South Perth 3 - 3 UniLaterals

This one was for the epic books. Could have been more epic, and once you reach the end of the tale you will see where things may have been different, but epic none-the-less. Here is the story of the afternoon of the 28th of June at Challenger Oval in Manning.

Initially Captain Mark was having issues pulling a full list together, but then found out he had more players available to him than he thought and we went into Sunday with a full list. However, B-B-B-Bernzo pulled due to illness, but in the end it was not our substitutes that decided the course of the match.

Kick-off came, and we were kicking into the wind. The first run of play went with South Perth. They managed to get a chance in on goal within the first minute. Nothing doing. UWA then responded in kind. Also nothing doing. This seemed to be a good omen for the competitiveness of the match, although it was to be short lived.

After many passes, long balls, throw-ins and the occasional foul it was South Perth who struck first. Allbeit with a lack of style. About 15 minutes into the game the sphere it inflated leather made its way from the left wing in towards the top of our defensive box. With a mix-up in communications and some luck on South Perth’s side the ball managed to find its way into our net just inside the right hand post.

We were starting to get the measure of their strikers until at about 25 minutes they won a corner. Controversially of course(this one wasn’t, but some of ours were). The corner came curling in and after hitting our esteemed goal-keeper in the chest, managed to sneak into the back of the net. Again, not the most stylish of goals but I guess any team would take it.

It was about 5 minutes later again that Mark’s unusual choice of playing Hiro as a forward paid off. Hiro had been getting a lot of the ball and was proving difficult to handle for the South Perth defence. It was his speed and uncomprimising style of play that resulted in the Laterals first score for the day. Upon recieving an excellent pass from Kenny, Hiro made his way past the last defender only to tap the ball too far in front of him and too close to the keeper. Or so we thought. In true Hiro style he ran down his self-through ball (otherwise known as a heavy touch) and slid in to beat the keeper to the ball by inches, and subsequently putting it past him and into the opposite bottom corner of the net. It appears Brad’s drill from Wednesday night paid off.

Our elation at being back in the game was not to last though. Not long before half time South Perth won yet another corner. This time however, it was simply tapped in by one of the opposition seagulls hanging around in the box. It was well executed and as a result we went into half time feeling the doom and gloom of a 3 - 1 scoreline against.

At half time some tactics and movement off the ball was talked about in the kindly donated change rooms. We got ourselves fired up to make a comeback for the second half and Al Mac ate his customary half-time orange to replenish himself but didn’t offer any around.

It was South Perth’s kick-off but it soon became very clear that whatever was said at the South Perth half time break did not inspire them to greater heights. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The run of play very quickly swung in our momentum. It must be said that the wind did have a part to play in this game but our improvement in play coupled with South Perth’s lack of interest made a big difference. Once again, our long and arduous pre-season fitness training appeard to come to our rescue.

For the first 15 minutes the ball barely made it into our defensive half, and when it did Andy, Ryan, Kevin or Dan (whoever was closest at the time) swiftly dealth with any strikers that thought they might be something special. In the midfield Rowley, Jarrad, Brad, Mark, Kenny, Hiro and Jimmy were all over the opposition. Getting past with ease and unfortunately being on the receiving end of some interesting challenges, as well as some very uninteresting whinging. The ball was getting to the strikers, Chris, Zac and Al Mac, with ease but the wet conditions made it hard to get a good touch.

Some great through balls were played with just one touch too many. Some great crosses were put in with several headers going just wide or inches over the crossbar. The keeper was working overtime as the UWA forward line-up ran around the South Perth defence, we just had trouble handling the wet ball. Brandy fire a left foot shot just over the bar and both Chris and Kenny had chances inside the box that were luckily blocked or miskicked. Jimmy, in his usual fashion, was putting in some excellent crosses and also making an excellent effort to hit crosses that were put in to him. To no avail.

South Perth then make a break that forces Pitty to show everybody exactly what he is made of. Pure Man. With one lone striker getting a through ball and bolting from just past the half-way line all the way to the 18 yard box Pitty was confronted with a decision. To be or not to be? He decided to be, sprinted out from his position and slid through the feet of the striker to claim what was rightfully his. Courage under fire saved our game and inspired us to new heights. But not before the South Perth forwards tried to dive their way to the penalty spot or claim goals that hadn’t crossed the line yet (again thanks to some excellent goalkeeping).

Another change in gears for the team from the Mac and we eventualy win a free kick about 25 yards out at the top of the box to the left hand side of goal. Step up new signing Jarrad. With an excellently taken free kick that deflected only slightly off the wall, he scored our second into the bottom left hand corner of the goals. Now the adrenaline is really pumping.

With the strikers getting dragged down by the back of their shirts, the midfielders getting a few shoves and the defenders copping a mouthful of words from a laclustre opposition offence we really pick up our game. About 10 minutes later again, after some extremely UWA dominated play we win yet another free kick from roughlythe same position as the one in which we scored our first goal. Jarrad being on the bench meant that veteran defender Dan stepped up to the plate. With his customary powerful kick headed straight for the left hand side of the goal the opposition keeper easily moves across to make the save. Except the ball goes right through his fingers and into the back of the net. Elation from the squad in bottle green. Back to level from a 2 goal deficit in wet and windy conditions.

The last 10 minutes of the game proved to be nail biting material for the UWA squad. We won more corners, were dominating in the midfield and yet again our defence was impenetrable. Kevin was seen sneeking up on the right hand side making some excellent passes inside to midfielders and strikers alike, Andy could often be seen at the top of the box and everybody was getting some of the ball.

With about a minute left to play (although we didn’t know this at the time) we win another corner. The ball falls into the box to be sort of cleared, and then played around with a little only for Andy to hit it goalward. I an amazing good reply of the Paul Scholes incedent not so long ago, a South Perth defender sticks his arms up and prevents the ball from making its passage into the net. The ball comes out and hits Brandy on the knee and then comes back in off the cross-bar only to go out over the baseline. The only problem with all of this is that the Ref didn’t blow the whistle. Instead of getting a penalty we get a corner. With half a dozen of the UWA team screaming at the Ref about 3 feet from his face we eventually got on with the game, furious that justice had been perverted. Alas, we did not score from this corner and as the ball was cleared the final whistle blew.

We shooks hands, gave 3 cheers and then had a match debrief on our sideline. Everyone played excellently, especially in the second half. We found out that we cope very well with wet and windy conditions as a team. We also discovered that even from what looks like an unsurmountable position we can still comeback. So close to another win, we at least put another point onto our tally and we go into next weeks game against Joondana with confidence that we have a good chance if we play like we did today.

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