Braves held at home

(above)Bugger all to do with football, but cool all the same...

It was a very different Tathra lineup that the Braves trotted out to meet in battle at Brave Park on Sunday. With the Tathra first grade folding, a number of their team slipped down to ressies for Sunday.

The Braves started as freely as they did last game- Dunko's highlight being the stupid pass from the kickoff. He just spent the rest of the game getting kicked- Karma?

After monopolising the possession, as per training the Braves unfortunately were unable to open the Tathra defence up, some snatched shots here and there hardly troubling the Tathra keeper. Still it must have looked good- the ball being spread from side to side and back to front quite well. Paddy was his normal composed self- except when he rowled at Fox in the second half and then spent 5 minutes apologising:) Crouch was the best man on the park again (just ask him), but his shitty shooting was consistent (till later on). Maz had an acre of space on the right and although not quite as entertaining as last game, he was handy enough. McLoskey and Donnie worked well again this week- even though they didn't have quite as much ball into their feet- next week boys.
Fox scampered up and down the wing, week by week his passing becoming more and more accurate and useful to the Braves. Except that one in the second half when Paddy gave him a bollocking.
Simo spent some quality time taking airswings at the ball from time to time, but as ever, never pulled out of a tackle and bustled his way through a number of tackles. Buzz was as keen as ever and tighter than a piston bore to his men all day. Conversely, Ad Hill was the loosest unit on the field- his 21 beers the night before not doing him or his laryngitis any favours. Friday is party night big boy. Read the Braves player code of conduct before the finals series please. You too Crouch and Maz..

JMac was as solid as a Banker at the middle of D. He put some pretty special balls all over the place, but blamed his lovesickness on his radar being out from time to time. He blamed big Ken for the goal Tathra scored after he picked up the ball on halfway and used his speed to slide one past poor sick old Barney at the scoreboard end. Barney was earlier quoted as saying that he's looking forward to starting a game more than 50% well this year. More veggies and water son:)

Lenno, big Al, Miko all made special guest appearances during the first half. Miko looking for a spell 13 seconds after taking the field. Thank god for halftime eh?

The talk at halftime was pretty relaxed- Fox starting with his two cents as always, followed by less respected team members. Fox said all the right things as it was the Braves who hit back midway thru the second half, Crouchy getting on the end of another super Donnie long throw. There were other opportunities at both ends in an entertaining second half, which as always, finished just as the Braves were just about to win. A quick check with Robbo showed he had played at least 5 minutes more than Jimmy C did in the second half.. As always, a flawless performance for the great whistle blower- although he missed a blatant handball (according to one moaning Brave), from Chinky from Tathra in the second half.

Draw was the order of the day, and the current strength of the Tathra team makes the finals series that much more interesting. There will be 4 very evenly matched teams come August 31- Hopefully the Braves are full strength and keen as mustard then!

Go you Braves!

Valentine's day comes late for JMac!

Saturday night promised to be a good one for J Mac...

Last Saturday, the most eligible young lady at the NAB in Merimbula was snapped up for good by one of the Braves keenest players. Jmac found a ring in the lost property box at Bega NAb and thought, 'I'll save myself a few quid with this!'. He subsequently spent Saturday morning on an early morning fitness ride to relax before taking Brookie down to the golden sands of the beach before falling onto his knees, pulling his button up shirt open(so his heart did not burst from his chest), and taking his ring out (no pun intended) and pledging himself to Brookie for all time (with the exception of Sunday afternoons in Winter). No official word from Brookie yet, but she had been later seen packing her bags.

Later the situation had been resolved and the prenuptials signed, so JMac was able to text out the bad news (for Brookie).

Male hearts will be green with envy the world over, but well done JMac, we were worried you may not have had it in you!

A joyous day for the happy couple- we'll have to remind the big fella to take off his wedding ring this time next year before the game!

Go you romantic little Brave!

Wanted- blokes to train. 1.5 hours per week. Award wage(nothin)

..The Braves had invited a guest coach for this Thursday to boost numbers..

After the glory of dispatching of Tathra at home 2 weeks ago, the Braves have had a bit of a school holiday from training in the subsequent weeks. No dramas there. As a professional outfit, the Braves have been able to adapt, but this week, we're looking for a decent session to blow out the cobwebs, hone some moves and shave any rough edges coming into the last round of the competition. With some solid weeks behind us, and the top 2 having some interesting results (including Bega 1-1 Tathra), the Braves will be looking forward to welcoming back Naro and Miko from injuries and really taper for the Finals this year.

Go you refreshed and newly enthuisastic Braves!

Chilly night at trainin

(above)Those present at training agreed it was chilly...

A chilly night greeted a few of the most hardy Braves this week. Bloody cold really. Crouchy forgot that his knee was going to keep him and the shed Keys at home. Mum Carmel to the rescue (yay!), and was sent home to deliver hugs to aid the little man's recovery. After a hasty chilly chat, Fox got his regular Thursday night wish to go home and eat, Miko buggered off home before work and Dunko, Maz and JMac slipped up to support one of the Brave's fine sponsors and talk tatics.

Cold night, but the beer warmed us up. Could almost have done with one of those warm beers that Dunko dreams of at night:)

Go you Braves!

Maz and McLoskey steal the show!

It's a secret, but Chelsea are looking at making a move for Maz and McLoskey..

It was a new era in the season of the Draw riddled Braves squad on Sunday when they broke their goalsocring drought. With a keen Donnie and and Dan 'McLoskey' Southam up front, the Braves consistently hit feet and made runs from the midfield to support the goalscoring duo.
It was one of those runs from the midfield that saw Maz go one on one with the Tathra keeper, a first time left foot shot squeezing under him to trikle into the goal under the watcful eye of McLoskey. Maz was quoted as saying later that he was trying to nutty the goalie.

Not so long after it was McLoskey who proved a nice square ball for Donnie who finished well from the edge of the area. A flashback to his glory days! May there be many more!

Mcloskey then added 2 more (he may have scored the second), slammed into Donnie in the area, to bugger a good chance, but he wasn't alone in blowing a chance. Paddy had a few good chances, Crouchy almost perfected his edge of the area misfire, Dunko got good at blazing over the bar, J Mac dribbled a couple at the goalie and even Big (not gay) Al chanced his arm a couple of times.

Simo had his best game of the year at the back, Adam was keen and marked tighter than a fishes you know what, Mac was the rock, Barney was solid in more ways than one in goals. Fox was keen, delivering left foot crosses out for goalkicks consistently and putting himself about in every tackle.

A highlight of the second half was Maz taking 7 touches a second everytime he got the ball, getting the Brave's first yellow for the year, much to the regret of the ref. He also managed to bang one in from 30 metres, a candidate for goal of the year which the goalie could do nothing at all about.

Buzz made some lovely runs when he came on to stretch out his blod clot (cork), and could have scored a couple of times but was frustrated.

Nice to see Bemboka's own Crusty the Clown Impersonator and former Brave and now children's recording superstar Tim Bevitt and co in the crowd. We've got Crouchy- 7ft plus tall timber these days Bevo, so he's a good replacement for you:)

Coach J Mac said he was happy, but we should have slotted 6ish at the end of the day. Much better passing, control, ball winning, possession and penetration than the last few weeks though. Is this the turning point for the season?

Only time will tell.

Training as normal this week- building on our current form!

Go you Braves!

Braves stare Mr Deja Vu in the face

Maz Decided to play injured every week...

Same frustrating team, same frustrating 1 point. Braves edge back into third spot.
No goals this time, but again the Braves again played well enough to take all 3 points only to walk away with one. At least we weren't scoring for them this week.

We missed a bunch of attacking opportunities, they created few( Maz looked after those when they did), we kept possession pretty well but just couldn't put the ball in the net in the end.A few hiccups on the bench didn't help our rythym, but we walk away with 2 points from 2 games against the team above, and with a full strength lineup, we can be confident of knocking them over at the end of the season..

Bring on Tathra!