Trentham 0 vs 3 Marauders FC Premier XI

<pre>The day in the life of a Marauder<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />7:50am Stumble out of bed, walk down the hall, reach the bathroom, aim<br />for the bowl, forget to lift the lid, shake it off, look in the mirror<br />and looking back is a confused unshaven mid twenties male wondering if<br />today his scheduled football match is going to go ahead. Back to bed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />8:30am Wake up again. Still wondering if football is a goer. Realise<br />its still early and am still not feeling flash after last night,<br />thinks about getting up, decide not to and tries to sleep off the<br />effects of the last 12 hours.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />9:22am Hear phone go off. I decide its too much effort to check, doze<br />off again instead.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />10:05am hear phone go off, bit more enthused to check it this time, as<br />it may well be an indication of a need to get out of bed today.<br />Rightly so it is &hellip;. &ldquo;Football still on ladies and gents&rdquo; . A sligh<br />smile is quickly overturned by the sudden rumble of a queasy stomach.<br />2nd message &hellip;&ldquo;any chance of a ride today as soph needs the car&rdquo;.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />10:07am Look at self in basin mirror after contemplating a chunder,<br />think about getting more much needed recovery sleep. Go back to bed,<br />lay in recovery position. Set alarm for 11:30am.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />11:08am I drag myself out of bed. Go to the kitchen looking for food,<br />realise we are all out of bred, bananas, milk and juice. Go back to<br />bed. Text Fold &ldquo;not really in a state to operate a motor vehicle&rdquo;.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />11:15am call Fold, &ldquo;Hey bro hows things?&rdquo; &hellip; &ldquo;good bruv, you?&rdquo;&hellip; &ldquo;Been<br />better&rdquo;&hellip; &ldquo;Good night?&rdquo;&rdquo;think so, can you get dropped off at mine, then<br />drive my car out?&rdquo; .. &ldquo;Ha, yeah what time?&rdquo;&hellip; &ldquo;&hellip; um, not too early<br />(looking at the clock) .. Maybe ten too?&rdquo;... &ldquo;Sweet&rdquo;. &ldquo;Sweet&rdquo;.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />11:16 am Recovery position.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />11:45am: stumble out of bed for the last time. Throw together my<br />stuff, wait for the knock at the door in the recovery position&hellip;. WAIT<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:00pm. Think where the f*ck is Fold.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:02pm Call Fold, tell him ill meet him road side.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:05pm Get in car, drive toward Hutt. &ldquo;JOKER AND THE THIEF&rdquo; (THEMESONG).<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:10pm Get on the motor way, exchange chat about the early moments of<br />the later part of our weekend as it stands, commenting if football is<br />actually going to be played as we are almost wiped out by the surface<br />flooding on the motor way, we are only 5 minutes into the 35minute<br />drive, visibility poor, motivation poor, confidence medium, dedication<br />medium.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:35pm Get off at Silverstreem, pull in to McD&rsquo;s. Drive through<br />breakfast. FIFA official approved sponsor.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:45pm Pull up to Awakurangi Park, comment on how we have only like<br />ten minutes to warm up, acknowledge our team mates warming up on a<br />stream-logged football pitch. It was time to suck it up and get on<br />with the task of captaining a team in a top of the table clash.<br />Motivated by the fact I didn&rsquo;t want to be the first captain to lose a<br />league match.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:55pm: Run on to the pitch, lost my number 10 jersey to another<br />member of the team due to my later arrival time. Take a look around,<br />soak in the situation, Shake Case and Nico&rsquo;s hands and welcome the new<br />members to the team. Chat with Wils about positions, come up with<br />starting 11. No time for Motivation, think just get out there and get<br />it done.<br /> <br />STARTING LINE UP<br /> <br />Bolts in goal, across the back from left to right, Nico, Shirley,<br />Dumpster, Davey. Through the centre of the park we went with Case,<br />Wilson, Dribble and Jon and up front we had Fold partnered by "the<br />prodogy" Jason Van Der Vegt. On the sideline we had Folds ring in<br />Matt.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:00pm. Kick off&hellip; My 1st pass gets caught up in the surface flooding,<br />Dig it out and try again. Aim to get everyone involved early, get into<br />the rhythm, start playing some good enjoyable football the conditions<br />definitely meant we all had to reduce our speed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:10pm. Marauders are starting to dominate, three or four passes into<br />a sequence, 2nd phase ball from our Midfield finds a striker making a<br />vertical run into the oppositions area, a firm pass holds up nicely<br />for Fold on his RHS which he gathers in his stride having too much<br />pace for the RCB takes it toward the goal and lays a well timed square<br />ball to a younger/fitter version of myself who calmly slots it in to<br />make it one up to the defending league champions in this, the top of<br />the table clash.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:22pm. Throw in.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:23pm. Make a run into the box, get the throw at my feet and find<br />myself controlling the ball and turning into open space, look up, far<br />post!, I look to square a ball for a team mate making a late run down<br />the opposite flank, Not enough juice, the ball holds up, Determined to<br />get there John slides in and manages to get there just before the<br />covering keeper who attempts to swoop across and put a stop to the<br />Marauders doubling the talley. Two zip.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:27 again find myself controlling a throw in sloppy conditions,<br />turning and finding more space, attack the space from the right this<br />time, run toward the goal, closer and closer, the goal opening up.<br />Saved. Look up and realise the unmarked youngster open in the middle<br />of the 6 yard. &ldquo;good run&hellip; should have squared it&rdquo;&hellip; Corner!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:28 Goal Kick. F8CK !!!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:30 defending, first time they threatened, find me back within the 6<br />yard just in case the opposition striker gets around our CB who looks<br />intent of getting the ball off the striker. He does, but collects the<br />man in the process, a small tussle brakes out. Wilson steps in and<br />tells both players to pull their head in. Apologies are made as well<br />as suggestions to go for the ball sets off a nerve/hormone driven<br />retaliation from Dumpster who is clearly letting the emotions get the<br />better of him.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:33. Take the Mickey out of their CM and go for a run, nutmeg, on<br />the attack, through ball holds up, slosh fest, 2nd phase go back and<br />get the ball from the troff, in the process my opposite lines up a<br />challenge in which I aim to get out of the way, all to no prevail.<br />Free Kick. On the deck, Hurley lets out a &ldquo;That is the worst challenge<br />I have ever seen!&rdquo;&hellip; Yellow card result. I manage to get to my feet,<br />clutching ankle, apart from pins and needles and hole in my sock from<br />the opposites sprig marks. I am mostly fine (confidence is still<br />high). FOOTBALL.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:35 Fold lines up the Free Kick in range. Hits it low, holds up and<br />keeper is mostly unchallenged.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:40: I sub off, Boltron gives us a wave from the goal box, makes a<br />comment about my lack of fitness. Laugh, thinking to myself looking<br />forward to the day off tomorrow, wet, damp, cold, reach for a jacket<br />on the sideline. Half time rolls around. Few words said.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />12:55. Second half starts similar to first, we intercept the play from<br />the kick off, I try and play a vertical ball up the middle to the<br />young prodigy, I fail, thinking not to make the same mistake again.<br />Hold position, we regain position, ball tends to hold up more this<br />half, rain level is moderate, confidence is low, motivation is<br />average. Get back in the game. Play a few balls square to lower water<br />levels of the pitch, another factor that tends to level out this game.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:00pm Trentham make a break, a cross from the right narrowly misses<br />our far post, Bolts smiles &ldquo;had it covered&rdquo;&hellip; an idea for a tui<br />billboard comes to mind.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:15pm our backs play a ball back to bolts which hold up giving<br />Trentham their second chance of the game. Thus resulting in a Trentham<br />free kick, that was lucky not to give away a penalty. The opposite<br />player lines it up almost in slow motion you can see him jog in, the<br />flight of the ball heads toward our back stick. Goal kick, THANK GOD.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:25pm we create good an opportunity down the left through Matt the<br />Folds filler. Left footed from ten yards to make it three zip. Now we<br />can start to relax, I think to myself hopefully the flood gates open.<br />They don&rsquo;t! The heavens do however.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:27 Wilson joins fold up front, attempts a flick on, hits the top of<br />his melon and goes out for a goal kick. That wasn&rsquo;t meant to go there<br />was it? My thoughts were to say something but a few others reminded<br />the striker that we were attacking rather than defending.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:30 Ando and Case make a play down the right, fold lays in a ball,<br />Wilson has an opportunity to ping it with his right, fakes, dribbles,<br />fakes dribbles now he must be able to ping it. Dribbles again and it<br />opens up like the parting sea. In the end the keeper gathers the loose<br />ball. It turns out it wasn&rsquo;t Wilsons day to score either.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:40 a Wilson back heel gives me a chance to score, I should score<br />from here surely, corner, this wasn&rsquo;t my day, their keeper is actually<br />pretty good. The next play sees Shirley collect a loose ball two yards<br />out and slots it after a scramble only for the referee to award in<br />favour of the Trentham defender who the big departing Marauder had<br />pushed off the ball. Mid celebration he turned around and let the<br />referee and everyone else know what he thought. It would have been a<br />good way to go out but no to be.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1:42 Full time. &nbsp;Shake hands, shower back at school, and depart to the<br />Quins post.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />2pm Arrive at the post, Shirley puts on a few jugs and chips. Captain<br />puts on wedges. Depart for drier pastures along a long and<br />water-ridden state highway back to the bright lights. Good game. Happy<br />with end result, will definitely look to add to goal talley next time.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Captain<br /> <br />Dribble.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Fines<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Mark for prioritising&nbsp;a WAG Do (any enquiry made on his behalf?)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Fred (enquiry?)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Case and Nico non-attendance at after match (this is the big time lads)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Fold (forgetting towell and leaving gruds in girls changers.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br />The Marauders Football Club<br />Wellington<br />New Zealand<br />