2010 League

 

GAME 1 - FCB vs Jack Rabbits

 

Last night marked the entrance of FC Burrough into the so called “BIG” league, and as it transpired we were pitted against the Bunnymen from Berea Park - Jack Rabbits FC. Quite appropriate that this fixture should be scheduled immediately after the Easter weekend! Nevertheless we knew we weren’t up against 11 Easter bunnies, as we had played this team before, and although they’re not the greatest team on the planet or  in the league for that matter, they’re pretty awkward to put away. From the jump the Burrough Boys came out firing and only took 5 minutes to get on the score sheet, after Shane Griffin put Barry “Golden Boot”  Ebing in the clear, and he slid the ball through the keeper and into the net...1-0, what a start. Then the lights went out, as the ground was thrown into darkness, this lasted 5 minutes as the technicians frantically worked to rectify the situation. The lights came on, but as the teams and referee were lining up to resume, the ground was cast into darkness for a second time. And the referee opted to call the game off with both teams heading for the shower. Then the lights came on again, the geyser was turned off, and both managers agreed we should honour the fixture, and so we restarted the match again. Clearly the stoppage didn’t do us any good as the Bunnymen made us pay for some uncharacteristically shoddy defending, as Rufus Oakes pounced on a short back pass to Kenny Bevis, and lobbed him with a touch of Messi-ism...1-1. This served to fire us up in many ways, as Grifbox got into a tangle with Wayne Lambert, and after being head butted by Lambert whilst trying to get to his feet, he proceeded to give him a klap. Of course the referee, and a few one-eyed individuals, only saw Grifbox’s swipe and immediately had his red card out for Grif to take an early shower, we were down to 10 men with most of the game to go. This injustice spurred us on more, and it was not long before a Steven Burn's pile driver from 40 yards out flew into the roof of the net to put us back in the lead...2-1. More damage was to follow, when Gary Nossiter was set-up on the edge of the area, and made no mistake in embarrassing the keeper with a low drive...3-1, as we cruised into half-time with a 2 goal cushion. I don’t know what the Rabbits did or said or smoked at the interval, but they were back in the tie almost from the kick-off as the lads again failed to clear their lines and who was there to mess things up, Rufus Oakes...3-2. The siege was on, it felt like World War 2, with the evil forces of Jack Rabbits coming at the allied Burrough troops and I’ve got an extract from their team card below to prove it, S Hittler...?

 

Defensively we stood our ground for most of the second half, with Kenny (MOTM) making a few telling saves within the mayhem going on around him. But when captain Chris Davies limped off late in the game we seemed to lose our shape across the field and were reduced to the odd counter attack as our smaller pack of troops were tiring. The Bunnymen levelled things up again when a deflected shot looped wickedly over Kenny’s head and into the net...3-3. We were screaming for the final whistle, and with the Rabbits being awarded a somewhat dubious penalty late on after Redbulls was adjudged to have handled the ball with his shoulder on the line, we were left wondering if we had blown it on our league debuts. As fate would have it, justice prevailed as the Rabbit’s striker blew the ball high, wide and handsome, into the on looking crowd behind the goal, we were off the hook and the final whistle sounded...final score 3-3, and a hard earned point in the end. So now to next week where we entertain IB’s Volt Energy Twini team, this time back at Fortress Fairfield.

 

Other results in;

 

 

GAME 2 - FCB vs Volt Energy Twini

 

Most of the Volt Energy Twini lads “headed for the Hills” last night, whilst their star players , IB and KB (imported from Brisbane), sought refuge in the Drakensberg mountains. The FCB lads were there to welcome Big Deani Carsons from Twini  and his men from the South Coast – who claimed the average age of their team was 44 – although at first glance we’re not too sure about that statement! Nevertheless, the curtain raiser finished (Dumpy Bend drew 1-1 with the Highway-men from Hillcrest), and the lads ran onto the pitch with a spring in the step, with the exception of Shawn De Beer, who had his spring removed in the preseason friendly with Umbilo.

The early exchanges were very tight as both teams probed around like taking a “guava” to the drive-in on a first date, if you know what I mean. And about halfway through the first half a Byron Duncan corner, our first of the game, found an unmarked and rampaging Steven Burn’s on the far post and his header was despatched into the old onion bag...1-0. The Twini lads were now playing catch up, and had a few chances to restore the parity, but were thwarted by Casper the friendly linesman and their wayward strikers, and at the break FCB managed to hang on to their slender one goal lead. With the “damager” Shaun “Elton” Howard laid up with flu, the half time talk was somewhat subdued, but the message was clear – “Don’t try to hang onto the 1 goal lead, go out and attack from the next whistle!”. The lads responded, and carved out a few chances at the Black Door end of the ground. But it took another set-piece effort to breakdown the Twini defence as Buzz and Burnsie combined, with the latter powering his header downwards into the net...2-0. The Burrough boys had their tails up, and Buzz (MOTM) in particular was going through a purple patch, and it only took him another minute to almost singlehandedly destroy Twini’s hopes of a revival. He broke their defensive line and neatly chipped the ball over the back pedalling keeper from some 40 yards out, in what would be described at the time as the “Goal of the season”...3-0, and the men from the South coast looked almost dead and buried. But they weren’t, and responded immediately with a classic finish of their own, when big Dave Blundell buried his volley almost bursting the Fairfield Park netting...3-1. FCB’s response to this was clinical, with Buzz being put away down the left wing, he passed the ball in field to a fresh RedBulls, and in a classic wall pass situation, he ran onto Redbull’s back heal to let fly past a hapless Twini keeper...4-1, and now certainly the “Goal of the season, thus far!” Half the job was done, and all that was left was to host our South coast “cousins” in the Black Door with all the after-match rigmarole, final score 4-1. So onto next week, when we travel to UIB Crusaders (Durban North) to take on the likes of the “Belson Kid” - Tiger Ogle, Junior Peggs and their very old connections, Barry Barrat, Bruce Broughton, Graham Ellis, Graham Chelin & company, watch this space!

The FC Burrough Pinetown team travelled to PMB last night to face Blues in their first fixture of the 2010 season. In what proved a hard fought affair they went down 2-0, but by all accounts everyone enjoyed a hard fought match. Goalkeeper & skipper Craig Harper tells me that both goals were “crackers”, but then if you were in goal you would say the same thing too, wouldn’t you? Next week they take on BOB at Fortress Fairfield in the local derby which will hopefully see them get their 2010 campaign back on track.

  

GAME 3 - UIB Crusaders vs FCB 

On a windswept autumn evening in the northern suburbs of Durban, an upbeat Burrough XI (we only had 11 players!) arrived brandishing a new green and gold outfit, under the watchful gaze of our seasoned sponsor, Chrissie Whittle, owner of Montclair Tattersalls. For the record this has nothing to do with the recent signing of Montclair Rambler’s wonder kid from the 80’s, George Dearnaley, who is yet to make his full Burrough debut and earn what would arguably be his finest cap. Fortunately, or so it seemed, the opposition were a good deal older than us spring chickens, featuring a rather static David “Tiger” Ogle (with black beanie?) on the right and an out of shape Peruvian in Gersen Arroe upfront. At the mention of the word “team-talk”, coach Shaun “Elton” Howard left the changing room and headed straight for the pub, so effectively we were left to our own devices, and that’s how we started. To add to the shotgun start, both teams lined up, and after a minutes silence for the passing of Crusader’s player, Dominique “Junior” Peggs’ father, the referee, Stevie Singh decided we should “stay as you are, no toss-up”. Advantage Crusaders, bearing in mind the quality of “tossers” in the FCB line-up! So we would play into a hurricane in the first half, and would have to adapt. And adapt we did, brushing the ball around in neat triangles on a well manicured Northwood Crusaders Sports field. All the chances fell to FCB feet, and the only opportunity Crusaders had to attacked was via our rare defensive lapses. The best chance of the half fell to Shane “Grifbox” Griffin, now known as “Smallbox” after last nights display. And Grifbox proceeded to hit the upright, after running onto a Barry Ebing flick-on inside the small box, and get the ball to run tantalisingly across the goal line for the opposition defence to clear. At halftime, with both teams unable to trouble the scorers, coach Elton decided to take the opportunity to buy another round of drinks for the sponsors, not too perturbed by the fact that the status of the team’s water bottles basically reflected our goal tally – “empty”. It was left up to the team to get their own water and administer the half-time talk, which was basically along the line of “if we had subs, we would have jerked a few players”, but we never, and so we went into action for the second half with a more direct Wimbledon “long & high ball” approach, whilst defending with one player less. This proved to be even worse for us, as the lanky Crusaders defender, Grant Kihn, was easily able to repel our attacks and allowed their strikers to counter against a thinner FCB defensive line. And about 10 minutes in, a bustling Gersen Arroe managed to skilfully wrong foot the Burrough defence and neatly placed his shot past a hapless Kenny Bevis...0-1. It must be mentioned that Grifbox, who to be fair on him was playing out of position, with his back to goal, missed another chance inside the small box with the keeper at his mercy, sorry “Smallbox. And with our patience worn thin and the odd temper fraying we struggle to get back into the game, with the old guys using every trick in the book to frustrate us. It nearly worked, but with 6 minutes remaining, we were awarded a free kick just inside our oppositions half, and the ensuing cross was flicked-on by Ebs, who managed to cleverly push his way in front of 2 defenders, into the small box, where it ricochet off the upright, for Michael Bulley to nod in the equaliser and spare the FCB blushes...1-1. With the clock running away, we were awarded another free kick, about 40 yards out, and RedBulls stepped up to the plate and strike the crossbar with the keeper well beaten, a costly miss, but nevertheless an enjoyable encounter. And with time being “out” referee Singh ended the match with “one loud blast” of his whistle, and the final score remaining 1-1. After an entertaining after match function, where the lads, courtesy of skipper Steven “Tony Hart” Burns, to the opportunity to thank our sponsors, it was concurred by all that being unbeaten after 3 matches is not a bad place to be. So bring on Yellowwood Parks best, Digizone with Messrs Morley, McGillicuddy (H), Havenga, Van Rooyen & Co coming to Fortress Fairfield next Wednesday at 20h00 – see you there!

 

The FC Burrough Pinetown FA team played their first home game of the season against 2009 runners-up BOB. Unfortunately we could only manage to field 9 players due to injury and the after effects of the still erupting Eyjafjjoell volcano in Iceland. As it turns out BOB, via captain Eddie “Bones” Jones unsportingly decided to play under protest after the Burrough lads brought in 2 unregistered players to make up the numbers. Which meant the game was officially played as a “friendly”. In all the turmoil the lads lost 3-0, but by all accounts, if “nutties” were goals, they would have won 10-0! Anyway next week sees the lads travel to the postage stamp in Chiltern Hills to take on a Chiltern FC over 35 outfit.

 

GAME 4 -  FCB vs Digizone

 

With FC Barcelona on the verge of being bundled out of Europe, as they eventually were last night, it was up to the other FCB, FC Burrough, to fly the flag. Conditions were perfect and the mood in the camp was abuzz with players returning from injuries, expectations were high. The Burrough lads started with their usual formation – 4-4-2, and were somewhat nullified by their opponents, Digizone, from the other side of the reserve. It was the Yellowood Park team who actually created the first clear cut efforts, but Captain Steve Burns and his deputy Wayne “Taffy” Davies were having none of it. And with the Burrough lads pinned back in their own half they launched a scathing attack which saw a long ball put Shawn “Jaws” De Beer away, and with  only the keeper to beat, Jaws made no mistake... 1-0. Visibly you could see the confidence start to ooze from the Burrough machine, and from the kick off the opposition were made to chase leather. It didn’t take long for the lads to double their lead, when Byron “Buzz” Duncan sprung the offside trap, tempted the keeper off his line whilst trying to gather the ball, and then delicately spun and chipped the goalie, placing the ball neatly into the corner of the net...2-0. Could it get better than this, the answer was a resounding YES, as Rhett Morley and Henry MacGillicuddy struggled to find their earlier form. And when Burnsie made a bullocking 50 metre run and threaded the ball across to an unmarked Jaws, the writing was on the wall. Jawsie finished like a seasoned campaigner to take FCB into an emphatic half time lead...3-0.

After the break, the lads remained on fire, even after Coach Elton made wholesale changes, stroking the ball around the dry Fairfield outfield, a joy to behold. This was turning out to be one of our finest hours in the Green and Gold, and when the ball was half cleared from a corner and fell to the ever impressive Lee Withers (easily our MOTM on the night), he drilled it home from outside the area as if to confirm our status of “title pretender”...4-0. With the clock running down, another pile driver from the edge of the area by substitute Patrick Message, on debut, hit the bar and landed kindly for Buzz, who took about 3 bites of the cherry before burying the ball in the net and the opposition on the night...5-0, truly our best display in 2010. So now we move on to next week  when we travel to Lieutenant King Park on Bluff to take on the MediHear Fynnlands XI, who last night humbled the high flying Callies team from Forest Hills 4-2 – note the fixture is scheduled for Tuesday night at 19h30, see you there!

The FC Burrough Pinetown FA team travelled up the road to play the Chiltern Park team. By all accounts the lads fought tooth and nail, going down by the odd goal or 2, having played the majority of the match with 10 men. This after Pete “My left foot” Vink went down injured just 5 minutes into the first half, which left the lads with a heavy workload to bear. The effort was epitomised by Craig “Scarface” Simpson, who went the distance “again” with 8 stitches in his forehead. Next week the lads are up against draw specialists Dumpy Bend, with the old guys going unbeaten in 2010 thus far, will the fairy tale be over...?

 

 

GAME 5 -  Medi Hear Fynnlands vs FCB

 

The Burrough lads packed their bags on Tuesday night and headed for the coast to face an inconsistent MediHear Fynnlands team at Lt King Park. The opposition was a mix of youth and experience, and included an old Burrough boy in it’s ranks in Kevin Botha. The pitch was also very inconsistent resembling a beach in most parts with a hard cricket pitch in the centre, but our lads would be up to playing on anything and were chomping at the bit to get onto the park. The pace in the first half was frenetic as both teams chased and hurried each other to gain possession of the ball and ultimately the upper hand, but both approaches were similar, kind of a mix of finesse and direct football. It took a defensive error from the Bluff team to shift the balance of play, as Barry Ebing dispossessed the Fynnland central defender just outside of the area and set himself nicely to have a crack. Eb’s well placed shot found the bottom corner of the net and the FCB were in front...1-0. The first half continued in the same vain with the Burrough lads looking to preserve their lead going into the break, and with the defensive unit in sound form, especially with the return from injury of skipper Chris Davies, they managed to hold their opponents at bay with consummate ease. Half time came and coach Elton made his usual plethora of changes, especially in the midfield in the hope of freshening things up for the final half. And it did have a positive outcome on our play, but not necessarily on the scoreboard, as our strikers continued to fire blanks, in particular Shawn De Beer, who wouldn’t have hit a desert if he fell off a camel. The impact came from a decision from the vice captain, Stephen Burns, to push himself upfront to spearhead the attack. And it wasn’t long before he went on a breath-taking run straight for goal, ala Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, knocking all and sundry out of the way in Super 14 fashion and calmly rolling the ball beyond a shell-shocked Fynnland keeper...2-0. From the restart the FCB lads smelt blood and pushed the Bluff boys onto defence. And when Burnsie the “Beast” once again used his superior strength to gain possession in the Fynnland’s area, shouldering their lightweight defender off the ball, as if he was swatting an irritating mosquito, and then nonchalantly stroking the ball home, it was curtains for the Bluff outfit...3-0. The job was done and the team was satisfied with the knowledge that we travel to Durban North this Wednesday to play basement dwellers Liviero Juventus in the 20h00 game, with top spot beckoning...keep tuned in!

The FC Burrough PFA team found themselves in a thrilling shootout against an older Dumpy Bend side on Wednesday night, and after being 3-0 down early on in the match managed to bag 3 goals themselves, but still went down fighting with the final score being 5-3 to Dumpies. Looks like experience paid off for the old guys. Next week sees us host Godfrey Wheeler’s Win 1 Soon, lets hope we can break our 2010 duck here.

 

 

GAME 6 -  Liviero Juventus vs FCB

 

Last night FC Burrough travelled to the Durban North Crusaders grounds to play the Italian basement dwellers – Liviero Juventus. After watching the Digizone (YWP) lads snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, against the old timers, UIB Crusaders, we were adamant we wouldn’t fall into that trap. A confident looking FCB lined up ready to dispatch the “Pasta-boys” in stylish fashion, but it didn’t start that way. It was evident they had bulked their side up, with some new, fresh signings, particularly in the midfield, and never allowed us to settle on the ball. As a result of this the game was rather scrappy, with both sides opting for a longer range of passing. It seemed to pay off after 20 minutes, when our lads gave the ball away upfront, allowing Juve to counter attack down their right flank. Their winger ran onto the ball at pace, leaving Kenny Bevis in two minds as to whether he should cover the wing or back pedal for the cross, and when the cross came in off the shin he was left scurrying for his near post in vain...0-1. It was game on, and the FCB lads battened down the hatches taking no prisoners, and with the opposition whinging and whining at everything, including amongst themselves, we knew we could get this game back. Five minutes on we were awarded an indirect free kick for a hand ball (would somebody find that in the rule book for me?) just outside the penalty area. Lee Withers stepped up, and not noticing the referees hand raised in the air, proceeded to hit a screamer into the wall. The ball rebounded kindly back into his path and his miss hit shot-cum-back pass dribbled into the near post, with the Juve players surrounding the referee for an explanation, but in all fairness his one-two off the wall amounted to the touch he needed for his “indirect” kick...1-1. The game became tighter as both midfields stood their ground, as tackles flew in thick and fast with Gary Nossiter (our MOTM) dishing out some hard treatment, and the “Itai’s” whinging a little more, as halftime approached. At the break the FCB lads were talking a good game, about how we were going to stroke it about with the wind at our backs, whilst the Juve talk seemed to have a lot of pointing with the bosses seemingly plotting their next hit. Un-phased, the lads were first to ready themselves for the restart, and with the game starting to open up a bit more the Burrough pedigree seemed to come to the fore, as the lads pinned Juve in their own half for long spells. Alas, our striking boots were left at home as we continued to consistently miss the target, and when we did hit it, the pasta sculpted frame of the Juve keeper seemed to get in the way. It wasn’t going to be our night, but looking on the upside, a draw away from home in the wind and the rain wasn’t going to be train smash either. At least we have a proud record to uphold, going into game 7 as still the only unbeaten team in the league. But this will be tested at Dudfield Park in Umbilo Congella when we take on Richard Musso’s Profile Creations (aka Dangerous Darkies + Rowdy Roddy Tereblanche)...stay tuned!

 

GAME 7 -  Profile Creations Umbilo vs FCB

The mighty Burrough bus travelled up Umbilo Road, the only road in that area that hasn’t been stripped of it’s original name, for their encounter with Profile Creation Umbilo (aka Dangerous Darkies or Arsenal FC) at Dudfield Park. We had travelled this road before and understood that it wasn’t an easy assignment, with this team being 2009 league champions and boasting a number of old professionals, like former Bafana stars Tsepo Ntsoane & George Koumantarakis. It was the self same Koumantarakis, who had the home team on the score sheet early on, even before the management team could settle into their dugouts, with a soft goal gift wrapped by a somewhat slow to start Burrough team...0-1. From this point the lads lifted their game and could have levelled soon after when Stephen Burns’ header was just wide of the post with the keeper nowhere to be found. The match was proving to be a very tight affair with both teams holding there shape and looking to take a few liberties on the counter attack. On the FC Burrough side, we had an in form Kenny “the Cat” Bevis showing off his shot stopping skills, and was easily our MOTM, even though he had popped a groin whilst bowling out a ball to one of our wide men. Try as we might, we couldn’t close the gap before half time and we went into the dugouts with a one goal deficit. Coach Elton then proceeded to give the lads a lift with his soothing words at the break, and made a change, bringing on Lee Withers. This paid dividends when a tiring Umbilo defence offered Lee some space on the edge of the area and he obliged, firing in a rasping shot which left the keeper standing...1-1. The lads were back in the match and were starting to dominate in almost all aspects of the game. We had a couple opportunities to go in front, with Shane Griffin and Barry Ebing proving to be quite a menace for the Umbilo defence, but our final finishing touch just deserted us at the crucial moment. And then Umbilo threw the kitchen sink at us all at once, pushing 5 players forward and reverting to route 1 football. The cracks started to appear when Ntsoane & Paul De Freitas were afforded too much space with the game opening up, and from a short corner managed to find Jason Behr, whose glancing flick-on crept just inside Kenny’s near post...1-2. With time running out we had no option but to press on, sending Burnsie upfront and reverting to man on man tactics at the back, in fact we were outnumbered. And when a tired and injured Kenny bowled out a ball to the feet of an Umbilo striker Rajendra “Mac” Thilakdari, who calmly put in Behr to fire the nail in the Burrough coffin, he made no mistake...1-3. When the whistle went the curtain fell on an amazing Burrough run, having gone undefeated in all competitions for a 21 month period, our last defeat against a now defunct Fairfield team on the 20th of May 2008. Wow, what a record, spanning 28 games, won 17, drew 11, 64 goals for and 18 against, what a team. Next week the lads will look to get back onto the “win wagon” against Manoli Westville... 

After the match, at our function in the Long Room, it was good to see a really old Queensburgh Old Boy, now residing in Umbilo, Mr Bill Seagreen, was at the high school with Ronnie Withers & Charlie White, and played Hillary 1^st team in 1958 & 59, with the likes of Charlie, the Millards and Clive Barker back in the day, then obviously went a bit off the rails turning out for Bayview, Fynnlands & Virginia thereafter, nevertheless was good to hear some of his old stories. 

Our Pinetown or “social side”, as they call themselves, did very well last night, snatching a draw from the hands of victory, well done to Simmo and the lads, I’m sure you all got his superb match summary. All I can say is – I told you so!

 

GAME 8 -  Manoli Westville vs FCB

 

Whilst the Aussie Socceroos touched down at OR Tambo last night, for their brief visit to our shores, the Burrough lads were readying themselves for battle. It was our first trip to Jimmy Bellows ground in Westville as a unit, some of us having last played there as youngsters. The childhood memories started flooding back. With the Poms also packing their bags, and the Brazilians boarding their planes, the lads took to the field, looking to set our record straight and go on another unbeaten streak, against a Manoli Westville team who were languishing near the bottom of the log. We started off quite well, having a shot in the first second of the match, as Shawn “Jaws” De Beer cracked one from the kick off, which the keeper fumbled but grabbed on the second attempt. The lads continued to put the Westville defence under pressure, with a direct brand of soccer. Though the Westville lads were always game on the counter, with a few chances of their own against the run of play. Then about halfway through the first half, Shane “Grifbox” Griffin was illegally bundled off the ball just outside the area, and up stepped Lee “I Score Anything” Withers. Lee’s low drive bent around the Westville wall and squeezed under their slow to react keeper, finding the net...1-0. We were now in cruise mode, and held them out until the break. With coach Elton now frantic, his condition somewhere between cardiac arrest and comatose, the lads just knew they had to up their game or else! In the second half the game got scrappy, which seemed to suit the Westville team better, and the line between win or lose looked very thin, when Westville were awarded a penalty for a hand ball, which wasn’t and if it was, was outside of the area. Nevertheless Kenny Bevis saved with his legs, and continued to impress on the multitude of FCB fans present. He was duly awarded the MOTM award once again. The referee, after taking some well deserved criticism from all sides, decided that he wanted to even things out, and seemed to let play continue for Westville on many occasions whilst halting the Burrough machine far too regularly. And it was on one of these occasions that Westville accepted and beat a rather hapless Kenny to level matters...1-1. Things got tense, with both teams seeming to freeze in possession and in the last minute of the match the Burrough boys failed to clear their lines and Westville’s striker following up from clearly an offside position managed to slot the ball just inside the post...1-2. With no time left to play the Burrough lads were left rueing a dreadful display, only bettered by that of referee Phewe. As they say in Afrikaans, “Die koel was deur die kerk”. All we can now hope is that we end this poor run of form, which has come about since our team building weekend away, makes you think! With the lads pleading for a home game to put things right, they’ll have to wait, because next week we travel to Forest Hills to play Callies. So, like Bafana, we may not win the league or the cup, but we’ll certainly die trying...

 On the “social side”, they went down fighting, literally, with Ant Swart getting in on the action, in a heated but highly entertaining “clash” with Ashley at Fairfield Park, 2-1. Hopefully Simmo will provide us with a short  match summary soon. Next week the lads host the Blues team from Maritzburg.

GAME 9 -  Callies vs FCB

 

Last night, whilst in the changing rooms at Forest Hills, the lads were commenting on “how fortunate we were that our season has been injury free”. Well if you consider a broken neck (Harry “Beamer” Davidson), broken arm (Lee Wither), sprained ankle (Chris “Skipper” Davies & Byron “Buzz”  Duncan), knee ligament damage (Michael “RedBulls”  Bulley), 3 cracked ribs (Shane “Grifbox” Griffin), dislocated elbow (Barry “Ebs” Ebing) and now a bout of seasonal flu (Stephen Burns) – we won’t even mention the number of injuries Kenny Bevis is playing with each week, enough said about that! To cut a long story short, what I’m trying to say is that we went up the hill with a numerical disadvantage (only 12 players available), but with an abundance of ability, heart and not too forget support at our disposal. After a minutes silence for the passing of Gary “Noss” Nossiter’s pet hamster, the lads got down to business and it took us all of 3 minutes to inflict the first blow. Noss collected on the edge of the area and his shot-cum-powder puff back pass was mishandled by the Callies keeper, a mate of Noss’s, and ended up crossing the line...1-0 (Note there was no net involved and Noss was fined R20 for this and for leaving early to attend the hamster’s memorial service!) The Burrough lads kept up the pressure with their slick but patient build-up on a hard but true Forest Hills pitch. And this was duly rewarded, when a Lee Withers drive was deflected passed an already embarrassed Callies goalie...2-0. Callies managed to keep there supporters interested when they sprung the offside trap, from an offside position, and with only Kenny to beat, their striker kept his head and did the dirty...2-1. Half time came, and so did our trump card, a Ronnie Withers team talk, which lit up the faces of the Burrough lads, a blast from the past! It also served to lift their games, particularly Chris Davies, who had a storming second half earning him the MOTM award for the evening. It didn’t take too long for the FCB lads to add to their lead, and within a spate of 2 minutes they had banged in two goals. Both from crosses after some expansive play, the first was a nod in by a well placed Shawn “Jaws” De Beer, whilst the next was knocked in by Ebs after a brilliant cross by Paddy Message...3-1...then 4-1. We were totally on top, and it only took a late own goal from Wayne “Taffy” Davies, who “nuttied” Kenny from point blank range, to keep the Callies spirits in tact for the after party...4-2. And after 9 rounds the boys have leapt a place to 5^th spot, with 3 of the top 4 teams and Stella to play before we go into the second round, not a bad effort considering the history. Next week we host Trader Plus Stella back at the Fortress Fairfield with a bit of a score to settle, as usual...stay glued!

The “social” team hosted the Blues team from Maritzburg, and even borrowed a few of their players in true Burrough style, after a few regulars couldn’t make it. Things backfired on the lads, who went down 3-1 on the evening, and they were also lumped with fuel and toll fees from their “new recruits”, an expensive exercise.

 

GAME 10 -  FCB v Trader Plus Stella

 

Before our match, on a cold, wind swept Hillary ground, we had tried to offer Mark “Kingdom” Kingsley (Stella keeper & Burrough boy, whose nickname now fits his build) a bribe, in a similar manner to the Nandos offer to the Mexican football team (see attached advert). However he just wouldn’t take the bait and in the end was quite desperate to save face on his old stamping ground. Anyway, the Burrough lads, or those that are still standing at this stage of the season,  were upbeat about there chances of putting away an equally depleted Stella outfit. The “town clowns” started brightly, but once our defensive unit of Davies & Co. got to grips with the thin Fairfield air, they were shut out. Then the machine kicked into action, with all our players looking so comfortable in possession, as if the ball were tied to their bootlaces. And after a flurry of chances squandered by Barry “Ebs” Ebing & Paddy Message, it took an enterprising run by Lee “goal-a-game” Withers to pry open the Stella defence, leaving Messer’s Baverstock & Thomas for dead. With the oncoming Kingdom resembling the QE2, Lee deftly lobbed the ball over and into the net...1-0. The exhibition continued, with the Burrough lads gaining in confidence by the second, and when coach Elton called the lads into the huddle we were still in front by the slimmest of margins. The lads were then put in the picture by Ronnie Withers, who reassured them, but also warned them not to try sit on a one goal cushion. The Burrough did respond and continued playing that unpredictable version of the game, carving out a few gilt edged opportunities which we failed to bury. Stella seemed to up their game by bringing on Goodwill (himself a resident of Queenburgh) , whose introduction to their midfield added the necessary driving force. But the now tiring Burrough team managed to snuff out any sudden attacks, although we were admittedly looking a little loose down the flanks, allowing their wingers to cross at will. It was from one of these crosses that their striker got a somewhat fortuitous flick on the ball, which looped to an unmarked Edge Davis at the far post. Edge managed to stretch out a foot and steer the ball past Kenny Bevis to level the match for Andy Purnell’s team...1-1. There were a few nervous moments for both teams until referee Mr Siga Kisten, who wouldn’t be out of place if he was called upon to officiate at Soccer City tomorrow, blew the final whistle to put an end to an exciting but well-spirited match. Final score FC Burrough 1 – Trader Plus Stella 1. Special mention must go to Craig “Tube” McIntyre who was my MOTM on the night with a dazzling display amongst a sparkling team performance. So the lads remain in 5^th position after 10 games with a lot of work to overturn the top 3.

The “social” team played at BOB last night, against the table toppers. And only managed to scrape up 9 troops, plus Shane Van Der Vlies managed to pull both “hammies” after scoring a cracking goal, so they finished with 8 players on the park and caught it 3-1. By all accounts those that played “gave it good”, especially Alistair Baird who was voted MOTM on the evening. The lads can now put their feet up and recuperate for a month before the final push.

  

 

GAME 11 -  Bluff OB v FCB

 

The FC Burrough management rounded up all their Matadors and Dutchmen and travelled to the Bluff to take on Bayview’s finest bunch of old boys on a bitterly cold Monday night. We started off quite spritely after a few warm-ups and could’ve easily been 3-0 up inside 10 minutes, with Barry “Ebs” Ebing and yours truly, missing a few guilt edged chances on a sandy, bumpy pitch. Unfortunately it was the Bluff OB’s who opened the scoring by splitting the FCB defence and beating Kenny Bevis with a low shot to his right...0-1. The Burrough lads never waivered and kept up the pressure, with Craig “Tube” McIntyre and Evin “Evzone” Windelberg putting in some tireless running on the flanks. But we couldn’t break down the experienced Bluff OB backline, which was well organised by Norman Steenkamp, and went into half time a goal down. With the half time talk flitting by, the boys were upbeat about getting back into the match and came out in a very positive frame of mind. We carved out some very good opportunities, whilst at the other end Kenny Bevis, once again our MOTM, held the fort as we launched wave after wave of attack. But to no avail, with Chris Davies hitting the keeper from 10 yards out, Redbulls hitting the cricket nets with only the keeper to beat and Ebs misreading a googly of a cross, which bounced over his head inside the small box. It seemed as though the ball just wasn’t bouncing right for us, and when Stephen “Burnsie” Burns brought up the south westerly with a huge “freshie” inside the area, we kind of new we weren’t going to salvage anything from this match. Nevertheless we all enjoyed it, apart from maybe Brett McIntyre, who lost a layer of skin on his knee and got booked for swearing at the referee, AGAIN! (I can’t believe that!). Anyway, final score 0-1 to Bluff OB’s, and now on to Wednesday night versus Steven “Thatch” Engelbrecht’s PMB Savages, who are top of the table, can’t wait! We’ll be unleashing our 1 hit wonder Wayne “Fash” Van Deventer on the boys from Sleepy Hollow, don’t miss it!

GAME 12 -  FCB v Savages (PMB)

 

The Burrough lads welcomed 2 teams from the Savages Football Club (PMB) to the Fortress Fairfield. The table toppers from Sleepy Hollow all arrived in good time, with the exception of one Steven “Thatch” Engelbrecht. Did he have a valid reason for not pitching or was he just afraid of the mighty Burrough machine, we’ll never know, but I’ll have a bet it was the latter? If there ever was a good time to play the well drilled Savages team it was last night, for they had been inactive for the entire World Cup period, (which by the way was the best World Cup ever!) whilst the FC Burrough lads never get rusty. This must be due to the large amounts of anti-corrosion liquids that we consume, before, during and after the matches, all year round. Anyway while they were sipping on their pre-match water bottles, the FCB were warming up with Wayne “Fash” Van Deventer calling the shots in the change room. We were even contemplating a Dougie Sheppard warm-up, which goes something like “kick them, hate them, kill them...etc.”, but just couldn’t get the momentum to follow through. Nevertheless once we got on the park we were subjected to a lightning paced start, with the Savages team attacking the flanks at will. Fortunately we had the likes of Craig “Tube” McIntyre and Evin “Evzone” Windelberg as wingmen, and these blokes ran all night and never stopped running for the entire match. With our defence also looking solid again, with Wayne “Taffy” Davies and Stephen “Burnsie” Burns back to their best, even the cunning Harry “H” De La Cruz couldn’t unpick the lock, it would take something special for Savages to get past Kenny Bevis, and that came after just 10 minutes. When the Savages right midfield, who was tight to the touchline and about 40 yards out, turned inside and let fly with a drive which bent and dipped and even the braai-master was bemused when it slammed into the stantion, ala Gio Van Bronkhorst v Uruguay... 1-0, what a goal and we were visibly stunned. To their credit the Burrough boys adapted pretty well to the pace dictated by Savages, and even though we gave the ball away a little to easily, we were harassing them well and winning it back relatively easily too. In the latter part of the first half we had a few attempts at goal but these were from long range and never really tested the keeper, with the exception of Shawn “Jaws” De Beer who managed to get into the box, but just couldn’t get the ball under control quick enough to get a shot away, but this had nothing to do with the 12 Fanta’s he’d just consumed at the Escombe club prematch! At half time the lads were tutored by Ronnie Withers, and the old master had spotted a few chinks in the Savages armour, mainly the inability of their midfield to play without the ball, and the inability of their defence to play with the ball, and of course, the fact that we needed to put the keeper under more pressure. The second half started well for the Burrough, as we defended a little further up the pitch and started to dictate the pace by keeping the ball for longer periods. This approach paid dividends when we started an attack from right back which snaked though the midfield across to the left, where skipper Chris Davies, our MOTM, received the ball on an overlapping run. He turned his man inside and proceeded to bend a right footed curler into the far corner, some said “great cross”, but it was definitely intended and with that the scores were level...1-1, and the FCB lads were going for the jugular. The match to-ed and fro-ed with both defences standing firm, although Savages were showing a few more cracks and offered the ball to us in some really good positions, but we just couldn’t capitalise. And right at the end we could’ve burgled everything, when Shane “Grifbox” Griffin got in front of his marker after a defence splitting diagonal pass from Barry “Ebs” Ebing. Grif did everything right, but put the ball in the net when his well placed drive was parried by the keeper to safety. With only 30 seconds remaining we also could’ve lost it all, but were grateful to Kenny for thwarting Savages by saving from a 1 v 1 situation when our defence was breached. In the end the final score read 1 each which was a fair reflection of events on the pitch, and everyone was satisfied, spectators included. So onto next Wednesday when we host Brian Martin’s ABSTO Hibs team, also table toppers and boasting the services of the likes of Robbie Milne, Steve Crowley and Gavin Lane to name a few of the stars, but none of them have been to the Burrough or graced the Fairfield Park pitch, so sure they’ll be in for a big surprise!

The Burrough social side put in a good performance by out scoring the Chiltern over 35’s at the Chiltern Park postage stamp. Unfortunately they lost 2-1, after putting into their own net, to keep their losing streak going. I must admit though it does seem that a win is on the horizon, and from what the lads told me, I think they can also feel it in their toes, maybe next week?

 

 

GAME 13 -  FCB v Hibs

 

The FC Burrough lads welcomed the high flying ABSTO Hibernian team to the Fortress Fairfield last night, and things never got off to a good start with the lights going out before the players even kitted up. This was caused by a power dip in the area, which took everything down, and the Hillary technicians battled to get it up again. Anyway we eventually managed to get started albeit 20 minutes late, and this proved to catch the visitors cold, as the FCB lads piled on the early pressure, especially Shane “Grifbox” Griffin, who took up some superb positions in behind the Hibs defence of Gavin Lane & Co. This brought on a bout of bitching which lasted the entire match, and it was Grifbox who unhinged the opposition when he curled in a wonder strike from some 30 yards out to give former Bafana stalwart Steve Crowley absolutely no chance...1-0. The Burrough lads were making all the play in the midfield, with Evin “Evzone” Windelberg (our MOTM), Lee Withers & Dave Perry getting the upper hand over Robbie Milne, Clinton Price & Tony Caetano of Hibs, and we should’ve capitalised on this, but squandered quite a few chances. Then the lights went out again, most probably still damaged from the earlier power dip, this brought on half time, and coach Elton gave the boys a soothing team talk as the technicians got to work again. It took about 20 minutes to get the lights working again, and this time we were caught cold, as Hibs equalised about 5 minutes into the second period when their striker (and their MOTM on the night) Warren Newell netted past Kenny Bevis from a tight angle, good finish...1-1. The match progressed for about another 10 minutes, with Hibs doing most of the attacking, and then came the very dubious decision from a very inconsistent referee (to put it mildly), when he awarded a penalty to Hibs when it was clear that the Hibs striker fouled Chris Davies first. They made no mistake from the spot...1-2, and from the ensuing fracas Redbulls was sent for an early shower. Down to 10 men and with Lee Wither pulling up lame, the lads were now under the kosh, but too their credit they never stopped playing and looked to go on the offensive at every opportunity. The game could very well have been squared up, but by throwing caution to the wind, the lads also left the back door open, and were made to pay when Hibs notched up too late goals to take the final score to 1-4. Well with injuries mounting at the halfway mark we realise we may not be in it for the title this season, but what we did realise over the past 7 days is that we can mix it with the best in the land, and then there’s also a matter of the cup. Who knows, we may be a cup team, again, this year?

The Burrough social side were bundled out of the PFA cup last night 2-0 (5-0 on aggregate) against a high flying BOB team, there’s always next season!

 

GAME 14 -  FCB v Jack Rabbits

 

With the season turning for home the Burrough “walking wounded” pitched at Fairfield Park for a date with the Rabbits – Jack Rabbits, last night. We were also quite pleased that the referee pitched up too. The game started off as a pretty tight affair, and the lads were behind from quite early on, after a Rabbit’s striker, being clearly offside, made no mistake...0-1. We had our fair share of opportunities though, but nothing would fall in right place. Half time came and went, with the lads still playing catch-up, and then Wayne “Taffy” Davies levelled the tie, with a superb finish...1-1. But with the lads tiring, it was hard to keep a rampant Rufus Oakes at bay. And when Steven “Burnsie” Burns limped off injured, it was hard to fill his boots. The lads never gave up though, however Rufus burst their bubble a little while later, with a well taken strike which nestled into the top corner...1-2. And when Shane “VDV” Van der Vlies’s batteries died, it seems the whole team went flat and conceded a rather soft late goal, which put paid to our chances of turning the game around..1-3. I would like to say “we could’ve fought better”, but I’m not too sure we could’ve with the current injury crisis we’re going through, losing Burnsie & Kenny last night, plus having quite a few others on the doubtful list. Nevertheless, with the first round cup fixture coming up on Monday against Bluff OBs, I’m sure we’ll reserve our finest for them... 

The Burrough social side played the Dumpy Bend XI at Hillary last night in a tight, hard fought local derby. After trading blow for blow, the old guys went ahead when Craig Smith cut through the Burrough defence, like an ANC politician spending his annual budget, and left Craig “Homer” Harper little chance...1-0. In the second half, after a few adjustments by the re-retired coach Craig “Simmo” Simpson, the Burrough lads came out red-hot. And it wasn’t long before the pace of Shane “VDV” Van der Vlies latched onto a well weighted through-ball and left Dumpies keeper Vinesh “V” Sukdeo very little chance, and levelled matter at 1-1. It was long before striker, Kenny Bevis got in on the act, and made the old blokes pay for a defensive lapse, placing the ball in the back of the net with ease...2-1. The old guys didn’t lie down though, and created a few chances of their own, but were caught out by the pace of VDV who lobbed the ball into the net like a season pro...3-1. The boys had their first win of the season albeit a bit late, but we must remember that every now and then a champion gets left in the stalls, and I guess that’s what happened this season. The Form guide says this is “one to watch for the future”!

 

GAME 15 -  Twini v FCB

By ob1kanobi (Twini)

 

Two days later and we were back on the park at home with a better performance all round or was it that our Queensborough cousins made us look good. It has to be said that most of our opposition looked like they had spent too many decades hanging around castle corner and feasting on bunny chows – the boys can still play make no mistake but their waist lines reduced most of them to waddle and a show boat shuffle. With our League Cup hopes dashed it was time to focus on consolidating our position in the top five of the League Championship and what better to way to do it than giving Michael Bulley and his boys a nice big bun to choke on – it was pity that Bulls was not there to eat humble pie after all his smut sing leading up to this all important encounter. Surrogate manager, Shaun Howard was sent in his place and took his punishment like a man and showed good form with his after match chug down.

Sipho Gcwabaza set the tone for the evening when he slipped out of a reckless tackle and slid the ball out wide to  Vishnu Naidoo to  finish with a delightful lob into the back of the net after just five minutes on the clock.  Cecil  “ the general “ Heydenrych was back in command of the midfield with Mark Bingham while Warren Gregory slotted in at right back, this time with a smile on his face. The Captain’s curse has finally been lifted after 3 consecutive defeats in a row by skipper, big Davey Boy  Blundell, his ability  to settle things down by holding the ball up and his distribution went a long way to securing this crucial victory. Former captain, Dean “ the recoiling cobra “ Carson was battling a bit out there with his recovering dodgy phantom fractured ankle  and in an inspired substitution the panting puff adder slithered off to make way for Janos Molnar who could keep pace with the Burrough players and their telly tubby strides. Vishnu Naidoo made way for Alan “ the racing snake “ Rowe, who bolted onto the park like a bat out of hell and ran about 6km’s in ten minutes and touched the ball twice.

Man of the Match, Iain Dickason, tore shreds off  FC Burrough, running the poor lads ragged at the back with his breath taking pace and had a hat trick of breakaway runs from the half way line with only the goalkeeper to beat and missed the target on every occasion.  Eventually after Iain’s fourth tearaway attempt did he score and it was just as well that he did because he went from mare to man in one fleeting moment.

That precious accolade we call Mare of the Match was bestowed upon Paul Smith by the Fines Master and all vendettas have now been settled amicably.

Final Result 2-0 to Toti.

 

 

GAME 16 -  FCB v UIB Crusaders

 

With our fortunes somewhat on the slide, having been bundled out of the cup and also going win-less for a 2 month stretch, albeit with a World Cup break in between, the Burrough lads were desperate to “put things right”. We managed to scrape a team together to play an aging, but very organised, UIB Crusaders team from Durban North. The late winter nip in the air warranted a Pietermaritzburg style warm-up, and skipper Chris Davies obliged by providing a bottle of Sedgewick’s Old Brown Sherry, which was gulped down by all and sundry. I think it was the right medicine, as the lads were getting about the park with consummate ease. Even Mike “Red” Slogrove broke sweat and called for the Deep Heat spray with about 5 minutes on the clock, such was the effort by our lads. Shane “VDV” Van Der Vlies rattled the metalwork twice, with a couple superb solo efforts in the first quarter, and as we were entering the second quarter Fred Oliphant caught the keeper unaware with a somewhat speculative lob from around the halfway mark to open the scoring...1-0. We went into halftime happy with our return, but also nervy about the fine line between success and failure. And with this in mind we seemed to clam up a bit, and tended to allow the older opposition to control possession, and ultimately set the pattern of the game. About 10 minutes into the third quarter we gave away a soft free kick when Russel De Vries dived over Stephen Burns, and the ensuing shot bent round keeper Vinesh “Vee” Sukdeo leaving him with little chance of keeping it out...1-1. The final quarter saw us squander a few chances to get ahead, Shane “Grifbox” Griffin should’ve with the head, VDV could’ve with a rasping drive and Barry “Golden Boot” Ebing would’ve had he been in that position, but in the end we couldn’t do anything to alter the score line. And in fact it needed some thrifty defending by the Burrough defence, in particular Evin “Evzone” Potgieter (our MOTM), which allowed us to maintain parity and bank a much needed log point with 10 games to go. Next week we head through the Coedmore quarry to the old Yellowwood Park grounds to take on the Montclair lads playing under the Digizone banner, always a mouth-watering prospect...

 

GAME 17 -  Digizone v FCB

 

The FC Burrough family travelled through the Coedmore quarries last night to play the Montclair lads now based in lush, upmarket Yellowwood Park. Yes, we’re a family of brothers (the Macs, the Davies, Withers & Red), brothers-in-law (Dave & Evzone) and most recently “Uncle” (Coadie’s newest nephew Grifbox). And this was a big occasion for us, having not been in these parts for many a season, even the self-elected Mayor of Montclair, Robbie Martin, was waiting, in the pub, to greet us. The Burrough lads weren’t to be outdone and brought along a high ranking official of their own, in Peter “Vlink Dink” Vink. On arrival we noticed something wasn’t right, the pitch was facing the wrong way! Instead of pointing to the Burra & Toti (North to South) like in the old Yellowwood Park days, we pointed to Chatsworth and the Bluff (East to West), which meant the pitch was much wider than it was long. This could only happen in Montclair, the only place in the world where the rugby players are sharper than the footballers, as they still played rugby on the same pitch, but in the correct direction, from North to South? As you can imagine the field markings we as confusing as arithmetic to a Queensburgh High pupil! Anyway the lads ran out of the “jondol” or changing room provided, and onto the pitch ready for action having done some last minute carbo-loading. We had put out our strongest span of the season, with Jaws in Jo’burg and Ebs in PE, so we were expecting fireworks. But we really started with a small fizzle, and pushed and probed the opposition to see what they had to offer. It turned out that these blokes weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and they had decided to implement Montclair’s version of “total football”, something the Dutch invented in the 70’s, it was called “reverse football”. The defenders play upfront, strikers play in defence and the rest play in the middle, with Michael “Gordon Banks” Wellbeloved in the nets. The plan suited us fine, as their defensively minded strikers always seemed to put the ball just wide, as if making goal line clearances, as good defenders do. And when they were on target, well, it resembled a back pass, as good defenders do, so I guess it would be up to us to do the scoring. And from our second Gary “Noss” Nossiter corner of the match, about half way into the first half, Stephen “Burnsie” Burns, in his 50^th cap for the Burrough green and gold, headed home a screamer, nobody moved...1-0. Then Shane “Grifbox” Griffin fell over and hurt his shoulder, and had to go for X-rays (waiting for results?), enter Alan “Oscar” Conacher. The lads soaked up any pressure through some sensible defending on this out of gauge pitch, and went into the break in front. The second half saw the Montclair lads make many changes to try to freshen things up, the only change they didn’t make was to do a reverse implementation of “reverse football”, and again the striking defenders continually put wide, even to the point of threatening the wild life in the nearby Stainbank Nature Reserve. And when they did breach our defensive line, Craig “Homer” Harper was like a spring loaded cannonball coming of his line with speed to cut everything out. It was going to take something specially awful for them to get back into the match, and that happened when Wayne “Taffy” Davies was adjudged to have brought down Welly Van Rooyen in the area, and up stepped their defender to make no mistake and level things up at 1 a piece. It would stay like this for the remainder of the game as both teams couldn’t add to their tallies, and once again we had squandered 3 points, but were also reasonably satisfied with 1. And so to next weeks assignment, when we take on 2^nd placed Profile Creations at home with only a Burrough win in mind...

 

 

GAME 18 -  FCB v Profile Creations

The Profile Creations road show with all their star attractions pitched up at the “Fortress” last night looking to keep their title race on track. On the bus were old professionals, Fani Madida (Besiktas) & George Koumantarakis (FC Basel), along with a reliable mix in Paul De Freitas, Peter Louw and including a Burrough boy in Jason Behr. However the transfer news is that Behr will be joining our Burrough outfit in 2011 on a free transfer after we raised enough funds for the move at our weekly fines meeting, considering it’s a free we could also see a player swap, with Jaws going the other way. Anyway, back to the match,  the lads were unfazed by the glitz and glamour and got down to business with our new 3-6-1 formation. Tackles flew about in tri-nation’s style, as skipper Chris Davies was taking no prisoners amongst the Congella outfit. And although the self proclaimed “fashionista’s” had the lion’s share of the ball, it was the Burrough lads who carved out all the noteworthy chances. Barry “Ebs” Ebing could have opened up the scoring when he was exquisitely picked out be the flying Shane “VDV” Van Der Vlies, but the wind was playing havoc with the cross and Ebs couldn’t steer his header downward. In the Burrough goal, Alan “Oscar” Conacher had the deck chair out and was sipping cocktails as the Burrough infantry continued to raid the Umbilo defence. And after an interchange of passes Fred Oliphant split the Umbilo defence right down the middle, he nonchalantly rounded the keeper to find himself inside the small box with the goals gaping and the ball on his left side. Then with the touch of a baby elephant he proceeded to put the ball wide, no one was more in shock than himself. Nevertheless he picked his head up and continued to be a menace in the crowded Burrough midfield. Just before the break we thought we would go in front, as we should have, but when the defender got a hand to the ball to stop Shawn “Jaws” De Beers lob from getting off the ground with the keeper and referee nowhere, we kind of knew it was going to be a tough evening. At half time coach Elton gave the lads his usual reassuring chat and his wing man Alistair Baird had provided much needed refreshment, the Burrough machine got back down to business, and again should have broken the deadlock after the first couple of touches. With Ebs flicking on for Redbulls to put his diving header just inches wide from 1 metre out with the keeper again at sea. This was followed up by two further chances as Fred managed to force the keeper to make two result defining saves and keep his quarters in the game. In real terms we should have been 4 or 5 goals ahead going into the last quarter of the match, good night nurse! But in reality Umbilo were still alive and kicking and were thrown a lifeline when they broke our defence and even the sure-footed Al in the Burrough goals couldn’t keep out the shot...0-1. This blow was like a sword through the heart for the Burrough and when the impressive Fred was given his marching orders along with the niggling Fani Madida for an off the ball spat, well that was the last straw. But nobody told Stephen “Burnsie” Burns (our MOTM), and he continued making his bullocking runs from deep and could have equalised with a few minutes to go, but their keeper got finger tips to the ball. And with the referee about to blow the final whistle Koumantarakis wriggled into the area and had an easy tap in to double the score line...0-2. Although we were downed, it must be said all the lads were impressive and with the run in we can expect better results if we continue to play like this and of course find the back of the net. Next week we host the Manoli team from Westville and owe them one from the first round.

 

 

GAME 19 - FCB v Manoli Westville

With a spring in their strides the Burrough lads took the field for yet another home fixture, this time against the Manoli Westville team. We had a bit of a score to settle after the last minute debacle at Jimmy Bellows at the end of May. Though it never showed, when after just 5 minutes Stevie Howard, ex-Hillary & Escombe homeboy, was picked out in the box and he headed home past a leaping Redbulls in the FCB goals, what a finish...0-1. And still we weren’t shocked into playing our winning brand of football, instead we continued to play volleyball against a team that wouldn’t be out of place in a FIVB World Championship. Reality only set in when again Stevie Howard broke free of the FCB defensive line, and managed to roll the ball passed the advancing Redbulls and into the corner of the net to double their tally...2-0. Then the lads decided to play, having gifted Westville a 2 goal lead. And almost immediately from the restart we started brushing the ball around. Skipper Chris Davies found space on the left and cut inside the Westville defence and proceeded to let fly. The big Westville goalie could only watch as the ball bounced into the corner of the net to cut the lead by 1 goal...1-2. And this is how it stayed until half time, with both teams having a few chances, which were snuffed out by respective defensive lines. At half time Elton rallied the troopers to get us back into the game with a rousing speech. Alas it seemed no one was concentrating, as we went back to our old bad habits, with the lads rolling up their sleeves for a scrap. Again the match went from end to end, with the FCB lads being statistically ahead in terms of possession and territory, but not being able to change the score line, as we lacked a bit in the creativity department. This all seemed to change when the match ball was kick over the fence into one of the neighbouring yards. Being the Burrough, we unfortunately never had a back up match ball, and so we had to go after this one or risk postponing the fixture. The real unfortunate twist was that out of all the back yards in Hillary the ball had to land in a Pakistani national’s yard. We knew he was a Paki because after only 5 minutes in his yard the ball came back having been severely tampered with (see picture below).

This is when the Burrough prowess kicked in, having been exposed to ball tampering at varying levels in the past, and from the next free kick we launched a “Jabulani“ missile into the area. The ball swerved, dipped and bounced, a bit like a Mushtaq “Mushie” Ahmed googly. And after a bit of ping-pong and some physical stuff from big Paddy Message, the ball landed at the feet of Barry Ebs. Ebs nonchalantly lobbed the giant keeper and into the net, which pleased the swelling crowd behind the goal...2-2. The game seemed to deteriorate into what resembled something in a dojo, with players being kicked “upside down” at every encounter. In fact it got so steamy that even Evin “Evzone” Windelberg-Potgieter got all flustered and wanted to put the gloves up, he even feinted to do a ma-washagiri on the offending opponent. He has since been booked into anger management classes to control this new urge. But what ever the opposition dished up the FCB lads had more, “wif VAT”. And now with the referee on the receiving end of a barrage of abuse from the Westville team, he decided to end a thoroughly enjoyable kick-fest before things could go pear shaped, final score 2-2, and Nostradamus was wrong again, after predicting an FCB win prior to the match. Maybe he meant Barcelona, who knows? But next week we remain at home where we host Rory Murphy’s shock cup finalist's Callies at the Fortress, don't miss it!

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Last night the socialites continued their impressive end of season run, when they put Ashley to the sword at the baseball ground in Ashley, Pinetown. It must be said that they nearly blew it, having coasted to a 3-0 lead and finishing the match only 3-2 ahead, but a win is a win, and they now stretch their winning streak to 2 in 2, and their points haul will at least reach double figures having now amassed  a 10 point haul this season. I believe Simmo weighed in with 2 goals, and Danny Oliphant struck the 3^rd, after his boet Fred had smacked the crossbar with a fearsome drive.

 

 

GAME 20 -  FCB v Callies

 

Conditions were perfect last night, as the players were greeted by a gentle downpour just prior to walking out onto the pitch. This left a slick playing surface, something that would suit our controlled passing game, especially since our opponents, Forest Hills Callies, only brought 9 players. Although if we use the term “player” in the context it is meant to be used, then they had 8 players plus a 62 year old midfielder called “Salad”, I guess this must be in reference to what moves slowest in a fast food joint? The rain must’ve also washed away most of the field markings, which the “corporation” had marked about 6 months ago, but this had little impact on the Burrough brand of “total football”. Anyway we started out with a 4-4-2 formation, unheard of in these parts, but caught the opposition off guard when that changed to 2-2-6 in the blink of an eyelid. Although the first 10 minutes were a bit of a non-event, with the exception of Lee Withers and Craig “Tube” McIntyre missing a pair of “sitters” inside what could have been the small box, had there been a white line there. It wasn’t long after that, following a neat build up, that Withers atoned for his earlier miss with an absolute scorcher from about 25 yards out, leaving the keeper with very little chance as the ball nestled into the bottom left corner of the net...1-0. With our confidence on the up we started knocking the ball around a little more fluently, and after another neat build up the ball once again landed at the feet of Lee Withers, who had ghosted into the small box. His shot was fired directly at the keeper who watched the ball spin off his body and roll over the whitewash, more of an own goal, but nevertheless claimed by Withers...2-0. Just before the interval Dave Perry provided a sublime pass, splitting the Callies defence, for Shane VDV to run onto from the halfway line. He calmly slotted the ball past the keeper...3-0, and the referee blew his whistle for half time. After the break we continued in the same attacking vein, but were caught out early when skipper Chrissie Davies played their striker named "Abbo" on-side (guess he does a bit of “walkabout” unlike “Salad”), he rounded the FCB keeper, Vinesh Sukdeo, and neatly tucked the ball away to put his team on the score sheet...3-1. A few of us were wondering why Chrissie was so far back when he had been playing up front since the beginning of the match. In true Burrough style we responded immediately with a strike from Lee Withers, which was deflected into the net, again he claimed the goal as his own..4-1. With some enterprising wing play which followed from both FCB wingmen, who consistently dished up a number of opportunities to render this mismatch a bloodbath. However we squandered them all, even our MOTM and goal machine Lee Withers couldn’t “make hay”. Lee had about 3 one-on-one situations where he could have squared the ball, but instead chose to go it alone, and fluffed every one of them. The final stake was hammered in by Fred Oliphant, when he scored our fifth about 5 minutes from the end. He ran onto a great through ball and calmly slotted past the keeper..5-1. And deep into injury time the lads from the Forest “in the valley of a 1000” Hills restored what they thought was a bit of pride, when they scored their second goal, which was way offside, but a great finish nevertheless. Their striker named "Chubby", must be a blood brother of Coadie’s (which might mean he’s related to Grifbox – we’ll have to check the tree), received a pass way out on the right at the edge of the box, well we think it was the edge of the box but we couldn't see the lines. He intended it to be a cross but it looped and bent over Vee in the FCB goals, personally we think he was shaking the mud off his boots...5-2 to the Burrough. And that’s how it ended. Next week we’ve got an interesting double header – Monday v MediHear Fynnlands at the Fortress and Wednesday sees FCB travel to Gladwin Park to tackle Trader Plus Stella. In order to continue our climb we’ll need all 6 points in the bag, in a week which could see FCB deboo’s for Mark Davies & Lance Roux, watch out!

 

GAME 21 - FCB v MediHear Fynnlands

The FCB lads turned up for what could prove to be our final encounter at the Fortress for the 2010 season to go head to head with the Medi Hear Fynnlands team from the Bluff. To be fair this Fynnlands team was not of their usual high standard, and have blown hot and cold throughout this season. Nevertheless they did their best to hold us out, and hold us they did, for the first 20 minutes, in a period which saw the Burrough boys almost set-up camp in the opposition half. We seemed to be doing everything right, except thread that final ball, which might have been caused by an over eagerness to inflict damage on our opponents. The opener was somewhat of a surprise when it did come, via a Gary “Noss” Nossiter through ball from inside the Burrough half of the field. Noss rolled a perfectly weighted ball almost at the Fynnlands defence, and with Shane “VDV” Van Der Vlies chasing it down, caused the Fynnland’s defender to swing and miss. The ball continued roll towards the Fynnland goal, where you would expect the Fynnland keeper to pick it up. However he left his wheelchair at home, and couldn’t hop across the line fast enough to seize the ball. The ball then gently ricochet off the upright and with VDV continuing his run along the same line ended with the ball at his feet and the goal at his mercy. He made no mistake, walloping the ball into the roof of the net...1-0. The FCB lads created a few more chances before the break, however the infirm Fynnland keeper either managed to keep it out or we simply failed to hit the target. We went in with a frail one goal lead, but the feeling was that we could extend that pretty much at will. And when we came out it took another bizarre VDV goal to do that, when the keeper fumbled an FCB shot on goal, and he was on hand to kick the ball out of the keepers hands, once he had gathered the ball on about his third grasp, no complaints...2-0. We were now on our way and kept pushing the ball around, and even pushed our central defender Stephen “Burnsie” Burns forward a bit, which played havoc with an already overworked Fynnland’s midfield. With FCB debutant Mark “Shiner” Davies and the industrious Noss, who earned our MOTM award for his sheer work ethic, now literally putting in the boot, it was a matter of time before they would crack. It came form a set piece, a Noss corner floated to the far post, which was solidly met by Burnsie’s “kanda” and buried into the corner of the net...3-0. From the ensuing kick off Burnsie knocked through a brilliant ball which Lee Withers latched onto and rolled past a motionless goalie to extend his seasons haul to double figures...4-0. With the Fynnland’s lads now on the verge of collapse, and starting to rip into each other out of sheer frustration, the FCB boys added the final straw. And after everybody took a turn in having a crack at goals, the ball fell inviting to Mark Davies, he pumped it into the net to seal the Bluff teams fate...5-0, and that’s was that! The win sees the FCB lads move to 7^th on the log above Trader Plus Stella, who we have a date with on Wednesday, with UIB Crusaders a point above us but firmly in our sights. 

GAME 22 - Trader Plus Stella v FCB

 

The mood was good in the Burrough camp, the mission was to go to Gladwin Park and raid the Trader Plus Stella locker. We started on the right note, as we stole into the home changing rooms and gained revenge for their infraction to our changing rooms at the Fortress earlier in the season. Some of their members felt violated, but the majority hardly even noticed our act of sheer disdain. Anyway we lined up in healthy condition, even though we had 3 of our strike force out; Ebs was dangling his “dis-ting” over the Aliwal Shoal, Simmo was at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu watching Real demolish Ajax (chop!) and Jaws was AWOL (who knows maybe he was diving below Eb’s boat?). Anyway at least we had gas upfront, with Shane “VDV” Van Der Vlies and “Fast” Fred Oliphant providing the punch, both of whom would singly beat the combination of Ebs, Simmo & Jaws in a relay race. We started pretty well and took about 5 minutes to get used to the erratic bounce of the Gladwin Park dustbowl, even Pops Gladwin would be turning in his grave if he saw the state of his pitch. We pushed and probed the Stella defence from all angles, and went close on a few occasions, most notably a Lee Withers drive which Mark “4XL Kingdom” Kingsley managed to get a hand to and kept it out. Any little whimper they had was snuffed out by a formidable Burrough defence, with Kenny “the Kat” Bevis cleaning up any scraps they left behind. Such was our dominance in the first half, that even the Stella manager-to-be Mark “MJ” Trepp, with matching white glove and all, was willing us on to bury his merry bunch of troops, claiming that he had Burrough genes (or jeans?). And this continued with Mark Davies, easily the best player on the park all night, and our MOTM, providing the steel in the midfield whilst others played around him. At half time we went in still locked at 0-0, but the FCB brains trust had been plotting the downfall of the Stella “town clowns”, and we felt relatively confident of delivering in the second period. At the restart the match continued in the same pattern as earlier, and with one a their few forays into FCB territory, their striker was allowed to turn and shoot, and found Kenny wanting at the near post, as the ball unkindly ricochet off the inside of the post and into the net...0-1. To our credit this spurred us on more and we put more pressure on Ant “AC” Carr and his fellow defenders. And again we went close on many occasions, with Evin “Evzone” Windelberg, just pushing his shot wide of the post, after a fantastic cross by “Fast” Fred. Not long after that we had a shout for a penalty turned down, when “Fast” Fred was pole-axed to the ground, but nothing came of it, as the referee waved play on. Then with Stella frantically trying to clear their lines, Stephen “Burnsie” Burns managed to get his head to the ball and knock it back to a wide-eyed skipper, Chris Davies, who duly lobbed the ball wide of a static Kingdom, and we thought we were level... Not to be, as the referee again ruled against us, and blew up Burnsie for a foul. His crime was that he won the ball with his head, fair and square? Anyway we kind of knew we would need something special to get on the score-sheet, and however hard we tried, in this clearly one-sided affair, it wasn’t to be. It wasn’t surprising though that coach Elton’s blood pressure and cholesterol count has risen to record proportions with his weight in free-fall in the other direction. Final score, FCB 0 – Stella 1, and the lads had to leave with their tales between their legs, but could also hold their heads high, and move on to next Wednesday’s clash with the other team from the Bluff, Bluff OBs (Bayview) at our new home ground in Escombe, see you there for 19h00 kickoff!

 

GAME 23 - FCB v Bluff OB

Last night the turnstiles went mad at Escombe grounds, even vice chairman Mike “Red” Slogrove commented on the size of the crowd, a 2010 record. Literally every Burrough man and his dog was present, genuine I’ve got photographic evidence – check out Graham Burns with his pooch sitting behind the formidable FCB bench. The atmosphere was electric, as the stands filled up in anticipation!

The lads were keen to impress, and were in the changing rooms early and were also first on the pitch. Which meant we had a half hour warm-up because the referee and opposition were late! Anyway, eventually the game got underway, with a local unofficial official, and the Burrough lads came close with two very good chances in the first 2 minutes. With the relentless pressure being exerted on the Bluff OB’s defence something had to buckle, and Shane “VDV” Van Der Vlies capitalised on some soft defending and slipped the ball past their energetic keeper...1-0. It looked all too easy as the lads kept up the assault on the Bluff team’s goal, but generally all efforts were blazed high and wide, a trend that has seriously impacted our 2010 season results. Then the Bluff okes mounted a surprise attack, launching a long ball just over the Burrough defence, and their striker managed to outpace the FCB defence and lob the ball agonisingly over the advancing Kenny Bevis...1-1. The response came almost immediately with our MOTM, Mark Davies, splitting the Bluff defence for VDV to run onto, and when his shot rebounded off the keeper and then back off himself and into the net, we were back in front...2-1. Again we could have added to our tally but again we continued to blaze high, wide and handsome, but as half time approached coach Elton warmed up his big guns on the FCB bench. Changes were made, and FCB introduced Warren “The Fumigator” Chislett, on a 1 game loan spell from Brisbane based A-league outfit Queensland Roar, Craig “Simmo” Simpson, and yours truly, into the fray.

Again this never tempered our ability to create chances, it also never kept us from missing all these chances, and this pattern continued. With Simmo missing a sitter of a header right in front, his excuse – the Escombe lights. Then they equalised, as their strike force, who resembled an injured Waichong Mawing with a serious limp, hopped in behind our defence and managed to jump round Kenny and slot into an empty net...2-2. Now with their tales in the air, the opposition seemed to find another gear, as the game opened up a bit more and almost seemed to match the FCB lads attack for attack. And we kept missing, only Simmo knows how he failed to control a ball rolled to him in the small box with the goal at his mercy, and really it was only a matter of time before they hit. With time running out, Bluff OB’s got a corner and bent the ball into the near post for one of their balding strikers to jump between 2 FCB statues and get the faintest hint of scalp to the ball, enough to elude the keeper and defenders on the line, and believe it or not, we were behind...2-3. The frantic tempo that proceeded in the last 5 minutes brought on many frenzied attacks on the Bluff goal as the partisan crowd got behind the green & gold machine. But the Bluff keeper had an answer to all our attacking, and when he was found wanting, the referee was their to bail him out. Put simply, we couldn’t breach their goal line! And it ended with an FCB loss, final score 2-3 down! And even with all the criticism heaped on FCB management, specifically by one Wayne “Balla” Wilkinson, who said we were “kak”, we’re not too fussed about the end result, as our chief supporter, Stevie “T” Tomich was happiest of all after the game, not having registered that we had in fact lost the match. It must be said though that he needed some wheel alignment and balancing by the end of the night. So to next week, where we have a tough double header against 2 of the top 3 teams in Savages (PMB) and Hibs, bring it on...

GAME 24 - Savages vs FCB

With the 2010 season in it’s final throes, the FCB lads were tasked to travel to the “capital” to play Gavin Nel’s Savages outfit, probably the best team in the league and possibly the champions elect. And although we respect the outfit from Sleepy Hollow, and add to that the fact that one of our “brothers”, in Stephen “Thatch” Engelbrecht, is part of their squad, the Burrough boys weren’t intending on doing them any favours in their title chase. We travelled well, as Burrough boys usually do, and got on the park early to warm up on a chilly spring evening. After a few Hansa-rades in the Escombe club, on the road and in the Collegians pub, some of the lads were well oiled. Anyway the match got off to a slow start as both teams felt each other out, with not too many clear cut opportunities to mention in the first quarter. Both teams were limited to long range efforts, probably due to the fact that we both boast formidable defensive lines and are fairly evenly matched in general play. The first attempt in anger came from Lee Withers who spotted their keeper straying off his line, and took a pot shot from the halfway line, which nearly found him wanting. The Savages team responded, after their striker cushioned the ball neatly on the edge of the area with his right hand, and spun and fired, bringing the best out of Kenny “the kat” Bevis. The remainder of the first half was a tussle back and forth, with both teams best efforts coming from balls being lobbed into the opposing area, but defences stood firm. At half time the Burrough boys took stock of the situation, and coach Elton expressed his satisfaction with the effort and manner in which the team was playing. The team jogged back into position for the restart, full of confidence, and got stuck into the game. The only time Savages looked threatening was when the referee joined in on their attacks, by intercepting our balls and putting their players away. And we nearly got caught this way, only for Kenny, our MOTM on the evening, to pull a proverbial rabbit out of the hat. When confronted by a tireless Mark Davies, the referee simply mentioned the he was a “player”, so now we kind of knew the situation would be 11 v 12 for the remainder of the game. And that’s exactly what happened, the referee simply stopped awarding us anything and even when Savages players owned up, he still never changed his decision. And what’s more is they suddenly couldn’t be offside. And strangely enough that’s how they undid us with about 10 minutes to go, when one of their campers suddenly found himself with a clear run in on goal, he rounded a stranded Kenny, and side footed the ball home...0-1. The lads now had to dig deep to get something out of the game, as the Savages playmakers seemed to get a shot in the arm after going a goal in front. We tried everthing, even Craig “Simmo” Simpson, in his “final” final game, went for the push over try, when he bundled their keeper into the net, ball and all, but was booked during his celebration by an unimpressed “player / referee”. He then went on a mazy run down the left flank, nutty-ing the right back, then beating the same player again and finally squeezed himself and the ball between 2 defenders, which included the same right back again, before finally looking up and back passing the ball to a grateful Doug Brown in the Savages goal. The last few minutes was all FCB, and mostly Simmo, as he broke free from the Savages defence by 10 yards but with his current 16V unleaded onboard motor in serious need of a service, the defence hauled him in and managed to get a toe in before he could fire off the equaliser. From the corner Stephen “Burnsie” Burns went close with the header, then at our next corner, Wayne “Taffy” Davies also couldn’t keep his header down with the Savages goal at his mercy. And finally when Evin “Evzone” Windelberg couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet after getting into a compromising position in the Savages small box, only to stab the ball wide, we had run out of time! Although our overall performance was very good on the night, we still couldn’t break our recent run of form, losing by the odd goal again, but I can assure you the spirit in the camp is ALIVE! On Wednesday we have a little vendetta to settle with the “Jack the lad” Hibs team, and that’s exactly what we’ll do...bring it on!

GAME 25 - ABSTO Hibs vs FCB

Last night the Burrough lads came together under the gaze of Durban’s jewel, the majestic Moses Mabhida Stadium, just a stones throw from good ole King’s Park at Berea Rovers. We weren’t here just to honour an end of season fixture, we were here to settle a score with Brian Martin’s Hibernians outfit littered with “old pro’s” and “tossers”. And although the pre-match ritual was pretty much the same, involving beers, late comers and Gary “Noss” Nossiter rushing to make the game from the new King Shaka airport, his 50^th cap by the way, this would prove to be one of our most eventful evenings of 2010, really just “another kak day in Africa”. Add to this the referees failure to pitch for the match, and I think this is where things start to get colourful. As is league protocol, both managers need to agree on the appointment of a replacement official, and Fast Fred Oliphant, nursing a rib injury, stepped up to the plate as the whistle blower. The game got off to a frenetic start on the postage stamp pitch with Hibs providing most of the meaningful chances as the FCB team jostled around trying to come to terms with the restricted playing area and sandy pitch. It didn’t take the opposition long to wake the scorer’s up when they drove a free kick into the FCB area which nobody seemed to want, apart from the lone striker, who stole in at the far post to finish with his left cheek...0-1. The FCB management in Elton & Grifbox expected an immediate repost, but nothing was forthcoming. It took us nearly 20 minutes to settle with only a Shane “VDV” Van Der Vlies effort, which flashed past the far post with only the keeper to beat, as our only real chance of equalising. And whilst most of the battle was taking place in the centre of the pitch where the mercurial Mark Davies was being harassed by the ever present Tony Caetano (or Gianfranco Zola, as Elton was calling him), while Dave “Peri” Perry was doing a solid anchoring job around him. With about 5 minutes to the break the ball fell loose to Evin “Evzone” Windelberg on the edge of the area and only the crossbar could save a sprawling Steve Crowley in the Hibs goal. From the rebound Craig “Tube” McIntyre let fly and Crowley rolled back the years with an amazing reflex stop ala Gordon Banks, which kept his team’s slender margin in tact as the teams headed down the tunnel. Half time came and went and the FCB team seemed to come out buoyed on by the near misses of the first half, as Noss ran on to achieve his milestone. And we managed to create a few chances but seemed to run out of gas at the final hurdle. Then against the run of play Hibs broke free, but FCB cover defence arrived in the shape of Wayne “Taffy” Davies, however he was pushed off the ball on his goal line leaving the Hibs striker with the simplest of tap ins, the goal stood...0-2. This is when we really started playing, and for the remainder of the match Hibs were mere spectators, their only real involvement amounted to a good few swear word, some aimed at the referee, some at our players, mostly from the lips of Boksburg’s “Boykie” Gavin Lane. But try as we might, Mr Crowley, who was Hibs MOTM on the pitch, pulled out all the stops. Skipper Chris Davies limped off with a sore hamstring and the Burrough tactics were adjusted to go man for man across the back with Brett McIntyre, Tube and Taffy, who was our MOTM for his blood, sweat and everything else he put into defence. Then we were awarded a penalty when Zola handled the ball in the area, of course they bitched, whinged, moaned and swore at the referee, but it was plain to see he had controlled the ball with his arm. Up stepped our skipper Chrissie, who had miraculously healed his damaged hamstring, and had sprinted for the ball from the dug out and won. His effort, if you want to call it that, was directed at in form keeper Crowley, who merely fell over and let the ball rebound out of his large frame, letting Simmo off the hook for miss of the season. We weren’t finished and peppered their goalmouth for the last 5 minutes or so, but they stood firm and came away with points and a deserved clean sheet. Reflecting back on the match the real MOTM was referee Fred Oliphant, who copped abuse all night, but was then asked to return next week to officiate in Hib’s final game, not to mention that he managed to claw 100 South Africans out of Gavin Lane’s pocket as a match fee, which was duly donated to the FCB coffers. The after match function was quite a laugh as usual, and add to that the All Blacks local host Big Bert Tuhi from Auckland, who was there supporting the Burrough lads and sends his regards to Catterick or “Fatprick” as he called him. So to next week Wednesday, our final game in 2010, against Liviero Juventus at Escombe’s Bowker Road grounds (kickoff around 19h00), can we finish in style?

 

GAME 26 - FCB vs Liviero Juventus

 

 

The FCB lads welcomed a recently rejuvenated Juventus team who travelled all the way from their Durban North base to play us on a rain and wind swept Bowker Road park. Even the poor conditions couldn’t keep the FCB faithful away. The referee, Mr Steve Govender from Verulam, was also very punctual, arriving well before kick off, contrary to officials allocated in prior matches. Finally the game got under way in very tricky conditions, as both teams battled with the slick outfield on a rapidly recovering Escombe pitch. Most of the battle took place in the midfield, with Gary “Noss” Nossiter, Evin “Evzone” Windelberg, Mark Davies & Dave “Peri” Perry looking to stamp their authority on a very scrappy match. Some big tackles were made, and referee Govender did well to keep his cards close to his chest. The first chance fell to Juventus, when skipper Chris Davies sliced an attempted clearance from a corner and the ball looped up over Kenny “the Kat” Bevis and landed on the roof of the net, a close shave. This stung the green and gold machine into action and Shane “VDV” Van der Vlies let fly, just managing to keep the ball within the confines of the Queensburgh sports club. Then Noss had a snap shot from the halfway line, which nearly proved to be a stroke of genius, as Juve keeper Graydon Wheatley was found way off his line only to be save by the gusting wind which lift the ball just over the bar. We had a few more efforts, but nothing of substance to trouble the scorers. And likewise the opposition also had a smattering of opportunities, but the defensive lines of Brett McIntyre, Chris Davies, Stephen “Burnsie” Burns and Wayne “Taffy” Davies were too strong. And it was only when a sniper took Taffy down whilst trying to clear his lines that they could’ve opened the scoring, but Kenny “the Kat” was fastest to react snuffing out any chance. At half time the coach was nowhere, choosing to seek shelter under the veranda close to the fire as the rain continued to fall. In his absence we made a few changes and this seemed to pay dividends relatively early as Burnsie slipped through an exquisite pass to a fresh faced Shawn “Jaws” De Beer. With the keeper scrambling to clear and only managed to present the ball to Jawsie with nothing but a few metres of prime Escombe real estate between himself and the goals, he almost walked it in...1-0. At the restart the Juventus team were now upping the tempo, but whatever they had to offer was just soaked up by the buzzing Burrough team. It seemed it would only take an error of some sorts to allow them back into the game, and with 10 minutes to go that happened. The skipper tried to turn defence into attack with an ambitious ball through the centre of midfield, but this was cut out, allowing Juve midfielder Grant Crawford to sieze on the ball. He then slid the ball through to their striker, whose run distracted Ken “the Kat” and trickled into the net untouched...1-1. The game opened up a little with both teams looking for the win, Juve had a few set pieces which flashed wide, and Jawsie could’ve added to his tally when left unmarked but could only he headed wide from a stunning left footed cross from our MOTM on the evening Mark Davies. The effort made by the FCB lads was clearly evident, even Barry Ebs got yellow carded for a big tackle on the Juve keeper, but we couldn’t add to our tally and the match ended 1-1. With the season over the lads are looking forward to a bit of a rest at Sierra Ranch over the coming weekend, and then we’ll negotiate preseason for 2011. Though looking back over 2010 the Burrough had a fun-filled season on and off the pitch, and we’re already looking forward to the challenges posed in 2011, keep supporting!