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Gosford vs BUFC F’s

The coldest match day of the year so far saw Terrigal run out onto Duffy’s after the game was re-scheduled from Gosford’s home ground and moved to 3pm. The prospect of beer immediately after the game followed by a segué into more beer at Breakers without having to travel provided a strong incentive. With an unaccustomed three reserves, Terrigal were pumped, not least because of the triumphant return of Ben ‘WhatsApp’ Johnson, whose warm-up consisted of wrapping about five metres of bandage around his left thigh.

The whistle blew and fifteen minutes of fairly scrappy and indecisive football followed, ending abruptly when Tek Tea, in what is rapidly becoming a signature move, took the ball up the left side and deftly passed it to Steve Head at wing. Steve put in a lovely floating cross to Anthony Broadbere on the right who, after an intense scuffle for the ball, passed it inside to Justin O’Malley Jones. JoMJ rolled it back, rolled it forward, flicked it out the back, moved it around and generally bamboozled the opposition, then BANG! Nailed it into the net.

Gosford’s forwards were fast though, notably their striker, and they came back hard. Will Belford gave away his usual three free kicks in his first ten minutes on the pitch, all on the same player, the third one for rucking the man on the ground (“He was lying all over the ball sir!”). Fortunately, no points came from these blunders and Terrigal started to mount pressure on the Gosford goal.

Two corners and three shots at goal later, Gosford returned a long goal-kick and caught the Terrigal backs unawares. Adam Chandler scrambled ferociously, but a mix-up between him and Jason Scott, who was having a sensational first-time game as goalkeeper, left both players on the ground and the goal exposed. The Gosford striker had an easy shot.

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Locked up 1-1 at half-time, the rain started to come down, but in the second half, Terrigal had the not inconsiderable wind at their backs and used it to good advantage, playing most of the game in the Gosford half. JoMJ missed an absolute sitter with his head after a lofted ball from Jason Bush found Brett Fenton lurking in the midfield waiting to deliver the pass of the game. For perhaps the second time this season, Terrigal’s passes were sticking, with one passage of play seeing no less than five passes between players before taking it forward.

This tactic paid off, as Gosford had few reserves and were visibly tiring. Nevertheless, in the last ten minutes of the game they challenged the Terrigal goal half-a-dozen times with centre surges and corners. Adam Chandler was a tiger in defence, but once again, he and Jason got caught up in a tackle on the Gosford striker just outside the square, resulting in penalty, but the defence was up to it and nothing got through Jason Scott’s gloves.

Up front, Ben Johnson, Simon Head and Justin O’Malley Jones had plenty of chances as our midfield successfully penetrated the defence. Showing everyone how it’s done, with ten to go Jason Bush took a pass in midfield and, with a combination of brute force and ball finesse we didn’t know he had, fought his way through a thicket of defenders, lined it up as if he had all kinds of time, and belted it into the left corner.

Trevor Husk, back from Bali played well in defence, ignoring the ash-cloud cough threatening his cardio. Released from the goal, Simon Ashely-Binge fought hard in the centre along with Chris Peers, whose timely arrival straight from work gave the midfield a welcome breather.

On balance, one of the best games of the season, in terms of ability actually to play football, as opposed to just running around on the field kicking a bladder and bashing into people.

Final result: 2-1 Terrigal

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