One played two today at a sunny Bledisloe today, as The Maroons looked to strengthen their lead at the top, whilst Metro sought to leapfrog us.

Missing several key players (The Davymeister, Davy B, Dolly, Tony D, Gavin, Wayne....if I've missed anyone apologies!), the call went out for quality "mature" players to rally to the cause.....step forward the Cov Kid, Clive "Bend it like" Mendham, Andy Hargreaves and Phil the Glider......how would we fair against a side resembling The Tall Blacks with beer guts?

Toe to toe slugfest ensued. Physical and end to end. One way traffic for 10 minutes this way, reversing the next. Steelballs wouldn't have known who to chuck a lazy ten grand on.

George released me with a sumptious through ball, only for my top half to move more quickly than my bottom half....a speed wobble prevented the finish required to break the deadlock.

Russell Whiter went close with a header, Fin did likewise as we sought to get in behind their gigantic back four. At the other end Liam, Roy , Mark and John Keen were absolutely FANTASTIC dealing with anything the Men in White were throwing at them.

At halftime it was up for grabs......they had more of the posession but we had crafted the better chances....ding ding...round two.

The second half continued in similar vein, with both sides looking to land the knockout punch, however, we now had more shape with Fabs playing the holding role, whilst Andy Hargreaves progressed into a creative role.

The punch was finally landed following a cleared corner, Royza clipped a delightful through ball to Fabs who was level with the last man....he turned, saw the keeper a couple of yards of his line and steered a beauty over his head......As Blur would say "Whoooo Ooooooh"

Metro were furious and upped the ante. Within two minutes they must have sensed it wasn't going to be their day when goal mouth pinball ensued. Andre made an incredible save following a deflection from Fabs, we then managed to clear the rebound off the line and following more hacks than my efforts on the 1st at Hauraki, we finally managed to clear the danger....PHEW!

Their desperation left gaps at the back......Fabs rifled a cracker over, the keeper saved well with his legs from me following a brilliant run from Jonny Keen, Clive just couldn't manage to force it in following a free kick,

The chances kept coming as Rob was kneecapped in the box but didn't get his just deserts from an unsighted ref, whilst Fin steered one narrowly wide. But we just couldn't put the game to bed ..........time to take our time.

It's all about tempo and for the last 15 we played the game at our pace....nice and easy....if you ever want to wind a team up, take 34 seconds to take a goal kick.

You'd think Andre was Paul Pot hearing the comments close up. Their forwards didn't help, firing shots that threatened The Warehouse on Manukau Road, then expecting us to sprint to retrieve the ball and then expecting us to spear the ball into play within 0.6 of a second.

Sorry fella's we're a bit too savvy for that.....full time eventually came and we had edged them out.

On the balance of chances created, we deserved it....Metro could claim a draw would have been a fair result and I'd agree to a certain extent......but.....As Brucie Forsythe says "Points win Prizes".........MOM deservedly went to Liam and Roy...JK had a binder too.

Big thanks to Glen for controlling it really well and the supporters for all their encouragement.

The Cowboys await next week........Well done Fella's for a cracking first half of the season!