Highland Fling Brings the Full Six Points
"HeadCoach" Andrews returns to prove his literary skills are not confined to the touchline....
The history of the road trip is legendary in football folklore. Players have been made or broken, premierships have been won or lost on the strength of the performances.
As the first rays of sunshine streaked across a dew swept Birchgrove, the Tigers assembled to make their push towards the Bathurst plains and the warm winter embrace of their country cousins. A huge black and gold convey snaked over the hills to the state of the art Alec Lamberton Park, with the Tigers arriving even before the most die hard Bathurst 75s player. Not since Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth playing for Sydney Explorers FC in a 4-3-3 formation had there been such an exciting sight in the Blue Mountains.
Under twenties
The under 20s started the proceedings with a shoestring line up putting the young bucks from Bathurst to the sword. In a sight that will bring hope to English Fans the world over, the name M.OWEN returned to the score sheet, breaking his drought with two high class clinical finishes early in first half.
Sitting pretty at three nil after 30 minutes, the first half was marred by a horrible incident following a well finished goal by Jem Richardson. After putting the ball in the back of the net, the fans were forced to endure the worst piece of Australian theatre since the axing of "Hey Dad" as the tricky little winger attempted to re-enact the Bresciano Macho man celebration. The resultant display however ended up looking more like the tin soldier from the Wizard of OZ meets WWF, leaving the locals cringing in their ugg boots.
The Tigers finished off the job in the second half with a fourth goal to Saasha. The Bathurst players continued to probe the Tigers defence all match, however they could not find a way through. The highlight of the match was the return of the South American defensive power house "Frank" who showed that while he has been out of the game for over a month, tackle and tackling has been very much on his mind.
First Grade
After the success of the under twenties, the first grade side made its way onto the sun drenched pitch, ready to rewrite the wrongs from the week before. Right from the opening whistle the side, which featured 5 changes, controlled the tempo and created numerous scoring opportunities.
Debutant Uri, was denied off the line by the Bathurst sweeper, and the keeper was forced to parry several times. The deadlock was broken on the half hour mark, as Julian Bracewell squeezed a shot from a goal mouth scramble which left the keeper stranded, and the capacity crowd stunned.
Technical adjustments were made to the Tigers side at half time, and after the break, the Tigers began to control the tempo, and continued to create scoring opportunities. In defence, pressure was being placed upon the Bathurst side all over the park, with Carl closing down the right side for business and Lorenzo dominating the aerial battle.
The Tigers lead was extended on the hour mark when Uri, brought up on Parisian street soccer under the shadow of the Eifell tower, hit a first time volley from 35 yards clinically over the stranded keeper. The goal certainly pressing for goal of the year, stunned the local crowd, and broke the Bathurst boys hearts.
From a position of controlling the match, the tigers were then placed under increased pressure with 15 minutes to go with the sending off of striker Julian "don't worry I have an off-switch" Bracewell. In a town that is conditioned to seeing V8s speeding by, it was Cards and Expletives that were exchanged at 100 miles per hour as Bracewell fought a no win battle with the mullet wearing head strong official. Two yellows were presented in the space of 5 seconds followed by the feared Holden Racing Team RED. This feat broke the previous lap record of Totaro for the Yellow, Yellow Red of 8 seconds which had stood for over 12 months.
The last 15 minutes turned into a scrappy affair as the Tigers bunkered down in their own defensive half and worked hard to keep the 75s out of the game. The final whistle came just as the last rays of the sun disappeared, but with that sound came the satisfaction of knowing the Tigers are now only 1 point off UNSW and ready to claim the top spot.
Man of the Match for the Tigers was their "Firm but Sensitive" sweeper Dan Ault who was playing in his last match before travelling to Europe for trials with his beloved Everton FC. Young Henry-esq striker Uri picked up two points and goal on debut, with Carl taking one point for his defensive work on the flanks.
Attention now turns back to Birchgrove oval where the Tigers play host to the Latin Stylings of the Fogolar Wanderers on Saturday. For the tigers, they look forward to the return of Totaro and Bonus to training this week, with Coach Andrews having the pleasing task of many many options for his starting side.
