Match Report By Nick Norton

Saints took the field at Hilton Park with a strong squad confident of securing a victory against the inconsistent Fremantle United team. From the kick-off it was clearly evident the Saints brethren had under estimated the factor the windy conditions would play in dictating the state of play. Several opportunities fell to the feet of the Fremantle forwards as the wind continued to push the ball towards the Saints penalty area. In traditional form the Saints defenders worked with a sense of calm teamwork to move the ball out of their own half, only to be thwarted by the Fremantle midfield who continued to punt the ball forward in a hope to catch the Saints defense off guard.

15 minutes into the fray, a corner kick for Fremantle from the left, saw a high arching ball swing past the Saints upright. Keeper Cat, seemed transfixed by the ball as it sailed past his grasp into the top left hand corner of his goal. Houston standing on the goal line barked a strange order to “leave it” forcing the defensive back line to stay rooted to the spot. He later explained in a press conference that he thought the ball was going over the bar.

Saints regrouped and continued to put pressure on the Fremantle defense. Against the run of play, Fremantle pushed the ball up the middle of the park and onto their onrushing centre forward, who was tripped by a trailing Dunn leg at least 2M outside of the penalty area. The referee without even so much as a glance at the frustrated, flag waving linesman immediately pointed to the penalty spot.

Up stepped the Fremantle midfielder, a wily Chinaman who waited patiently to listen to Zabba’s description as to where he would fire the penalty shot. Naturally the shot was in the opposite corner of the net leaving the Cat clutching nothing but air.

2-0 down, with only half an hour played and the Saints looked to be in trouble. Some cool work done through the defensive line of Sayers and Collins saw the Saints build their passing game through both flanks. Eventually on the half hour a fine ball was played from Thorburn, to Cameron on the left who crossed to have Norton powerfully head the ball from just inside the penalty area past a diving Fremantle Keeper. 2 – 1.

Several desperate tackles from the opposition saw a flotilla of yellow cards issued exclusively to the Perth Saints. Frustration grew as the club stalwart Frank (fleet foot) Houston was crunched to the ground by one of the Fremantle midfielders. With Houston writhing in agony, the referee sought to reward the opposition with a free kick as Frank and his torn leg was carried from the pitch.

This incensed the Saints players to work harder to secure a victory.

After considerable pressure a chip ball from Zabba was chested by Dunn, two metres off the Fremantle goal line. Dunn smashed the ball into the roof of the Fremantle goal to retain parity a few minutes from half time. 2-2.

The half time team talk by Greer saw a few red faces in the Saints team as players recounted the events leading to the 2 goals given to the opposition. But the ear burning exercise had the desired effect and with renewed energy the Saints took to the field in the second half intent on securing the win.

Thorburn and Barovic were targeted by Fremantle and were continuingly pursued by their markers in the second half. Thorburn for his part refrained from his traditional Liverpool kiss style reactions by outwitting the Fremantle midfielders. Later DNA tests have revealed that both Thorburn and Barovic could have a case for sexual assault such was the attention metered out by the Fremantle defense.

Hard work by the Saints midfield diehards of Ringer and Ryder continued to thwart any efforts of the Fremantle play makers to impact onto the Saints defense.
The weather conditions worsened during the second half and in spite of the ongoing pressure exerted by the Saints players, the break through goal would not come. 15 minutes from the end a through ball from Greer to the canny centre forward Cameron saw the deadly striker slot the ball to the keepers left, 3 – 2.

Saints continued to work hard to increase their margin. Shots from Valentine, Barovic, Ryder and Cameron were continually saved by the Fremantle Keeper.

The last minute of the game saw Messeguer play a strong back pass to the Cat. The crowd held a collective breath realizing that the 2008 Cup match played in the same conditions and pitch saw the ball trickle over the Cats meat hooks. With a smile and wink the Cat confidently put that curse to bed by blasting the ball as far from his goal line as possible.

The final result, Saints 3, Fremantle 2.

Stern warnings were issued from the club captain Greer at the post match review (Bowling Club) that the Saints needed to be “on their game” for the forthcoming meet with Balga who currently lie in second spot.

Team: Barovic, Cameron, Collins, Greer, Houston, Norton, Ringer, Ryder, Sayers, Walker, Vallantine, Zabica, Lambert, Messeguer, Thorburn

 

Scorers:                     Norton (29), Dunn (38), Cameron (74)

 

Next Game

Home to Balga – Sunday 5 July 3PM kick off. 

And now for something completely different…………………..……

Team photo…beautiful

 

that’s what a “real tackle” is supposed to look like

 

June 6, 2009