The scoreline says Marconi won 1-0 but if we were to count the chances that *should* have been converted, I reckon the final score would have been about 13-9 Marconi's way.
Not since I ballooned a cut back over the bar from 6 yards at Moore Park circa 1977 have I seen a miss comparable to kevo gullesarian's miss, when somehow he allowed Bolton to get a leg to it and send it over the bar.
Lee Sterrey apparenlty told the press ocnference that he could have knocked it in with his eyelash...
Still the boy did well to get into the position to miss it, and its all part of his education.
A few strange things occured leading up to and very early in the match, that made me worry that perhaps it ws not going to be our night.
Firstly, just 5 minutes after departing Forza Mansion, we passed a dead kangaroo on the side of the road...quite to be expected in a rural setting, but this chappie must have decided to emabrk on a suicide mission in deepest suburbia...strange indeed.
Secondly, no sight of GKW despite intelligence reports thet he had left for the game. Additional intelligence reports though, suggested that he ws still in th ethroes of a terminal hangover, brought on by teh previous night/morning's christmas celebrations. Whatever happened he was nowhere to be seen.
Thirdly, and most worrying..in the first minute Angelo Costanzo tried to clear a ball, and kicked the ground!! As providence would have it, tht was about the only error Angelo made all night, and was quite corrctly (again) named man of the match by our knowledgeable brothers in the press box.
I didn't, and still don;t share lee Sterrey's view tht Olympic are he second best side in teh competition - Newcastle are for my money.
Although in Ante Juric they have one of the best defenders in the league.
Mr Shields is NOT however, one of the best referees in teh league, and I woudl gladly swap Diomis for Shields anytime...in fact my two favourite refs are Mr Diomis and Mr Connolley..but that's another matter.
Marconi deserved the points for their second half effort, and nobody deserved anything for the first half.
I really do think that the NSL should consider NOT scheduling matches of the penultimate weekedn to Xmas, as it was obvious that many, frequently spied faces were absent, presumably on "official Christmas" business.
There was even an air about the place that some people (not least the players!) were not totally focussed on the match, more on christmas.
Young Alex Brosque took the winner well, and I always like to see the youngsters do something to boost their confidence.
He seemed totally astounded when applauded when he came into the club...in disbelief that people were actually applauding him
i actually thuoght it was a few minutes ealrier that teh commonly reported 'last minute strike', but hey, a win is a win is a win, adn over Olympic too.
That means that we jump into fourth place on the table...above Spirit on goal difference.
Its early days, and while I worry that injuries/suspensions may take their toll on our young and small squad later in the season, we are in a posititon that very few expected at the start of the season, and for that Lee Sterrey, and his charges should be congratulated.
So its off to try and burst the Brisbane bubble next week, and unfortunately due to the scheduling by Socoz, I can't be there, so it will be the first Strikers game in years that I can recall missing.
Can't wait for next week's installment of .."last night at...."