WESTERN ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB
EST 1913
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Western Div 4 v’s Papanui-Redwood – Saturday 28th June
With the rain pelting down and a cold southerly blowing up a storm the Western 4th Div travelled to Redwood park with another depleted squad. Although we were playing the bottom of the league team it was the right kind of weather for an upset and with 8 players missing from our squad we were a little worried.
We won the toss and decided to play with the wind behind us, we started off well with a great strike by Steve Brown just missing the target within the first few minutes, and this was a sign to of things to come.
We continued to press on them with us having most of the possession, when they did get the ball they tried to clear it long but struggle as the wind just held the ball in the air without it travelling very far at all. At about the 15min mark Tim Burgess whipped in a great corner which was flicked on to the back post by Blair Hinman for Casey Ayres to slot home with a great strike, 1-0.
We continue to pepper their goal throughout the first half, with Casey Ayers having a couple of cracking shots, Paul Simpson coming close with a diving header, and their goal keeper making some great saves, tipping a shot by Steve Brown around the post, a shot by Paul Brobyn over the bar and an amazing save from a shot by Tim Burgess just managing to touch it onto the post.
We came off at half time feeling that although we played well and dominated the game the wind was worth much more than a 1 goal lead and their keeper was having a blinder and they were not going to be easy to beat.
We came out in the second half and started to dominate play just like the first, we passed the ball around and continued to press on their goal. About 55mins in we had another breakthrough, Steve Brown put a beautiful thru ball out to the right splitting their defence for Casey Ayers to run through and hit a cracking effort passed the keeper. About 5 mins later Casey put a great cross in right on Paul Simpsons head only for the keeper to come out a make a goal saving challenge, unfortunately for him the ball bounced to the back post and landed right at Blair Hinmans feet completely unmarked for him to easily stroke the ball into the back of the net.
We continue to push for more goals and with about 25 mins left we nearly got caught out at the back, with about their only attack of the half Papanui-Redwood played a long ball down the right to one of their forwards who managed to find a bit of space and head towards the box, Tony Cribb came along to try and tackle him only falling over and creating a scramble for the ball by all players. The ball eventually got cleared and found Paul Simpson unmarked in the middle of the park, he played a great ball thru to Casey, the keeper came out and tried to collect the ball but fumbled and Casey was able to slot the ball home for his hat trick.
With about 10mins to go Steve Brown got the goal he had deserved all match, Leighton Stringer played the ball in from the right finding Paul Brobyn on the edge of the box who put the ball thru to Steve Brown unmarked just inside the box for him to turn and slot the ball passed the keeper, rounding off a great performance from our player of the day.
The win keeps us in second place and puts pressure on Cashmere at the top,
with still lots to play for.
Top
Masters Division 2 Vs Cashmere - 28/6/08
In a game transferred from the Elmwood Park cauldron to Burwood Park, Western
Masters Division 2 played Cashmere who had hammered us 4 – 1 the previous
round. Thankfully the pitch was abysmal which leveled the teams up and gave
us a chance and we went to the break only 1 – 0 down, thanks to Cahill’s
heroics in goal.
Second half it was their turn to referee and Woodsy saved the day with a well timed hack to stop their striker who was offside for the forth time in ten minutes. The usual shouting followed and their very old Scottish referee actually stated, “I am allowing a few yards grace for off sides because of the conditions.” An extraordinary comment given that it is probably not in FIFA rules, but with Charlie Dempsey setting the benchmark, making new rules up is something the Scots obviously feel they can do! Unfortunately he didn’t seem to allow us the same leniency. Cashmere promptly changed the referee and we started to get back into the game. The tireless Schute crossed yet another, which fell invitingly for Adams who smacked a bullet first time into the top of the net. But with a minute to go we had a chance to win when a cross to the far post, was headed just wide by Jackson who has scored from far harder positions.
The final score ended 1 – 1 and cemented our place in seventh position and left the Burwood Park pitch in an unplayable condition for the rest of the season.
MEN’S 3RD DIVISION V PARKLANDS, Saturday 21 June at Elmwood Park.
Ideal soccer conditions greeted our arrival at Elmwood Park for a match we were confident of winning, following on from our best result of the season the week before in beating (the then top equal) Burnside B 5-3. Also Parklands were bottom, but we had struggled to put them away in the 1st round (winning only 1-0 with a late goal) so a better performance than last time against them was certainly needed!
However Parklands were closest to scoring first and only a good one on one block by our goalie, Jason (“Gordon Banks”) Smith, denied them. Not long after this though we got on the board when left midfielder Patricio (“Tevez”) Cardenas played a great angled through ball to Miguel “(Maradonna”) Quironez, who finished his perfectly timed run by drawing the goalie and finishing expertly from a tight angle (just like the night before?!) Then soon after this big Connor (“Niall Quinn”) Lomax crossed accurately from the left, for Dave (“Gary Linneker”) Baldwin to score with a well placed header, his 17th goal so far of a very consistent and prolific season.
Parklands then briefly threatened when a right wing centre drifted on to the crossbar, but that was virtually the last time in the game they looked like scoring and we were soon back on the attack – after a good passing move Dave Baldwin penetrated into the box (also just like the night before?!) before being comprehensively chopped down, and Andriy (“Chevchenko”) Shyhov coolly slotted the resulting penalty. Parklands then had a player sent off for dissent and foul language and we effectively wrapped the game up before halftime, when from an almost rehearsed set piece move a hard, low near post corner was flicked on to John (“Steve Gerard”) Thompson, who controlled it very well before smashing home an unstoppable volley from close range. It was John’s 1st goal of the season, but his 118th goal overall for the team going back to the 1992 season!
With a 4-0 lead at half time and Parklands a man short, our small but vociferous band of loyal supporters – including injured players Ricardo (“Christiano Ronaldo”) Villagran and Richard (“Bobby Moore”) Dixon plus Reserves Grant (“Beckenbauer”) Straker and Mike (“Michel Platini”) Brown - eagerly anticipated a double figure goal glut. But this didn’t look likely in a somewhat scrappy 2nd half, as our approach play fell away somewhat and Parklands defended gamely. However with tireless captain Ruben (“Michael Ballack”) Carson driving the team on from midfield more goals did eventually follow, firstly Connor being nicely on hand to thump in a rebound from the crossbar from a yard out, then Tim (“Frank Lampard”) Ratcliffe scored the goal of the game with a 30 yard screamer (no, nothing to do with the gorgeous Gunny, as our beloved President Stu would say!).
By this stage recent former player and fervent supporter Brendan (“David Beckham”) Kearney was constantly badgering the Coach to push Darryl (“Carlos Alberto”) Ward forward from his usual left back position, in the hope of Darryl scoring his first goal for the team for many seasons. While the Coach was normally very adept at managing to look totally interested in but somehow not quite actioning most of Brendan’s fascinatingly radical soccer theories over the years, he did on this occasion recognise the justness of the cause espoused and duly did aWard Darryl promotion up to left midfield. As the sideline erected, sorry erupted, at this bold move the normally quiet, consistent and skilful defender Darryl responded by shamelessly abandoning any pretence of interest in defensive responsibilities in his new position and enthusiastically chased the holy grail of that most beautiful thing in soccer, a gaol!
And then with 5 minutes to go came our 7th goal and the scorer was………………………….DARRYL WARD!! A corner was partially cleared to him and from the far left hand side of the box he put over a beautiful curving chip shot, which hit the top of the right hand post, bounced out onto the defender on the line’s back, hit the post again and dribbled in – for as almost clean a goal as one could wish to see. As the whole team rejoiced Brendan and Grant (“Wayne Rooney”) Woolhouse raced onto the field and enthusiastically ravished, sorry embraced, Darryl - who had been modestly celebrating his momentous achievement with only lasso then aeroplane manoeuvres, before this interruption from the sideline! But Darryl did modestly manage to look only quietly pleased with himself, as he rearranged his clothing.
The game finished soon afterwards at 7-0 and naturally attention focussed on Darryl, with the Coach warmly congratulating him on his role in the vital match clinching OWN GOAL! However after due reconsideration and prompting from Brendan and the team and Brendan, it was decided that Darryl should be credited with the goal - as long as he came back to the clubrooms to shout the team! The man of the hour naturally agreed to this (then didn’t turn up, apparently going to the rugby test. But the team will still be keen to celebrate with you this Saturday Darryl!).
So Darryl was man of the match and the only disappointment of the day was not getting the team of the day award back at the clubrooms. That was despite Paul Faithful and others adding vociferous support for this just cause, which as Jimmy (“Zinedine Zidane”) Small reminded our beloved President Stu, should have been clinched by 5 of our team going along to a Coastal Spirit quiz the Saturday night before and winning it out of 18 teams, on top of our 7-0 win (with 7 different goal scorers!). Dave (“Corbin Bensen”) Small did mention the possibility of legal action, but this was one of only many things discussed in the always jovial atmosphere of THE WESTERN clubrooms.
Finally the Coach was requested to confirm exactly when Darryl’s last goal was and after extensive research, through cobwebs and dusty folders in the bat infested attic of his home, managed to unearth the following fascinating information on Darryl’s goal scoring feats for our team;
1992 – 1 goal in 4th Division
1995 – 1 goal in 2nd Division
1999 – 1 goal in 1st Division
2008 – 1 goal in 3rd Division
So thus with 4 goals over the course of 17 seasons, Darryl has managed to score in each of the top 4 divisions! What a man and what a player! (and it’s still your shout on Saturday Darryl!).
Signed
The Coach (satisfied, but guaranteed to be thirsty after the game on Saturday)
Western Masters 45+ vs Nomads Wonderers - Updated!!!
Saturday 21 June
For the club's "golden oldies", defending their awesome 2007 league and cup double titles, this was never going to be an easy season. With half the squad aged over 50 now, struggling to score goals and enduring an unprecedented plague of injuries this term, we were sitting firmly in 4th place in the table as we headed to Tulett Park to play a Nomads team just one place and six points below us.
With no fewer than eight squad players out injured or unavailable, the four age-eligible fill-in players that kindly turned out for us this week ensured an unfamiliar starting line-up. We started brightly, albeit our play was only partly effective, with too many passes out of defence or through the middle ending up at an opponent's feet. With John Hinton and Robbie Withers sitting solid at the back, we started to enjoy a bit more possession, with fill-in Barry Dyer in central midfield feeding Morris Parker and Graham Palmer out on the flanks, whilst our striking pair of Simon Murphy and Brian Parker probed away at the Nomads defence, who were playing the offside rule particularly well with our strikers getting caught out on a number of occasions when in promising situations.
With both teams possessing very capable goalkeepers, it was always going to be a case of taking the few chances as they came and accurately placing the ball well away from the keeper's reach. Our first real chances came as Graham Palmer narrowly headed wide as the ball was played at pace to the far post, followed by a Barry Dyer volleyed effort dragged wide of the upright. Then, against the run of play, we conceded a goal. Nomads seized on a loose ball, laid it out wide before their left half hit a speculative long-range shot, the flight of which deceived Brent Wall in goal as the ball arced beyond his reach and dipped into the far corner of our net. Not for the first time this season, we were going to have to come from behind.
The team responded by stepping up a gear (if you can imagine that at our age), but again we weren't looking after the ball well enough when in possession, so real chances up front became few and far between right up to the half-time whistle. As the second half got under way, the game became very scrappy as both teams struggled with the low winter sun, making it hard to mark-up or make runs side-on and pick up the flight of the ball, resulting in too many first-time touches being not quite right as we piled on pressure in search of an equaliser.
Still, the longer the game wore on, the stronger we looked, despite a couple of hairy moments at the back before Kenny Corrigan came on to steady matters in his familiar sweeping role, despite carrying a back injury sustained a week earlier. At that point we became tidier in defence and Nomads started to tire.
As we entered the last 15 minutes of the game, we were starting to dominate albeit still with no reward. Slick combinations then resulted in a goal-bound effort being deflected over their own bar by a Nomads defender. Minutes later, their keeper made a great save, anticipating the flight of the ball and smothering a well-struck curled shot from Brian Parker which on another day would have had 'goal' written all over it. Then finally, 10 minutes from time, we equalised with a great team goal. Kenny Corrigan played the ball out from defence via Martin Walsh out wide to Graham Palmer, and as Simon Murphy set off on a diagonal run creating some space in the middle, the play was switched back across the field from right to left from where the ball was played out wide by Mike Tamplin to Morris Parker, then to Wally Cribb on the overlap, who ran on and delivered a perfect cross for Brian Parker who timed his run perfectly into the Nomads goal area, and as he pulled the trigger to shoot past the keeper, a last-ditch effort by a Nomads defender to clear the ball resulted in a solidly-struck own goal.
With the score at 1-1 with just a few minutes to play, our guys pressed for a winner, but the chance we needed to secure all three points never came as the final whistle went with us having to share the points away from home on this occasion. Brian Parker was nominated player of the day, for his tireless running both in attack and when coming back to help out in defence as he needed to do with a couple of our fill-in players tiring.
So we stay entrenched in 4th position in the table, in what is proving to be a much stronger division than last season. Bring on St Albans-Shirley next week when hopefully we'll have one or two players back from injury. Who said Masters football is meant to be purely sociable rather than competitive ? They must be joking !
Ken Hunter
Western Division Two vs Coastal Spirit
Saturday 14th June
It was another week of make or break for the mighty Div Two this week as we took on second to bottom Coastal Spirit away.
It has be a renaissance year for us this season having boxed, not perhaps above our weight but certainly above our fitness levels. Going into the game we had only dropped two points so far this season and those were to Coastal Spirit in round two. With Ferrymead Bays breathing down our necks, it was (as they all are now) a must win game.
A trip to Bexley is always a much anticipated affair and again this year we were not dissappointed.
We were drawn on the number two field, which in all fairness should be their number twenty two field. A cow paddock if ever I saw one, all that was missing was an electrical fence and a watering trough. Lords cricket ground has a charming slope, cow paddock number two had such a slope I was worried if the white lines would run into the far goal.
To cut a long story medium we started not too bad. With injuries to P Johnstone, G Pocock & B Woodgate the side had a new'ish look to it. Welcome back the The G Man for his first full game of the season. We created plenty of chances down the right hand side with Marcus and Jason Weafer combining well.
Unfortunately though the chances were not converted with myself missing at least a couple of good ones and E Archer playing slightly deeper we were heading to the break looking dicy.
Finally a through ball was cut square by myself out to the edge of the box with Archer and Roberts queuing up to slot home. Despite a good effort by the keeper charging out Eugene was cool enough to get a toe in to take the lads of the paddock 1-0 up at half time.
The second half promised little and delivered even less. Whilst Coastal Spirit matched a dire ground with even worse touch, control and poise we simply couldn't score that extra goal to take the result to a decent comfort level. Our defence has only conceed five goals this season and again never really looked to be troubled but at 1-0 you never know.
Finally the chance came and Archer was pulled back in the box for a penalty. After an earlier rather average free kick in the first half Marc Roberts was over looked for the penalty and with Bruce Woodgate off the field, the resposibility was given to Archer to convert his own chance.
What followed was quite possibly the worst penalty I have ever seen. Think John Terry / David Beckham slips and you are halfway there. Eugene my have slipped on a cow pat truth be told and skewed high wide and handsome into the adjoining dog park.
The rest of the game was as bad as the penalty. The defence was sound but everyone was clearly worried about letting the points slip as we had done in the previous round.
A fantastic substitute by Manager Jeff Dixon brought Ally on and five minutes from the end he fed a good ball through to myself wide right on the goal line to chip over the keeper to the far post to be met with a good solid header from Marc Roberts for his first of the season.
2-0 and the boys were home. A final goal by yours truely on full time came with a good ball to feet from Roberts to Smith at the top of the D. Turned the defender inside out, left foot shot, final whistle, all over red rover.
With an average age of 37 and only two players under 30 it is a huge credit to the side that not only are we competitive in this league but are winning it.
Player of the day was Jules Morris, however if I was was voting I would have given it to myself with two assits and a goal for 9/9 for the season. (plus he made me write the article.....)
In the end we left Bexley with three points and just as important all my hub caps.
Bring on Ferrymead Bays next week for the top of the table clash that will surely decide the season.
Your reporter on site
Aaron (Spanky) Smith
Reserves VS Ferrymead Bays 07/06/08
The reserves travelled to Barnett Park on Saturday to play Ferrymead Bays in what turned out to be the true definition of the phrase a game of two halves.
As the game kicked off the predicted southerly arrived and captian Marc Ruiter was entrusted to will the toss and get us playing into the head wind as we knew it was only going to get worse. However I wasn't that confident in his coin tossing abilities as he hadn't won one all season and true to form he lost the toss and so we had the advantage of the wind in the first half.
We kicked off in a positive manner trying to take advantage of the strong wind we had with us and found ourselves a goal up after 5 minutes. A free kick from the right was headed back across goal and Victor Ganescu was first to react blasting the ball in off the crossbar, scoring his first goal for Western. We pressed forward looking for a 2nd goal but the wind was resulting in a number of over hit passes by us and Ferrymead struggeling to get the ball out of there own half so instead they concentrated on keeping players behind the ball.
This enabled us to get into the final third on a number of occasions but we were unable to break there defence down so we attempted to shoot from distance but we wern't able to test the keeper.
The half time team talk remained positive as we felt that having the wind would make life just as difficult for them as it proved for us. However just as the 2nd half began the southerly changed from a strong wind into somewhere betwen gale force and hurricane force wind. Accompanied by sleet and hail the tempreture dipped to sub zero and we knew that the 2nd half was going to be tough!!!!
However the team to date had only conceded 3 goals this season so confidence in our defencive organisation was high although this confidence was severly tested when the first goal kick we had went up in the air and promptly went back over the kickers head and out for a corner (I kid you not) Fortunatly there corner also went straight out so we had another go at it and this time Shane Rose took the goal kick only to find the ball flying back to him so he had to volley his own goal kick away.
The 2nd half was basically a reverse of the first with Bays being able to control possesion and us putiing bodies behind the ball.
As we've done all season the team defended well and restricted Bays to long shots which despite the difficult condtions were dealt with superbly by goalkeeper Darren Mould.
With about 20 minutes to go we brought on our subs Danny Hill for Ruiter and Andrei for Mike Brown. The game continued in the same vein untill 5 minutes from the end we manged to figure out that dribbling the ball was the easiest way to make some yards and from this we managed to score a 2nd goal. A strong run from Mike Lord ended with pass to victor up who was able to gain a few more yards before delivering a cross into the box which found the unmarked Danny Hill arriving at the back post to slot home first time.
This seemd to take the stuffing out of bays and from similar circumstances we manged to score a 3rd goal. A strong run from Blair Harkness found John Sairawpan free and he weighted his pass for the overlapping run of Danny Hill perfectly
who calmley rounded the goal keeper to score our third.
The final whislte came and the usual plesentries of shaking hands was replaced by a made dash to the changing sheds for a hot shower
An excellant win in difficult conditions which has seen us go to the top of the league on goal difference.
Player of the Day was Darren Mould.
Senior Team
Robbie Stanton
12 Millcroft Place
383-3146 Home
383-1149 Fax
0274362055 Mobile
stanty@xtra.co.nz
Manager
Graham Allan
23 Squire Street
385-6067 Home
357-2314 Work
0275431923 Mobile
frecky1@xtra.co.nz
Reserve Team
Tony Gumley
15A Stourbridge Street
335-0777 Home
341-6400 Word (Between 9am & 1pm)
tonygumley@hotmail.com
Division Two
Jeff Dixon
6 Harrall Place
Kaiapoi
327-3915 Home
962-0822 Work
021464972 Mobile
jeff@jamesdunlop.co.nz
Division Three
Bert Walker
43 Smith Street
389-2007 Home
bert.walker@osh.dol.govt.nz
Division Four
Paul Brobyn
25 Ngarimu St
9802339 Home
021960728 Mobile
brobyns@paradise.net.nz
Division Five
Mark Thomas
112a Gayhurst Road
385-0119 Home
357-8650 Work
mark.w.thomas@eds.com
Presidents B
Andrew Moorby
13 Cass Bay Place
Lyttleton
3289291 Home
3635794 Work
Masters Div 2
Tony Woods
126 Turners Road
Styx
323-7706 Home
towoo@paradise.net.nz
Masters Over 45
Morris Parker
33 Havana Gardens
386-2468 Home
021532458 Mobile
fungus.soccer@ihug.co.nz