Just returned from the Sydney United v Marconi game and had to put my thoughts down before I cooled off - Forza would have done it but he had to go to work straight from the game. It was an interesting sight to see Forza eating an ice cream instead of having his customary beers at the match. He actually got a chocolate stain on his uniform shirt - it never would have happened if it had been a beer, Fred.
Before the kick-off, the Sydney United president made an impassioned plea to the crowd for their support. Unfortunately, he seemed to think that every person in the crowd had a Croatian background - if I had been a United supporter I'd have been p----d off. He used the words "Croatia" and "Croatian" so many times in his speech, that it actually came as a surprise when they played the "Australian" national anthem.
They may not have money to pay their players, but judging by today's display, they still have enough to pay referees. If this fat, balding excuse for a bowling ball (he had more bias) was not being paid to penalise Marconi out of the game then he certainly did a fair impression of it. The last time I saw such a one-eyed display I was watching a movie about the battle of Trafalgar.
The Stallions, by a miracle, still managed to stay in the game right up till 5 minutes from the end, when a dubious penalty handed the game to the Pumas. By this time the Stallions had run out of legs, playing with ten men since the send-off of Awaratefe just before half-time on a linesman's report - the only infringement by a Marconi player that the ref did NOT see.
Brad Gibson played his best game yet (some might say his first good one) since joining the club, scoring both Marconi goals. Bugsie was back to his best, perhaps fired up by being denied a penalty in the opening minutes for a blatant foul.
Surely the time has come when Frankie and the committee tell us the joke's over and dig into their pockets to buy a goalkeeper. It must be demoralising for a team to defend so well and then concede a goal like the United second today - a speculative poke from 25 metres which Aceski dived over. Admittedly the keeper played well after that but the damage had been done.
This was the best Marconi have played for weeks, all of them seemed to "want" the ball and they were a much more agressive outfit. They won't play this well and lose again this season.
An interesting sidelight to the game was Forza Fred abusing a Marconi fan for carrying an Italian flag - Forza explained in his best Italian accent that we support Marconi NOT Italy and threatened to report the fan to ground security if he didn't sit on his flag. All of this while the United chant of "CRO-AT-SI-A" was ringing round the ground.
Final score: Sydney United(with a little help from their friend) 3 bt Marconi 2