The Old Boyz have finally drawn the short straw during the Fall section of the 2009-2010 season. After mostly reasonable start times in previous seasons, this year the times are all over the map, ranging from start times of 8am through to 4pm. The game against SC Gjoa was their second 8am kickoff in 3 games, not exactly optimal scheduling. The miserable drizzle did not make the game any more appetizing at the unearthly meeting time of before 7am. Compared to the previous game it was clear that a restful night’s sleep was in short supply, but having a group of 16 should ensure rest for those that needed it.

Both teams were at the field warming up and ready to get going, however the referee was nowhere to be found for the second week in a row. Technically as the home team CPR were required to submit a referee to both team’s liking, and after consulting with the Gjoa manager Venkataraman was reluctantly drafted in, his main qualifications being that he had a black t-shirt, was able to use a whistle and wasn’t expected to play many minutes due to injury. Gjoa seemed okay with it and their manager agreed to referee the second half.

	The Referee made a pathetic excuse of being at Field #84 instead of #74. No explanations as to how it took him 90 minutes to figure this out.

Both teams got off to a surprisingly good start considering the wet conditions and early hour. The ball was passed around and the tackles were crisp but mostly fair. Gjoa had a tough central midfielder and nippy little nuisance striker and looked to capitalize on breaks while CPR were content to try and stroke the ball around and use their possession game to mount attacks. Early on Mershon had a thundering header from a Nizam corner that went narrowly wide. He had more luck with a flowing passing move that went from the left side to the right. Good composed passing resulted in Morse receiving the ball at the top of the box, and although he probably should have tested the keeper he passed it to Mershon who decided to ask the keeper some questions. The keeper failed to answer correctly, spilling the ball into the path of the lurking Nizam who had the simplest of tap-ins.

Gjoa remained implacable, and unlike previous opponents to CPR the rout did not materialize. CPR managed precious few clear cut opportunities for the rest of the half, and in fact it was SC Gjoa who took advantage of some slack marking to score the equalizer. The right midfielder appeared to be bottled up on the right hand side but somehow wriggled free, and a pinpoint cross found the dangerous striker in the box who made an excellent one touch finish to tie the game.

The half came to an end with CPR dominating without being able to convert as Gjoa were able to escape some physical defending and a borderline backpass to head into the break all tied up. At this point the referee decided to show up with some pitiful excuse about going to field #84 by mistake. Not explained was why it took him almost an hour and a half to figure out he should be on field #74 when both teams were able to make it on time. After taking his time the referee started the second half with CPR chomping at the bit to take advantage of Gjoa’s increasing weariness. With some fast players and an older defense to take advantage of the Old Boyz were looking forward to press their advantage. Unfortunately the referee hadn’t received the FIFA memo of the last few years regarding the offsides rule, and continually blew the whistle for anything approaching offsides, thwarting some excellently timed runs. Thwarted by the lazy officiating, CPR were still looking to take advantage of their speed but now the tired Gjoa defenders started increasing the physicality, piling up the yellow cards. However although the referee was free with the cards he was not willing to strictly interpret the rules and Gjoa were supremely fortunate to avoid sendings off for at least 2 blatant last man takedowns. Although CPR were putting pressure in the last third Gjoa did have some counterattacking potential, but for the most part they were stifled by the CPR defence. The closest either team came to scoring was another dangerous cross from the left hand side that made it to Teran for a cheeky backheel that was well cleared off the line by a Gjoa defender.

	Steve Morse celebrating his Man of The Match award in traditional style

CPR were only mildly disappointed with a 1-1 final as although they felt they were clearly better than Gjoa it was not overwhelmingly so, and the opposition were gritty and tough enough to ensure they would be causing other teams in the division plenty of trouble. Although with a bit of luck CPR may have been able to take all 3 points, they could similarly have given up a cheap counterattacking goal as they had in previous years and not taken any points at all.

Competition: SC Gjoa, League Opposition

Location: Randall’s Island #74, Randall’s Island

Conditions: Cold and wet.

Fans: 1 (The injured Adi Gallagher)

Result: 1-1 (1-1 at H/T)

Goals: 1-0: Nizam, Assist Mershon

Yellow Cards: Nizam

Red Card: None

Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None

Old Man of the Match: An okay performance by most, but no standouts. However a vote was taken at the pub principally because Silent had brought the Tankard and felt that as long as the game wasn’t a loss somebody should be awarded the ability to drink out of it. The list of 8 contenders told the tale of mediocrity, but Steve Morse emerged triumphant.

Old Man of the Bar: A decent performance helped by a surprisingly good Sunderland vs Wolves game (5-2) followed by both New York teams playing at 1pm. Apparently Drew & Silent decided to stay for the long term i.e. longer than the standard 4-5 hours.

Team Bar Showing: 10 out of 16 (63%)

Team Bar Night: 2 out of 5 – A high bar requires a combination of more than the usual number of team members combined with more than the usual stay.

Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Becker (GK), Steve Teesdale (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Marc Walby (DF), Lars Murray (DF) , Mark Resnik (DF) , Mark Edmunds (DF), Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Creighton Mershon, Andrew Faherty, Mike Conboy, Dan Hollins, Ernesto Teran, Hakan Nizam

Scouting Report: A team that is almost a mirror image of CPR. Some older stalwarts leavened by a few dangerous players. For the most part they were tough but fair, and today’s result made it two draws in a row. They clearly tired as the game went on, so the formula is to take the lead and then keep possession.

Goalie: Dropped almost all the balls that came his way, not great despite the fact that the wet conditions were not friendly. Grade: C-.

Defenders: Slow and cynical, they were greatly aided by the referee’s love affair with the offsides rule and to punish professional fouls the way they should be . Grade: C.

Midfielders: Showed a good workrate and also were dangerous on the counterattack. Grade: B+

Strikers: Also were dangerous when given the opportunity, and a nice first time finish on the cross for their goal. Grade: B+.