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This is a public service announcement for those who are interested in obtaining tickets to Australia's World Cup qualification matches against the Solomon Islands and (fingers crossed!) the 5th placed South American team later this year.

You may have heard that Football Federation Australia has gone down the rugby route and reserved all publicly available tickets to the matches for their "football family". So in order to make sure you are eligible to buy a ticket, you must register with Soccer Australia at their myfootball website. If you want to buy a ticket to either match you will have to register for the FFA football family by September 9. Registration will entitle you to buy up to four tickets to a match. So don't be a red-headed stepchild, become part of the FFA Football Family!

Saturday's referee baffled everyone

Balmain's season came to a disappointing end on Saturday evening as they bowed out 4-2 on penalties after 120 minutes failed to produce a goal. A tactical reshuffle consigned striker Julian Bracewell to the subtitutes bench, making way for a six man midfield with Balmain looking to keep things tight in the opening period. However, the game started at a frantic pace and Balmain created all the early chances. Dave Hardwick swivelled and latched onto a bouncing ball in the box, but hit his shot over the bar. Eric Lynch had a close range effort saved by the keeper after Hardwick flicked on a Grant Burgess throw-in. The Hakoah keeper had to bravely punch clear a cross with three Tigers looking certain to put the ball away. Apart from a few corners and a couple of long range shots, Balmain keeper Charlie Sosa was left with little to do and as half time approached the game remained scoreless.

The second period saw the introduction of Bracewell early on, with Balmain looking to add a bit of spark up front. However Hakoah rarely looked troubled and were content to play their now familiar game of defending deep in numbers and trying to hit their forwards with direct balls from the defence. Hardwick looked to have scored with a header with half an hour remaining, but as the ball floated through the air the crowd rose from their seats and gasped and the intake of air seemed to pull the ball to the wrong side of the post. Jackson Gothe-Snape and captain Eric Lynch were forced from the field with injuries late in the half and, with both defences looking rock solid, the longer the game went on the less likely a goal looked. Well into injury time, Sosa kept Balmain's season alive with a stunning low save after the referee had made a shocking decision to award Hakoah a corner after one of their strikers had clearly headed the ball out.

Scoreless at full time, the game dragged on into 30 minutes of extra time and then the late dramatics of a penalty shootout. Balmain won the small advantage of shooting first but quickly lost it by missing their first two penalties. Full credit to Hakaoh, they stepped up and gave Sosa no chance with four quality penalties that finally broke Balmain's 660 minute clean sheet run and sent the Tigers out for season 2005.

Balmain will face Hakoah at 3:30pm on Saturday August 20 at Hajduk Stadium in an elimination semi final. The winner of the match earns the right to play the loser of Springwood vs UNSW for a spot in the grand final. Both teams are in red hot form, with neither side losing a match since Balmain beat Hakoah 4-1 in early June.

The match should be a cracker and the staff and players would like to see as many supporters there as possible. So please mark the day down in your diary and get out to the stadium to spur the Tigers on to victory.

Balmain warmed up for their elimination semi-final against Hakoah next week with a very comfortable 4-0 win over Auburn Star on Sunday. Despite the game being played at barely over half pace, the Tigers did well to avoid injury after suffering some horrendous "challenges" from an aggressive opposition, egged on by their spiteful manager. Thankfully though a repeat of his gobby contribution to last round's clash was avoided after Anton Ivancic remembered to bring his goggles, snorkel, umbrella and wetsuit to the bench.

On the pitch, Louis Soares waited until the last game to score his first goal of the season with a fine lobbed finish. Jem Richardson then made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time after some quality lead up play from Jeremy Deasey and Julian Bracewell. Daniel Totaro scored a second half brace, the first a cracking volley from a Richardson cross, and the second an unstoppable free kick from the edge of the penalty area. Soares played an excellent game in the midfield anchor role to earn himself the Exchange Hotel man of the match award.

The U21s finally snapped their mammoth losing streak with a comprehensive 8-0 rout of their wooden spooner opposition. Henrik Anderssen and Matt Coelho bagged two goals each, with Julian Junior, Ben Shine, Grant Burgess, and goalkeeper Andy Pye also hitting the back of the net.

The U19s also ended on a winning note, their 3-0 victory knocking Auburn out of semi-final contention. Simon Roddy scored a first half double and Hugo Muecke added the third. But the highlight of the match had to be Balmain captain Matt Coelho's incredible miss from around one metre out with the goal-mouth gaping. Truly it rivalled Lorenzo Merlino's goal-line airswing from the first game of the season in the best miss of the year stakes.

Balmain returned from Springwood with the point they needed to assure a semi final position after a scoreless draw on Saturday night. The Tigers were missing regulars Hardwick and Gothe-Snape through injury, as well as Bracewell and Totaro through suspension. This made way for Tristan Aguire to make his first grade starting debut. Balmain should have been ahead early as the keeper spilled a cross and Jeremy Deasey lobbed the ball into an unguarded net, but the referee baffled everyone at the ground by calling play back for some kind of foul. After that a cagey first half ended with neither side able to truly test the opposition keeper.

The second period was dominated by the solid defenses of both teams, and truth to be told it was a game of few highlights. Balmain were perhaps a little hard done by with a couple of decent shouts for a penalty, one in particular where the referee missed a blatant goal-line handball, but in the end it wasn't the Tigers' night as far as refereeing decisions were concerned. Balmain's backline was impenetrable and it was no surprise to see Eamon Byrne earn the Exchange Hotel man of the match award, narrowly edging out Gavin Buddis and Anthony Trieste.

The U21s once again snatched defeat at the death, going down 3-2 in the final five minutes. They started well, with Gabriel Viera scoring his first of the season with a fine shot from the edge of the area. However by half time Springwood had regained the lead after scoring twice. Substitute Mitchell Bonus levelled proceedings for the Tigers and it looked as if the teams would share the points. Unfortunately it was not to be and that extends the U21s winless streak to eight games, six of which have been lost by a single goal.

The U19s were blessed with a full team for the first time in a few weeks, but it wasn't enough to prevent a comfortable 4-1 victory for the home team. Glenn Lynch scored from the edge of the box for the Tigers late in the second half.