Mauling at Mangere

As we pulled in to Centre Park and saw the Northern league side out we knew that there would be no changing rooms, Coxy suggested we ‘circle the wagons’ for shelter. Life looked good, we had subs and the prospect of improving our goal tally as the Taxi Boys had conceded 29 goals in four games.

TD was the official for the first half and within 5 minutes of kick off some delightful football from Marty M, John M and Brian released Graham to slot home inside the 18 yard box. 2 minutes later the ‘samba’ swagger was back with neat one-two play from John M inside the 18 yard box setting up a fine drive from Brian. The build up play from Mike and Pete C was a joy to watch. 12 minutes gone and again great moving football through midfield and out wide saw a deft dummy from Graham to allow Marty M to slot home.

The first 25 minutes was lovely football and soon everybody wanted some action. Pete C shot wide, John Mac went for a run. The moment of the half fell to our ‘little general’ Liam. He collected the ball inside our half and off he went, side-step here, drop of shoulder there, and even time to shout “get out of my way”, before lifting a curling shot towards the top right hand corner of the net. The keeper just got a hand to it – oh what could have been, just like watching Maradonna vs. England ’86.

Then things started to change. The hard ground and physical undercurrent of the match took its toll, we lost Ants to a dead leg, Marty dislocated his finger and John tweaked his hamstring. Mangere sensed a change and pulled one back. However, parity was soon restored just before the break. Marty M picked up the ball just outside the D on the 18 yard box after some good work involving; Mike T, Brain, and Graham. After Marty had set his deckchair, umbrella, made himself a cup of tea and thought about what to do, he curled a peach into the top right hand corner of the net. 4.1.

Off we trudged 4.1 up at half time, carrying a few injuries but generally going well.

Re-emerging with TD in goal and not sure how our injuries would fare, we actually we spent most of the second half trying to work out the new football rules. It appears you can push, pull shirts, use high elbows and shout at the referee to get the decisions you want. The most confusing of all was the new interpretations of the offside law. We tried being in line with the defenders and then giving a two yard gap. After this didn’t work we tried being behind the kicker as in rugby or even pushing the ball into space and running onto it. We had a number of clear chances waved away and a fine strike by Graham disallowed. Reluctantly we played the whistle.

Mangere pulled a goal back, which along with some interesting officiating, unfortunately led to frustration creeping in. There was plenty of heated banter and some ‘handbags’. After Coxy spent ten minutes calming us all down, Marty M and Graham then spent 10 minutes calming Coxy down as the frustration had got to this usually mild mannered man and he was charging around like Ron Harris on a mission (his tackles did make ball contact though!). We still had the measure of the game, despite effectively playing with 9/10 due to injuries.

The three goal advantage was restored with 15 minutes to go after some fine work involving Marty R and Graham led to Marty M unselfishly setting up Pete C for a fine strike.

When the final whistle eventually came we had endured a second half battle to emerge with 3 points, but a raft of injuries. A huge team effort in the second half and some resolute defending (well done Pete T). There were some fine performances – Brian Mc, John Mac, Mike T and Graham standing out. However, with a grafting performance in midfield and two fine goals player of the day honours to Marty M.

Thank you to Marty R and TD for goalkeeping duties’, TD for refereeing the 1st half, Brian’s son for some fine line duty and to Mangere for friendly banter during and after the game and a well contested battle.

Next game – Home to Bay Olympic 2.45ko