B.O.N. England

Hopefully this latest post goes to ‘print’ on Christmas Eve, so firstly a very Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy Holiday, Happy Honokaa, etc. etc. to all! Personally we are on a train to Zermatt to meet our families for Christmas and hopefully enjoy a white Christmas on the slopes. Although to be honest with you, we just boarded a train that we’re not 100% sure will take us to Visp to facilitate said trip to Zermatt…

For those of you not up with my poor French title, Bon England is French (well bad French, because yes I know it should be Bon Angleterre, but that would be even more confusing!) for good England, and this post happens to cover Bath, Oxford and Newcastle. So let’s get started…

Day 54

After picking up an absolutely lovely Peugeot 3008 from down Putney way, it was off into the unknown with only a little old GPS to guide us. To be honest with you I don’t know how people don’t use one of these in foreign countries, even with English road signs it is so much easier and less stressful for the driver (me) and I could not begin to estimate the amount of fights it avoided! We had a vague list of things to do in 3 days, Stone Henge, Bath, Oxford and Windsor.

We arrived at Stonehenge to some very threating skies and a howling wind that ripped across those rolling hills so violently I thought it would raise the dead from one of the many burrows that pocketed the countryside. Despite this and only having the one chance we braved it and wandered around the site, audio guide in hand. There really isn’t much to see except for a more close up view of what you can see from the road, however the heritage society do their best to pad out the guide with interesting theories/myths etc. about how and why the henge exists. Cool rocks, and amazing that they are so old and how they got there without the tools even the medieval builders would later use is amazing, but still… just rocks.

The "rocks"... with rainbow

Back to the warmth of the car and it was on to Bath which has been on Katrina’s to do list since the inception of this trip, but when questioned as to why, she had no idea! Arriving in the afternoon we scored a very nice B&B in the centre of Bath for two nights. Dinner at the oldest house in Bath including old school ‘trencher’ bread did well to remove the cold that had seeped in to our bones at Stonehenge!

Our B&B ...

Day 55

Waking to our first morning of snow, however brief, was quite a treat, with the small square where our B&B was located, briefly hidden behind some large white snow flakes! Unfortunately it wasn’t to last and quickly turned to rain/sleet which made our walking tour that morning all the more brisk! The Mayor of Bath runs free walking tours everyday of the year except Christmas and New Years and are run by old retired people to stretch the legs I think. Our guide was good and we covered all the big ticket items, the outside of the Baths, the Circus, the royal crescent and my personal favourite, Bennett St! It gave us a good orientation for an afternoon spent wandering and shopping.

Royal Crescent

... Obvious ...

The river

But not before an audio tour of the inside of the Roman Baths, complete with every little detail you could possibly want to know. Please note if your interested in these details, allow yourself a day to do this tour, we spend about an hour and a half there and glossed over the ‘additional information’ sections!

The Roman Baths

Dinner that night was a treat at Jamie Oliver’s Italian, in Bath. Jamie himself wasn’t there unfortunately, but the food was simple, good, Italian and the wine was red (we’re not fussy!). The chefs definitely did Mr Oliver’s name justice and I highly recommend a table if your in Bath. They don’t take day time bookings so you can just rock up of a night time, have a drink while you wait for a table. Although we didn’t have to wait at all, and the only people who did were groups of 4+ from what I could see.

Day 56

Wanting to check out the ‘Cotswolds’ we headed north(ish) and called in at Castle Combe which we discovered was nothing other really than a photographers dream. Apart from that this tiny village was pretty dead at this time of year with us sharing the main ‘street’ with a few telecom crews being the only highlight.

The happening city of Castle Combe...

Next stop was Malmesbury where after visiting the church we stopped at the tourist information centre where the guy told us that the only thing to do here was visit the church. Easy, done, back on the road!

On toward Oxford we drove but detoured to Cirencester where we stopped for lunch and a wander through their little village. Lunch was a beautiful pub meal located next to an awesome little private book store where Katrina finally bought something not shit to read that will last her more than a week! (sorry had to get that out!) Shantaram…great read if anyone is looking for a new book!

Arriving in Oxford we scored yet another lovely B&B by turning up at the tourist office and seeing what was available. We were too tired really to do much else so we had dinner at the local pub and had an early night. I thought my Man Flu was making a return so needed a good sleep!

The local...

Day 57

We had an absolutely packed itinerary to get through on our way back to London for a night time train to Newcastle so it was go go go! A morning walking tour of Oxford was really interesting and covered all sorts of information about how all colleges work and admissions etc., along with entry to one of the colleges and the main university library. Oxford University is a collective of 36(?) colleges in the town and as such are spread out throughout; they only come together for special guest lectures and at exam and graduation times. If you see someone rocking an Oxford University hoodie, they are a tourist as all the students rep their colleges in the choice of clothing. A bite to eat on the run and it was a rush to Windsor Castle before a) they shut and b) we had to return the car.

One of the colleges

The library at above college

Windsor for me is the most impressive of the tourist items in and around London, I think mainly owing to its constant upkeep at the residence of Queen Elizabeth II (and Prince Charles officially, still lives at home with his mum… no wonder people want him to abdicate!). Another site another audio tour which covers the grounds, the royal apartments (these are majorly impressive and you’ve got to wonder whether the private ones are more or less so, would they be more extravagant or would they tone it down when people have to live there?) and the cathedral. A recent (early 90’s) fire has led the refurbishment of a large part of the royal apartments and this only ads to their appeal as they have been very recently restored/improved.

Windsor gate

Getting my revenge for sending my relatives to Australia for petty crime... oh hang on... thanks for that!

The honeymooners outside the chapel

Heading back into London we got major traffic jam, but not on the main freeways. It took us nearly an hour to go about 4km’s from the exit to the Europcar depot at Putney, one lane two way streets causing absolute chaos! All that was left then was a short 3 hour train ride to Newcastle…

We couldn’t of been more wrong, whilst I’m sure it was only 3 hours, it felt like 3 days with a group of 8 young Celtic fans making their way back from a Europa league game/bender who regaled us with such hits as “If you’re not topless you’re not Celtic, ole ole!” at the top of their drunken lungs for the whole journey. After that it was almost a relief to stand a cab line at Newcastle station for 30 minutes with all the other quiet drunks, including the ‘Emirates co-pilot’ in front of me who mistook me for his mate. “where are we going?” don’t know mate, “what are we waiting for” it’s a taxi rank, you’re waiting for a cab, “I’m f&%king sick of this S%$t, where are we going seriously?” It’s a cab rank, I suggest you get a cab home, “I don’t know where I am or where I’m staying”… luckily to ladies took him off my hands and put him in a cab home. Just like being at home in Newcastle…

Day 58

Having spent the night in the comparative luxury (compared to our standard hotel choices) of the Staybridge suites, it was a wander of the quayside and a visit to the new-castle (the toon’s namesake) before heading to the game! This time the game won’t get its own match report due to a) my laziness and b) a reasonably frustrating game which finish nil all.

The river and one of many bridges

The new castle...

Top of the castle with St James Park in background

A few highlights in lieu, Coloccini’s header missing narrowly wide (see photo), total domination by Newcastle for much of the game winning a phenomenal amount of corners and limiting Swansea to one half chance late on, an awesome bicycle kick from Demba Ba and the amazing pre-match tribute to Gary Speed. Our tickets were also great, good view of the game and also access to the “Platinum Club” before, during half time and after the game where you can actually have a real, alcoholic beer! A disappointing result, but better 1 point than none, and some good football none the less.

A very happy Toons fan!

Collocini heads wide

Dinner consisted of happy hour cocktails at the local Latin restaurant before a curry and bed. This bed courtesy of Michael Barwick and Stephanie Jasper which we were most appreciative of, thanks again guys!

thanks Bob and Steph! 

Day 59

Not having enough Toon action it was back to St James’ Park for the stadium tour and a spot of shopping. Despite still being dirty from match day, the tour was really interesting with a personal guide who was an employee of the club taking us around the facilities and through the sheds etc. I didn’t realise it is the 3^rd largest league ground behind Old Trafford and the Emirates, and one of the largest conference centre’s in England. They rely heavily on corporate sponsorship although there is still some bitterness towards those who jumped ship when they dropped to the Championship, our guide was one of the many Geordie’s who was ecstatic that we were able to bounce straight back, saving further money and job losses! Definitely a ‘people’s’ club and this was evident from the way the tours were run, to the friendliness and knowledge of our guide.

The same happy Toons fan!

Many pounds later we left the Toon shop and headed back to the Latin restaurant for lunch (we couldn’t get a table the night before). Then off to board the DFDS ferry to Amsterdam. I was a bit apprehensive about an overnight long haul ferry ride, but apart from eating too much at the buffet dinner and making myself ill, there was really no down side. It served as our night’s accommodation in small but comfortable bunk beds and dinner and breakfast were ok without being amazing. So it was we arrived in Amsterdam on the morning of Day 60…

(and by the way, it was the right train!)

All our Love

M&K

London Calling

So I’ve found some similarities between London and Barcelona; We stayed a week in each; we rented an apartment in each (rather than a hotel); I won’t be writing a day by day blog for London (just like Barcelona), and; that’s it. Ok they’re not similar at all, but it was a good starting point to explain the format of this post! So it will cover days 46 to 53, touch on the main sites and experiences. (the post is being written on route from Newcastle to Amsterdam via ferry so if the pictures look a little green, it is simply a reflection of the authors current feelings!)

Our Apartment

Knowing that we had 8 nights in London Katrina managed to book us a studio apartment for the week which is always nice to break up the site of hotel after hotel (or heaven forbid another Peace and Love Hostel!). Set on two, tiny, floors with a double bed and ensuite downstairs, a kitchenette and 2 seater lounge and TV upstairs. It was small, but well heated and centrally located a 5 minute walk from Swiss Cottage Tube station (in Camden Town). One criticism was the noise, with common plumping through all the tiny apartments and paper thin front doors, everytime someone had a shower, used the toilet, used their front door, or the front door of the building, it sounded like they were right there with you! It was contained in what is the Hollywood stereo type London building which was a nice touch for us tourists!

Our 'home' in Camden

London Tower

Lonely Planet will tell you that if you pay (lots of big London sites are free!) for only one site in London, it should be London Tower. Whilst I personally would disagree with this, it is definitely a great starting point for any visit, and indeed was the jump off point for us. Conveniently within sight of both the Tower and London bridges (Tower Bridge is the one I’m pretty sure most people think is London Bridge, see photos) the London Tower has been the seat of the English Monarchs since being united under one king of England in about 1066 (English friends please feel free to correct). It was originally a fortress, turned execution centre, turned gaol, turned treasury, turned mint, turned safe; turned tourist attraction and safe! So in short it’s had a lot of use. Highlights probably the shit jokes of our tour guide (also a beefeater dude), seeing a small collection of the crown jewels and the ‘boys toys’ armoury complete with interactive displays (favourite being drawing a long bow!).

The white tower, the original and centre of London Tower

Tower bridge and the nanook of the north

The white tower... arty...

Buckingham Palace

Unfortuantely no sign of the ‘old girl’ or ‘Kate and Wills’ however there was some visiting/exiting diplomat type people and a bit of the fanfare associated with them. One of the most noticeable things at the palace, and other royal places for that matter, is the lack of a gifts from Australia. Gifts from New Zealand are everywhere, none from Australia. I don’t know whether I should be proud as a republican, or disappointed that people from around the world miss out on being exposed to our awesomeness by this lack of inclusion… Really the palace is a bit ‘meh’ it’s a fence, a fountain and some dudes in funny hats, but another one off the London tourist list! (And since Kate and Will’s Wedding it was nice to relive the day and see where is all unfolded.)

Some royal shit going on...

Buckingham Palace...

St Jame’s Park (not the good one…)

Between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey is the large and squirrel over populated park of St Jame’s. While infinitely less impressive than the real St Jame’s Park in Newcastle (home of the Toon), it is a pleasant attraction with a shite load of squirrels, water fowls and my arch nemesis geese! Not much to say, the squirrels are tame…

The park

Westminster Abbey

Home of the coronation ceremonies of the royal family since, well forever, and the oldest and longest continual coronation ceremony in Europe Westminster Abbey is all at once as impressive, and just the same, as all the big gothic cathedrals in Europe. Many monarchs have been baptised, confirmed, married and buried all within this one cathedral, most recently the marriage of Will and Kate. The church is also the home to numerous tombs of not only royals but also others who have deemed to have served the empire. Even more still whilst not actually buried here have memorial plaques, including Chaucer (my nemesis from extension English at high school), Jane Austin (likewise nemesis) and the great Winston Churchill.

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

At one end of the houses of parliament is ‘Big Ben’ most frequently mistaken for the clock tower. However ‘Big Ben’ actually refers to the replacement bell that was installed after the cracking of the original one in the tower. It’s a clock, it tells the time, it’s a tower, and it’s tall…

The tower that holds big ben...

Shopping on Oxford St

Shopping on Oxford St this close to Christmas is both a blessing and a curse! The Lights are pretty, the atmosphere is buzzing but the crowd is CRAZY! We had our first Topshop/Topman experience and I bought a new jacket to deal with the cold. Aside I’d packed plenty of jumpers however jumpers are really not practical when you are constantly coming in and out of the cold, you need something to zip on/off more easily! We also had our first Primark (Thanks to Felicity’s recommendadtion) experience which was equally if not more so crazy as the street outside. People go absolutely nuts for that shitie, 3 pound shirts/pyjamas/jumpers/anything, just cheap cheap cheap. It’s kind of like a fashionable (but still cheaper) target clothes! My one criticism is the repeatativeness of all the stores, you cannot go more than 2 blocks without another Topshop, or H&M or similar and everything is mainly big chain stores rather than anything unique. Having said that, a day spent on Oxford st you could easily knock over your Christmas shopping with pretty much something for everyone!

Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery

Trafalgar square was buzzing and we scored a beautiful day to wander around. Currently home to one of the Olympic countdown clocks and the monument itself also containing a gift from New Zealand, again the Australian’s obviously absent! Not really much to see other than a few happy snaps and then a wander into the National Portrait Gallery which flanks one side of the square. There is currently a Da Vinci exhibition including the famous Last Supper however we were too late to score tickets to it. We did get a nice view of the supper through the door however! Not being arty types, we are both engineers after all, we did a quick wander, Katrina directing us to a couple of famous Monet’s (pronounced Mo-net, like gangsta for more net) and it was back out to enjoy the rare sunshine!

The man himself, and some other guy on a horse...

The square, a giant lion (possibly Azlan or Jesus) and the National Portrait Gallery

St Peter’s (occupied)

The same afternoon it was off to St Peter’s after Jaide and Rowan (see below) said that it was rad and heaps cooler than Westminster Abby. Out the front (and blocking the exit as we’d later find out) were that lovely bunch of hippies around the world known as the ‘occupy’ movement. These particular hippies are lucky that our capitalist ways have invented such things as thermal sleeping bags and wind proof camping tents as otherwise their protest would be a freezing one. Avoiding the temptation to explain to them that me going to work, (like their fellow Englishmen (and women) going to work, pays their (and their Australian counterparts) welfare payments) we went into the church. Home to the arch-bishop guy of the Anglican church and the centre of said faith, also home to the wedding of Prince Charles and the late Dianna princess of Wales. It is definitely an impressive structure although it had to be re-built after The Blitz and hence is a modern building in an old style. Home of the tombs of all the previous Arch Bishop guys, Trafalgar himself, and numerous other friends of the church and recognised great Brits. More still have remembrance plaques etc, especially in the crypt which runs underground the full length of the building. We did the long climb to the roof top for some impressive views and also experienced the ‘whispering galleries’ on the inside of the dome whereby one person whispering can be heard on the opposite side of the dome, pretty cool. (Katrina along with Jaide think Will and Kate should have got married there instead, but Katrina believes they were trying to not copy due to the stigma associated with Kate being the next Dianna…’its definitely prettier’….)

St Peter's

What a view! London's alright too..

Portobello Road Markets, Notting Hill

After dinner with Kate (see below), she recommended a few weekend markets to check out, the first of which were the Portobello Road Markets in Notting Hill. As this had also been recommended by the Fletch we figured two people couldn’t be wrong! We were not disappointed, a crazy busy ‘antiques’ market but home to beautiful fresh food and other non antique goodies awaited us and we whisked away the afternoon before we knew it. We purchased an antique map amongst some other tourist type things. Katrina also fell in love with a store called ‘All Saints’ which whilst located here is popular elsewhere as well, and purchased her Christmas leggings complete with reindeer. Lunch consisted of a huge Paella for Katrina and I sampled some random Mexican wrap thing.

Portobello rd Markets

Night out in Camden

Being so close to the trendy area of Camden, and so close to Chris’ old local we couldn’t pass up a night out down in Camden town. We even did the travellers thing of ‘saving’ and eating dinner before we went out and had some pre-dinner drinks! Starting at Chris’ local at his recommendation, The Elephant Head, where we were greeted by an absolutely packed bar, Christmas revellers, and punks of Chris’ and Henry Rollins’ generation. It was an eclectic mix of people and a great place for a few beers. Nicely topped off by an ‘old’ DJ spinning 7” vinyl classics! Things kind of went down hill for me from there, we bar hopped our way back towards home, Katrina stopped drinking, I started drinking her share I think. Definitely a happening area but feel much more comfortable there than other places because we weren’t the oldest people out, nor the most under dressed! Thanks Camden, you’re rad!

Drinking at Chris' old local!

Brick Lane and Spittelfield Markets

Another one of Kate’s recommendations was to head out Brick lane markets and once again facebook connected us with Ange who also mentioned Spittelfield while we were there! Lucky really because it was raining on and off and Spittelfield is under cover. More of the same generic wares at Spittelfield and a healthy mix of Vintage clothes at Brick Lane (please don’t get vintage confused with Retro, they are different!) coupled with some awesome ‘ethnic’ (this is not racial, just a wide variety of different cuisenes were present!) food. Including an awesome curry that I proceeded to spill all over my new jacket, much to it’s detriment! We continued our shopping, like we needed anything more to carry, and enjoyed a day out just cruising (and me recovering from Camden!) and met up with Kate for Dinner.

Obviously...

London Eye

The London Eye was an odd one. We knew we needed a nice clear day to enjoy it, but had also been warned off it, and recommended it in equal doses from friends and wellwishers. Our last day in London dawned with clear blue skies and glorious (for England) sunshine so we threw caution to the wind and made for the eye. OK it’s just a giant Ferris wheel, but on the day we had it was truly amazing views, not too time consuming, and a nice way to spend our final morning high above the Thames. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here…

One of my arty views from the Eye

The eye from the ground

Churchill War Rooms

After the London Eye I left Katrina to go get her hair done and headed for the Churchill War Rooms, the underground command centre of Churchill and his War Cabinet during WW2. The story goes that once peace was finally secured in Europe, the war rooms were simply tidied and then locked up. So in theory what you get is the map rooms etc as they were that day in 1945. In truth they have added wax models of people, and a few other more ‘corny’ touches however the exerts of actual transcripts received in the rooms etc make up for this. My personal favourite is the first ever secure telephone line which linked with the White House, housed inside a fake toilet cubicle. The rumour goes that everyone else in the rooms thought it was the only underground flushing toilet in the rooms and therefore was strictly reserved for Churchill, however everytime he entered there he was actually calling the Presdient of the USA. Besides, who shits for that long…

A more recent addition to the War Rooms is the Churchill Museum which chronicles Churchill’s life and has some really cool interactive displays including, and the parents will love this, a real life working type writer! What’s that you may ask, well it’s like analog Microsoft Word… In all seriousness there are some good multimedia touches and I learned a bit I didn’t know about Churchill including his part in planning the infamous (at least for Australian’s) Gallipoli campaign which forced him to resign from the head of the Admirilaty, and the subsequent similar failure to keep Norway free (although he dodged responsibility for this one, and Chamberlin fell partially because of it). All in all a highly rewarding visit to a museum, Katrina would’ve been bored, but her new slightly darker hair looks a treat!

Priscilla Queen of the Desert!

Felicity and Angela were nice enough to shout us tickets to the Priscilla show for Katrina’s birthday, at the Palace theatre, complete with Alf Stewart (let’s face it, does anybody know his real name? I sure don’t!). The show was a good adaptation of the well known and loved Australian movie of the same name. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, but grew a little bit tired of being called a lady (the ‘narrator’ always said welcome, ‘Ladies and Ladies’ or ‘come on girls’). The set was awesome, including an awesome full size bus! Our seats were really high!! The theatre was quite small but seats were practically stacked on top of each other…if you have vertigo issues buy ground floor seats. The night was great especially with our Chinese Dim Sum in China Town enjoyed before the show.

The happy birthday girl! and Alf...

Australians in London

Well it’s true what they say, London is full of Aussies! We had the pleasure of catching up with some of the ones known to us. Dinner with Mark Christopher (formally of Thiess Services) and his wife Vin (sorry if spelt wrong!) was combined with our first catch up with Jaide and Rowan (I think the cold was a bit of a change for the native Cairns residents!). More shopping and a second dinner followed during the week with Jaide and Rowan and it was nice to see some fellow travellers! Then it was school reunion time, myself meeting up with Kate Lewis for dinner both on Friday and Sunday nights after probably close to 10 years after we used to hang out at Dudley! Closely followed by the primary school reunion with Katrina’s friend Tom Clerke and his partner Dilmar. It was awesome to see some familiar (if sometimes nearly forgotten!) faces and share some travel stories with people other than each other. Thanks to you all for making our week in London that bit more comfortable and like home!

Tom, Katrina and I

Kate and I

And that’s a wrap folks, a bit of a long winded wrap at that. It was another adventure in a car and the London countryside which awaited us!

All our Love

M&K

Delayed Season Wrap up!

Better late than never I spose. But prompted by Bob, who asked me to do the season wrap up for the club newsletter thingo. So happy reading.

The season started with new faces and new hope (like Star Wars). Whilst we lost a few experienced (read: old) heads at the back we recruited well with the draw of last season’s minor premiers (in AA7’s!). (Of course the ever green Dave Bassett went around for another year.) Early promise turned into early results and an opening round victory of 9-0 at LH Waud got us off to a flying start. Some may point to the fact that we played against a 9-man side for this result, personally I’d point to good recruitment, a hard off season and commitment from all the boys! The opening few weeks culminated in a hard fought win over league leaders, and eventual minor premiers and Grand Finalists, Normanhurst, 2-1. It was a great game and really showed our mix of good passing, patience in defence and not giving up against a technically better, fitter, taller side.

Unfortunately we didn’t finish the opening round the way we started with our only 4 losses coming back to back in matches 5 to 8. These losses can generally be contributed to a lack of numbers both at training and on game day and probably were a sign of our only weakness, but one that was to plague us all season. On our day we were an equal match for any of the teams in our competition. Heads were down after match 8, but in true Rovers spirit we “fired up” and got on with the job of securing a top 4 place with 5 wins and a draw to finish the season. Whilst our top four spot was sealed with an opposition forfeit, we came out in the last round and proved we deserved it, to finish 3rd in the regular season with a 3-1 victory!

With the first week of round robin washed out it really hurt our chances with the curse of availability hitting us hard again. Losing our first game in a heart breaker which should of been a draw (if football was fair, not the cruel mistress that we love so much), conceding late to go down 3-2 to eventual champions North Ryde. It took two individual goals from their best player to break us. Knowing that we needed a clear 2 goal win margin in our second round robin game wasn’t helped by only having 10 at kick off and 11 soon after (our weakness struck again). But full credit to all that played we never said never and fought well to go down 3-1 to the other grand finalists Normanhurst.

Lot of positives out of a season of promise for the AA10’s! My personal highlights (not the views of the team) were our win against Normanhurst, Kevin getting the most ridiculous two yellow cards, one for dissent and one for jumping in front of a player trying to take a throw in (within 2 minutes for his red!), Jarrod trying to claim his goal going wide which took a deflection, and my own saved (not missed) penalty which re-affirmed my status of centre back!


Stay tuned for my a-league rants starting as I could be bothered shortly!

See you at the back stick, defending it most likely.
Peace

Back by popular demand!

Well not really, but you can blame Chief and James for asking me about my lack of blog at training tonight! That's enough to claim popular demand in my mind! At least two people read it, or read it once!

Just as an aside first up, I couldn't bring myself to write a Socceroos Blog on the Germany game. It was just too painful for me. The only thing I think I can say which hasn't already been said is this; chin up boys, if Pim tries something stupid again, put your heads together and sort it out. The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different outcome. I think for professional footballers to be guilty of this is a crime. Good luck boys, smash Ghana! then Serbia!

Back to the real winners of the weekend, THE ROVERS! I must say I was as concerned as anyone about how we would all handle the force 2 week lay off. Turns out we should take 2 weeks off more often. A bright first half by all involved saw the Rovers firing on all cylinders, despite early injuries to Chief, and Sasha we simply dominated. Whilst the Redbacks tried the long ball, we kept our heads, ball on the deck and good possession. Special mentions to James for his cameo up front for the first 15, and Sasha for his absolute brain snap and subsequent yellow card. For a moment you must've thought you were playing in the NBA finals mate, rejected the keeper? Or as mentioned at training, maybe it was that netball drill Bob had us do at training last week!

Despite long periods of domination we didn't manage to snatch a goal in the first half. Second half more of the same, and more of the Rovers curse of dominating but not scoring. Then as if Karma finally was a real force in the world, not the myth of hippies everywhere, Nahid knocked in a superb long range effort... Well... He hit a cross and it snuck in at the back stick! But to be far, we deserved our goal, although the manner left a bit to be desired! It had the desired effect and the flood gates opened!

Leo was the next on the score sheet, the positive side of him not turning up until well after half time was that he was full of running! after beating the offside trap and heading towards goal he hit what can only be described as an inch perfect pass to the back stick. Just enough to give their defender a glimmer of hope of keeping it out. But that glimmer faded as the ball, and the defender, rolled across the line. 2-0. Pete then chimed in with a brilliant run from beside me at the back which started with the comment "random run forward?" to myself, to which i replied, "go for it." Not 30 seconds later he was cutting in on his right foot and smacked home into the bottom corner. 3-0.

Armyn's goal and the Rovers 4th was controversially ruled offside. But it didn't matter the day was one. Of particular importance was a clean sheet and a good team performance across the park, it made the 3-2-1's very difficult!

Onto Normanhurst this weekend, it will be another tough game, and I'll be doing all i can, including staying of the grog at Nahid's to keep another clean sheet. (I also promise i won't go near the penalty spot this time around!) Fire up Rovers! Let's go back to back and restart our season!

See you at a TV somewhere, bleary eyed watching the World Cup!

B!

P.s. Well done to New Zealand, for showing the Socceroos what they could of, nay should of done against Germany. Ok it was against a 'weaker' opposition but the game plan was spot on, the attitude was spot on, and they got the point they needed!

Injury - double the pain!

So, with myself and chief out through injury, Bob OS, Nits likewise gallavanting, Shiraz with a dodgy hammy, Tony with a suspected fractured ankle, Dusko nearly dead, and probably someone else I've missed it wasn't exactly the best preparation for a game. Having said that we started reasonably well as everyone settled into new positions and came to terms with a few different styles of play. Unfortunately as we are making a habit of in recent weeks after a 15 or 20 minute opening domination of possession and play, we gave one of their guys a bit too much room at the top of the box, and whilst i wouldn't say his shot was blistering it did enough for Rusty to have to play at it, and unfortunately just took enough off it to see it under the bar and in. 1-0.

We've (well I in particular) have been harping on at training about having better talk on the field, I've noticed that were good at talking when we want the ball, but apart from that there is a resounding silence. Unfortunately again after a good 10 minute play straight after their goal we were guilty of just this. No call of man on for Al at left back, no call between Al and Rusty, and a strikers foot in resulting in the ball sneaking in at the back post somehow. 2-0

At half time Chief and i really couldn't pick too many faults with the play, we were actually playing quite well, just conceded two soft goals. Heads up boys, we're still in it!

Not long into the second half we got our just reward. To be honest with you i can't even remember how it came about but i remember some good passing through their relatively slow back line and the score was looking a lot better at 2-1. Too good to be true right, despite numerous changes immediately after, they countered. The ref didn't give a blatant free kick to them, so decided that when Kev got hacked from behind, he'd reward it the other way! (probably the worst of a series of bad decisions from our friend with the whistle. From the resultant free kick James mis-qued a header into the cross bar, everyone stopped, except their striker who nodded home for 3-1. 3 soft goals.

Full credit to all involved we didn't give up and were rewarded again with a brilliant build up through the mids which put Chris through onto goal and he made no mistake with a neat finish into the bottom corner. 3-2.

Unfortunately the clock was our enemy and we ran out of time to equalise. It was a tough one to take for all i believe. I hate watching from the sidelines, especially when I'm injured (hence the double pain), and i can only imagine how hard it was for the rest of the boys who played so bloody well for 3 lapses in concentration and a bit of bad luck to ruin our chances!

We need to stay switched on for 90 minutes this week, tighten up, but generally play the same style as we did on Saturday. A victory on the weekend will be enough to keep us in the title race as we're playing Kenthurst who we are equal 5th with! come on boys, come on Kenny keep sending your inspirational emails and random facebook messages! Fire up Rovers!

See you on the sideline...
B!

(Just kidding, I've been cleared to play this weekend, woot!)

Things that make you go....... hmmmmmmmmmmm

Well, this weekend seems to have been the moment when the footballing gods reminded us that the game we love can be a bitter sweet mistress sometimes. Just ask ourselves, the Goblins (losing a heart breaker 1 nil with 10 men), Wigan (say no more) and Harry Kewell's groin (hmmmmm)... I only have first hand experience on one of them, and no it's not H.Kewell's groin! So that is the one i will attempt to discuss in depth.

Buoyed by our hard fought victory last weekend we assembled with confidence, however knowing that Armyn and Nahid had to leave early we took a gamble on one young Kevin lacing up the boots in anticipation of that dual loss late in the second half. We also knew that we needed to make hay while the sun shone, or in this case, make running while the bench was full! Unfortunately the game started similar to last week, we conceded early to an excellent through ball, latched on to by their striker. I stepped up to close down the player with the ball, who succeeded in beating me and Tony with his delivery, from their neither of us were likely to chase him down. 1 nil. We didn't put our heads down and concentrated on playing our own game, which we did quite well, knocking the ball around and making some very good passages of play. Unfortunately we didn't really create any clear cut chances with the ball. Roughly 10 minutes before the break nearly a carbon copy, I again stepped forward in the line to close down, failed, and a perfect through ball, another chance taken for them. 2 nil. Someone once told me that making one mistake was to learn, and to make the same mistake again was a fuck up... hmmmmmmmm i must not of listened!

We spoke at half time about being right in the game and sticking to much of the same. Which we did, we proceeded to dominate completely, I'd say in the second half we would've had close to 60% of the ball. But despite our best efforts we couldn't break down their scrambling defence. Again probably guilty of not taking our shots early enough and hindered by Shiraz's hamstring injury after the boys had left reduced us to maybe 10.5. Despite the hammy, Shiraz managed two or three decent long range shots just off target. Bob had a header lacking power on target, and countless other people had opportunities high wide and not too handsome. But it definitely wasn't for lack of trying. Full time and it had stayed 2 nil, I'm proud that we tightened up at the back in the 2nd half, but it shouldn't of taken that long, and the boys through the centre and up front toiled extra hard for no reward.

There was one passage of play in particular that even Fozzie and Barca would've been happy with, a short goal kick and passed all the way to the goal (but once again resulting in nought!). I won't harp on the fact that their striker pushed me as i stepped off my left foot to avoid Dusco, resulting in me hitting him hard with all 94kg of my frame, neither of us came off too well i don't think. The ref summed up his ordinary performance with by arguing with me that by not giving the guy a card, even though he'd seen me get pushed in the back, that he was playing the advantage... hmmmmmm... Despite me and Dusco both rolling on the ground with the wind and the shit knocked out of us. Sorry D, I'm working on losing some weight, maybe it'll only be 90kg next time! ... hmmmmmmm...

So what to do, i don't think much really, some much needed shooting drills will be on this Wednesday. Apart from that we just need to keep our heads up, concentrate on not making mistakes at the back, and will welcome back some squad members this weekend to bolster our overall numbers. Heads up and lets do more of the same, except with a tighter defence and some more goals! ha ha, easy right?!?!?!

Although i think my medical staff (me) will rule me out for rest on my injured ribs and shoulder (thanks Dusco ;) ) I will still make an appearance at training either way.

See you at the back stick (probably defending a corner!) ... Things that make you go hmmm!

B!

That was it!

Well that was it boys! It was the performance that we needed to galvanise our season. Even though we were undefeated to date, it was fair to say we weren't really firing on all cylinders. That all changed on Saturday against the Eagles from Normanhurst.

Frankly, the game couldn't of started worse, James and I got caught too high, (and too slow) and they put one of their first touches straight between us, to be run on to by their very quick striker. Slotted even though Dusco got a couple of fingers to it. Like James Bond's martini's, we were shaken not stirred. Luckily that was all about to change, and we pulled our fingers out. The defence sat a bit deeper and cleaned up and we knocked the ball around well. Probably even better than well given the poor condition of the pitch. Fortunately for us, but not for the poor guy, the quick man up front did a hammy about 10 minutes in.

After having the lions share of possession we were rewarded with a penalty from a hand ball. Shiraz asked Tony to take it, Tony was on the bench injured, Bob told Shiraz to take it, then Shiraz told Bob to take it. Full of misplaced confidence after practising at training i put my hand up. Placing the ball down i thought, fuck this keeper is massive. Maybe that, or my complete lack of ability was my undoing. Always going bottom right, i managed to miss hit it straight at the keeper, saved, devo, dickhead!

Again we passed the ball around and Kevin was ruled to have been pushed in the back for our second penalty of the game, (and about the 1000th for the season I'm led to believe!) Kevin, taking my lead, smacked his penalty straight at the giagantour keeper! You ever see that show, saved by the bell, well Kevin is the new star of a spin off, called saved by the lino! Flag up, keeper off his line, have another go Kev! Slotted, 1 all!

Second half, more of the same really, i honestly believe we weren't really threatened the defence finally gelled, the mid field did everything we'd asked for and more, and the boys up front pushed hard. We just couldn't find that goal. Kenny sacrificed his shin for the cause after he was absolutely smashed to win a free kick right on the edge of the box. Up steps Shiraz to smack a screamer on target, giagantour could only fumble it, and Bob was on hand to push it in with his knee, or shin, or knob... 2-1...

Just when we were reasonably comfortable in front, Kevin had a brain snap, well two brain snaps in quick succession, yellow for impeding restart of play from free quick, yellow for impeding a throw in, results in red, bye bye Kevin. Despite the extra man, the Eagles didn't threaten too strongly, we absorbed a lot of pressure for the last 10 minutes and could of sealed it late with 2 or 3 chances on the counter. They looked dangerous from set pieces, but this was more to do with their combined height which if stood head on shoulders would've reached the moon!

Well done Rovers, apart from some dickhead who had his penalty saved, it was a dominate performance even at the end with 10 men. Rest up this weekend Kev, you've earned your weekend off! Everyone else, remember that form, and continue it!

See you at the penalty spot (if anyone lets me near it ever again!)

B!

Round 3 - tough one, point

Well, let me start by once again iterating that these blogs aren't trying to criticise anyone or place blame in anyway. The whole point is to have a forum to discuss our performances, good and bad, and just have a laugh and look back on the performance from the weekend. If people are still offended after this post, and i get a direct request I will not bother posting further.

With that in mind. I think the weekend's performance was good without being great. Kevin got us off to a great start by listening to what was said at training last week, and having a shot when in range and confident. Helped by a bit of an error by their keeper, but aided by awkwardly bouncing his shot right in front, the goal went in for a 1 nil lead inside the first few minutes. We then continued to pass the ball well, moving up the field with a series of one-two's on a number of occasions.

Unfortunately lateish in the second half the first of a few defensive lapses led to them equalising. I will put my hand up, and i think the rest of the back line will as well, to say that we did not clear the ball well when required. On too many occasions we didn't clear the ball far enough or with enough urgency.

After the re-start it was more of the same really, good in attack, not so good in defence. Somebody (memory fails me) put in a good cross for Nits and Shiraz to bundle home (feel free to claim it someone, just couldn't see from my end of the pitch). Not long after there was another unfortunate defensive error, the person involved has already contacted me today to cancel dinner plans as he has been sort out by all media outlets for exclusive interviews and training sessions to teach his sublime finishing skills to the next generation! 2 all.

Kenny was rewarded for some more hard work in the box (non sexually) with being brought down from behind and having a penalty awarded. Tony stepped up to slot home to make it 3-2 with about 10 to go. The third goal to equalise, again was a result of not enough urgency at the back with a scramble and a stab home. I personally had one of those flash back moments after it went in, if i had of just gone to ground instead of just flinging out a foot i reckon i could of stopped it (or at least deflected it in! ha ha!).

So what to take from it. I'm not sure, the 4 or 5 of us interchanging out of the back line need to work together (as we have been but more) at training and talking to each other more. If we can continue to score goals and play through the park like we did (especially in the first half), but shore up the defence, another 3 points can't be too far away!

Anyone else?

See you at training on Wednesday,
Yours in Football

B!

Winter means Rovers!

Ok everyone, this a-league off season I'm donating my blog to match reports for the AA10 West Ryde Rovers. They are by no means accurate, they are simply my recount of the events. Fellow Rovers I'm not using this to judge, again it is just my recount and opinions on the games. So feel free to comment and correct me or tell me I'm being a jerk! Enjoy!

**************2 points lost, not a point gained!************************************

We started first half very poorly, even though I warned the mid field pre-game that they needed to drop deep to pick up the ball, and pass through the opposition, they proceeded to completely ignore me. No one dropped to receive the ball, no one played the easy ball when we did have it. Their first goal was a comedy of errors from myself, Dusco and the linesperson. Their striker (who was like 17, and ran me ragged all game) was no joke, maybe 5 metres off side, goal keeper finally found his boot and cleared myself. Not seeing a flag I chased hard, and then Dusco put his hand up and said he’d been called off side so I pulled up, their striker, now standing literally next to Dusco just passed the ball in. No flag, no whistle, goal. I know I shouldn’t of pulled up, even with Dusco’s call. (Unfortunately no one stuck a rocket up me but...) I stuck a bit of a rocket up Sasha about if he wanted to play at the back all he had to do was ask and I’d push forward, just before half time and had to explain after the game i was just trying to express some encouragement and got carried away! OOPPS! Chief and I also exchanged some heated words at the half time whistle (white line fever no hard feelings guys). Nits missed a penalty after being brought down in the box.

Second half was better with at least some reasonable possession, Then Kenny (I think it was Kenny anyway?) also missed a penalty from a hand ball. 30 seconds later they scored I think from a corner and resultant scramble, I can’t even remember how exactly. Heads went down, but luckily that meant that not everyone was running towards goal and we suddenly found our midfield and just played through them for the last 30 minutes. Tony slotted a penalty after another hand ball (dubious, but we'll take it) he also moved into the mids basically whilst we defended 3 at the back. Not exactly planned but given that Sasha was pretty much a CB anyway it was a good outcome because he hustled really hard and I reckon changed the game in our favour. Leo tried to fight some guy, then Kenny stabbed home to equalise. They hit the cross bar twice, both bouncing straight down (at least one looked to cross the line to me) but neither awarded. Numerous other chances on top of the 2 missed pens meant it could’ve quite easily been 5 or 6 to 2. Basically we cannot be happy with a point when we missed 2 pens. I also honestly believe we are a far better team than:
a) the way we played
and
b) the opposition, their defence in particular was sloppy and haphazard.

Need to do better next Monday. Hopefully we have more than 10.5 turn up (the 0.5 was chief (re-injured within 10 minutes) we had two U17’s fill in for us luckily).

(Once again Rovers, feel free to correct me, add your insight, and all round contribute)

See you at the back stick,
B!