Another 8am scheduled game. For what’s supposed to be an Over 30’s league, the early morning games sure do a good job of sapping the fun out of the event. The only consolation is the ability to get to the pub early for a few hours and still be able to recover afterwards before the next day at work (for those who have jobs). Once again in an irritating repeat, it’s bad enough the games are scheduled for 8am, but having the referee not turn up until almost 8:30am is insult added to injury. The teams had already selected alternative referees from each team before the official showed up, at least having the decency to show some hustle to make up for his tardiness.

	Clearly the 8am Kickoff seemed too early for Fink, who appeared completely oblivious to the fact he’d put his uniform on the wrong way around

Although RTG appeared to have 12 or 13 players, a few of those were apparently injured which meant it was only 9 who would take the field. CPR management did a good job of not dwelling on this and focusing the team on playing good football and attacking. The first 15 minutes appeared to be entirely spent in the RTG penalty box. The Old Boyz appeared surprisingly reticent to pull the trigger, whilst the opposition managed to clear away most of the danger while never looking comfortable. Finally it was a cruel piece of luck that opened the floodgates. Hamilton crossed the ball from the right only for a defender’s mishit clearance to loop over his own goalie into the net. Now that the lead had been obtained, goals followed in an orderly procession. Jones hit a strong shot that the goalie could only parry for Fink to tap in for the second, then Lion passed to Fink for the third. Gallagher was released on the right side and not only managed to round the keeper but actually struck the ball somewhat shockingly with his right foot for the 4th goal.

	Wave after wave of CPR players came in to attack the penalty area, resulting in a team record 11 goals.

At half time the sole focus of Management was on the game against Hoboken, where a 6-0 halftime lead had disintegrated into a messy disjointed second half with 4 goals conceded. The team proceeded to not only keep their foot on the accelerator but for the most part managed to avoid ‘the disease of more’, making simple passes and playing unselfishly. The goals continued to flood in, with the midfielders provided an embarrassment of passing choices on each wing. The pick of the goals was a masterful Morse lob over the keeper, and if possible the team could have had a few more, with Lion thundering a header against the woodwork and Beeman’s shot off the crossbar tapped tamely back to the keeper by Nizam with the goal gaping.

	This was an all too familiar scene for the RTG Keeper, crumpled on the ground as a defender went to retrieve the ball from inside the net.

The 7 goals scored in the second half were gratifying as the team worked hard to the end. Only a couple of times were mistakes made, and for the most part the defence was ably competent to deal with any remote threat. To their credit, RTG did not descend into a violent sulk a la Hoboken a few weeks ago and were able to take the game for what it was, especially since it appeared they were used to playing with low numbers. CPR tried to continue to play hard and treat the game as a training opportunity without showing up their valiant opposition, a fine line to walk. A good day for CPR, not just because of the scoreline but the way it had been achieved, with good team & individual play. Next week’s game against Pele promises a much tougher game, not least because of Jonesey’s wedding the day before.

Competition: RTG

Location: Randalls Island #75, Randalls Island

Conditions: Excellent morning that warmed as the day went on, but never unreasonably so

Fans: 0

Result: 11-0 (4-0 at H/T)

Goals: 1-0: OG

2-0: Fink Assist Jones

3-0: Lion Assist Fink

4-0: Gallagher Assist Beeman

5-0: Beeman Assist Lion

6-0: Morse Assist Lion

7-0: Gallagher Assist Nizam

8-0: Gallagher Assist Lion

9-0: Fink Assist Venkataraman

10-0: Nizam Assist Venkataraman

11-0: Gallagher Assist Lion

Yellow Cards: None

Red Card: None

Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: Luke Gaspard

”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: No injuries, perhaps because there were 6 substitutes so nobody was out there long enough to get hurt

Old Man of the Match: Adi Gallagher scored 4 goals but as per the rules of oMoM was ineligible as he wasn’t at the pub. In addition, his ungraciousness when being substituted hurt his candidacy. It’s a Sunday league Over 30’s game, not the Champions League, so with 7 guys on the sidelines dying to play you’re not going to get 90 minutes! Yuval Lion had a strong game with 4 assists, but overall good running and the ability to get in dangerous positions. However Old Man Lars produced a strong performance at the back, helping key the attack and allow the midfielders to continue to run rampant at RTG.

Old Man of the Bar: No individual performance stood out from the norm, but a good performance by most.

Team Bar Showing: 14 out of 18 (78%)

Team Bar Night: 3 ½ out of 5 – Solid day at the pub.

Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Becker (GK), Mark Resnik (DF) , Lars Murray (DF) , Steve Teesdale (DF), Andrew Faherty (DF), Marc Walby (DF), Scott Shafranek (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Andy Jones , Jake Beeman (DF), Steve Morse, Creighton Mershon, Manohar Venkataraman , Hakan Nizam, Adi Gallagher, Kevin Fink, Luke Gaspard, Yuval Lion

Scouting Report: Unlike the surly Hoboken who reacted to their pounding by starting to play dirty, these guys were good natured throughout. One almost felt sorry for them as they continued to suffer under the onslaught, playing 2 men down for the entire 90 minutes. Of course, it was hard to truly judge them when they were under so much pressure.

Goalie: As odd as it might seem having shipped 11 goals, the goalie was actually somewhat decent. Several saves were made and very few of the goals were truly goalie errors. Having said that, picking the ball up out of the net 11 times can hardly engender a good grade. Grade: C-

Defenders: They played hard and didn’t make any glaring mistakes, but were under just too much pressure. Grade: C-

Midfielders: Although one man down, they were hardly able to keep possession of the ball which they desperately needed to do given the numbers deficit. Grade: D

Strikers: The bald forlorn striker cut a lonely figure up top, and although he looked like he possessed some potential it was rarely going to be realized as every time he had the ball he was swarmed by the CPR defence. Grade: Inc.