Stroll through the Park wins it for Langy
Posted: 29 August, 2008
| Keilor Park | 0 | — | 2 | Langwarrin |
| C.Nicholes (2) | ||||
Round 20: Keilor Park v Langwarrin — 23 August, 2008
With just 3 games to go we’re well and truly down to the business end of the season folks. This week: Keilor Park away, a great opportunity to make up for an embarrassing 2-1 loss to them earlier in the season.
To the squad then. Jonesy in goals. Defence: Ben Caffrey sweeping with Ben Cullen and Shane picking up. (Shane having played every position this year except in goals, great effort) Midfield: We welcomed back Stuart Craig in the middle of the park from a knee operation. He was joined by Adam, Boris, Cam and Tommy. This left Sodder and Karl to put the ball in the back of the net.
Making up the bench were Jamie O, Caleb, Pooley and Powell.
The crowd, which was a larger shade of blue as usual, assembled around a huge park that was a bit patchy, but nonetheless playable. So away we went.
The game began at a frenetic pace, tackles flying in from all directions as both sides tried to assert some authority. Stuart took no time getting reacquainted with the middle of midfield, throwing his body around and causing a fair bit of havoc.
It took around 10 minutes, but Langy were first to come close. Cam to Tommy, a few touches and then a cross whipped in to the back stick where Karl went up but couldn’t direct his header.
Moments later Shane won the ball in defence and gave it to Adam. The young winger took it around his man and hit a low hard cross that was heading for Sodder until a defender just got his foot to it.
Next it was Keilor who ventured forward, a lovely 50 yard switch of play released a striker, his cross whipped in at pace, but straight into the hands of Jonesy.
A few more harsh tackles were starting to creep back into the game, most were penalised by the ref, but somehow no cards were brought out. Twice Stuart was brought down from behind by the same player, but the yellow and red remained in his pocket.
Late in the half Boris broke free on the left wing, hitting a perfectly waited cross that just cleared the defender and landed to Karl at the back post. He took it down with his chest and hit a right foot volley, the ball skimming off the outside of his foot and going wide.
That was to be the last chance of the half. An even 45 minutes where Langy just couldn’t find that opening goal. But apart from that our boys had no problems with the defence holding strong and Jonesy cleaning up anything that did get through.
0-0 all at the break and it was time for Gus to work some magic.
The second half started innocuously, and after 58 minutes Gus rang the changes. Stuart for Jamie ‘Gooner’ and Adam, who had another great game, made way for Pooley.
The changes seemed to breathe some life into Langy, but it wasn’t until the big hitman Caleb entered the fray did Langy start to turn it on. Unfortunately Caleb has been suffering from some injuries of the late, but that didn’t stop him from breaking the deadlock. He won the ball on the half way line, laying it off to Cam who knocked it past his marker and switched it to Tommy. One touch and then another cross, spotting the 50 yard run that Caleb made into the box. The striker just got a toe to it; taking it on the half-volley and watching it bounce into the net. What a goal from the big fella, sending the faithful wild. Great stuff.
Soon after it was almost 2. The Gooner was brought down around 30 yards out after shielding the ball brilliantly. Up stepped Cam, curling a fierce shot into the top left hand corner. The keeper just got there, fumbling the ball onto the crossbar and out for a corner.
But finally it was time for what we had all been waiting for. Cullen won the ball from a superb sliding tackle, Caff picking it up, lifting the eyes and hitting a gorgeous 30 meter ball over the defence and on to Boris. The Croation Sensation spotted a gap in Keilor’s backline, playing Caleb through one-on-one. A dummy this way and that, before slotting the ball through the keepers legs for his brace. 2-0 and surely that was it.
But no, Langy still went forward in search of a third. Shane humped it down the line for Gooner to cross, the ball landing at the back post for Caleb. He looked up and chipped it into the middle, the Gooner rising highest and placing his header into the top right hand corner. We on the sidelines had already started cheering until the keeper pulled off an unbelievable one handed save. Great play from Langy and an awesome save from the Keilor keeper.
That was followed by the whistle. A great day out for all involved and another 3 points towards our survival. Only 6 to go boys. So lets hope to see everyone there on Friday night for Kingston City vs. Langy.
Team: Jones, Caffrey, Cullen, Tagliaferro, Leopold, Craig (Poole 58), T Ahmadzai, A Ahmadzai (O’Donoghue 58), Cochrane, O’Donnell (Nicholes 65), Ovcin
Unused Subs: Powell
