C's STAY TOP WITH 5th STRAIGHT WIN

Dunstall's C's travelled up the Golden Grove Way to play 2nd place Tea Tree Gully, not Tea Tree Plaza, where Tuyen Vu went.

It was a cold crisp winters day with a gale blowing down the ground. We played on the bottom pitch which looked in very good condition, even if it was small.

Today's guest player was Anthony Martini, which also attracted a small crowd of 10 or so
supporters to the game. Once we were able to find him his lucky number shirt, some shorts with string and some deep heat, he was ready to play.

We had 6 on the bench (but could only use 3) as well as Mr Bean, who rocked up too late to get
on the card. We kicked off into the gale, and were under attack from the start. We didn't seem switched on and our passing was all over the place .. not to mention lack of talk.

The game seemed to be played in the centre corridor, which wasn't easy considering the size of the pitch.

Then Alex Bautista does a hamy after 15 minutes, and is replaced with TTP Twin. We try to keep our shape as we hold TTG out.

Then controversy as TTG have the ball in the net with a well taken goal, only to see the linesman holding his flag up, and the goal disallowed. TTG players abuse both linesman and ref before play is restarted.

We had our only real chance of the half when Kanu cuts inside the 18 yard box ..only to blast it straight at the keeper.

Half time arrives and we've done well to hold it to 0 - 0 in a very fast and physical game.

Second half and kicking with the gale we seem to look more determined and start to pass the ball around and create chances. Players from both teams start to drop from crunching tackles as the tempo builds.

Coach Dunstall brings himself on, to the roars of the crowd. Our defense is holding up really well with TTG not offering much up front, but we still cant score.

Finally the ball makes its way through a jungle of players to find Anto 10 yards out with only the keeper to beat, and as he hesitates and asks the keeper what he had for breakfast, his shot is deflected past the keeper by the oncoming defender.. 1 - 0 Farm.

Again the TTG team abuse the linesman, but this time its their own linesman. With 10 minutes to go we have a chance to make it 2 - 0 as my sweetly struck volley is sensationally saved by the keeper's legs.

The final whistle blows and we hold on to take the 3 points, to the roar of the crowd and players.

Our 5th win in a row and 4th clean sheet in a row. A good all round performance in probably our toughest game of the year. A few good saves from Richard and some great defending backed up by some hard running from the midfield and forwards.

We stay on top, with Munno Para kicking at our heals with their game in hand and better goal difference. Today was our first game with a official ref, who was duly smacked in the bollocks by a wayward ball (could have been a shot from Vinnie.)

We now have 3 games left, and need GOALS to take out the title, as we entertain 3rd-placed Pontian Eagles this week before a 2 week break for our bye and Cup Round.

Special thanks to Simo who came down to support us and ran the line. Anto was heard to say "where's the ORANGES and the deep heat ?" !!!!

Coach Dunstall was all smiles and praised his teams efforts and asked if anyone had a pair of boots he could borrow for next weeks game?

 ROUND 15
INGLE FARM vs PONTIAN
WALKLEY PARK
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6th, 2006

VINNIE MISSES PENALTY AS C's STEAL 3 POINTS AT HOME

The mighty C's entertained Pontian Eagles on very warm winters morning, who for the second year running, brought the biggest goal keeper I've ever seen. I think he ate Belly for breakfast.

Again it was a cast of 1000's. Anto Martini decided not to play with us again until new string was found for the shorts, Jason "Cookie Monster" Cook returned from his stint with the Thunderbirds netball team, crowd favourite Jason "Oggy" Ogden had finished his modeling shoot with "Target" and we picked up Johnny "The Bench" Miller from the Reserves. Even Richard Bales turned up for the game.

Pre match controversy as the Eagle's team set up camp on "our" side of the pitch even using "our" bench for their fans to sit on. They soon moved across the pitch as we camped around them.

Alex received a very nice pre match rub down in the change rooms, by his old man trying to ensure he was fit to play after pulling his hami last week. Bugger all good it did him, he lasted just 40 seconds and had to be replaced with Tea Tree Plaza Tuyen.

The Eagles were a very strong and physical team and enjoyed kicking down hill with the sun at their backs. They looked like they could score every time they ventured into our half, but like so many other teams before them, they forgot that you need to shoot to score.

Then Referee "Poll" Perkins awards them a free kick 25 yards out. The kick is gently placed into the top left hand corner as Richard decides he doesn't want to dirty his gloves as he watches the ball hit the back of the net.

Then another injury ... Brendan Fagan limps off with yet another hami strain. These youngsters really don't know how to look after themselves!!! God knows who replaced him, too many subs to mention. We remained at 1-0 till half time.

Coach Dunstall asked the question "Do we want to win this league?" ..Then went on to say "Well we've got 45 minutes to make it happen."

Out we went with our season on the line. The game seemed to be stale mating as the ball never ventured in to either 18 yard box, as the Eagles tried every reason in the book to waste time, to the annoyance of both ref and players.

Then more controversy as Vinnie is brought down in the box and Ref Poll points to the spot. Vinnie chooses his spot and tries to place it past the zeppelin keeper, only to see the keeper fall the correct way and parry his shot around the post. Have we just seen our season evaporate before our eyes?

We continue to attack as the Eagles begin to tire then even more controversy as an Eagle player is sent off for head butting (or attempting to) Mark Preka. Abuse flies as we try and get on with the game. Then a "Shaki" cross is headed to the back post where Vinnie redeems himself with a very scrappy goal that bounced over the keepers legs as he fell the wrong way. 1-1 and we were back in it with 10 minutes to go.

Ref Poll was starting to show some authority by now as yellow cards were shown for bad tackles. Then with only 3 minutes to go a mad scramble from a corner and the ball falls to Mark Preka whose shot heads straight for the keepers guts, only to see his defender stick out a boot and deflect it past him to make it 2-1 to the roar of players and crowd.

The Eagles are now frustrated and hurry the ball back for the restart.

The final whistle finally blows and we walk off knowing we still have a chance of winning the league. Our third tough game in a row, and extends our winning streak to 6 on the trot. I think Keeper Bales only had 2 shots at him, and we only had 3 shots ourselves!!

The stand out player for Farm was Johnny "The Bench" Miller who played both midfield and defense as we kept rotating players due to injury.

Coach Dunstall refrained from bringing himself on, sources close to me say the tape around his boots had broken.. hmmm!

Referee Lee "Poll" Perkins handed out 4 yellows and a red to keep the game interesting. Can we afford to buy him a refs top so he can really look like he's in charge? Well done Lee.

Sad to report, I had no shots at goal this week, for those keeping stats.

We now have a 2 week break due to Cup round and our Div 9 bye, enough time for our injured players to either recover or retire.

Only 2 games left and we need Munno Para to draw one of their last three games in order to take the title.

This could well be my longest report, and may well be if I dribble on a bit more at the end. Don't know if there are any pictures of our game, but if so lets hope they are closer than the pictures that were taken from the moon at last weeks TTG game!

Well done lads.........