2008 ROUND 9
LUSC Old Boys vs North Caulfield 2 - 2

Goals:

Liaskos, Sava (12)
Bovezza, Frank (pen)(32)

Go Back to Old Boys Team Page here


The Flight of the Bald Eagle

The team showed so much promise after the last couple of rounds. The total domination of the midfield and the attacking flair that won the previous games so convincingly went horribly missing and they were soundly beaten by an opponent playing well above themselves. A very disappointing result all round. But that’s enough said about the Dutch National team.

The Bald Eagles went into this game against fifth placed Nunawading with a very undermanned team this week. At the last minute Italian coach Roberto Donadoni asked Lou Cif, Patty and Laurie to make themselves available for a possible quarter-final appearance and all three were last seen at Tullamarine boarding the SwissAir flight to the Land of Chocolate and Pocket Knives. With Matt ‘Robbie Slater’ Carmichael in Sydney with Socceroo media commitments and Mat Umina doing a last minute tax audit on Richard Pratt, La Trobe started with only one substitute. In the Bald Eagle tradition of regular goalie rotation, Gerry ‘the Flying Dutchman’ decided that it was his turn in goals this week and the only way to get Zoolander to hand over the golden gloves was to feign injury during warm-up. The La Trobe Doctor also believes that Gerry may have been suffering a bit of post Euro depression and a stint in goals would be good for him.

The Nunawading ground was an absolute disgrace although Boz and Zoolander (alias Captain Bug) were in their element. Aggie Boz found a large area of paddock on the left wing already beautifully ploughed up and ready to plant a maize crop. He hopes to return in the summer for harvest. Captain Bug also discovered a new worm variety (Aporrectodea Nunwadinga) and a large bald parasitic nematode (Meloidogyne Maximus Wankerus), although to his disappointment it was found that the parasite was actually on the Nunawading team list as their centre midfielder and not a new specimen at all. After seeing the AFL discussing the idea of twilight games, the FFV decided to show some balls and actually schedule one. It was a pity the ref was the only one advised of the 4:00pm kick-off.

The Bald Eagles started off well and completely outplayed Nunawading across the whole ground. Gab, Luca, Boz and Sava created plenty of attacking runs and Paul Cif and Nick looked dangerous up front. It was an injured Sava who scored his maiden Bald Eagle goal after a La Trobe corner turned into a goal mouth scramble in the mud. Nunawading had a quick counter attack not long after. Their forward was heard muttering something in Russian as headed towards goal with the ball. This was enough to set the Flying Dutchman off and he came flying out of goals to take Andrei Arshavin out of the game. Nunawading equalized from the resulting free-kick outside the box. The Bald Eagles continued to fight on and Cif earned a penalty kick late in the first half. Frank calmly put it away to restore the lead. Sava didn’t last much longer, finally succumbing to injury and joining Wilko on the St John’s bench. Fortunately, Mat Umina arrived part way through the second half so that La Trobe could field a full 11 players.

At half time, Boz told the boys “the Nunawading defence is crap, the midfield is crap, the right winger hasn’t got a right foot and the left winger hasn’t got a left foot” There aren’t too many clubs that can boast players with such pearls of wisdom. With no bench and a number of players struggling with injury and fatigue it was going to be a matter of whether La Trobe could see the game out. The defence was as resilient as ever with Frank, Baxter and Jimmy beating their opponents to the ball every time. Captain Bug Zoolander was fantastic. With two broken hips he continues to defy medical opinions and showed his defensive side is as good as his attacking drive. Unfortunately, Nunawading did equalize half way through the second half with a rather scrappy goal and then disaster struck. Paul Cif decided that he needed a rest on the bench, however with no fit interchange players to come on for him, the only answer was to get the ref to send him off. Cif’s red card put the Bald Eagles under the pump however they battled out the last 15 minutes for a gutsy draw. Although not the 3 points they wanted they were happy to take something out of the game.