After the first rain on Friday for weeks the skies were dark and it was sprinkling on the way to Belmore but it held off giving the smallish crowd a reasonable game to enjoy. A free programme "Blues News" on entry and a nice (but $3) lamb skewer sort of helped make up for the high charges for children ($5) of which I had 3 with me ($3 or recently free at Topper). With 'Mr Spirit' Geoff Coy we joined the nice group of Breakers supporters who came down by coach and car from Newcastle and others Sydney based and who were in the centre of the stand ready for action.
The first half started with Breakers on the back foot as Olympic pushed the ball around nicely. With Emerton suspended however the attacking thrust fell to Ardone (held well) on the right and Tome in the middle (see below.) The Breakers defence was being well marshalled by Shane Pryce however and with Eddie Bosnar sweeping ahead of him and Ritchie, and Sprod doing well on the left, they got quickly back in the game. A fine strike by Tollenaere who slipped his close marker at 12 mins beat Catlin and sent the Breakers fans wild. Can you hear Olympic sing ... noo-oh, noo-oh! Tome was being well held and the Breakers despite utilising too many crap balls to the strikers did threaten Catlin's goal - thus at half time looked on top. Olympic too had been restricted - resorting to long range strikes and lacking their usual penetration up the flanks.
NTB goals were scored at almost exactly the same point as last week but this time they let UTSO back in. In the second half UTSO quickly put pressure on and Tome left free blasted a superb shot which gave Swancott no chance at the 51 min. Breakers replied 9 minutes later when Zane moved wide on the left and placed for once a ball out of Catlin's reach and Langone showed his hed is more accurate than hios shooting to place the ball into the net. There weren't too, many cardboard Breakers supporters at this point young and old, urged on by a smattering of Rowdies, chanting loudly. This at last got a few Olympic fans going but the O-lim-pick chant never really got on top. The Breakers attack started to lose momentum with Zane slackening off (more?) and Tollenaere being held. Only Langone seem to pick up a cog and did some great work on the right. Unfortunately the Breakers defence eventually dropped concentration and a low cross from the right saw Tome slot it away for his second at the 83 min. Both teams despite nothing to play for battled away to the end leaving fans with at least the satisfaction of having seen a real game.
Best: NTB: Langone, Bosnar, Pryce. UTSO: Catlin, Tome, Baillie.
PS - For Breakers fans - we gave the boys a standing chanting send-off which they returned. I hope many of them reappear next season as they have shown so often they almost have it. eg. Sproddy is on the team sheet for Central Coast in NSWSL but has done really well over the last few games, and Lowe, Wilson, Pryce, West, Baker, Lane, Austin, etc. deserve more time. Can we retain Tollenaere and the fast settling Bosnar? Just a few extra players needed but rumours leave everyone including Kosmina in doubt at present.