A
nother enjoyable season with a mid table finish.
With our average age considerably above that of some of the teams we faced we should be satisfied with our position on the table. With better fitness and selection consistency we could have been knocking nearer the top. We still have a knack of playing well against the top sides and pulled off a couple of very good results and then at times struggles against sides we should dominate more. One hard luck occasion was against the league leaders at the time; with only one sub and not our strongest line up we were leading 2-1 with 10 minutes to play and then of course comes a dodgy hand ball decision. They convert the penalty and like the Aussies playing the ABs we slumped and they popped in another goal in the last 2 minutes and we lost. No matter what the result though the guys are great and the afters still taste as good and the banter rings out. Not a good season for injuries, probably reflecting the fact that most of us our well into our mid-life now! Luckily we have a big squad of circa 20 enabling us to continue to field a good side each week. It helps to have a couple of players in the early 40’s that we can insert into the mid field to boost the engine room. There were many moments of humour throughout the season via ‘air shots’, goal misses, friendly fire, and great passes to the opposition mixed in with occasional very good football.
18
Unfortunately this season sees the departure of two of our seasoned players Allister and Lyubisha. Allister is off to Barcelona for a couple of years and Lyubi is off to live in Melbourne. It would be wrong not to make mention of Lyubi’s contribution to the team. From the day he joined Lyubi quickly became a stalwart, winning many player of the year awards being a long time best player and holding together the team over the years as our strong man in the mid field.