Matchday 20.7.07

Bemboka Braves Football Reveiw 20.5.07

The Bemboka Braves FC strode out onto an almost immaculate Brave Park on Sunday thanks to the hard work of Dave Allen and the rest of the Bemboka Rugby league supporters who hosted the Roosters on Saturday.

The under 8's had an entertaining 3-3 draw with Merimbula Blue and Mick O'Reilly's Under 9's had another hard fought 2-2 draw with Merimbula in their age group. In the Under 11's, the new score board (nice work Dave), was kept ticking over, but the Braves were no match for a solid Tathra outfit on the day going down 6-0.

The long sunny day of footballing action continued when the Braves Ressie's tackled the much fancied Tathra outfit. The Braves took the lead in the second half after one of the Tathra defenders was unlucky to deflect Kev 'Headley' Barnett's nod on into his own goal. Tathra continued to press, and were deserved scorers of an equaliser and despite really pushing for a winner, the Bemboka defenders and Big Matty in goal were able to keep them at bay and hold on for a solid draw and a point. Another stirring performance from Russ 'The Muss' Hill who shows absolutely no signs of slowing down at the age of 61- a true club stalwart and gentleman, even if he misses the occasional open goaland has the unerring habit of having the ball kicked into his head.. Sterling job lads, and we will sort the squad soon, so don't panic! The Braves Ressie's are still undefeated this year, and becoming the masters of the one point game of late.

A slightly nervous Braves first grade went into battle next with a Tathra still not having secured a win after 3 rounds. A quick team huddle and battle cry had the braves focused on the job at hand, and Tathra thinking they were at an American Football match. A number of the Tathra Titans were backing up from reserve grade for the game- good thing too, as a number of the Braves had been battling the evil Manflu bug thru the week .
Bemboka were able to settle first and made some good use of the ball, holding on to possessions well and moving the ball wide in attack. They were rewarded after 10 mins when they were awarded a penalty after Luigi O'Reilly took a tumble in the area after being fouled, with Maz tucking it away well. Tathra were competing well, despite a lack of possession early and pressed the Bemboka defence on a number of occasions. It was the Braves however, who scored again when Luigi was lucky to nod an errant shot from the oldest First Grader Mick O'Reilly past the stranded keeper. Luigi nipped in from a magic Barneycorner to beat the Keeper at the near post, and then clipped a neat chip over the hapless keeper to make it 4. The Braves esteemed manager, Josh 'Glory Hunter' McPaul slipped thru to lob the keeper to round out the win 5-0 for the Braves. Some real nice football from the Braves and the Tathra boys again must be commended for backing up and giving their all and credit to them for their efforts. Josh 'Crouchie' Green won the Maltese 'Falcon' award with his impression of a tall tree being felled with a cannon ball. A decent dose of whiplash, some concussion and some fresh seam marks being left when he bravely charged down a viciuosly struck free kick with his face!

For the Braves, Goalkeeper Matty Schwarzer really shone, his communication first class and commanded his 18 yard box, Genaro 'Gattuso' Collins was a solid as a brick outhouse in defense, even if he was the only defender at times. The middle of the mids were solid, the wide men keen to get invloved. A very nice way to earn 3 points for the first time this season for the Braves, but this Sunday's game, this time down at the 'House of Pain' in Tathra against a fresh Titans lineup might prove differently.

Go you Braves!