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Balmain were left ruing a disallowed goal and a couple of shots that hit the bar after they conceded a late equaliser in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Gazy Lansvale. A closely contested first half saw few chances created at either end, with the exception of Jake Flower's early cross which Steve Lewis headed into the top corner. Unfortunately Lewis had to stop celebrating mid cartwheel after noticing that the assistant had raised his flag in a dubious offside call. The scores remained 0-0 at the break, but Balmain opened the scoring early in the second period when Henrik Andersson's shot deflected off Julian Bracewell's foot past the Lansvale keeper. Bracewell then produced a couple of headers which hit the cross bar as well as another that was cleared off the line by a desperate Lansvale defender. Lewis also went close with a stinging volley that only missed by inches with the keeper well beaten. With less than five minutes to go Balmain were given a warning when keeper Justin Delaney made his first real save of the match, flicking a shot over the bar with his foot. Alas the waring was not heeded and with the game all but over, a Lansvale player was allowed a free header at the far post, and he powered it into the top corner to salvage a point for the home team.

Balmain reserves achieved a comfortable 3-1 victory against an opposition determined not to suffer a repeat of the colossal 18-2 margin between the teams when they last met at Birchgrove. Dylan Zammit gave the Tigers the lead after he ran into the box on the end of a couple of crafty one-twos at the edge of the area and smashed the ball into the corner of the net. The Tigers then conceded their customary goal a game when a Lansvale player ran from half way and hit a screamer into the top corner from about 30 yards out. The Tigers proceeded to dominate the second half leaving keeper Matt Mulhall with nothing to do except try to fend off a Lansvale attacker who attempted to start a fight while the ball was up the other end of the field. Zammit scored his second for the day when he volleyed in a cross from Honza Capek, and Steele Bonus reacted quickest to fire in a goal from a narrow angle after Tony Mersaides' cross appeared to have been handled by a defender. Balmain had a couple of blatant late penalty calls turned down as one or two Lansvale players lost the plot. This forced the Tigers to finish the game with 10 men as Zammit had to be carried from the field in agony after having his right leg almost kicked off at the knee. Fortunately the leg transplant has been a success and he should be right in a week or two.

Balmain retained their top league position with a comfortable 2-1 victory over Roosters FC on a blustery Saturday at Yennora. The first half began fairly evenly, and Tigers keeper Justin Delaney was called upon to make a couple of smart saves to deny the Roosters. Balmain then suffered a setback when experienced defender Gavin Buddis had to be assisted from the field sporting a tennis ball sized lump in the middle of his forehead after an accidental head clash. Shortly after, Steve Lewis grabbed the lead for the Tigers when he ran onto a through ball and passed the ball past the on-rushing keeper from well outside the box. Balmain retained the 1-0 lead at half time, then extended their lead immediately from the second half kick off. It was Lewis again who scored, this time heading in the rebound after his initial shot was saved by the Roosters keeper. Balmain proceeded to control the play for the rest of the match, and in truth should have made more of a couple of golden opportunities. Roosters did manage to pull one back when they were awarded a penalty. Grant Burgess earned himself the Exchange Hotel man of the match award with a solid display in defence.

Balmain reserves bounced back from conceding a first minute goal to hammer their opponents 7-1. The Roosters scored with a curling chip that deceived Sven in goals, but it wasn't long before the Tigers hit back, with Honza Capek scoring the first of his hat trick. Capek added a second with a punishing drive that went in off the post before Eamon Byrne headed in a Jem Richardson corner. Steele Bonus continued the one way traffic, running on to Richardson's flick on to score the fourth, and shortly before the break Capek completed his hat trick with a shot that squeezed under the diving keeper. Dylan Zammit grabbed a second half double to complete the scoring in a win that maintained the Tigers' 11 point lead at the top of the table. A dominant midfield display earned Tony Mersaides the Exchange Hotel man of the match.

You've waited for it, you've asked for it, and now, you have it. Balmain's famous mid season bash, the Night of a Thousand Felafels, makes it's return this Saturday night (18th June) following the game away to Roosters FC. The details follow:

Fatima's Lebanese Restaurant
294 Cleveland St, Surry Hills
7:30pm kick-off
Friends, fans, wives and girlfriends are all more than welcome.

A measly $30 will get you a full banquet including beverages, belly dancers, competitions, raffles and prizes. But that's not all.. Chris and Grant have offered to do a duet of anything as long as it's Pat Benatar to make sure everyone gets their fill of crappy 80s frock rock.

Don't miss what will surely be one of the A-list events of the year.

Balmain went down 4-1 to Trasandinos at Birchgrove on Saturday in a game that set a new record for having the most penalty kicks ever awarded in 90 minutes of football. The trigger happy referee awarded four spot kicks in an afternoon of whistle blowing madness - two to Trasandinos in the first half and two to Balmain in the second. Trasandinos took advantage of both their opportunities to take a 2-0 half time lead, then "did an England" in the second half, packing 8 or 9 men back behind the ball content to play on the counter attack. This strategy worked well as they snatched a third midway through the second period to all but sew the game up. Steve Lewis had the first of Balmain's spot kicks saved by the keeper, so the duty was passed to Nick Flower for the next attempt and he made no mistake in pulling the Tigers back to 3-1. A sustained period of Balmain attack saw the Tigers entrenched around the Trasandinos box but unable to put the ball past the outstanding opposition keeper. Trasandinos then rubbed salt into the wounds with a fourth breakaway goal in injury time. Nick Flower earned the Exchange Hotel man of the match award.

Balmain reserves put a shocking first half display behind them as they came from behind to win 5-2 in the lead-up game. The curse of the penalty spot continued this week - this time it was Honza Capek's turn to miss from 12 yards. Minutes later, Trasandinos took the lead with a long range shot that went in off the cross bar. Close to half time Eamon Byrne continued his goal scoring streak with a 70 yard screamer. Yes seventy. The Trasandinos keeper ran out to take Byrne's edge of the box clearance on the full but misjudged the flight and ended up with egg on his face as the ball bounced over him into the top corner. In the second half, Tony Mersaides troubled the scorer for the first time this season as he took the ball past the keeper to make it 2-1. However Trasandinos hit back almost immediately to make it 2-2. Nick Bounds then had a piledriver saved by the keeper, but Jem Richardson was first to the rebound to slot it in from a narrow angle for a 3-2 lead. Richardson and Bryne then extended the lead to 5-2 with long range free kicks - both misjudged by the hapless keeper. Byrne's goalscoring efforts from the centre of defence earned him the Exchange Hotel award.

Balmain has assumed the top of the league position after Saturday's 6-2 hammering of Lithgow at Birchgrove. The Tigers got off to the worst possible start when Lithgow banged in a long range effort only minutes after kick off. Balmain then scored one of the goals of the season when Eamon Byrne, making his first top grade start after the withdrawal of the Flower brothers through injury, got on the end of a towering 50 metre clearance and first time volleyed it over the keeper's head. Unfortunately he was playing at the wrong end of the field at the time and the cries of "Sacre Bleu!" from interim coach Dave "Santini" Grill could be heard in Paris as Lithgow took a 2-0 lead. Balmain were handed a lucky lifeline just before half time when the referee awarded a penalty for Steve Lewis falling over a blade of grass. Lewis stepped up and struck his penalty straight at the keeper but the luck was with Lewis though as the rebound came straight back to him and he hammered it in to make it 2-1.

Santini got stuck into his troops at half time and the Tigers came out for the second half looking a different side. Henrik Andersson levelled things after taking a sublime Jackson Gothe-Snape pass around the keeper. Dave Hardwick then scored two almost identical goals, heading in two corners in succession to take the score to 4-2. The Lithgow side were thoroughly deflated by now as many of them had backed up from the reserve grade game, and Balmain began to tear them to pieces. Hardwick completed his hat trick with a well-placed finish, and Lewis added a second with a looping header to finish off the scoring. Coach Santini even had the luxury of bringing on Tony Merceides as a late substitute, who was straight up to the press box after the game making sure at least one journalist would include him in his match report.

The reserve team continued their unbeaten run with a comfortable 4-1 victory in the earlier fixture. Balmain took an immediate lead when Dylan Zammit headed in Paul Ritchie's looping cross in the first minute. Balmain then squandered several good chances to add to their lead before Honza Capek smashed in a top corner shot from the edge of the area to make it 2-0 at the break. The second half saw Balmain play some more quality football that created many chances that unfortunately went begging. Capek scored his second goal after running onto Jem Richardson's through ball and cleverly fooling the keeper before finishing. Lithgow then scored after a free kick fell loose in the box right in front of a Lithgow attacker who was faced with the easiest of finishes. However the Tigers had the final say when Jem Richardson scored with a first time shot after Capek cut back a ball from the byline. Balmain could have had another two or three after that with some better finishing, but all in all it was a comfortable victory against the league cellar dwellers.

We've added a discussion forum to the site that opens up all sorts of possibilities. It is a great way for fans, players and staff to keep in touch no matter where you are in the world - especially if you don't have someone's email address. We'll also be using it to run our tipping competitions.

Which brings me to Euro 2004. We will be running a tipping competition throughout the tournament where you can put one over your mates and win some cold hard pesos. The competition will be run through the forum - you'll just have to post your tips before the games.

So go on over, take a look, and register as it will only take you two minutes or so.

Update: Euro 2004 Tipping Comp information is here.