Rnd 4 : The struggle at the Scumdome

WELL...wasnt that a near fatal mountain of dross...and the boys always seem to do this at the Scumdome...so, what the ?

The Mariners seemed to have forgotten that the better football team will only win a derby if they are allowed to play football .... (as long as the referee doesn't let the other side kick and niggle you out of the game.)

 The attitude and execution of the Mariners in the middle third of the game was diabolically awful....In a game where every player bar Matt Simon and Mile Sterjovski should take a hard look at themselves..Matty Simon got the MoM; he lifted the team, let the scummers know he was on the pitch and turned the game around. 

And there was Pazz's mindless error that allowed the Jest to get out to a 2-0 lead. Admittedly it's early in the season and the side will become more fluent as the important end of the season arrives, but I'm still concerned at how miserly the team is when it comes to goal attempts. The matches against Wanderers, Adelaide and that 30 minute period tonight are evidence of this...... BUT... the BOYS rallied in time and sprinted home after Flores's penalty, showing the attitude and eagerness for the ball that is necessary for any Champion side. Its just brilliant that,time and again, this team can go 2 (even 3) goals down but not stop charging for the win.

The refereeing was poor....NO...lets call it like it was...AMATUERISH CRAP....HAL Refs would never get away with this shit in the ACL or most professional leagues in the world. I don't want our game to become soft, but it can be fair without becoming soft too. ....

The scummers got away with WAY too much. ...i reckon Dooks was a bit sore Sunday morning, he should be, he was inches away from getting his legged friggin snapped ... the number of times he had his legs taken out from under him with a sliding kung-fu 'tackle' should have seen their numbers much reduced by at least two....So obviously that goof Van Egmond is having training sessions in kung fu by the looks of things

3pts. Flores

2pts. Monty

1pt. Simon

Pretty ugly game. The first half was woeful.

I think we need to revert back to 442 as we were much better when we did and we now have the cattle to play that formation.

Our defensive coach needs to get back to basics with our back four. Look at the positioning of our players on their first goal.

Pasfield 5. Terrible blunder.

Storm 7. Decent game.

Rose 7. Attacked well.

Ando 6. Not in good form atm.

Tesco 7. Silly back pass for the second goal.

Weemac 7. Showed quality as times but didn't dominate.

Hutcho 7. Did his job.

Monty 8. Great game and some good passing.

Fitz. 6.5. Ok

Flores 8. MOM.

Duke 7. Worked his backside off and was fouled all night.

Simon 8. Great stuff. Needs to start.

Sterj 7.5. Good finish to salvage a point.

THE upside of the derby is that the scummers are still searching for their first win of the season after squandering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2  in a typically spiteful F3 derby at Hunter Stadium on Saturday night.

The match had all the hallmarks of a derby fixture with both sides showing plenty of grit and aggression with referee Kris Griffiths-Jones handing out six yellow cards in the Round 4 fixture.

The hosts grabbed their first goal of the season just six minutes after the resumption when fullback Scott Neville poked home after a goal-mouth scramble and doubled their advantage when a Trent Sainbury back-pass turned into an own goal....BUT Newcastle can consider their second goal courtesy of a mind snap..had nothing to do with any obvious ScumSkill...contrary to FB posts by Novacastrians I know ;)... it was obvious that Pasfield misjudged a Trent Sainsbury back-pass and the ball went under his foot and trickled across the goal line before the keeper desperately attempted to kick it clear.

But the champs fought their way back through a Marcos Flores penalty Flores slotted the ball from the spot before Captain Pedantic called him back for players encroaching in the area, but the Argentine kept his cool and slotted the ball into the opposite corner to make it 2-1 after 65 minutes....isn't it fantastic to finally have a penalty taker. Marcos is ice-cool. 4 out of 4. Remember when we couldn't score one from 5?....then came the Old man of the sea.. Mile Sterjovski when he banged home a late equaliser....

Macca is back from his stint in China and he is going to make a massive difference our play,  his able to go wide to Weemac and Fitzy or cross it into the centre plus dooks aint as not as good in the air as Macca.....BUT...I still reckon we will be ok... its only early in the season and were got 5 new player all settling in.

ARNIE SAID

"We do our pre-season a bit different to other teams – we don't want to hit our best form in the first round, we just try to grind out some performances early on and pick up some points," Arnold said...."Most teams won't settle until round six, round seven and you are seeing some funny results and some inconsistent football at the moment.

"You play 14 away games and if you can pick up a point for each away game, at the end of the season and you are winning a lot of your home games then you are going to be thereabouts again...."At the end of the day it wasn't our best performance but it was a great comeback and the character was very good for the players again. We will get better."


Next week the Roar are coming for a visit to Fortress Bluetongue...WONDERFUL..a insane Albanian trying to cripple anybody in a yellow shirt..FANTASTIC