BUFC C vs Avoca Match Report

It was another hot and sunny day for our first game of the season at the field of dreams that is Terry Oval – the only pitch on the coast with a Brazilian waxing strip down the middle. Early signs were not great – our five subs had been reduced to three before kick-off, and Dave managed to injure himself getting out of his trousers (possibly not for the first time eh Dave?). We also learned that shaving your legs is apparently now part of the treatment for a thigh injury – thanks for the tip Justin! Nevertheless it was smiles all round when Everybody’s Favourite Opponents, Avoca, arrived to light up the afternoon with their particular brand of vigorous and jolly sportsmanship. Several old friends were seen in their ranks, with one exception sadly absent due to an excess of exuberance earlier in the competition.

It was a tense and nervy opening few minutes with chances at both ends, in particular a bulldozing run from Payney which would have put us in front if the bounce had been kinder. We did take the lead shortly after however, when a good run from Tim put him one on one with their keeper and he coolly put it away. Avoca were not big fans of this and responded with significant pressure and an increasingly physical approach. Slide tackles and shoulder charges became the order of the day. We again struggled to hold our midfield together and sadly, twice, Avoca managed to break through and score, giving them the lead by half time.

Despite this our heads didn’t go down. A rousing half time team talk by Tim had us passing and moving again and, unusually for us, we played better in the second half. The game remained very physical, with a particularly strong challenge on Harry, resulting in him leaving a fragment of tooth somewhere on the pitch – after all, what’s an elbow to the face between friends? Somewhere in all the fun Scotty limped off with a calf injury and Beni buggered off to Wollongong, but the rest of the team held it together with some gratefully received help from Andreas in midfield. We worked hard, we passed and we moved, but it wouldn’t quite fall for us. Special mention should go to Tim for keeping his head in the face of some seriously playground level sledging from their floppy haired midfielder; the whole team understands the self control it required not to take him out. Repeatedly. With extreme prejudice.

Keeping the score at 2-1 looked to be our deserved reward for a hard fought second half, until the final minute saw Avoca’s forward, after a shocking collision with Pierre which left him down and out, snatch both a late third goal and the Unsportsmanlike Behaviour Crown from current holders Umina. Instead of kicking the ball out they just ignored the obviously injured player and went ahead and scored. Nice one guys. There’s playing the whistle and there’s selling your souls for a 3-1 lead. We could be charitable and say they were starting to panic under our late pressure. But we won’t say that.

Well we’ve played everybody once now, won 2, drawn 1 and lost 3; on a good day we could beat any team in the comp, so this needs to be our aim as we go into the second games. Chin up chaps, chin up.

#TheLegendStrokesItsChinThoughtfully