Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
The weather took a strange turn yesterday and the rain that seemed to be threatening all day never arrived, but temperatures dropped and a powerful southerly blew up.
It transpired that there wasn't a great deal for STRIKERS supporters to smile about as the events of the evening unfolded. We decide to get there early on the off chance of a big crowd being in, but it was apparent by the ample close on street parking spots available that we need not have worried. No queue to mention and no problems sitting in our favoured spot just behind the Strike Squad. The first point of note was the excellent looking surface of the stadium. Last 10 minutes of QAS v UTS youngsters (5-0 to QAS BTW), a beer, a chat with some of last year's regulars and then the team was introduced individually. It should have been an omen that a large proportion of them were on crutches or obviously limping and in civvies. Andy H was last on and received the second biggest cheer (no prize for guessing who attracted the biggest), but the crowd was typically subdued and the efforts of the new ground announcer to stir them up - "Let's hear it for the STRIKERS" style were basically seed cast on barren soil. I know this may be politically incorrect, but personally I have a problem with lady announcers at football games. I think the job is a very difficult one to get right and , it seems to me, that all round the world fans have problems in this area. Attempts to encourage crowd participation invariably fail and end up sounding rather flat and even a little sad.
We then had a new feature of little boys, all from the same club judged by Thor in a new outfit, and Danny Wright (motel proprietor) in a skills contest. To be honest, they weren't all that skillful. Mainly juggling very much one footedly and not too many times in succession. Someone behind me passed a rather disparaging remark which was misunderstood by the lady in front of me as a compliment and she turned round beaming and told us all "I'm one of their mothers!". We remained silent until they had finished.
Next a 4 X 100 metre relay for high school boys!!
Out came a young woman wearing a STRIKERS shirt whose name was, I think, Tinea Someone (out of my circle of interest) who sang several quite catchy songs, none of which I recognized and all of which seemed to be ignored by the majority of folk at least near us. This culminated in her following the ever spreading US style rendition of our National Anthem unaccompanied which obviated the need to show the words on the scoreboard because only a few attempted to sing along.
On came the teams with Thor, fireworks and so on and the game kicked off 5 minutes late. The STRIKERS had an early chance kicking into the gale, but not until FF managed to upset the ref within the first 20 seconds of the game by retaliating against some shirt pulling. The match settled into a rather repetitive pattern of South Melbourne attacking with style, the STRIKERS' defence coping quite well, then invariably giving the ball away unchallanged - almost like a defenders' practice drill. The worst offender was Clint Bolton who looked a bit dodgy too. Almost all night Clint, unless rolling the ball out a few metres, seemed to pick out white shirts with unerring accuracy. Longer standing listees will know I have concern about the Cranny kiddies' propensity for giving the ball away (BTW the CC for last night was only 12 - but only Troy was playing), but virtually the whole team were at it, particularly in the first half.
The crowd were quite vocal for the first few minutes and there was even a bit of singing here and there, but as the pattern of the match emerged they lapsed into a frustrated silence, then the odd bit of clapping and eventually isolated encouragement or abuse.
After 20 minutes or so I had just remarked to my friend that I was surprised that the Lakers had not tried a long shot with the wind assistance when they did and Lozanovski hit a screamer from well outside the box past a helpless Bolton. To there credit, the Strike Squad, split into two to try to generate a bit of support in the stands, became quite vocal at this point, but this did not seem to have the effect they were no doubt hoping for. The tactic of returning the ball to the opponent continued unchanged until half time by which time both the weather and the passions were cooling rapidly.
I didn't see all of the half time on-field activity as I was off chasing a Fourex, but there were the kiddies playing five a side as of last season and a competition involving shots from the penalty spot aiming at a yellow tarp held across the goalmouth and subdivided into,I think, six rectangles. Each carried a prize, won by hitting them with the ball. Somehow a rather splendid motor car, bright yellow and carrying the word "STRIKERS" emblazoned across it and supplied by the STRIKERS' sponsors could be won.
The STRIKERS started the second half with the dying breeze behind them and were a little better, but seemed unable to assert any mid-field dominance at all. Someone wondered if the girl who sang the National Anthem could come on as a sub. Passes were still astray and Troy Cranney tried a twisting flick of a pass which lead to a very good sweeping move by The Lakers and an excellently weighted pass to Vaughen Coveney who used his strong left foot to beat the advancing Bolton - 2 - 0. Frank took himself off and brought on Brownie who seemed to be bursting with energy and fairly soon nodded down a Cranney cross which Petkovich, who otherwise had an impeccable game, fumbled and the STRIKERS' new captain just failed to turn the ball in at the post. Andy Harper, to be honest seemed to be lost all night. He probably ran a half marathon, but really made very little impression. I did hear "What a waste of money" chanted and, unless he does more in future, that could be right.
The STRIKERS pushed forward more and more, and this lead to the third Laker's goal scored by, I think, Baser. I felt that a 2 - 0 win would have been a fair result and even 3 - 0 not too unrealistic.
So, from a Brisbane point of view, very little encouraging on show. Probably the only way from here is up - at least I hope so. Of some consolation is the fact that I recall a couple of similar games from the STRIKERS last year which, ultimately, did not prevent them from winning the championship. I'd loved to have heard what Frank said after the game.
My friend Jim had accidentally bought a seven match season ticket earlier in the week, but had managed to change it for a full one on Friday. He was wondering if he could reverse the deal by the end of the night. This really was one that the STRIKERS needed to win with some style if they were to retain some of the new supporters who should have been there last night. I'm very sorry to report that they did not.