Beacon Hill FC grabbed the six points

I think the lateness of this post demonstrates that I am not a professional writer. I am quite an awful loser, especially when I am at fault for a goal...

In reserve grade last weekend I thought that we were the better team. Beacon Hill were fortunate to get their goal. The ref was, well, what can we say; a JOKE! Lets hope that he is not unleashed in a future game of ours. Joking aside we truly were the better side. I agree with Swan and Mark, we seemed to be a little relaxed, almost slightly apathetic? In bog standard English "we woz not up 4 it guvnor innit!"

We do not need to repeat the shouting at the ref! Lets get the ref onside and make the game ours this wekend!

In first grade we looked sharp and started brightly. A deserved goal for Young, who's battle and presence up front was a consistent worry for the Beacon hill defence. However Beacon Hill responded, from a corner. They also scored from a free kick and we were unlucky to concede an own goal. (Forgive me I cannot recall how or who got our second.) Or was it that amazing scissor kick from dear old Nath? Nath had a good game and was ere, there, every 5674847where... OK back to the report:

Plain and simply, we lost by 3 goals and none of them were from open play. This seems to be a normality for first grade. I will take "normality" and shorten it down to one positive that I thought came out of the game. "Norm" played a bloody blinder as sweeper. He looked cool, calm and clinical placed great passes whilst giving out good talk. Well played mate!



Brookvale Football Club


It's Brookvale this weekend. The mighty blues. Brookie are sitting top in both grades. They are always a quality side and you have to give them the respect they deserve. The way to beat them is to rise to their level and do what we are good at. Playing football! No long ball madness, no heads down with no where to go. Lets get passing to feet this weekend. Three touch like in training. We beat them in reserve grade the year before last and in first grade 3-1 that year also. They are not invincible and we are due a win.

It's all about mental strength and belief this weekend. I think that Brookie will turn up and smugly assume that they have 6 easy points in the bag. Lets give them a greeting they do not expect and win that ball from the beginning and all the way through our games.

Again, it's in the mind this weekend! Lets get tuned in to the job, relax and work hard. We can beat them!!!!!

Go The Vale!

Manly Vale FC Reserves are Top!

Well the ride has been fun, fast and by no means easy. The table says it all, we are top of the ladder!:

1st: Manly Vale Football Club
- 18 points
- Played 6
- Won 6
- Lost 0
- Drawn 0
- Goals for 17
- Goals against 4
- Goal diff 13



2nd: Brookvale Football Club
- 16 points
- Played 6
- Won 5
- Lost 0
- Drawn 1
- Goals for 25
- Goals against 6
- Goal diff 19

3rd: Collaroy Cromer Strikers Football Club
- 14 points
- Played 6
- Won 4
- Lost 0
- Drawn 2
- Goals for 29
- Goals against 10
- Goal diff 19

I hope that this is accurate? The good ole "comp man" service that the association uses has STILL not been updated...

We still have a lot to do and Brookie and Strikers is coming up! This is going to be a hard month.

Go The Vale!!!

Manly Vale Football Joy and Frustration

The crowds cheered on the Reserves, as 1st grade suffered another humiliating loss.


We were visited by the "jolly good show" gentleman from over the water at Mosman. You would be forgiven if you thought that they all played Rugby Union. The chino's and polo tee shirts were out and the "Mosmanites" were in town. I wondered where all the "city" 4 wheel drives had come from, parked very poorly in the David Thomas car park. (Shall I carry on sledging them or get on with this post?). F*ck it I am going to carry on sledging: As the upper class toffs peeled off their driving gloves and ambled over to the sheds, tutting and sighing, because they did not have a changing room...OK enough, they are not that bad are they? Leave a comment and let everyone know what you think.

OK on to the game. It was game six! Mosman are always a tight squad. With Spencer Prior as coach we certainly expected a challenge and that is exactly what we got, in both grades.

Reserves:
Well Mosman started off well with a helping hand from, erm, errr? Ah hum... ME :-(

Not to be put down though we fought hard, began to swamp them and came back with a great goal by Tim. Totally deserved and the Manly Vale juggernaut was back on track. It was into the sheds at one a piece.

After a constructive talk from Mark it was out with visions of winning. Again we battled hard and believe it or not but Rowan did not really have to make a save. It was only a matter of time. However the clock was ticking and we couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo!!! The ball was hitting the post, going over - it was mayhem. Then, up stepped the Scottish master! On he came and the Rangers adorer took the stage. Beating two players he looked up and to the alarm of Graham who was shouting "no pass, pass, no!!!" Martin calmy shot, lobbing the keeper and sweetly tucking the ball into the back of the net. Final score: Manly Vale 2 - Mosman 1.

First grade. I am not even going to go there, hopefully we can get a win against Beacon Hill on Saturday! Lets look forward here and think about how we can get firing in 1st grade. We have the players to be able to win games so where are we getting it wrong..?

Please place some comments. Go to the tab called "comments" below and make some. You can be anomynous.

Pittwater Football Club Game Verdict

So, we travelled for an away fixture up to Pittwater FC's legendary ground, Kitchener.

Would it be a 6 point extravaganza? Or would we leave with nothing? The next 180 minutes would give us the answer.

I will keep this one "short and sweet" as a picture tells a thousand words.

Reserves won. Final score in reserves:
Pittwater 1 - 2 Manly Vale

The winning train keeps steaming along. CC Strikers next week - a true test. This game will certainly be our day of reckoning.

Kenny, Mark and Doug


"Kenny's ball!"


The Return of Tommo!


Sadly in First Grade we didn't notch any valuable away points. The team were outplayed by a stronger Pittwater side. I will leave it at that.

Final score:
Pittwater FC 5 - 1 Manly Vale FC 1


Wall action


Bench boredom


Robin Woods played a blinder nevertheless

Wakehurst spent an afternoon at David Thomas

The stage was set, the rain had ended and the sun was shining. It was a glorious Saturday afternoon and our visitors were the orange coloured round ball kickers Wakehurst, also known as the Tigers from Forestville. Some people say that to seek safety from a wild tiger you should climb up onto an Elephant. There are always a few Elephants wandering around David Thomas on Saturday's. Would the 'Tigers' be in an aggressive mood or would they be answering to the cry "Tiddles"?

Reserve Grade
Well what can we say. Certainly not the best performance so far, however again we looked strong and we were not really pressured at the back. A lovely headed effort from the Krazy Korean, saw us up a goal. Wakehurst equalised with a counter. The forward could have been offside. Phil was unlucky not to stop the shot. 1 - 1. We had chances with Pauly Hayden blasting over the bar from close range. Could we out fox the Wakehurst 'Tigers'? Meeeeow, we certainly could. With no elephants to climb, a Tiger lashed out and the ref promptly gave us a penalty. Josh calmly slotted home the winner. Final score: Manly Vale Reserves 2 - 1 Wakehurst Big cats...

So that's four from four and sees us joint top in reserve grade. Points are shared and we only dip lower on goal difference with Strikers and Brookie having scored more. I believe we do have the best defensive record in reserves. Lets keep that up! If they can't score we can't lose(.)

1st Grade
I missed the game as I was sleeping in a tent up on the Central Coast and had to get back to the old bag. (Sleeping bag.) Another frustrating game for us. We were 2 - 0 up. Again deserved and firing. The orange felines got two back and then in the second half notched a third. Perhaps we should have sprinkled some catnip on our shinpads? Where do we find an answer to our woes in first grade? Perhaps run the ressies up there? Perhaps recruit an elephant and see if it will strengthen the team up a little? Well word on the street is an ex Northern Spirit goalie might be joining us... that's word on the street of course, I do not want to start any rumours.

We will miss Wady for the next three games. He is back to Engeeerrrland for his sisters wedding. So some changes there will be and who knows a new player perhaps as well. What do you know? Make some comments and let everyone know what you think.

OK that's it from me. I am off to build a cat flap big enough to allow an elephant through..? (Picture - The crazy Canadian, courtesy of Helen).

Vale's 1st Grade Didn't Deserve What They Got!

Well it was certainly a big game. Vale, unbeaten after two games and Narrabeen, with Mossy and co – certainly a side that are expected to fare well. It was all on.

We started well and got up. A great piece of football produced a terrific goal from Robin Woods. Narrabeen unfortunately answered with a very well taken goal. Luke went to clear and couldn’t quite get under it hard enough. Phil was off his line and the right midfielder took a very good shot, which curled in beautifully. We cannot hold any blame, Luke did clear it and Phil was in the right position. It was a freak goal.

Our second goal came courtesy of Ben with the surname which matches the Prince of Wales' first name and a King 'something' spaniel. 2 – 1 to the Vale.

Again Narrabeen answered and again we couldn’t really do much about it. An absolute peach of a free kick from Phil ‘Mossy’ Moss. Manly vale 2 – 2 Narrabeen.

So on it went into the second half and we had chances. I personally think the teams were evenly matched, although Narrabeen did seem to have the upper edge when it came to set pieces and that is exactly where their next 3 goals came from! Final score Manly Vale 2 – 5 Narrabeen.

It sounds like a flogging but in reality it wasn’t. Narrabeen took their chances, 4 of which were set pieces and one, which was a freak goal.

Do we need to work on our set pieces, in attack and in defence? What do you think? Click on ‘comments’ below and throw in your 50 cents!

Go on The Vale!

Manly Vale's Reserves Football Juggernaut Steams Ahead!

Two blogs this week boys. I will start with the happy post...

Manly Vale's Reserves recorded their third straight win of the football season! Once again the team were pumped and the spirit was flowing. David Thomas Reserve was the station and the coal was fully fuelled in the engine. Full steam ahead!!

It was a bitsy first half, with a strong Narrabeen side not giving us much space at all. Having said that we were the better side and we deserved a few goals! After the first 45 mins, we were on track and should have been up. It was in to the sidings for half time.

A good talk from Marky and the word "perseverance" from Graham got our heads up and eying the prize. We made a couple of changes with Marco coming on up front. On he came and what a goal he scored too! Manly Vale were up 1 - 0, back on track, (why do I keep referring to railway related words?) Perhaps our focus at 'train'ing is helping us. Perhaps the fact that we are getting so many 'points' in Reserves it is getting me excited? The way we are shunting other teams aside...?

OK, the second half again was a little 'two and fro" with both sides playing well. not much to comment on here as I cannot remember for the life of me what happened. Final score 1 - 0 to the Manly Vale Reserves and a fully deserved 3 points.

It was then the turn of our first grade, which I will write about in a separate post. Well done Manly Vale's Reserves! There were certainly no sleepers on the pitch today!

Get in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!