You do wonder sometimes about the wisdom of the powers which are… prior to kick-off in stormy Tuakau coaches, players and spectators certainly wondered…
The rain was falling horizontally, carried across the drenched grounds by gustily winds, most certainly too strong for a boat race but deemed suitable for some junior football. The players from both teams were wrapped up in their supposing ‘rain-proof’ jackets, well, another marketing myth fell victim to reality. Soaked, cold and disbelieving the ‘whether the weather with you‘ doctrine, the teams took to the field.
The Devilz were reminded of the quintessential recipe for success in wet weather football: don’t play for the gallery, get the ball out of defence quick, forget about midfield tactics and pepper the goal from all areas. Fire in the belly was what the coach ordered the Devilz to take out onto the pitch and from the kick-off you could see the order was about to be delivered.
The Tuakau Panthers are a regular pre-season training opponent of the Devilz and in three years of practise and competition games the Devilz, under their various aliases, have never beaten this tough unit, characterised by their uncompromising defence, determined tackling and rushing attack.
Today though was a coming of age for the Devilz, an eye for an eye and tackle for tackle was given and taken, the Devilz matched and outplayed the Panthers in every department;
- Higuita - say no more - kept the Panthers at bay, time and again. “IMPOSING” just found it’s justification of existence in the contemporary dictionary.
- The Defence was made up of Iron and Rock, supported by a Conductor on fire.
- The Midfield/Attack showed some Muss and Sweet Touch.
Up front Rooney and Viper were fed the ingredients for success; mercy was on another planet today, simply not featuring in the game-plan’s dictionary.
The Devilz controlled the match throughout, admittedly the Panthers’ tearaway centre forward and their midfield bruisers found the occasional hole in the Devilz’s mantle of dominance, yet Higuita, a large man, showed greatness. Whatever the Panthers could throw at the Devilz, the Devilz sucked it in and dished it out with rigour and venomous consequence.
The Devilz took the lead after a signature move from the Sweet Touch, tearing down the right hand side of the water tortured pitch; drawing two defenders out of the cluster in the penalty box and timing his inside pass to perfection. Rooney, at the receiving end of this text book move, did not disappoint; a crisp touch against the movement of the goalie and the rain drops sprayed of the back of the net.
The score was 1:0 to the Devilz, 7:53 minutes of the match were gone and the surrounding water reservoirs found the Tuakau supporter joining them in their silent prayers for a halt to the ‘pouring’ attacks.
The game continued with exhilarating pace; what these two teams put on the park in the first half was astonishing. The teams were defying the conditions and warming the supporters. It took another 10:07 minutes for the Devilz to cash in on their dominance, the Viper, barely five minutes in the game from a cold start, took off like a rocket, ball glued to his feet from inside the Devilz’s half he left three Panthers in his wake, licking their wounds, and in the one-on-one with the goalie you have to have the Viper odds on to put it away… 18 minutes of the first half and 600,000 litres of tear drops from heaven had passed and the score was 2:0 to the Devilz.
With the halftime whistle the winds died down, the rains finally vanished, bar the occasional spit; the Devilz took in the praise from their supporters and the oranges with equal nonchalance and the coach’s instructions for the second half were acknowledged but largely ignored…
The Devilz went to play out the second half with the foot slowly but surely slipping off the Panthers’ throats, the first ten minutes of the second half matched the general description of the weather. The Devilz picked themselves up and during the later spell of the 2nd half they started to pick up were they had left off in the first half. The ball was cleared quickly out of defence; the midfield was cleverly and ruthlessly ‘bridged’ and the Panthers’ goalie earned himself the Tuakau ‘Man of the Match’ certificate with distinction.
It took 18 minutes of the 2nd half for the Conductor to remember his party trick; deep out of his own half he took off on a slalom run around tiring Panthers and, around 20 metres from the goal line, he had found his comfort zone… a thunderous ‘lace-kick’ ended up in the back of the net and the spray of rain, shaken out of its dormancy, served as a reminder of the prevailing but fading lunacy that allowed this game to be started in the first place, but, as they say, the score was 3:0 to the Devilz and, the rest is history.
On another note;
We wish to thank Caltex for supporting our team this year with plenty of goodies for the player of the day –Thanks Caltex-.
The Devilz’ motto “… the Sky’s the limited!”
Lions Charge home against the Chargers!
The expected phone call never came………. the match was on for the Lions to travel north to take on the Clendon United Chargers; not at water polo, but soccer! The arrival at Mountford Park greeted the Lions with a “hosing it down” scenario as the rain lashed down on players and the faithful supporters – who were all well equipped with vocals and full wet weather protection.
During warm-up, the pitch was presenting itself with large areas of surface precipitation which would prove invaluable to The Lions later on in the match. With Scott away on overseas duties, the line-up started with two substitutes. Although the full size goals looked an easy target to score a goal, Conner kept the Chargers score to nil at half time and made a great goal keeping save from an opposition free kick. Jack and David provided the Lions defence and shut the Chargers attackers down confidently. Matthew and Lochlan worked hard together up front, with solid support from Megan and Grace, allowing Lochlan to slot a hat-trick. Also putting a goal in The Chargers’ net during the fast half were Grace and Keely, taking the score to 0-5 at half time to The Lions.
The rain stopped - woohoo!
The second half saw The Lions configuration tuned to allow players different positional play, and saw Evan and Sofia playing in attacking positions on the slow, well irrigated pitch. The Chargers displayed more pace in the second half and scored a couple goals which prompted coaches and supporters to provide some positive encouragement to lift the Lions’ game. With Matthew displaying safe hands in his goalkeeping duties, a strategic lagoon had formed in front-of the Lions’ penalty area, which reduced the pace of a few of the Charger’s shots down to a rush hour traffic.
All in all the Lions played well in the difficult conditions, especially in the first half and with the final score at 2-5 at full time – hot showers were deserved by all.
(Lion's article kindly supplied by Mark -Co-Coach- Edwards. - Cheers Mark!)
WELL DONE –LIONS ROAR