Sat July 14th- In France it was Bastille Day, for Northcote Park it must have felt like they were emulating the deeds of storming the fortress that was the French Bastille prison in 1789 as it seems almost a lifetime ago that Northcote Park has won at Montmorency. In fact the last time they beat Montmorency at Para Rd was ironically in the same year North Heidelberg won at Para Rd, 2001. However, unlike 1789 , Northcote Park could not break the defence of Para Rd and the revolution has been halted for another year.
The weather forecast was for morning showers and a sunny afternoon, I'll take that any day for a home game. But when we arrived at the ground and it was bathed in sunshine and the alarm bells were ringing in my head as I worried that it may rain in the arvo again. After the debarcle that was last week, I didnt want to see a drop of rain.
The Thirds were up against quality opposition, a team that has only lost the one game so far, but Grant had heart the boys would do well. The game was a tight affair where the umpires seemed to get more exercise lifting red and yellow cards than they did running following the play. Unfortunately the boys couldnt win against the class unit that is Northcote Park Alphington, however the goal by Tim Moulas was an absolute highlight, very reminisent of the dissallowed goal by Collingwoods Dale Thomas last week. Best for the day had to be Kyle Vann, closely followed by Shane Woodhouse in a game that was a loss.
Hoffy's Dad's army was again put to the test for numbers. Nowadays if Hoffy can field a team he feels like he has a victory. The return of Derek Van Leest was noticable with him running around like a 20 year old as he got the first two goals of the game. Just when you thought you had seen the goal of the year with his first, he followed it up with a blind turn around 3 defenders in the goal square to the roar of the 15 people in the crowd that saw it. The game was again marred by an ugly incident that was unfortunate. Josh was asking one of the Northcote Park players if he could have a possession, unfortunately the NP player must have had bad breath as Josh looked like he was punch drunk after the response. Then to top it off the umpire gave Josh a yellow card for his impersonation of Rocky trying to get up after being hit by Apollo Creed, telling Josh "Rocky" is his favorite movie and to stop stuffing around. This upset the other Monty players and the crowd in general as we all thought it was a great Rocky impersonation.
The game was a very low scoring affair and very physical. Zac Anver at one stage had one of the NP players trying to intimidate him. Now I have seen funny videos and alike, but to see someone try and intimidate Zac almost caused the small crowd to die of laughter. No harm in trying mate but take a look in the mirror next time! Again the umpires got RSI from the red and yellow cards, though when all was done and dusted, the Mont boys came out on top. Sabby Ciavola did a Stephen Kernahan impersonation kicking a helicopter that only just crossed the line for a goal. The amazing part was the goal square was full and no one touched it! All up it was a good win that put Hoffy back in the four and put a smile back on his face. Thank goodness for that, he gets cranky with life then blames me when he loses!!
The senior game was a must win and in bright sunshine Coley's team did the job. It wasnt a pretty game, infact I almost thought the instructions were for the half back lines from each team to kick it to one another such was the number of turnovers we all witnessed. Despite the turn overs the feeling was that Monty was the better side, but they just couldnt land the killer blow needed to set up the win and by quarter time Mont had surrenderd the lead to NP to the tune of 8 points.
The second quarter was a much improved effort, though turn overs were killing very promising forward 50 thrusts. To NP credit, their back line was very strong and kept repelling the ball from goal. The pressure applied by both backlines was emmense and was tipified by Ben Finnan who ran down the NP player who was in the goal square 2 meters out about to slam the ball home, when Ben made contact and the ball hit the post much to the Mont crowds pleasure. The ruck duel was clearly being won by Brett Hayes and Matt Cusack which must have been pleasing to Jack and his assistants, the only thing missing was a big lead, but to get to half time with a 5 point lead was a good turn around from the first quarter.
The third quarter was a wrestle with Mont kicking out to a good lead only to see NP reel it back with quick unanswered goals late in the term that must have annoyed the Mont coaches. It was a 3 goal to 2 quarter and Mont had extended the lead to 13 points.
The last was an epic with NP attacking hard in the opening minutes. Before the second minute had ticked over, Liam hunt had touched the ball on the line preventing a goal only to see the ball sail through the goal a few seconds later after a turn over from the kick in. The ball travelled end to end for the next 5 minutes till Mont finally took control with a goal to Brett Hayes, his fourth for the day. The ball was continually being either cleared off the goal line or being rushed for points at both ends of the ground as neither team gave an inch. It wasnt until a few minutes till the final bell that a defensive error caused by the Mont forwards found Derryn Stanley accepting the ball from the NP defender 20 meters out from goal directly in front and he put the ball through the sticks and it was game over.
So now our future is 100% in our hands. The equation is simple, win and we're in the finals.
Last Modified on 16/07/2007 10:27