Manurewa, gritty, nuggety, sometimes niggly Manurewa, many stories could be told about the encounters between PAFC and Manurewa teams, in fact some stories were told and pulled, but that’s not today’s story:
The Devilz came of a disappointing 0:3 against a useful Papakura Phoenix outfit the previous week, disappointing only in that the Devilz were well and truly in the game all the way through alas they couldn’t score.
Thursday’s training run focused on passing and finishing and positional play in defence. The Devilz responded well during the training session and everyone left with their heads high, positive that today’s game should not see a repeat of the Phoenix game.
The opponent, the Manurewa Samba Eagles, were a new team, resulting out of the disintegration of last year’s Raiders team, inter-club trials and the arrival of a new head coach with respectable credentials to his name. The Eagles’ coach had returned to Manurewa after coaching at the WYNRS Academy for the last couple of years and in 2007 he had coached an academy side to win (as a 9th grade team) the 10th grade Premier Division. The same side that went on to win the 2007 Small Whites National 9th grade Tournament. With the coach came his son and the Eagles landed in Pukekohe oozing confidence.
The Devilz gathered early, around 50 min. before kick-off and engaged in some warm-up and skills drills which seem to become so important at this age. At kick-off time the Devilz were primed and ready; from the on-set a very entertaining game ensued, both teams were asking serious questions of each others defence. The Stinger, Da Man and the Iron Maiden were made to work hard and The Terminator got a good work-out between the sticks. The Manurewa team was backed by some very vocal folks and on a couple of occasions the good folk tried to assist the referee with some rather demanding “OOOOOOffffside” calls, but, as we learned from Herrn Beckenbauer, offside is when the ref blows the whistle, and only then.
Bergkamp, The Viper and The Needle relished the clever midfield distribution of the ball by the Devilz’s untiring defence cooperative, sucking it in and driving it through over the wings, time and again threatening the Manurewa goal. But, like a good soup, screaming for a pinch of salt, the Devilz’s coach was hanging out for some goals, which, we are assured, was a sentiment shared by many. The introduction of Smiley, Mighty Mini and The Muss never stopped the flowing combinations of the Devilz’s game; unfortunately it also didn’t stop the drought. Like the black pest the goalless minutes continued to spread their ugly wings, accompanying the two sides into the halftime.
The Devilz sucked oranges and the coach drew a couple of calming breathes before he tried to get into the headspace of this formidable collective.
The team was congratulated for the first half effort but again it was pointed out that it is OK to bang a ball into the net, no human rights group would échauffieren themselves or heat up in any other way if the Devilz would actually start to score some goals.
With the coach's calming voice still ringing in their ears the Devilz took to the field, eager to make the second half a memorable one.
BANG….; one minute thirty seconds of the second half was gone and the Devilz showed that they digest words as well as oranges, The Viper had tanked through the left wing and unleashed a poisonous right boot leaving the goalie rattled and the net shaking, the score was 1:0 and the coach marvelled at the team’s responsiveness.
Two minutes later, however, the coach despaired over the reoccurring defensive lapses; the Eagles flew into the Devilz’s box and caused a bit of havoc; repeated attempts to clear the ball ended feebly amongst the many Eagles’ feet and the inevitable happened; the score was 1:1 and the Eagles had their tails up.
With 8:30 min of the second half gone Da Man stepped up and lived up to his ‘known as’… collecting the ball deep in his own half Da Man decided to change the complexion of this now very finely balanced game, driving through mid-field like a Mack truck on Steroids he left two Eagles scrambling in his wake, his head up, looking for support he indicated the pass into the centre attack when he suddenly realised that he was up for a one-on-one challenge of the last Eagles’ defender. Da Man ceased the moment and pushed the ball left off the defender, sprinting after it he collected it and drove hard inside the box with the goal about eight metres in front of him he let fly with a mighty right hoof. The score was 2:1 and the goal was one to remember for a long time to come yet.
The next ten minutes was a sew-saw affair, both teams went at it hammer and tongs, burning high octane fuel by the gallons. A fast break over the right side found The Stinger on his way, determined to top his all round effort with an entry on the score sheet. At 19:58 minutes of the second half, The Stinger stung, the score was 3:1, the fans were in jubilant ruptures and the Devilz were getting a bit punch-drunk. The Eagles were not done for; like vultures around a carcass they nested in the Devilz’s box immediately from the kick-off and still short of breath from their celebration of The Stinger’s goal the Devilz could not hold them out…. 20:56 minutes of the second half gone and at 3:2 the Eagles supporters found their second wind and plenty of good advice was heard echoing around the vast grounds of Bledisloe Park.
Attitude; the mark of a great team, was to be the difference on the day. From the kick-off the Viper showed devastating pace down the middle of the park and the Needle needled a pin-point pass straight through the guts of the Eagles’ defence into the run of the Viper who showed a clean pair of heels and a crisp killer finish, this arguably would have been the fastest recorded counter-punch in the PAFC 10th grade history: 21:12 minutes of the second half gone and some Eagles still had their arms in the air from the previous’ goal celebrations…. The score was 4:2 and Germany surely had won the EC by now…
The Devilz now started to treat the fans to some vintage football; ball control, positional play, it all had a bit of text book accuracy to it, something you only see from a team when they know they are in charge… Then, 22:40 minutes gone, a sudden change in pace and a beautiful ‘turn defence into attack’ move down the right, which sent the Stinger on his way, yet again. An inimitable drive and cut through the Eagles’ defensive line-up left the Stinger with only the goalie to beat and he showed no mercy, finishing off his fine performance with a clatter into the short corner. At 5:2 and two minutes to go you have to give credit to the Eagles who did not give in, twice they flew back into the Devilz’s box but this time round the defence stood firm and did not buckle.
At the final whistle a good game was won well by a great team, take a bow, Red Devilz, you are coming into fine form.
On another note;
We wish to thank Caltex and Lynda for supporting our team again this year with plenty of goodies for the player of the day –Thanks Caltex, thanks Lynda-.
The Devilz’ motto “… the Sky’s the limited!”