Hi All, I have to confess to that old buzz for a couple of hours before the game last night. You would think at my age and with all that had gone on in the off season it wouldn't happen. I actually was surprised myself, but hope springs eternal. Due to various circumstances, none of the usual group I go with could make it, so I parked in Caxton Street and walked the few yards up to what is now "Rainbow's on Caxton" (ex Irish Connection). There was the lone figure of the one person I had arranged to meet, Michael, whom I much admire as he is Oz born but a loyal fan of Luton Town and he was, as usual, in their kit . We introduced ourselves to the new proprietor, Marilyn Rainbow, (it really is her name!) and discovered that her compressor was down, so only bottled beer was on sale, and a poor selection at that. She had only opened at 5.00PM due to an emergency with a sick child, so others who had intended to meet there before the Queensland Cup which was the curtain raiser had apparently taken umbrage, and that explained the the absence of other STRIKERS' supporters. What was encouraging was that not only had she received a list of STRIKERS' fixtures, but was very positive about making this a regular watering hole in future. She was even receptive to a suggestion of price reduction for supporters. The other footpath tables on the street were devoid of football types too. I just hope it was the lure of the cup final.
Despite the fact that half the population of the city were at the this River Fire thingy, there looked to be two to three thousand hardcorers present at kick off and the apparently compulsory, but rather weedy, fireworks were ignited to some chants of "STRIKERS on a budget". The perceived maturity of the locals was demonstrated as the crowd was trusted with the National bloody Anthem without prompting from the scoreboard which, BTW. was very sparse. No pathetic encouragements, nor commercials on it all night, and the scores in rather insipid numerical font and given as "00" or "01" and, to our relief, eventually "02" - presumably a sign that the Lang Park Trust is demonstrating that it is IT aware or, perhaps Y2K compliant?
Thor was ISQ, and as the teams ran out Wade, sitting next to me gave Arelio V a mouthful and was at once removed and given a yellow card by a security lady. He did return, but certain words were temporarily excluded from his vocabulary.
The first half was pretty dire. Neither side looking very fluent which was more of an indictment on the Force than us as they appeared to have a lot of the old (and I mean old) brigade on deck whereas the STRIKERS seemed to have, to me, only Bolton immediately recognizable, as Gwynnie has done a bit of a Cranney, and bulked up off season. The STRIKERS were holding there own in a pretty rough display until conceding a very soft goal after probably 20 minutes. Mori, who always seems to cause us grief, rolled a ball past the advancing Bolton and it gently headed for the net apparently shepherded by , who unaccountably fell over the ball on the line and aided it into the goal. Even Mori was kneeling with an amazed look on his face and the crowd were very hushed.
Our equalizer was the result of a good forward move and what looked like quite a bullet header of an own goal. 1-1 at half time, and probably a just scoreline.
Came the second half, and the young STRIKERS really started to play with more purpose and cohesion and actually dominated for long periods. I thought the defence very sound, the midfield suitably aggressive and hungry the whole game and the forwards showed some evidence that the future could be bright. It was no great surprise when Stafanutto made a very long and strong run, when I thought he should have passed earlier, to the edge of the box and hit a shot which the keeper only pushed to the feet of (I think) Peter Dwyer who tapped it in. Cue moderate delerium in the stand. The STRIKERS provided us with very few defensive scares thereafter and, indeed, could have added a couple more, but for some off line shooting and one very good save to a powerful shot late in the game.
Kossie sat throughout resplendent in a rather flash looking dark suit and sipping something from a cup. On two occasions, and one especially in added on time at the end, he had the match ball at his feet, but refused to give it back made the Adelaide player come over and get it for a throw in. I liked that!
Atmosphere? Difficult to assess generally where I was as it was in front of a group of Taringa lads who had been there and consumed much for a long time and were somewhat morose and critical as they had lost the preceding cup final 3-1. As one remarked towards the end when Mori was at last given offside, "I've had half a carton and even I could see he was off"
Good things. The three points, the obvious enthusiasm and commitment of our players, Kossie not returning the ball and Mori copping a yellow for theatrical diving in the box. I hardly even noticed the F111 with it's tail of fire.
Downside. The smallish crowd, little pre-match chat, their crap goal and no CC.