‪#‎AA4‬ v. Maccabi B 4 – 2 ‪#‎DalesTales‬ Sponsored by Steggles – We’re Stegglers for quality

Things happen in threes!

Surprise number 1 on Sunday morning came in the form of a notification that the pitches around Sydney were open. This meant that a very much depleted AA4s were on against Maccabi at Mission Fields.
Then came surprise number 2, we were not playing at Mission Fields anymore but instead it was Moore Park – that notification came at 7.57 and so commenced the mad scramble for people to get across to the correct field.
Surprise number 3 was not so much a surprise but as expected, having seen a request on facebook for tickets to some emo event, was it any surprise that Ross Haughton was still in bed? NO!

Eventually Maccabi arrived, put the nets up (they are still up by the way), the ref arrived (AMAZING) and Dunbar managed to have 11 players, arrived and ready to go. One step ahead of Maccabi who had 10……this was proper Sunday league. The piercing shrill of the referees whistle signalled the start of the game with Dunbar immediately passing the ball around with Maccabi content to just sit back.

10 minutes in and an innocuous ball went across the front of the Dunbar box and onto the right hand side of the pitch. Keeper Dale Quartey went across and cleared the ball up the line. A Maccabi player was first to the ball, took a touch and with Dale getting back to goal, he struck a peach of a ball from all of 40 yards over Dale and Dave “DJ’ Jansen covering on the line. 1-0 Maccabi and this was not in the script. Shortly after it was 2-0 as a Maccabi through ball evaded the outstretched leg of Scott “El Presidente” Sadler, found a striker who slotted home past the onrushing keeper.

With 25 minutes to go in the half, the theme was not to panic. Maccabi who were now up to 11 but then back down to 10 due to injury saw another player arrive (he was apparently just waiting at Mission Fields) were content to just sit back in a bank of 4 5 1 and let Dunbar have possession, trying to hit us on the break. The boys in baby blue and pink soon got into their rhythm and were attacking at will (who’s Will?) with Abhi and Adam making runs down the wing, whilst Shane “Buttman” Butler and Simon “Skipper” Botterill were pulling the strings with Ross “Compo” Compton sitting back tidying up the loose balls.

Try as we may however, we couldn’t break down the organised and resolute defence in front of us and then using all his might, Andy “Still half asleep” Morris burst into life, made a surging run and finished low across the keeper and into the far corner. 2-1 and if the truth be told it was deserved for the amount of possession but was a hammer blow to the Maccabi outfit.

Half time came and went, Ross Haughton still hadn’t come (a common problem we hear) and we went back out onto the pitch to prove a point. A slight tactical change saw us move to 3 up front and we were rewarded when Abhi steamed in and scored our second. A third followed from Dan Lynch who was helping out from the AA8s before Abhi grabbed his second and the teams fourth, which more importantly drew him level with his girlfriend Kate on goals for the season (it was noted how she jeered him from the sideline when he missed a chance in the first half).

The game passed with little incident thereafter. A few half chances for Maccabi and a number of chances for Dunbar that we just couldn’t put away. A big shout out to Lee Hewetson who text at 8.21 to say he would play and he was much needed with Tom “Chickens” Ireland rolling his ankle. The bald Geordie doing a great job marshalling what became a back two as Dunbar looked to improve their goal difference.

The final score was 4-2 and the Rovers had gone top of the league until the afternoon fixture that saw Coogee and Sydney Uni battle it out at a soaking wet Heffron Park. A good come back considering a number of regulars were away, injured or in bed including leading scorer Del Boy who was off getting cuddled by his mum in Sittingbourne.

Onto next week, Maccabi A at the Reg and hopefully another 3 points to keep the pressure on a very lucky Coogee side 😉

Supporter watch:

Kate Bremmer – she had obviously done something wrong and was trying to impress Abhi
Two very sodden dogs/rats
Ross Comptons tarp
Some geezer with an unusually large dog that was sniffing menacingly around my bag and the dog treats