It may have only been round 1, but there was a strong air of confidence in the Beachside line up as it took the field. However an air of an air of confidence does not mean anything if you don’t back it up with effective action- just ask Scott Morrison- and a bit of indecisive team defence allowed Eagles to take an early lead. Beachside shook off the early setback and began to work into the game in response. It wasn’t long before Lyndo’s cross from the left floated in towards the penalty spot and the opposition keeper (perhaps quite rightly) looked hesitant to get too close to a charging ginger, allowing Johnno to get to the ball first and glance his header in to level the scores. The Eagles’ defence may have been a bit ahead of the curve with social distancing, as they were giving their players plenty of space; and a long ball from Gardo set the big ginger up for his second soon after, before Gibbo beat the keeper one on one to make the score 3-1.
I’d originally thought Johnno had been primarily recruited so that Sam didn’t feel like such as leper being the only ginger in the team, but he was quickly proving me wrong with his goal scoring touch, completing his hat-trick before half time to see Beachside go in to the break leading 4-1. The second half started brightly for Beachside with the Buretta firing home from close range (I’m never not going to use a bad pun like that). Lyndo earned himself a team fine for missing the unmissable shortly afterwards, when Simon set him up. He mostly atoned (fines can’t be retracted though) soon enough, setting up Gardo and the life member gleefully opened his account, choosing an unconventional scoring angle off an opponent’s leg. The score wasn’t exactly flattering Beachside, who could easily have led by more from their opportunities, but it should the noted that Eagles had some excellent passages of play themselves. Their main playmakers in midfield were agile and combined well, but their attacks were well contained by the Beachside defence. They did break through and look threatening occasionally, but Lowey (who must have picked himself for his supercoach team as he was calling every touch a save) came through with a couple of cracking saves to deny them. The referee was making some interesting calls and non-calls, with Beachside feeling a little short changed after three pretty clear penalties were waved down, although to be fair Dover negated his right to a penalty with his atrocious overacting and dive. Lump had been copping a bit from the opposition through the game- both in the form of cheap hits and some chirping, but he showed karma is well and truly alive (for anyone who still needed proof after hearing Peter Dutton has corona virus) when he slotted home the team’s seventh goal late in the game. I wasn’t sure whether Tom was feeling magnanimous or just confused when he set up an Eagles forward with a free shot on goal from 5 yards, but a fine point-black save by Lowey saved him the further embarrassment of a goal (but not a fine) so the final score remained 7-1. It was a slightly surreal feeling after the game with the spectre of a likely league shut down looming over any discussions like Scott Morrison trying to shake an unwilling hand. For all that though, there was a really positive feel, after a game played with the right mix of intensity and light-heartedness. I'm certainly hoping we get back on the park together later int he season, but if the worst consequence I experience from a global pandemic is missing out on soccer for a year, I'll consider myself pretty lucky.
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