Middle Park Football Club

Reserves – Round 9 Report – Away to Albert Park

A stones throw away from home we faced the other Parkers for part one of the derby honours and to put some much needed points on the board.

The gaffer named a side looking strong on paper with the luxury of only one change from the previous week. Karl Thomas slotting in for Steve Tully:

Emil “the ever present” Matulic, Ben ‘Hell’s Kitchen” Cooksey, Johnny “of all trades except linesman” Peyton, Andy “Cap” Katieva, Phil “use your body” Dibbs, Eric “I’ll take any jacket” Starrs, Karl “Springbok flu “Thomas, Andy “drag back king “ Lumsden, Steve “six million dollar man” Leitch, Chris” too fast for my hamstrings” Logie Berry “van Tap-in-six “ Driessen.

Ready and waiting for the call to arms:

REM “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” Ten Harkel, Dave ‘the hitman” Hearn, Mickey “good touch for a big man” Merkel, Matt “step over” Lewis

The pitch was not as narrow as we were expecting and was overall a relatively good playing surface except for the cricket patch on the far wing (… there would be no cricket score this weekend).

Early doors it proved to be a scrappy affair with the ball in air almost as much as in an AFL game between Richmond and Melbourne. No real chances for either side in a first twenty minutes interspersed with some committed tackling, long range set pieces and off-side calls.

The pack was reshuffled during this time when Logie had to call it a day up front. Dave Hearn made his entry on the left of midfield with Leitch moving to play with Starrs in the middle while Thomas took on the second striking berth.

Without bias, it was the Middle Parkers that played the better football in the last fifteen of the first half. Some decent passing moves in the attacking third and more concerted pressure led to the keeper being tested by Berry and Andy. Both full backs had a crack from outside the box. The numerous corners yielded some headed efforts with Karl nodding one just over.

Throughout the first half Eric battled superbly around the middle of the park while Steve settled well into the centre winning many a header. The wide men Dave and Andy came more into the game in an attacking sense as the half wore on.

Defensively, MPFC were solid with Phil’s big left boot or Andy’s head generally clearing any potential dangers in the corridor (AFL speak). The full backs also snuffing out any danger before it developed.

The good points from the first half continued into the second. The half began brightly. Eric struck a pile-driver just wide and Dave saw his header drift past the same left-hand upright minutes later.

 Johnny made way for Remco and Matt replaced Andy L shortly afterwards giving a new look to the left wing with Dave switching to the right.

The dominating corner count for Middle Park continued and despite many a quality ball in from Eric or Dave there was no slice of luck to be had.

Ben sent Dave racing down the right wing on more than one occasion and the wide man also ran his socks off to get in the box when the build up happened on the left.

Mickey Merkel was introduced and got in on the attacking attempts with a nice touch and cross. Unfortunately his added height in the box at set plays failed to pay dividends in the end.

Matt, helped by Remco defending behind him ran at the Albert Park defence at will and was unlucky not to get the desired power in his shot following a jinky run with a nice step over thrown in for good measure.

Statistically, Middle Park dominated the corner count and had the majority of chances. Emil would perhaps recall only one or two long range efforts that caused any concern from Albert Park in the second half.

Unfortunately there were no Middle Park goals to report on. A combination of narrowly missed chances, shots lacking some power or too close to an Albert Park keeper in good form denied the Middle Parkers a Derby win. A feeling of two points dropped rather than one gained pervaded through the dressing room after the game.

At the end of the day, all credit to Albert Park for a well contested game proving they are good value for third spot in the ladder currently. It was also good to see a few of the boys we got to know during pre-season enjoying their football with the ‘other’ Parkers.

To finish with yet more clichés; there are no easy games and it’s still all to play for.