Voyle Park Rangers

Awards 20 July

MVP

As noted in the game’s write-up, this was a tough match – and awarding points was also difficult.

The 3 points goes to Chris D for another strong game at the back. Cam gets the 2 points as he was often the starting point for any positive football with Gareth and Norm both getting a point each for their display of skill.

Clayton still has a healthy gap on top of the leader board but Cam and Chris D are hunting him down.

Team Player

This week the point goes to Mark. He dropped back to try and give an injured team mate a break and finished the game very vocal. Great to see him communicating to the bitter end.

Chris D stays out in front.

Pukete 4, Voyle Park 2

Well another second placing this week, a 4 – 2 loss to Pukete. It’s fair to say that they were young and skilful, in fact, I suspect that their entire midfield were under 21 and all Saturday players.

3 nil at the break wasn’t promising, then conceding a goal within minutes of starting the second half had me considering a 10 person back line. Pride, determination and well over a century of combined experience saw the lads in blue up the ante and fight back. A raking pass to Norm, a quick Usain Bolt like run along the touchline followed by a pin point cross rocketed home by our newly imported striker. Goal of the season!

Following his stunning goal, Chris Tricker then provided an assist that Maradona would have been proud of (you could say it was a deft ‘touch’). Gareth followed up and tapped in our second. Gareth almost plucked a third with their keeper making a finger-tip save, however a miraculous comeback wasn’t to be.

With 6 players injured plus the usual few away, we only had 11 players. Why have a rest when you can spend 80 minutes chasing youngsters! Bit of a worry with the team’s twin enforcers also getting battered. Still the body mass of Paul and Gareth will see them right.

Some random questions:

• Should the club have to provide a concussion cap to our resident crash test dummy?
• Is it unrealistic to expect Chris T to maintain his 100% scoring record?
• Is Gareth the new James?
• Why does the opposition always assume Runty is an ex-rugby player?

Awards 13 July

MVP

No question that this week’s 3 points has to go to Clayton. The man was colossal in goal with Inspector Gadget arms and legs going everywhere to parry away shot after shot. For an injured man, he kept us in the game for a long time (though you do have to wonder why they kept on trying high shots against the tallest man on the pitch). Dave Hall picks up 2 and Norm 1 for their strong game in defence. They were solid and swept up attack after attack.

Team Man

The team player point goes to Runty. Not because he cried when he got taken out of goal as he thought it ruined his chance for MVP points. Not because running around in ‘keeper shorts makes it look like he has 2 inch legs. And definitely not because he promised me $20 if I gave him the point (though you can still pay up Runty because I’m pretty sure you were going to say it). No, Runty gets the point for the hard work on the field and his ongoing gay happy demeanour. 

Voyle Park 0, Pirates 3

For 60 minutes, this game could have gone either way. They were definitely the stronger side but at 1 nil, we showed enough promise on attack to raise hope that we could pull it back. Alas it was not to be as they slotted 2 more before the final whistle.

For all their dominance, the goals came through break-aways from where we were pressing on attack.

Early signs weren’t overly promising. We had 11 players at the start, with two key mid-fielders pressed into full back roles. They scored an early run away goal from slick passing through the middle. Injury then led to Clayton having to go into goal – though to be fair, he did bloody well there. Amy then tried to take down the opposition by kicking them and ended up with an injured foot – luckily at that very moment there was a blinding flash of lightening, a clap of thunder and James magically appeared from a hole in the ground. Back to 11 players and we started to compete well.

The division’s top team was made to work hard and they even had moments of absolute panic at the back as we searched for a goal. At the end of the day though, it was mostly a game of top effort and endeavour that for long periods lacked our usual skill levels. Probably this was down to it being a slightly different looking team positionally.

Full credit to Pirates though – they deserved to take the points.

Awards 29 June

MVP

This week 3 points go to Clayton. Staunch on defense and productive on corners and long throws. Their speedy striker was amazed when long legs kept appearing from no-where to tackle him.

Gareth gets 2 points for non-stop class. What’s a few bumps and bruises eh Gareth.

The other point goes to Lester. Those defensive headers deserve to be rewarded – simply can’t beat a hard head!

Clayton now jumps into the lead with 9 points. Dave Hill, Cam and Geoff lead the chasing pack on 7.

Team Man

No debate here - simply has to go to Campbell for being keeper during the penalty shoot-out and putting his hand up to be a penalty taker as well. Thanks Cam

Lester and Chris stay in front by the slimmest of margins (1 point)

We are England !!

Knocked out of a cup competition on penalties. I never realised we had a team full of John Terrys!

 A good fight back from being a goal down in the first half due to a sharply taken break out from Vikings. Second half saw a lot of opportunities presented to us as their defense panicked. Congratulations to Norm – slotting in a goal in his first game for the club. Unfortunately that was the only time we put the ball in the net.

One all after full time and the negotiations began for a practical period of extra time. Suggestions ranged from a coin toss through to another 80 minutes (who was that idiot?). 10 minutes, golden goal and it was all on……..but still the tams of gallant gladiators couldn’t be separated.

Penalty shoot-out it was to be. Death or glory. Mano on Mano. Were we worried? Hell no! What with Wednesday night practices and Cam in goal, what could possibly go wrong?

5 penalties each and still the sides were even. Onto sudden death penalties – final result was Vikings won the shoot-out 2 – 1

Cam lived up to our expectations – saving penalty after penalty. He had the opposition so frightened, they even blasted the ball over the goal several times. He total psyched them out, his presence in goal was immense.

 So what happened, how did we lose?

 Easy – one shot wide and four over the top. Only Gareth handled the pressure and slotted home.

 Joking aside – well done to the guys who had a crack at taking a penalty, thanks for stepping up. Full credit also to Cam for calmly taking his place between the posts.

 Overall we played well in patches but also had periods where we kept giving the ball away cheaply

Awards 15 June

MVP

I wanted to give it to all the midfield, but then I also had to recognise the goal scorers.

The 3 points went to Geoff, lots of toiling up front, scoring a goal and basically spending 80 minutes terrorising their defense. Campbell (2) for not only scoring but for the effort he puts into the midfield. Mark (1) – how can you go past someone who scores 2 goals (though I did think a hat-trick was compulsory??) - he also was an ever present danger and obviously we will be seeing lots more goals from him over the season.

Dave Hill, Geoff and Campbell are now tied for first place on 7 points with Clayton and Chris one point back.

In all honesty - it was another all round team effort. Well done guys.

Team Player

For basically being everywhere, Chris takes this out.

Lester and Chris are joint leaders for this award.

Voyle Park 4, Tetra Pak 3

Well it had to happen – and it did! The mighty beast that is Voyle Park Rangers scored its first win of the season, 4 – 3 against Tetra Pak Vikings. 

Two goals to Mark, a break-through goal for Geoff, topped off by a last minute winner from Campbell. Beauty to behold!

Mark is now out on his own as the team’s top goal scorer (3). Five other players have also scored.

Our attack was all over their defenders and we could easily have had more goals. Midfield was again very constructive with lots of positive play – we’ve learnt how to pass the ball and it’s paying dividends for us. It might be hard work but the midfield is now made up of ball players who are also very strong and aggressive at defending. One striker played havoc with the defense, but apart from him, it was another solid performance at the back.

 Special mentions this week to:

• The double Daves at the back – the pass-back experts (some may call them shots at our own goal, but we knew what we were doing.)
• The third Dave who not only kept well in the first half, he was the perfect time keeper in the second
• Not mentioning any names to avoid embarrassment, but Chris missed an absolute sitter.
• Finally a very honourable mention to the 2 opposition players who fell over at different times – with no one anywhere near them. I was very proud of my students – I taught them all they know.

 Welcome to Jayde our newest player and to Dave White, playing his first 11 aside game for us.

MVP 8 June

MVP

After the game everyone was hassling me about how hard it would be to pick a man of the match. No way could anyone be singled out. That was a complete team performance – so I’ve taking the easy way out and 2 points go to every man on the paddock.

Dave Hill – played well in goal, cut out crosses and came out to cut down attacks. The only way the opposition could get it past him was to use their bollocks. Remember he was playing with a broken foot/ankle!

Defence was solid and hustled hard. Clayton was an absolute rock in the middle, took responsibility for goal kicks and floated in some great corners. Shane and Paul not only defended stoutly and covered across the line, but they both found the energy in the second half to go for long runs, attacking down their lines and linking with the attackers

We basically had a 3 person midfield of Cam, Lester and Chris. They played constructively, passing the ball around in a controlled and positive manner. At the same time, they defended like demons. They were really fired up and all 3 were exhorting the team to shut down Barnstoneworth. They contributed so much to the clean sheet in the second half.

Geoff’s role as striker was to run at the defence and cause them headaches – and he did just that. As Lester said after the game – defense starts up front. Geoff didn’t allow their backs to press up. When they were in possession, he hunted them down. When we had the ball, he found space and put them under all sorts of pressure.

The points:

• Dave Hill   7
• Clayton     6
• Chris         6
• Shane       5
• Campbell  5
• Paul          5
• Lester       4
• Geoff        4

Team Man

The way a group of people supported their team mates would normally have meant I would have chosen from that lot – but in reality I can’t go past Dave Hill for playing in goal with a broken ankle. Not a lot of running needed but having to punt the ball took guts. The simple fact he turned up deserves praise – thanks Dave.

Lester leads the points, one ahead of a gaggle

Barnstoneworth 1, Voyle Park 1

A 1 all draw mightn’t sound a big deal but I think everyone who played on Sunday will agree – it was a f#@$k%$g big deal !

History: Last season, Barnstoneworth beat us 5 nil and 4 nil. In our preseason friendly, they beat us 6 – 1.

The lead up: Barnstoneworth’s results to date: beat Morrinsville 4 – 2 (Morrinsville beat us by the same score); drew 1 all with Hillcrest (division 3 team). Voyle Park – well a few second placings.

On the day: We only had 9 players (9 as in nine, as in 2 less than a team, as in subs hahahahaha). Lucky we could borrow one of theirs (they still had a sub). So 10 against 11 on the field or 10 against 12 with sub.

The game: They started well and attacked hard. A couple of good shots but in reality they weren’t too dangerous. It wasn’t one way traffic though, we pressed them at times as well.  At about the 20 min mark the ball came across from the wing to an unmarked striker who slotted it home from close range – well it might read that way but the reality was a winger had a shot, totally missed the target and it raced across the goal. The striker basically ran into the ball and scored off his testicles.

They continued to have the bulk of the possession until the last 5 – 10 minutes of the half when we pressured their goal mouth. A powerful header from Chris was cleared off the line – by a defender using his hands. Lester coolly slotted the justified penalty home. We continued to press for the rest of the half and deserved to be even at the break.

Second half was a gutsy defensive display. We got behind the ball and made sure we won anything 40:60. Yes they dominated but again we had our moments. Drew (a borrowed player) and Geoff worked hard and created opportunities. Shane and Paul took the odd chance to fly forward with the ball like genuine wing backs while Cam, Chris and Lester played positively with the ball when we had it. Clayton’s long throws and powerful kicks made their defenders work hard.

Final whistle and I think it was a fair result. They had more possession but we could have also snuck another goal or two.

So this was not only a good days footy – it will be a watershed for our season, the turning of the tide, a new horizon, a game changer, it will set us up for more wins and set the scene for the rest of the season.

Go forth points and multiply