BOB Result 11/23/08 by Dave Sheeran

Barnstonworth Old Boys - 4 Banatul SC - 2

After last week's disappointing exit from the State Cup at the hands of Div I leaders NY Dinamo, the Old Boys returned to league action and winning ways.
On a bright chilly morning at Forest Hills HS, we finally got under way after the 2 referees who showed up worked out who was actually going to officiate. Banatul started stronger while we struggled to find our rhythm in the game. They had plenty of possession early on but created very little, rarely bothering Zak in goal. We escaped an early penalty appeal when Greg somehow managed to get away with parrying the ball with both hands above his head - although the ball was struck from close range. We slowly started to make headway and took the game to Banatul... only for them to open the scoring.
An impressively theatrical dying swan routine just outside the box sold the referee on a free kick, which was nicely dispatched around the wall and into the corner despite Zak's efforts. In a rare period of Old Boys bitching, we spent the next 10 minutes squabbling with passes going astray and tackles missed, until Dominator took an opportunity during a break in play to tell everyone to shut the f*ck up. We did, and ran down the other end to score. Three times.
Brian got a couple, including a nice run down the right, beating the keeper from a narrow angle at the near post (ignoring his teammates on the 6 yard line of course) and another run down the left which was (gasp!) cut back to Cesar, who finished with a nice dink with the outside of his right boot. Seeing their 1-0 lead rapidly turn into a 3-1 deficit caused several Banatul players to start throwing their toys out of the pram, including a classic Jerome Albertini style stomp off the pitch and shirt throwing routine. The Corsican would have been proud.
We had more chances to score, but it remained 3-1 at the break. Most of the second half we controlled easily and on more than one occasion we went all Arsenal and tried too hard to make it look good instead of being incisive. At one point, we had 4 players in the Banatul box against a couple of defenders, but everyone was too polite and passed it around inviting teammates to shoot. We eventually hit the bar. We did finally grab the 4th goal, again with bodies in the box, the ball falling to Brian 12 yards out and he'll rarely look for the pass in that position, and he gave the keeper no chance to notch his hattrick.
Late on, we either took our foot/feet of the gas or Banatul upped their game as they had some extended periods of pressure. Despite that, they were only dangerous from set pieces and after a succession of well-placed corners, they managed to bundle one in at the back post. But there was never any danger of a come-back.
There was a nasty moment late on when Chip took a ball to the face and we were all immediately worried for his boyish good looks. Thankfully, the pain he was experiencing was internal.
Solid performances all-round again, especially since we were missing one or two key players (don't tell them that) - in particular, Steve "Luxury" Condos who's been playing out of his skin all season. Also, good to have Zak van Buren back in the Rovers fold after his return from Hong Kong, filling in for yours truly for the second game.
So still unbeaten in the league, but still chasing Tesoro who continue to rattle off the wins each week. One more game for us on December 7th before the winter break.

BOB: Zak, Dominator, Greg, Lordy, Macca, Chip, Luxury, Billy, Colin, Jeff, Josh, Negro, Luxury, Unmackers.