15 seconds into the Marconi v Spirit game, and it appeared to me that Marconi were denied a stonewall penalty when Tome, I think it was, was upended.
Now it is debatable whether we would actually have managed to score from the regulation 12 yards had it been awarded, as I am convinced that had we still been playing now, and had we had 99.8% of the overall possession, we still would not have found the back of the net.
But a penalty I firmly believed it was then, and after viewing the replay on channel 7 this morning I am still as convinced..as it appeared were the commentators.
Which brings me to another pet topic of mine...
After the incident, I yelled out to referee Gerry Connolly "Gerry if someone is fouled in the box in the first minute, its the same as if he is fouled in the 38th minute you know.." (Mr Connolly was probably the only person in the ground who understood me..)
Meaning of course, that for reasons known only to themselves, some refs have a propensity NOT to award penalties so early, same as they sometimes don't show yellow cards that early for challenges which might deserve them etc...
Gerry Connolly is one of only a few referees I know who actually respond to my offerings of advice, and he told me later that he pointed to his eye at that point, signifying that he didn't see it.
(perhaps he suffers from Pig Eye Syndrome too)
When I bailed him up in the club later he told me that from the angle he was at, it did not look like a penalty, and given my previous comments about the John Aloisi "penalty" I had to accept that, but that denial of a possible early lead probably about set the script for the rest of Marconi's night.
Marconi played the usual type of fast ball moving, possession game that has surprised a few people this season, and undoubtedly looked the most dangerous side.
However, I think we've all been at games where a side has dominated, but as the clock ticks down without any reward, we think...."uh oh, these bastards will steal a goal and we'll have nothing to show for it.." ........and so it came to pass.
The first Spirit goal had a degree of controversy about it as McDermott seemed to catch the foot of the last Marconi defender as he cut across to fire in the decisive cross for the unmarked Simon Bell to head home, and the second, which was totally expected, came about after a quick switch when a few of Marconi's rearguard were up the park in search of the equaliser.
There will be games where Marconi play a lot worse and win, but as much as the result displeased me, I remarked to Lee Sterrey after the game, that I thought that there was not a lot we could have done differently...and on the night it just wasn't to be.
The one black spot was the injury to young Royce Brownlie.
When I left the club the news was that there was a possibility that his ankle was actually broken.
As for GKW's acknowledgement that two beer caravans were in operation...well I'll accept the credit for that, as my straightforward style of feedback meant that after a recent game I told the powers that be that 2 would definitely be required as the Spirit mob drunk nearly as much as Big Pete and GKW....(They may not think so, but I always try to look after my Spirit friends..8-)
Disappointing crowd for a Marconi v Spirit match, and although I fully expect Marconi's crowds to be down generally because of previous negative publicity, it may have been affected by the media focus being directed on Melbourne, and taking into account that this game was sandwiched in between the two big games in Melbourne.
It was also heartening to hear Mike Cockerill in his commentary pick up on what a wise sage had written on page 3 of the Marconi programme by pointing out in the telecast, as I did to the list last week, that 8 out of the 11 players who took the field for Australia against France had served time in the NSL.
While this may not have been the best NSL game ever, I do feel that the media and some other absolute arses who should be trying to promote the domestic game (remember the ugly sister comment?) tend to do it no favours....but I digress.
So Spirit are the first of the two sides to win at the other's ground, but I wouldn't be surprised if that statistic was evened up later in the season at NSO.