2008 ROUND 2
LUSC Old Boys vs Boroondara Eagles 4 - 1

Goals:
Phillips, Gabriel (11)
Wilkinson, Ian (33)
Cifone, Paul (43)
DeVuono, Pasquale (86)

Go Back to Old Boys Team Page here


The Flight of the Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagles didn’t start the day off well. It appears a strenuous pre-season schedule is starting to take its toll on the team. The Bald Eagles physio staff will be contacting Matthew Knights and the Bombers to learn what modifications in training need to be made to reduce the prevalence of soft tissue injury. Early injuries to Lou Cif (when he got out of bed), Luca, Paul Cif and Wilko were made worse by late withdrawals by Laurie, Matt Carmichael, Mat Umina, Johnny A, Frank and Chris Baxter. Prior to kickoff we looked like starting with 10 men and Gonis on the bench (we couldn’t give Booroondara too much of an advantage by starting with Gonis). That was until the Vietnamese-Italian calvary arrived in the form of Counga and the ever-buff Patty.

The game by all means wasn’t pretty and was played on a ground the size of a postage stamp. However the midfield dominated with excellent work rate by Coung, Boz, and Luca. The defence was solidly held by Gerry (who seems to be growing taller every week – must be the growth hormone treatment), Sava, Lou and Gonis. Paul “Grobellar” Umina, after a “technically” clean sheet last week, was fired up and pulled out some superb saves. Gab and Patty were damaging down the wings and provided plenty of attacking opportunities for Paul and Wilko. The first goal came from a quick run and cross from Patty with Gab able to get in at the back post for the rebounding goal. Not long after, a disgraceful moment in the rich history of the club happened. A lack of communication between Patty, Lou Cif and Paul “Grobellar” Umina resulted in a goal against the run of play. You may ask yourself how three Italians couldn’t communicate between themselves because the rest of us surely did. Many questions will be asked by the media whether any money transactions were involved, a point denied by the keeper Grobellar.

To the teams credit, we quickly regained the initiative with a maiden goal to Wilko and a scrambling goal in the box by Paul Cif. Patty and Paul had many opportunities in front of goal and with a bit more composure could have added a few more. Patty finally scored late in the second half with a fine run and strike.

The final margin of 4:1 was not as good as we had hoped however taking into account we had many injured players on the ground it was still encouraging. The run was good for both Cuong and Patty and another twenty weeks of Thirds soccer will see them peak for the Seniors come finals time.