and we will recover from this. The unbeaten run in the league remains intact so we can be grateful for that.

D at Hazara

1-1

Goal: C. Gauro
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Bollenhagen, Walker (Callaghan), Williams, Photakis; M. Gauro, Arboit, Leach, Morgan, C. Nguyen (Al Hinai); C. Gauro

D vs Flinders (2)

2-1

Goals: M. Gauro, Leach (pen)
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Bollenhagen (C. Nguyen), Lee, Williams, Trengove; M. Gauro, Arboit, Leach (Callaghan), Morgan, B. Cosentino; C. Gauro

Some games define a season. Playing a fellow unbeaten side we knew it would be difficult even more so if we had lost because that would have ended our campaign to win back to back titles. The game was played in good spirits and Flinders are a fine side.

We had reasonable early chances and like in previous weeks we did not do enough when we had some ascendancy. Matt Gauro was making plenty of good runs with the ball and his brother could not just find the right slot to get a chance converted. There was enough pressure at our end to attend to yet Andrew Lee was filling in well for our absent skipper and a more focussed Will had his touch back again.

The break through came when Leachy swung a quick diagonal ball which Matt Gauro ran on to. He did a little bid of weaving, the odd step over and then dispatched a crossed ball which evaded everyone including their keeper and found the corner of the net. We could have added to this as a neat corner picked out the on rushing Will but his header flew over.

Later in the half the ball found its way into our box and a quick shot found the corner with Emmo having little chance. It was tight from there on until the referee blew for half time.

All to play for. Both Moose and Adey had their work cut out in midfield but they had enough of the ball to again threaten when we went forward. Chris Gauro rushed on to a through ball and his crafty shot was very well saved. Josh landed awkwardly and required a rest. Chris Nguyen came on and was his usual energetic self. He nearly scored with a scuffed volley and even the clever use of his chest was not enough to squeeze the ball in. Will saw stars after a head clash and then Chis Gauro and Leachy managed to rock the cross bar. Would we ever get the winner?

Less than ten minutes to go and Leachy picked the ball up in the left channel. He was battling to hold of one opponent as another defender closed in at pace. A jumble of legs saw him felled in the box and we had a penalty. Looking a little dazed the coach stepped up and gave us the lead.

There was time at the end for Paul Trengove, Cosi and Tavis all to lash clearances away from our goal and it was a real treat to hear the shriek of the final whistle. The derby game is next so much enjoyment is a certainty.

D vs OISC (3)

8-0

Goals: Leach (pen), Walker (pen), Arboit, Lee, Murray
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Tallarida, Walker, Lee, Trengove; M. Gauro, Arboit, Leach (Callaghan), Murray, Bollenhagen; Kostadinov

D at Strathalbyn

5-0

Goals: C. Gauro 3, R. Arboit 2, M. Gauro, C. Nguyen, Callaghan
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; B. Cosentino, Walker, Williams, Trengove; M. Gauro, Arboit, Leach, Lee, Ricci; C. Gauro Rolling Subs: Tallarida, Callaghan, C. Nguyen

D vs Greenock Town

7-0

Goals: Rugari 3, Kostadinov, Leach (pen), Williams, Walker
Lineup: Crisci; B. Cosentino (Tallarida), Walker, Williams (Mercuri), Trengove; Murray, Arboit, Leach, Callaghan, Rugari (C. Nguyen); Kostadinov

With the E’s piling in the goals the game before, coach Leachy sent out the D’s with orders to keep things narrow and direct – to out pace our much older and slower opponents. Even before kickoff Grenock didn’t look like a team likely to cause us troubles, starting with only 10 players.

OISC dominated the early running with what seemed like endless corners bouncing across the six yard box and clear chances coming up for comeback duo Murray and Kostadinov. Some wasteful finishing kept the scores level for the first twenty minutes but it was inevitable that OISC will break through. Eventually Grenock were able to field their fair allocation of players but OISC continued their dominance. After a mazy run, fullback Trengrove managed to find himself inside the box only to be upended by a Grenock defender. Clear penalty and Leachy made no mistake from the spot – 1-0 OISC.

Only minutes later, after another OISC corner wasn’t quite cleared, a shot from outside the box was deflected by the hand of a defender. The referee once again pointed to the spot, which was enough to push the frustrations of a Grenock defender over the brink. He lost it and shoulder barged the referee who had no choice but to send him off. Walker calmly slotted the penalty to make it 2-0.

In a rare venture inside the opposition half, Grenock mustered a chance from a long ball, only to be denied by a goal-line clearance from Trengrove. OISC continued their dominance and played some wonderful football for the third goal. Murray played a beautiful first time ball out wide to Kostadinov, who slid it across the penalty box giving Rugari a tap in. The fourth goal couldn't have been more different with a Leach goal kick clearing the defence and sending Rugari through on goal. A cool finish made it 4-0 and so it stayed till the break.

The second half started brightly with a wonderful cross-cum-shot from Rugari chipping the keeper perfectly give him his hat-trick and OISC their fifth. OISC kept on pressing trying to add our goal difference and two more goals ensured – Murray rounding the keeper cleverly and dribbling into the empty net and Kostadinov slotting in at the far post after the keeper could only parry another of Murray’s shots. Nguyen, Callaghan and Arboit tried their luck from range on numerous occasions but couldn’t add to the scoreline.

Seven - nil it ended but it could easily have been much more. The D grade are still unbeaten and now sit top of the Division 6 reserves ladder leading the only other real contenders in this league, Flinders (2), by a point and with a far superior goal difference.

D vs Red/Blue Eagles

3-2

Goals: Leach 2, Murray
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Tallarida (Bollenhagen), Lee, Williams, Trengove; Kostadinov, Culshaw, Leach, Arboit, C. Nguyen (B. Cosentino); Murray

The emphatic drubbing we achieved in the first round of games over this mob was not a good indication of this game since they had improved significantly and we did play well that day.

It was a large deck down at Grange and the wind was gusting aplenty. Craig had to miss the game with a poor knee so some reshuffling saw both Talla and Chris Nguyen start with Andrew Culshaw playing alongside the skipper for the day in Moose.

Our opponents spent a lot of time in possession in their own half but they began to threaten us with Paul Trengove and Talla being kept busy. We had some set pieces which threatened but nothing came of it. We fell behind when a long central pass was not adequately dealt with and Emmo could do little in the resulting one on one. We were certainly in the game and we found our equaliser when a robust, atypical challenge from Andrew Lee saw the ball out to Leachy who hit a long 40 yard direct ball which Paul Murray chased down and neatly lobbed the advancing keeper. Some further tight play continued until in the shadows of half time someone smiled as the clock was wound back.

The ball broke well for Leachy as he harassed their defence into an error. He closed in on goal and somehow managed to traverse 30 yards without being caught and his cool finish in the corner was a throw back to his past. The posing as Elvis after the goal was his humorous attempt to reference the good old days. We went off to the break 2-1 up.

There was the odd bit of niggle in the game as both teams seemed desperate to get the win. An absolutely audacious shot from the coach from the half way floated nicely over the keeper but he was robbed by the width of the goal post. Josh and Ben Cosi got game time in the second half as tiredness took its toll. We did score but it was correctly ruled out as Paul Suarez was adjudged to have forced the ball over the line with his arm. The Eagles were attacking with vigour as the game became extremely stretched. It seemed inevitable this pressure would come to something and when Wills was pushed under a ball it fell nicely and the resulting cut back was dispatched past Emmo for their equaliser with only ten minutes left. A pathetic reference to poofters was yelled in our direction and that sort of comment belongs in the tired old lyrics of a Dire Straits hit of the mid 80’s, at least be creative when you sledge.

It was probably fitting then that one of the lads who often gets called ‘metro’ picked up the ball from the right channel from a nice Iordy lay off. Leachy then skipped inside, went parallel across the face of the goal before he rifled a left footed drive from twenty metres past their keeper for the winner. We hung on in the final minutes with Culshaw and Moose particularly desperate whilst some foolish elbowing and kicking someone on the ground led to an obvious red for one of theirs. A tremendous determined performance and the ideal of taking it week by week lives on as we remain on top.

E vs FC Adelaide

7-0

Goals: S. George 3, T. Smith 2, Balestrin, Tharaken
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; J. Smith, T. Smith, Hurt, Reitano; D. Ciccarello, Woods, Mercuri, S. George, Balestrin; Tharaken
Rolling Subs: Sorgini, Innamorati

E at Torrens Valley

2-3

Goals: Tharaken, J. Smith
Lineup: Crisci; Reitano, Hurt, T. Smith, J. Smith; D. Ciccarello, S. George, Woods, Mercuri, Balestrin; Tharaken
Rolling Subs: G. Bolognese, Fimiani, Innamorati

The Glitter train made its first road trip of the year up to Birdwood, to play Torrens Valley who think theyre great cos they made some big rocking horse! They also play on their own time up there even though every other Division 6 fixture is played at the normal 11:30am, everyone who goes to Birdwood have to play TV at 3pm. I guess they need to get their farming done in the morning.

After last weeks destruction of last season's title winners FC Adelaide, confidence was high. It was even higher after our coaches namesake had masterminded the defeat of Barcelona. Come match day though we had seemingly gone into our shell and whereas last week we stroked the ball around with ease this week we were completely dysfunctional and also somewhat intimidated by the scouse defenders in their team.

We dominated the first 11 minutes as every bit of play was in their half, we lacked that final touch and were made to pay as TV took us apart on the counter attack. The first two goals were carbon copies as mistakes crept into our game and we were punished for them. As stated earlier we were very dysfunctional and struggled to string passes together, got lazy and started pumping it forward, although he is a sexy man, Vineeth is vertically challenged and the prospect of aerial challenges against much bigger defenders was predictably ineffective. Balestrin was working his guts out on the left and Dean was the only one showing any physical grunt. I guess it is pleasing despite the negatives we were able to get one on the scoresheet, it wasn't pretty but John Smith managed to get it into the back of "the ol' onion bag" eventually. We lost concentration and our grasp on the game again, and shortly after TV grabbed that two goal buffer.

The second half was an improvement, we fought harder for the ball and the majority of the play was in the oppositions half. As much as we tried we just couldn't score and i have to commend our opponent s for their last ditch defending, even if we were perceived as more technically gifted they ground out this result basically because they wanted it more. The only passion started coming to the fore once Vineeth scored and brought it back to 2-3. If we can play like we did in the last ten minutes not only will we win more games but we'll feel better about it as well, as it finally felt like we were gelling more as a team. We pushed forward and played to our strengths.

Losing is never fun, but hopefully this will prove a solid wake up call to all involved for the most attractive team at OISC.

E vs Southern Breakers

6-0

Goals: S. George 2, Tharaken, Balestrin, D. Ciccarello, TOG
Lineup: Crisci; Reitano, T. Smith, Hurt, G. Bolognese; Fimiani, Woods, Mercuri, S. George, Balestrin; Tharaken
Rolling Subs: J. Smith, D. Ciccarello, Innamorati

E at Comets

1-0

Goal: Tharaken
Lineup: Ruciak; Lai, T. Smith, Hurt, Reitano; Woods, S. George, Balestrin, Mercuri, D. Ciccarello; Tharaken
Rolling Subs: Innamorati, J. Smith

Whilst the managers of the world named their preliminary squads for this years World Cup, the population really preferred to know who was lining up for the most stylish team at OISC. Following a punishing win against Southern Breakers last week the team remained mostly the same with Butter slotting in at left back. Darryl also started between the sticks for us and his efforts are applauded as following our game he went up the road and played another game for the Fs, well done.

After stealing the kits that the As wore last week for the memorable win against Ingle Farm, Comets must have thought we rate ourselves quite highly as we warmed up in perfect boot camp style as we lapped the field in two lines, we just missed on the sing along though. Comets are an unknown quantity in this league, and if we judged a book on its cover we could’ve feared the worst, but as the game started we soon realised that we should take this game by the scruff of the neck. We were on top for much of the first half gaining the majority of possession and Vineeth converted following a trademark throw by Danzo. This would prove to be the winner. Our defence was solid and dealt well with Comets direct approach to attacking, we were lucky not to concede after a collision between Danzo and Butter, it was a warning sign and we needed to switch on and have greater concentration levels. Juno provided good run down the right wing and won free kicks in good areas. Shaun was in a league of his own again as he took the piss time and time again, however he couldn’t get himself on the scoresheet. The first half finished with the score the same.

The half time talk was for more of the same, with emphasis on being clinical and taking chances presented, also on ensuring any Comets threat was dealt with further up the pitch. Unfortunately the second half was a sham more reflective of a game of marks up, just end to end long ball. There was no link up play at all and no one really stood up and took control, so in that regard it was quite a disappointment. The resolve though was impressive and we held out well. At the end of the day we deserved to win, the score could’ve been much different at both ends of the spectrum. This week we’re back on our favoured home pitch against the league leaders and the match has already sold out according to venuetix. Don’t miss it, it’s gonna be a cracker!!

E vs MA Hawks

1-2

Goal: Tharaken
Lineup: E. Ciccarello; Reitano, Hurt, T. Smith, G. Bolognese; D. Ciccarello, Woods, J. Smith, Mercuri, Balestrin; Tharaken
Rolling Subs: Fimiani, Photakis

Innamourinho was unable to make the sidelines this week as he had prior commitments in Madrid.

The key to success is consistency. Following a hard graft win last week against Comets we came crashing back down to earth losing this week against league leaders, MA Hawks.

The first half was a battle for ascendancy, the split of possession was at about 50/50 and neither side capitalised on opportunities presented. The most pleasing aspect of this weeks performance was the effort put in and whilst not putting anything on the scoreboard we snuffed out any Hawks threat well. They had a few quality players and were very efficient and its fair to say they will be near the top at seasons end. The half time score of 0-0 was a fair reflection of the game, an Shaun’s half time speech was a good one, leaving no doubt in our minds that the game was there for the taking.

And we came out with a bang! Effort increased and we were more intelligent in controlling the game. We took the lead as well when Vineeth decided he had let it go long enough for this game to score and pounced upon a goal mouth scramble. It was foolish to think that the game was over as Hawks pushed back and it didn’t help that we let them and this played into their hands. Unfortunately we couldn’t ease the pressure and convert the couple of chances that came our way as a result of the counter attack. MA Hawks basically steam rolled us on their way to victory. They gained momentum as they equalised and we couldn’t resist as they scored the winner shortly after. It was unfortunate that even with many experienced players in our realm that not one person could take the reigns and get everyone into line, there was way too much panic whenever we had the ball and we gave it up much too easily.

This one hurt, an opportunity missed big time. The season is far from over though and i’m sure we’ll be back into the winners circle soon.

E at Monarchs

4-0

Goals: D. Ciccarello 3, Tharaken
Lineup: Crisci; Reitano, Hurt, T. Smith, G. Bolognese; Balestrin, Woods, J. Smith, Fimiani; D. Ciccarello, Tharaken
Rolling Sub: Mercuri

Last weeks loss to MA Hawks was a complete downer, knocked the wind from our sails and hurt us on the table. We currently sit third on the table but by no means is this accurate as there isn’t a lineup with the amount of games played across the league. The only undefeated team remaining are Torrens Valley, speaking of only....TV have only one team in the Amateur league, and there is a feeling of David vs Goliath as we’d love to knock them off their perch. Division 6 is going to be interesting to say the least, and this team is far from dead...watch out!

Glittermorati’s team travelled to Grange this week to play against lowly Monarchs on the search for another win and a boost in confidence. Grange is a big pitch and the wind is a big factor making the conditions tricky. Monarchs kicked with the wind in the first half and it meant our concentration levels needed to be at a maximum so that we didn’t concede any silly goals like we had become prone to doing this season. We switched from our normal formation to a 4-4-2, the game on the whole was fairly scrappy and we failed to create space and time on occasion. Vineth was playing a more withheld role and he obviously enjoyed this as he broke forward and beat two defenders to score a great individual effort. As expected we had to deal with a lot of long high balls kicked forward by their keeper, but composure and a good understanding at the back helped with us coping. Tom Smith is definitely an asset to the team in this regard. The other Smith went forward with drive and purpose, but as a familiar tale we didn’t convert as many chances as were created. A corner was in the lead up to the next goal as a ball from the left struck a Monarchs player on the hand and the ref correctly awarded a penalty, which was left to Deano to convert and in turn give us a 2-0 lead going into the half.

The half time instruction was for more of the same and make sure we put the result beyond doubt early on. We pretty much dominated the whole second half, and score two more goals, but it could have been more. Dean was again on the end of some incisive forward play and his positional sense gave him the reward of a hattrick. On the whole it was a good performance and got us back on the winning train, which is what we need as we have a tough game at home this week against Flinders. We need to make sure our preparation is good in the lead up as that’s what hurt us in the two losses this season.

E vs Flinders

9-0

Goals: J. Smith 3, D. Ciccarello 2, Balestrin 2, Tharaken, TOG
Lineup: Crisci; Reitano, Woods, Hurt, G. Bolognese; Innamorati, J. Smith, Balestrin, Fimiani; Tharaken, D. Ciccarello
Rolling Subs: Mercuri, T. Smith

The first weekend of winter and another quintuple header at the superdome. Flinders were an unknown quantity, currently sitting 5th after the initial thought was they had withdrawn from the competition. It was expected to be one of our harder games of the year and this was the most focused we have been this year pre-game.

What ensued was complete domination. Concentration levels where at a premium, defensively we were solid preventing Flinders to sparing opportunities on the counter attack. At the other end of the pitch we carved out opportunity after opportunity and everyone was on top of their game. Balestrin had arguably his best performance yet, some say he was fired up after learning the Cynical Hack didn’t make the printers, others say he was fired up after Federer was shipped out of the French Open this week, whatever it was he certainly set the standard at a high. John Smith was also supreme with his supply and also getting on the end of play to score his hat trick.

The most impressive facet of this weeks game was everything we tried paid off, even the small things like overlapping runs from the full backs. Vineeth continued his goal a game record, he seemingly has a knack of being in the right place at the right time and has great composure in front of goal. It also seems that we have added something to our play with Dean becoming more of a focal point up front, he provides excellent run and is always an example to follow when trying to win the ball.

An excellent win and definitely sends a message to the rest of the league. Torrens Valley only just managed to scrape a win against Vipers this week, it must’ve been that earlier kick off, let’s see how those big babies go next week.

E at Mt Barker

7-0

Goals: Tharaken 3, J. Smith 2, Balestrin, Fimiani
Lineup: Crisci; Reitano, Hurt, T. Smith, G. Bolognese; Fimiani, Woods, J. Smith, Mercuri; Tharaken; Balestrin
Rolling Subs: M. Bolognese, Photakis

Without doubt a favourite away fixture of mine, a nice road trip, great pitch and a quality lunch awaits following the game. More significant games were being played out at Glenunga, with a derby and two cup games and the people’s team seemed a bit forgotten all the way up the freeway. The Mt Barker pitch was absolutely massive, i’m pretty sure it rivals that in size of Strathalbyn’s. That said it was a plush surface and even with the inclement weather from the previous week it was still sure under foot.

We looked to continue our run from the last two weeks and to keep ourselves in the title hunt. Thankfully the game didn’t start off as a borefest and some excellent passing moves ensued. Balestrin was an able replacement to Dean as the last man and once again he had a stellar game, slightly like Emil Heskey (although less black and less massive) as he opened up space for Vineeth to exploit as he continued his fine goal scoring rate. John Smith again had a good game and will surely pick up more brownlow votes. The two wingers, Mercuri and Fimiani, lapped up the open acres as well, time and time again they got past their opponents and created opportunities.

There was confidence in defence even after Danzo hobbled off with a dodgy hamstring, perhaps he didn’t like the prospect of running the entire half each time we had to clear a long ball. Even though we dominated this game, we still had a sense of pride in defence and didn’t want to concede, this was perfectly illustrated first by GD Bolognese and later in the game by Tom Smith both with goal saving, last ditch tackles both amazing pieces of defending. Mick and Manoli provided good skill when they came on and I for one appreciate them helping out. Another great result in a potential banana of a fixture and again we increase our goal difference. Next week we play last season’s hoodoo team, Vipers as we look to keep our winning streak going, Torrens Valley have a game up at Southern Breakers, which means they will have to leave home at about 3am if they have any chance of making it on time via their advanced transport method of horse and cart, good luck breakers!

E at Vipers C2

2-0

Goals: Balestrin, D. Ciccarello
Lineup: Crisci; Reitano, T. Smith, Woods, Pannunzio; Mercuri, Innamorati, J. Smith, Balestrin; D. Ciccarello, Tharaken
Rolling Subs: Dujmovic, Sorgini

E at Southern Breakers

3-2

Goals: Tharaken 2, D. Ciccarello
Lineup: Arboit; Tallarida, J. Smith, Reitano, Sorgini; Mercuri, Innamorati, T. Smith, Balestrin; D. Ciccarello, Tharaken
Rolling Subs: Fimiani, Al Hinai

E vs Mt Barker United

14-1

Goals: D. Ciccarello 5, Tharaken 3, Balestrin 2, J. Smith 2, T. Smith 2
Lineup: Ruciak; Tallarida, Reitano, T. Smith, Sorgini; Fimiani, Mercuri, J. Smith, Balestrin; D. Ciccarello, Tharaken
Rolling Subs: Pannunzio, G. Bolognese

The E train rolled on as we managed to scrape a win last week against the struggling Southern Breakers and we were back on home turf this week to play Mt Barker.

I’ll tell you the truth even though I “watched” this one from the sidelines and I saw the ball go in the back of the net I can only remember the buildup on few occasions. As the scoreline suggests we dominated this contest from the first and probably could have won by more. Not to sound arrogant but skillwise we were superior and that’s all we needed today. However we need to be aware that much more will be required when we face much harder opposition in the weeks to come, including a tricky away trip to FC Adelaide.

What’s pleasing is that even with new people in the team and others playing out of position we still managed to turn on the style. Another good factor is the goal scoring run of our attackers and this will be crucial in the run if they can perform like today in all remaining fixtures.

This has been a pleasing run and we haven’t dropped points since we lost to MA Hawks, a week off is well deserved. Well done all.

E vs FC Adelaide

6-1

Goals: D. Ciccarello 4, Balestrin, J Smith (pen)
Lineup: Crisci; Sorgini, Woods, Hurt, G, Bolognese; J. Smith, Fimiani, De Simoni; Tharaken, D. Ciccarello, Balestrin
Rolling Subs: T. Smith, Innamorati

F at Hazara

1-6

Goals: Kedem (pen)
Lineup: Ruciak; N. Nguyen (Lissner), Angley, G. Bolognese, H. Nguyen; Merullo (Caeran), Dujmovic, Kedem, Pannunzio, Ranse; Durand

The Fs travelled down Torrens Road to the new Afghani club Hazara for their first competitive encounter for the season. Plans were almost thrown into chaos with Alex and Ilan not showing up until 5 minutes before the game by somehow not managing to read google maps properly, but we started with 11.

The match got off to a poor start with Nathaniel Nguyen trying to outdo Bucky's record of injuries in a season, limping off after 5 minutes with a quad strain, and that moment pretty much summed up the day's performance. By half time we were 3-0 down, with most of the goals coming from individual mistakes and a lack of decisiveness defensively. The only real highlight of the first half was a cracking first time volley by captain Michael "Netball Bibs" Pannunzio from just inside the box only narrowly missing the top corner.

Come the second half we changed from the OISC favourite 4-2-3-1 to a traditional 4-4-2. However, the brilliant improvisation of the previously mentioned captain to play on the wrong side of midfield for the first 10 minutes left us with 2 right wingers and no-one on the left. It was quite ironic, then, that our only goal did come from a Pannunzio cross which the Hazara player quite clearly stuck his arm out to stop. Ilan converted the penalty, and we thought there may have been hope. However, the fitness and work rate of the Hazara players meant that they were simply able to run over the top of us by the end of the second half, and it culminated in a 6-1 defeat.

We did manage to do some things right on the day, but it is important to note that the F's are playing in the Division 4B reserves league, so good results will be hard to come by throughout the season, but so long as we keep putting in the effort we may be able to help the D's reclaim their title.

F vs Flinders (2)

0-1

Lineup: Ruciak; Ranse, A. Kitching, Angley, H. Nguyen; Dujmovic, Kantilaftas, Merullo, Sorgini, Pannunzio; T. Cosentino
Rolling Subs: Lissner, Fantasia, Durand

Think of the worst game you've ever watched. This one was probably worse than that. The F Grade came up against Flinders (2) in the Saturday Division 4 B for the first time this season, and it wasn't a good performance by any stretch of the imagination. Flinders were a lot taller and physically stronger than all of our players, and we were muscled off the ball time and time again.

Up against the tactic of "Their goalkeeper gets the ball and throws it over halfway to land on the head of an 8ft tall giant called Peaches," we were unable to deal with their continual dominance of possession. After 4 minutes a sloppy goal was conceded, but to the credit of the lads we were able to remain in the contest for the rest of the game. There were no real highlights of note, with the only real chance being Jake Kantilaftis' driving shot on the counter attack that forced their keeper into a save. The standout players had to be Rob Fantasia, who in his typical animal fashion put in a stellar performance whether being played in central midfield or defense, and also Andrew Kitching, who adjusted his Friday Night schedule with a later kickoff than he was previously used to in the E's last season. Individually most of the players had decent performances, Tom Cosentino had a tough role playing up front, and James Dujmovic and Alex Merullo performed admirably, but we just didn't seem to click as a team. Passes going astray, conceding possession too often, and the a lack of talk (and listening in some cases) which really needs to be addressed by all the players. The game was further tarnished by the poor standard of refereeing, with all respect for the officials being lost after about 50 minutes, but this was mainly due to player frustrations by both sides. It was an improvement defensively, (the first 4 minutes aside), but we still have a lot of work to do in order to get our first points of the season.

F vs Strathalbyn

2-2

Goals: T. Cosentino, Photakis
Lineup: Ruciak; Pannunzio, Angley, G. Bolognese, Ranse; Sorgini, Photakis, Fantasia, Dujmovic; T. Cosentino, Kantilaftas
Rolling Subs: Lissner

Upon arriving at the Glenunga fortress, OISC F's were considerably outnumbered by the travelling Strathalbyn faithful. We were unsure whether coach Bacon would have to go in goals, but luckily 2 minutes before kickoff Daryl was able to make it from the E-grade game.

The match started very positively, with the grace, finesse, and untamed power of Manoli Photakis's hair in the centre of midfield. The "Leach 4-2-3-1" was abandoned to good effect, with a more traditional 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield proving to be very successful. Jake Kantilaftis tore things up with his left foot, and some of his long range efforts nearly paid off. The best early chance, though, came to Manoli's hair, with a lashing shot from the top of the box being deflected off the keeper, onto the post, and back onto the keeper. Our pressure paid off, with a Kantilaftis corner causing Greg Angley to create a mockery of the Strathalbyn defense. Tom Cosentino (T-Cos) bundled home the scraps to make it 1-0.

Shortly before half-time though, we conceded with a long ball over the top not being dealt with, and their striker smartly finishing in the far stanchion.

The second half brought a few changes, most notably on the sidelines, where the crocodile hunter had taken the assistant's flag, and Strathalbyn coach Robert De Niro was become more vocal. Strathalbyn were pulling changes here, there, and everywhere, with 20 substitutions for the match. The second half was by far our best half of football defensively and offensively this season, with pressure on the ball from our midfield and attackers being a highlight. Michael Sorgini was tireless with his pressure down the right hand side, and James Dusmanovic was brilliant in the holding midfield role. We had a few good shots through Jake Kantilaftis and T-Cos, whilst captain Pannunz may have wished he was playing in netball bibs with 2 shots going well over the bar.

Our pressure paid off with 20 minutes to go, when Manoli's Hair got a deflected shot past the Strathalbyn, and we seemed to be cruising to our first victory. However, a cheap free-kick 25 yards from goal was conceded, and a mistake by Daryl in goals allowed Strath to pull one back with 10 minutes to go. We piled on the pressure, while Strathalbyn kept on making rolling substitutions to rival that of the Crows. J.D. was left narrating his life on the sidelines after being cynically hacked towards the end, and we kept the pressure up. Unfortunately, though, the winning goal did not arrive.

A great all-round performance, and the improvement in the side since a disastrous round 1 has been huge. Perhaps this is the new coach, or the boot-camp style coaching of Innamourinho during trainings, but our first victory is not far away if we produce performances like that.

F vs Flinders (3)

3-6

Goals: C. Gauro, Photakis, Lissner
Lineup: Ruciak; Pannunzio, Angley, Caeran, Lissner; Ranse, Dujmovic, C. Gauro, Kantilaftas; T. Cosentino, Durand
Rolling Subs: Fantasia, Merullo, Photakis, Woods

Not submitted.

F vs Greenock Town

2-8

Goals: Fantasia, Pannunzio
Lineup: Lissner; Merullo, Angley, Kostadinov, Caeran; Ranse, T. Moseley, Pannunzio, Dujmovic; D. Moseley, Durand
Rolling Subs: Fantasia, Sorgini, H. Nguyen

An isolated feeling surrounded the F's, with the only match at Glenunga this week against a solid Grennock Town outfit visiting.

We were confident before the game, but Brett Durand's decision to not get us to warm up until 10 minutes before kickoff proved fatal. 3 Goals against in the first 15 minutes set the tone for the day. Their goalkeeper was booting the ball over our defenders who should be used to the Glenunga slope. It was about this time that The Animal arrived during the game. In the first half we were pretty weak up forward, with not many chances being created.

Special mention to the 3 first-timers this week. Mr. Squiggle made his long awaited return following more than a year out with a knee reconstruction, along with the new set of brothers, Tristan and x? setting a new standard of lookalikes, only matched by the E-graders Tom/John Smith, who all showed great displays.

The highlight of the first half was a burst of pace by Sorge, running the entire length of the field (10 metres) with the ball before shooting just wide.

It was 0-4 by half time and any real contest was over. Bacon was dominant in the second half in goals, with a couple of saves that would have Pim Verbeek questioning whether he should've taken 5 goalies in the provisional Socceroos squad. We conceded a couple more soft goals, and were 8-0 down.

Then, all of a sudden, a resurgence! A Mr. Squiggle put in "Not a good corner, but still turned in, brilliantly by Zola" as The Animal showed the work of a magician. The Glenunga Fortress and its 3 spectators were pumping after this masterpiece of a goal, and it lifted the home side. Immediate pressure from the kickoff and a quick and intelligent free-kick which was choreographed by Mr. Squiggle/Robin Gibb gave Netball Bib's Pannunz his first competitive goal for the club, with a deft header over the onrushing keeper.

A poor performance, but a great finish, which had spirits held high and almost felt like a win. Which was great considering it was a 6 goal loss.

2 Weeks until the D's vs F's match, and the eagerly anticipated matchup between Netball Bibs Pannunz's beard, and David Leach's blonde tipped hairs. Expect a Claudio Gentile vs Maradona performance from today's second goalscorer.

F at Adelaide Red/Blue Eagles

1-9

Goal: Al Hinai
Lineup: Nathan; Sorgini, Angley, Lissner, McKibbin; Merullo, T. Cosentino, Kantilaftas, Dujmovic; Al Hinai, Durand

The cold journey to Headquarters was going to be a tough day when 50% of the Friday morning squad having already pulled out, and the remaining substitute falling sick less than an hour before kick-off, meaning we would be in for a tough encounter. Fitness has always been an issue, especially for coach Bacon, and playing with the bare minimum would take it out of the lads.

We were relegated to the rear pitch, but memories of the B’s Cup semi final last year hoped for some more pleasant memories at this ground. We were working against the wind in the first half; it was blowing a gale to the North, and not across the pitch as expected.

The past 2 weeks the lads have started with some defensive lapses, and unfortunately it was the same again against Red/Blue Eagles. We had kick off but lost the ball quickly, and RBE were able to push forward a score within the first 2 minutes. Our keeper Custard Guts was unable to stop a lot of the onslaught, and given his first game in outdoor goals in 5 years, was unsure of the rules. An indirect free kick inside the box after 5 minutes was luckily miskicked and put out. But the attacking continuing, and OISC were 4 goals down after 20 mins, and really up against it. Jake was moved into Centre Back to put a bit of pace back there, given the good diagonal balls that RBE were putting past the lads, with Bacon moving onto the left wing. This appeared to slow RBE down a bit.

A few more attacking moves by OISC came from this, however three times we were called offside when clearly it was on. Zee decided, the next time attacking he would just take them all on himself, and take the linesman out of the equation. A nice ball into the middle, and Zee called on Allah to keep to ball at his feet passing 4 defenders, and somehow putting the ball in the net. But a 5th from RBE shortly before the break took the wind out of our sails.

A nice chat from the ref, telling Zee he needs to pass the ball occasionally and we can beat these guys. A few positional changes, with Sorg switching to right back for Alex M, and Bacon going upfront trying to recapture his goal-scoring form, and James Duj covering the middle of the defence with Angley, and Cosi dropping into the DM spot. But RBE continued to play the ball wherever they liked. Nathan pulled off a few good saves, but the high number of shots meant a few were going to go in. Bacon came back into defence, switching with James Kitching.

A few late attacking moves from OISC gave hope of a 2nd, but the final whistle couldn’t come quick enough for the brave 11 lads. 9-1 in the end, and a disappointing end to a game where it was felt something could be taken from it.

The derby awaits next week, and hopefully this game can be a defining moment for the F’s.

F vs OISC (2)

0-8

Lineup: Ruciak; Ranse, A. Kitching, Dujmovic, McKibbin; Al Hinai, Pannunzio, Angley, Kantilaftas; Durand, T. Cosentino
Rolling Subs: Lissner, Merullo, Sorgini, Fantasia, H. Nguyen

It was a big day at Glenunga, with the derby providing a great curtain raiser to the epic A's cup match. Unfortunately for the F's, it was a sign for Australia's poor efforts against Germany the following night.

It started quite sprightly, with the F's being able to maintain composure in the first half, with a much improved defensive effort, which saw us only 3-0 down by half time. The best chance of the half (and the match) was a driving shot by Sorge that Emerson just managed to push out for a corner.

Our spirit was high, although ultimately we knew we weren't ever going to get anything from the game, but our work rate was top notch. We were able to maintain the poor man's Gauro (Matt) to a solitary effort, whilst Chris missed numerous efforts under pressure, whilst gaining a hat trick.

Back on our side, special mentions have to go to Sorge, who runs with the pace of a steam train, Jake who's driving left foot will be a force to be reckoned with for the epic clash that will be the battle for the bottom with Adelaide Uni Div 4B clash. Let's hope the crowd improves on the last F's exclusive of a poultry 3.

F vs Adelaide Uni (3)

4-4

Goals: Durand 2, T. Cosentino, Kantilaftas
Lineup: Ruciak; D. Mosely, Fantasia, Caeran, McKibbin; Merullo, T. Cosentino, T. Moseley, Kantilaftas; Durand, Lissner
Rolling Subs: Tharaken, Woods, Dujmovic

The bottom of the table clash with Adelaide Uni gave the F's hope of getting their first victory of the season. Was the dog t*rd in the southern 6 yard box an omen of the day to come?

The loss of 3 F grade regulars to the E's, and Chief getting a late work callup meant a bit of a change in personnel for the defence, with Adrian & Animal pairing up in the middle of defence & David M taking the right back spot.

First chance of the game came in the first 2 minutes with Brett making a deep run in the box, and crossing the ball but Bacon was 2 steps behind and the keeper mopped it up easily.

Uni had the ball in the net after about 6 minutes, when a corner was swung into the 6 yard box, and one of the 6 blokes they had over 6'4 appeared to chest the ball in, but both he and the ref called it hand ball.

The defence was holding strong, but after about 10 mins, a switching ball across the back four was miskicked after sticking in the mud, and the Uni attacker intercepted and ran into the box for a 1 on 1 with Daryl, and the striker slotted the ball in to go 1-0 up.

OISC fired up and attacked from the kick off, and equalised about 2 minutes later, when Tom Cosentino put a lovely through ball into Brett's path and he had an easy path to the goals.

The game to and fro'd for another 10 mins or so, until Uni won another corner, and the ball was beautifully headed into the top corner, for 2-1. The lack of Chief & Greg's height was going to make defending corners difficult today.

Woodsy had made the trek from the E's, with Duj & Sorg to give us more options. Woods went into CB for Adey, and Sorg & Duj took midfield spots from Tristan & Cheech.

Uni went 3-1 up after 35 mins when a shot from outside the box curled into the top left corner, which if he took that shot another 50 times, it wouldn't go in. One out of his ar$e.

But the boys dug in, and with about 2 to go in the half, Tom followed up a shot at the keeper when he fumbled, and Tom got his body in between the keeper and the ball, held it at his feet and the keeper tried to jump all over him, giving the ref no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Tom capitalised on his good work, scoring from the spot.

3-2 at the half, and we knew we could go on with this. The only real chances they were having were easily mopped up by Daryl, who was really commanding the area.

Not long into the 2nd half, and we were level. Brett won the ball near the edge of the centre circle, took on the defence and slotted it home. Vintage Brett goal there!

Jake put us in front around the 60 minute mark, with a great shot from the left.

Uni equalised with about 10 to go, after a ball was cleared by the defence but smacked into the attacker, and missed all the defenders and landed at the feet of the allegedly offside attacker, who had enough time to score.

We continued to attack, with Zee & Sorg both having chances to get that 5th goal, but it proved to be elusive.

The fact we didn't give up and took the lead from 2 goals down was the most impressive aspect of the game, and that first win isn't too far away.

A month's break now for the F's to recuperate (unless there's a friendly in a fortnight) & build on the improvements we have made in the last 8 rounds.

F vs Hazara

2-0

Hazara forfeited