East Gosford vs Barnstoneworth B N Report

This week saw the reschedule of our washed out Round 10 home game against East Gosford moved to our opponents ground, so we have now resigned ourselves to not playing another game again on Duffy’s Oval this season, which is very disappointing.

With our opponents having been on something of an upward trajectory since their early season difficulties seeing them vying for finals contention, we were primed for a tough game. With Jorge finally able to retake the field after his Round 8 injury and with Jason and Shane also returning after extended injury absences, we felt that we should be able to give a decent account of ourselves, although the returning players’ loads would need to be carefully managed. With us only requiring a point to secure the minor premiership, this was a game we clearly did not want to lose.
Our suspicions that East Gosford would be a tough assignment proved very true with neither team able to effect any real control over the game for meaningful periods. The game was beginning to feel like a chess match, with both sides probing for an obvious weakness to exploit but it was still a disappointment to concede a sloppy goal on 35 minutes, which allowed our opponents to take a 1-0 lead into the break.

With our reality duly checked after a couple of comfortable wins, our half time talk was about maintaining our shape and structures to earn the right to attack East Gosford and not throwing caution to the wind. Chances were still hard to come by and Geoff was the busier of the two ‘keepers as East Gosford went in search of a second goal to give them some breathing space. With the game looking like it could end in a defeat, we pushed John into the front line and were duly rewarded when he was felled in the box to earn us a much-needed penalty. Tom duly converted the spot kick, to draw us level and we were then able to see out the game for a hard-earned draw to seal the minor premiers’ spot with two games to spare.

The fact that celebrations were muted shows that as pleased as we are to have won the league, that achievement will feel somewhat hollow, if we are unable to complete the double by going on to win the Grand Final.

As a measure of the difficulty of the game, Geoff was once again voted man of the match, for keeping us in the contest and allowing us to snatch a draw to seal the league title. The Scrotum medal went to Neal (but I don’t want to come in for tea mummy!) Tarditi, for having a little bit of a tanty when being hooked for a substitution.

Final Score: East Gosford 1 – 1 Barnstoneworth