Friendly finale

A glorious day and an unprecedented quality surface at the Stadium of Shite greeted the two teams in the final warm up match of the 2011 pre-season. Although the result wasn’t the focus, Central Park Rangers managed to get their noses in front with a fourth quarter (yep we played in quarters) goal from their answer to Freddie Ljunberg; Lars. The potential of lining up with depleted stock forced AC to go to the vaults and recall club legends Engel and Brendan into the line up. Their class and passion for the club would be immediately evident. There are good days and bad days and for some reason the lads from AC struggled to find their rhythm early on. The midfield was dominated by the equally aging Rangers as they dictated play and fashioned a few early chances. Slowly AC woke up and started to get into the game, but couldn’t get past the impenetrable force that was the Rangers back four. Frustration started to mount and the game plan reverted to AC circa 2010 with long balls to no one in particular which proved fruitless and would return just as quick. A half time chat from the coaching panel seemed to pay dividends. The lads put training into practise with short sharp passes to each other. Momentum built and a couple of scoring opportunities presented with Garriet almost scoring his first in red and black. The third quarter, the premiership quarter in AFL, was telling. AC’s fitness was allowing them to wrestle back control. Chances however were still few and far between as the Rangers defence stood strong. The fizz went out of the game in the fourth quarter as the heat started to takes its toll. Rangers took advantage and started peppering the goals at will, eventually scoring with a tap in at the back post. The score line could have been as ugly as Carlos Tevez (pictured) or the formatting of this post if it weren’t for a man of the match performance by shot stopper Tim Nolan. The pretend stuff is now over and it’s time for the real deal. The lads have a week off to rest and get rid of niggling injuries before lining up South Yarra at Fawkner park in round one. AC Malvern 0 – 1 Rangers

Bi-polar football experience

An hour's extra sleep (or two hours if you're Adam), cooler weather and a full squad already makes this a better start to the day.

The venue was once again the State Football Centre thanks to a late scramble and negotiations with the FFV by Dennis. All because of unscheduled council works at the home of today's enemy; Moreland City.Moreland is a familiar pre-season opponent for the lads of AC, although this year the plucky lads from Moreland sit in a higher division. Sarah, flying solo WAG at the start of the match was so excited about this fixture she couldn't get her magazine the right way around.

Danny DeVito, I mean Coach Coulter was in charge today, mandating a change in formation to a more traditional 4-4-2. "These lads are canny, but they cant run for shite" he said in his pre-match conference.

The first half began with much the same vigour as last week. The Malvernites were playing "joga bonito" (the beautiful game), but managing to keep up sustained efforts like they were filled with metaphoric Viagra.

The salivating crowd was seduced, enthralled and finally reached climax as a stunning piece of work found Marty with the ball. He dropped his head and launched his boot ball-ward curling it into the back of the net; 1-0.

Steady Eddie was resolute controlling the play from the back. Shining more so under the watchful eye of debutant WAG (his finacee). Debutant Garriet made plenty of runs to goal without result (unless you count kicks to the shin) and the midfield were sublime with gems passed forward. Coach Coulter was looking forward to being carried off and being drenched in Champers or Gatorade.

The excitement was all a little premature and hit of nasal spray a the half may have been wise. AC dropped their collective bundle, forgetting everything learned at training and the higher placed and fitter Moreland started to get on top. As an onlooker it's always easy to see when a team is getting on top of AC. It's when all you can hear is players yelling at each other; blaming like a moody teen rather than encouraging. What follows AC's cannibalistic rants is usually a goal........Moreland had read the script and slotted an equaliser.

The rest of the half was a scramble to catch a breath between yelling at team mates and chasing opponents. Malvern received a lucky break after a not so lucky tackle from Brien resulted in the ref, Dennis (yep against his own team) awarding a penalty. Steve's nemesis, the mouthy #15 who was dressed like he was heading to the Antarctic in head to toe skins stepped up for the kick, but fired far right missing everything. Steve let him know his thoughts.

A sigh of relief at the miss, but more so at end of the game.

Once again some good signs with a great half of football, coaching brilliance and some promising debuts. The season is now only weeks away and AC is eagerly awating the draw released on 17th April.

AC Malvern 1 - 1 Moreland City

Matthews