I was off to a bad start last night as I had to pick up my mate Jim, his mate Daniel and number one son, bring the BSSA POTY voting box, Cam and Beeza to the game and had promised to be early enough to hand out the Free Kick. A bad start potentially, because being my turn to drive I would be restrict to insufficient quantities of the watered down version of the beer substitute served at Ballymore and a bad start actually because there was a stuff up in meeting the passengers and I arrived about 6.25, but by then the whole print of the Free Kick was handed out - so I wasn't needsd and it was a good portent for the crowd size. On arrival there were quite few cars in our cross creek parking spot and the turnstiles were both open and busy and seemed to be functioning efficiently this time when we reached them. Pretty ladies were giving everyone yellow cardboard signs exhorting the STRIKERS to "Go" and the same (signs, not ladies) were to be seen drifting across the ground suspended by incongruously coloured red helium balloons. That said, its good to see the club and the sponsor's starting to add to the match day experience too. One tiny criticism I would make (an this is, of course only a matter of opinion) but I do think the choice of the pre-match music could be looked at. Something well known to football fans, singable or even clappable might do. At present it seems nondescript and more of your background noise which, if anything, inhibits supporters from getting their own songs and chants going.
Just my view. So it was up to the Banana Army area where I was pleased to see there was a sign designating the area "M for mature audiences only. Coarse language, etc", and to introduce Beeza to the group. Before the teams came out, I felt our group was subdued - perhaps it was just me - but I felt we never really got going all night, and possibly the same could be said for the STRIKERS. Despite the improvement in the gates, there was still a bit of congestion outside the ground and it was great to see numbers streaming across the training ground before kick off time.
The game started at the permitted TV time of 7.07 PM with the STRIKERS resplendent in their new kits of Parma shirts and golden shorts. I hope those shirts will be for sale to the supporters soon while the mini-boom is on. The Spirit were in a kit of all Rangers blue. I had seen the team training at Ballymore on ABC TV news on Friday night, and noted then that there was a lot of top dressing sand on the ground and wondered if the surface might effect the game. It did. It kept the bounce of the ball down and made passes very difficult to weigh properly. The ball frequently stopped, particularly in an especially deep bit just outside the box at the open terrace end, thus the passing game for both sides was patchy all night. The STRIKERS' practice there did not seem to advantage them much, but I suppose the Spirit are used to strolling around the Northern beaches of Sidderly.
In the first half it was level pegging most of the time. Fernando seemed a little sluggish and it turned out he, and several others, had been battling the flu all week, so no wonder. It must have been tough running through the dunes if you were weakened from a virus. Our defense (and theirs too, to be fair) were doing well until a very powerful drive brought out a great diving save from Kearton (who can't be "bearton" BTW), Fernando did get a free kick from 25 metres on target, but it was influenza weak and straight at Henderson who had a pretty good night.
It was nil all at half time and I felt disappointed, but it was probably fair. We had been able to tell the Evil Twin that his Mum prefers his brother and Spirit they were a waste of Ranger's money, so it hadn't been a dead loss. After the second half started and when I had merely sipped the contaminated water our defense went to sleep and left a Spirit man (sorry, I can't say who) unmarked just outside the "D". He remained unchallenged and drilled his shot to Kearton's left. Kearton seemed to make a routine two handed push round the post - he got plenty of contact - but it went inside the post and we were one down to a pretty soft goal. We told the lads we were going to win 2-1 and, in the 57th minute (I looked at my watch) Fossie made it possible with a cracker of a left footer from way out. We were pleased.
Before long Kossie pulled the fever wracked Fernando and young Drake (who had his own sign at the end of the ground) came on and did well again. His style of play, employing close control and dribbling, was the style that did worst last night on the dessert surface and time and again he made a run, but lost it because he had forgotten to pack his sand wedge.
Toward the end Spirit were awarded a free kick from Beckham range and the shot was beckhamesque in its accuracy. Top left corner and Jason Kearton leapt fantastically to tip it over with his sparkling disco gloves. The game rolled on to the final draw and we are still unbeaten, but lacked the zip we had shown before this season. I hope it was down to the sand - and that the grass will have grown through it by Nov 17. The crowd was suspiciously announced as "5000", which, considering the absolutely abysmal media coverage we had had this week, wasn't bad.. That can only mean they didn't count Beeza or Cam. The general consensus in our group was that there may be some adverse tax implications in a crowd greater than 5000.