What a difference a day makes. After going down 4-1 to East Gosford 1 on Saturday 4 July at Duffy’s, Barnestoneworth Fs backed up on Sunday at 2pm to play the same team on their home turf. On Saturday we had a referee and two linesmen; on Sunday, unable to provide a referee for the game, East Gosford were forced to rely on the kind donation of the time of a young local soccer player. She proved to be a first-class and even-handed ref. Read more
On first glance, this game was only remarkable in that it was the first that Barnstoneworth Fs had played on their home ground at Duffy’s Oval. Perfect sunny conditions and a companionable chat with the opposition before the game belied what was to come. Read more
It’s often said that football is a game of two halves, and that was amply demonstrated in F-grade this week against East Gosford 2.
Having not played for three weeks due to the combination of a bye and two rained-out games, Barnestoneworth Fs were not only a little rusty, but missing two wingers and several other players. The usual game plan of 4-3-3 was therefore changed to 4-4-2 and a few players had to play in positions new to them. Read more
It was a fine day to take on the arch-enemy of Woy Woy in a friendly game of soccer.
Barnstoneworth turned up with two reserves, and on a slow and uneven pitch continued their form of recent games by letting in a goal from a corner kick in the first five minutes. Read more
Denied once again the opportunity to play on the field of dreams that is Terry Oval, the 35Ds travelled to Long Jetty in search of their second win on the bounce, against an Avoca team that had beaten the league leaders the week before. Read more
Having been wound up by Trevor Husk all week on Whatsapp about the hated Avoca, the Fs took the field with three reserves on a sublime piece of turf at Jubilee Oval. Feeling confident after a tough mid-week training session, the team’s ambivalence was shattered in the fifteenth minute when Avoca landed the first goal. Read more
Round 7 saw us play our only scheduled home game at Duffy’s Oval against Gosford and we were all looking forward to seeing how $200,000 dollars’ worth of pitch would be to play on. Whilst the surface didn’t feel like we were playing on carpet, it was nonetheless in good shape despite some overnight rain, which hopefully shows that the much needed drainage upgrades were worthwhile. Read more
The signs were auspicious as the mighty 35Ds took to the only dry field on the coast at Kariong, searching for their second win of the season. Read more
Round 6 saw us away to top of the table The Entrance 1, who had only dropped 2 points thus far in the competition, so were expected to be tough opponents. Despite our relative league positions, we started the better of the two sides and deservedly took the lead through a thunderous free kick from Neal, which he hit into the side netting from fully 25 metres. Read more
Despite the recent downpour, Saturday found F-grade running on to a completely dry pitch at Umina. With just one substitute player, the team was preparing for a hard slog against a team that was near the top of the table. Read more