Round 4, Watsonia Heights, away

Three weeks ago we were bulging at the seams having the luxury of five substitutes against Brunswick City. But the rigours of football and the vicissitudes of the staff roster at an eastern suburbs library conspired against us on Sunday, leaving us to face Watsonia without Jess, Rhi, Liz, Helen and Emily (who, around the time of kickoff, was no doubt spending her library shift hiding in the Local History section with her iPhone, headphones and the honeyed tones of Iron and Wine).

Nevertheless, we had a strong team available for the match in Watsonia, not least Jo, Rosie, Sue, Marian and Deb — all of them mothers. Not in the Quentin Tarantino sense of the word (mother******s), but actual mothers—women who spend their lives cleaning up other people’s mess. Being Mother’s Day this seemed fitting and I hoped if things got messy against Watsonia, well, we’d have plenty of experience on hand to pick up the pieces.

But there was no sign of anything awry happening when, under a sheet of blue sky, we went ahead in the 7th minute when Frannie met the ball at the far post after some good build up by Jo, Rosie and Bridget on the right. But I came to Watsonia feeling it was a danger game for us and our opener didn’t change that. They looked like they had a goal or two in them and I figured we’d need more than one to see it out. I said as much to Jess, who sat behind me on the bench looking much happier now that she was off crutches and in a moon boot, which, though it gave her a rolling gait, didn’t come with a parrot to sit on her shoulder. “I think you’re right,” she said. Jess always agrees with me, because she’s so damn nice, but this time I think she meant it.

After we dominated the opening 25 minutes, during which time we should have scored another (an upfield surge by Jenna was followed by a beautiful through ball but we couldn’t make the most of it), Watsonia began to get into the match. But their equalising goal came via Route 1: a huge clearance from their goalie (or was it their fullback?) bounced over the halfway line (just evading the lunge from Loz, who was playing superbly) and fell into the path of Watsonia’s striker who found herself bearing down on goal. Deb tried to cut down her angle but she found the corner of the net.

Five minutes later we didn’t defend a corner at all well and despite our early dominance were suddenly behind 2-1. Pleasingly, going behind spurred us on and we managed to get level just before the break when a rebounded shot fell into the path of Bridget who, after beating Watsonia’s fullback with a smart shimmy, finished expertly, giving the keeper no chance. Bridget’s boyfriend, Frank Farina, pumped his fist on the sidelines as Bridget became even more attractive in his eyes. Which is hardly possible, I’m sure she’d say.

For the first 30 minutes of the second half we were dominant — as were Rosie’s beautiful boys Pablo and Omar who, like locusts, savaged the remaining oranges (I dare say they won’t be getting a cold this winter such is their Vitamin C overload on Sundays). Rosie and KP (who, recovering from a big night in, was slowly adjusting her eyes to the big bright light in the sky) began to win more and more ball, and Kate, Bridget, Jo, Frannie and Merissa were busy linking up with them and each other. But every time we fell short: the last pass wasn’t quite right, or was misdirected, or the ball carrier passed when they should have shot, or the shot itself was weak as if the legs behind it were made of jelly, or a politician's backbone. Nevertheless, we finally went ahead with 20 minutes remaining (Frannie made sure of a goal-bound nudge by Kate during a goalmouth scramble) but by that stage we should have been safely clear. Can you see what’s coming?

To Watsonia’s credit they continued to fight and they played their best football over the final 20. Sitting deep at the back they counterattacked well and a better coach than I may have decided at that point to pull the troops back and park the bus, as it were, but I felt we needed another goal to be safe. With 15 minutes left on the clock Watsonia’s No.10, vastly outnumbered, went on a mazy run from the halfway line and was finally collared by Sue and Loz on the edge of our box but she still found a way to squeeze off a shot and, wouldn’t you bloody know it, it threaded through the traffic and into the net. Ten minutes later another counter attack saw their No.6 smack home a lovely angled shot and it found the tiny space between the top of Deb’s left glove and the corner of the posts.

We had one last sortie before the ref, a dead ringer for Diego Maradona (circa. 2010), called an end to the game. Watsonia were understandably delighted with their first win of the season, and we were uncharacteristically quiet and deflated. Here was a game we carelessly let slip and we were all looking for the warm embrace of someone who could make it all better.

A good thing we had some mums on hand.

[Result: 4-3 loss. Goals — Frannie, 2, Bridget]

Next match: Sunday May 16, v Fitzroy, Sumner Park, 11am