Take two. After an extremely annoying previous trip out to Long Island was negated by a suspicious cancellation (Referee reversing his playing decision after a conversation in polish with the team) it was with annoyance that the team greeted a return trip back to the muddy excuse of a field that was the Polonez home ground. CPR was happy to greet a full team with subs, and Polonez only appeared to have 11, but right from the start they stroked the ball around the field with full familiarity regarding its foibles. Their use of the long ball with the field holding the ball up as well as their physical play helped them set the pace, but it was CPR who took the lead. A long Steve Morse ball was pressured in the box by new boy Jose Cornejo, causing a defender to turn the ball into his own net. The lead was short lived however as Polonez came swiftly back, getting players into the box and playing sharp football to equalize. Soon after they took the lead on an incisive move on the left for a clinical finish into the side netting.

	This was the field 2 weeks before, but it hadn’t gotten much better. Thank God for Randalls Island!

At half time it was clear that the Old Boyz were up against a formidable opponent, but at 2-1 down still had a decent shot to get the game to penalties. The referee, although full of himself, was also competent so that was one less opponent to worry about, leaving just Polonez & the appalling field to navigate. CPR came out strongly and the game was evenly matched until the pivotal moment of the match, which happened halfway through the second half. With Adi Gallagher on a breakaway, all he had to do was beat the goalie which he proceeded to do. Unfortunately as the ball passed the keeper it slowed down and then completely stuck in the mire of the goalmouth, allowing a retrieving defender time to clear the ball away. CPR were visibly deflated at this point, and soon after Polonez were able to get the third goal to widen the narrow gap to a chasm.

The Old Boyz threw caution to the wind as it was a cup game, going to 3 in the back in an effort to try to claw back. However even with a Polonez player being sent off for too many robust challenges CPR could not convert their advantage. A splendidly struck free kick from the edge of the area widened the chasm to 4-1, and the numerical superiority was erased with Becker charging out of the goal on a one on one play resulting in a handball and straight red. With Silent indisposed due to a shoulder injury Jake Beeman gamely pulled on the goalie gloves for the last 5 minutes, time enough to be wrongfooted by a striker in acres of space. For the second year in a row, the CPR Old Boyz had the misfortune to play a quality team in the first round of the State Cup, going out once again. Although without the fiasco of the puddle save the game would have been tied, its debatable whether CPR could have stood their ground before their canny opponent.

Competition: Polonez, LISL

Location: Glen Cove, Long Island

Conditions: Moderate weather.

Fans: None

Result: 1-5 (1-2 at H/T)

Goals: 1-0: OG

Yellow Cards: ?

Red Card: Becker

Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None

Old Man of the Match: A decent performance, especially by new boys Jose Cornejo & Andy Jones but nobody outstanding.

Old Man of the Bar: Nobody memorable, just the usual suspects.

Team Bar Showing: 5 out of 14 (36%)

Team Bar Night: 3 out of 5 – Decent showing by the other teams, some good NFL games on.

Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Becker (GK), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Mark Resnik (DF) , Andy Jones (DF) , Jake Beeman, Clive “Ollie” Morgan, Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Creighton Mershon, Hakon Tretvoll, Jose Cornejo, Andrew Faherty, Adi Gallagher, Ernesto Teran, Luke Gaspard

Scouting Report: Looks like the rest that Polonez got from the friendly referee that postponed the game helped them. Although only 11 strong, they were a quality side that played very well together.

Goalie: Decent goalie with a weak leg that got better. Fortunate that his best defender was the goalmouth puddle. Grade: C.

Defenders: Moderate, not really challenging to CPR but did just enough. The own goal didn’t help Grade: C-.

Midfielders: Tough but fair players, knew the limitations of the pitch well and played to it. Grade: B+

Strikers: Missed a lot of open chances, but kept getting into position for them and eventually made them count. Grade: B.