The Old Boyz were scrambling for numbers given that a few of the usual suspects were out for this game due to Mother’s day commitments. The 4pm game was the latest that they’d had, but meant that getting other replacements was easier. In fact, by game time it was a group of 14 that were ready to go with a couple more on their way. Banatul also had what appeared to be a full squad with substitutes, but they looked distinctly less athletic than CPR. Right from the start the Rangers were dominating possession, stretching the field and endeavoring to wear out Banatul. Early on they were able to convert the pressure into a goal, Lion passing a ball back to Mershon who struck the ball nicely from distance to score. More chances appeared but were squandered by the forwards who continually got themselves in offsides positions, even though there was no need. Banatul had some nice touch play but only the occasional shot on target. Their first real chance came out of the blue, when a deep ball was being shepherded out by Lars Murray only for the ball to bounce up and strike his outstretched hand. The referee had no choice but to point to the spot. The Banatul player lined it up and struck it well, but Becker dived in the same direction and was able to push it wide, and subsequently the opposition were only able to get a corner which was harmlessly cleared.

With Conboy, Morse & Fink arriving later it was a fully loaded sideline of 6 that were ready to resupply the team on the pitch, and therefore there was to be no excuse for not running hard and tiring out the opponents. Soon after kick-off Steve Murray took this to heart, taking a ball from the halfway line and passing by his defender with ease before slotting the ball past the competent keeper. Banatul came back with a long kick by the goalie that caught the CPR defence napping as the ball bounced past them, allowing the opposition striker to stroke the ball home. Banatul then had a glorious chance to equalize with men in the box. The first cross resulted in a point blank save by Becker, with the follow up shot inexplicably missed from deep inside the 6 yard box, a miss that would be almost impossible to duplicate as it was so much easier to score.

Perhaps due to the frustrating miss, Banatul’s unpleasant side boiled over. Although they had a few decent players who understood the concept of a fun Sunday afternoon Over 30’s league, they were outnumbered by ill tempered grouches who spent most of the time making unnecessarily dirty challenges, complaining to their teammates and the referee as well as reducing the fun of the game in general. One particular savage found the lines of unacceptable behavior and vaulted far beyond it, spitting twice at Steve Murray after his goal. Fortunately Steve somehow kept his composure and the referee happened to be looking the right way, and couldn’t send the oaf off fast enough. The reaction of his teammates indicated that his behavior wasn’t surprising, begging the question of why a person like that would be accepted on the team in the first place.

Although CPR were already putting pressure on, the man advantage helped open the floodgates. Several excellent chances were either missed or well saved by the goalie, notably a save from a flying Bodt header and a recovery from the one yard line to deny a Venkataraman fox in the box special. However the goalie was only human, and couldn’t stop the entire barrage heading his way. After some neat play Conboy unleashed a thunderbolt for the third goal, and following that the pressure the forwards put on the defenders resulted in Nizam stealing the ball from the central defender and slotting the ball away for the fourth goal.

After a draw and a loss it was good to get back to winning ways, especially with next week’s shorthanded game against the league leaders Tesoro. The game may also have seen the last appearance of long time stalwart John Bodt, who may be moving to San Francisco. If so, we wish the hardworking midfielder well in his endeavours.

	Although they had a couple of seemingly decent players, the vast majority of Banatul were whiny dirty complainers, not least the animal who got sent off for spitting at Steve Murray

Competition: Banatul, League Opposition
Location: Met Oval, Queens
Conditions: A glorious sunny afternoon with a nice breeze, perfect football playing weather
Fans: 5 (Season High - Ms Fink, Mr. & Mrs Park, Mrs. Conboy + Harper)
Result: 4-1 (1-0 at H/T)
Goals: 1-0: Mershon, Assist Lion
2-0: Murray
3-1: Conboy, Assist Nizam
4-1: Nizam
Yellow Cards: Conboy
Red Card: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: Conboy
Old Man of the Match: A generally good performance by everyone, but Becker gets the nod for saving a potential tying penalty as well as making a second tying save preventing the score from getting to 2-2.
Old Man of the Bar: No Man of the Bar, but honorary mention for Creighton again for pushing the beer intake.
Team Bar Showing: 8 out of 17 (47%)
Team Bar Night: 2 out of 5 – A decent group considering the 4pm start time, but naturally didn’t stay as late as they otherwise would.
Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Becker (GK),
Mark Supplee (DF), Lars Murray (DF) , Clive ‘Ollie’ Morgan (DF), Marc Walby (DF), Steve Teesdale (DF), Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , John Bodt (DF), Yuval Lion, Mike Conboy , John Hodges, Adi Gallagher, Hakan Nizam, Creighton Mershon, Kevin Fink, Steve Murray

Scouting Report: Shamrock Rovers are a solid physical side who have talented players and a strong overall energy level. This will always be a tough matchup for CPR unless they match the oppositions intensity.
Goalie: Not generally challenged, but made an excellent save on Adi’s goal-bound shot. Looked competent enough.
Defenders: Not physically imposing but played smartly, clearing the ball into touch at any hint of danger so that they could regroup.
Midfielders: Good skill and aggressive wingers who played hard on both sides of the ball.
Strikers: Took both of their goals well and always looked dangerous.

The three CPR players waiting by the side of the field were a little concerned 5 minutes before the game when the opposition was dressed and ready to go and the referee was enquiring as to the rest of the team. Fortunately disaster was not forthcoming as it turned out the rest of the squad were huddling under the bridge because of a little rain, apparently unaware that there were about to be playing in the same rain for the next two hours. Management hurriedly tried to take care of the administrative duties of filling out the team sheet in the wet, only to get their first (and hopefully last) taste of the stereotypical referee who tries to impose himself on the game before it had even started. Confusing a recreational Over 30’s Sunday league game with a worldwide televised Champions League final, he ordered one of the CPR players smoking on the side of the pitch to put out his cigarette (no awards for guessing who it was). Upon questioning this since of course there has been no such rule since the dawn of man, the referee decided to show who was boss by issuing a yellow card to the questioner, and then proceeded on a long soliloquy about how he was in charge and not to mess with him, etc., etc., etc.

	’All hail the Referee! My word is law, and I will implement, alter and create the rules of the game as I see fit, and it has nothing to do with my Napoleonic complex.’

Now the team was ready to play in a wet environment against a team who had been ready and warmed up in plenty of time and with a referee who was definitely going to impact the game by making sure everyone knew he was King of the Hill. Shamrock’s readiness was quickly apparent as they took an early lead on a breakaway, neatly passing by Becker in goal and clinically finishing with the outside of the foot past a despairing CPR defender. The Old Boyz quickly shot back, with a nice passing move resulting in Fink releasing Gallagher for an equally clinical finish off the inside of the post.

	Shamrock Rovers have clearly cornered the market on Short Bald Irish guys, to the extent that the sideline had to keep a wary eye on Drew in case he was captured and put to work on their back line.

It was now that the game turned interesting. A pass to Morse in the middle of the field was met with an uncharacteristically heavy touch, but Morse was able to recover quickly enough to stretch and touch the ball to a teammate. A Rovers player charged down the ball but was unable to get there in time, tripping over Morse’s outstretched leg. As is customary in this league, what in the past would seem to be an innocuous trip was not so simple due to the cruelty of Father Time. After several minutes the Rovers player was carried off reducing Shamrock’s substitutes to zero. Inexplicably, the referee decided to extend a pity booking towards Morse in sympathy for the injured Rovers player, regardless of the fact that from all vantage points there was no culpability and it was merely an accident. In short order, the referee then decided to book a heated Nizam, although Nizam was yelling at his own player (for no apparent reason, as his wont) and used no profanity, which is more than could be said for the continuous stream of epithets being spewed by the Coach of Shamrock Rovers. Midway into the first half and CPR already had 3 bookings, all of them absurd in a variety of ways, and soon injury was added to insult. The referee continued his creation of new rules by deciding to change the possession and ownership of the free kick based on the yellow card. Now that all the CPR players were in the Rovers penalty area, Shamrock greeted the bizarre change of possession by smartly executing a breakaway. Although the CPR defenders were able to do an admirable job, the cross was excellent and the header more so to put the Roves in the lead, one that they would keep as the referee continued his winning streak by ending the half early.

Unlike previous games, CPR admirably managed to keep an even keel and concentrate on making adjustments to their strategy as opposed to venting against the referee, who appeared to take delight in baiting players. Also to be fair the referee’s sense of entitlement was leveled against both teams, not just CPR, although the major decisions had harmed CPR more than the Rovers. One of the major factors in the Old Boyz favour was that now Rovers had no substitutes, and so by all rights should start running out of steam as they had in their previous match against CPR, a 5-3 loss with several goals in the last 15 minutes. One of the major factors in Rovers first half success was their ability to close down all the CPR players quickly, causing hurried and frequently bad passes. In the second half it was quickly clear that the Rovers were going to have a hard time exerting the same type of energy. It was not one way traffic though, as Rovers were still able to mount attacks. One such attack led to a hard hit ball that hit John Bodt directly on the elbow prompting vociferous claims for a penalty. Although technically a correct decision, in this league penalties have been given for less, so although CPR were in the right, given the referee’s previous penchant for buffoonery they could be considered fortunate. The Rangers continued to live dangerously as a Rovers player took a ball wide in the penalty area and was taken down by Brindley. To his credit, the player concentrated on staying up and trying to finish rather than going down which almost definitely would have resulted in a correct penalty decision.

As the clock ticked on, the Rovers energy level clearly started to drain and CPR started to pile on the pressure. A superb strike from Gallagher was equally well saved by the keeper. The equalizer arrived only for a phantom foul to be called on Morse inside the penalty area, when both teams had been equally physical all game.

Finally, the breakthrough arrived. Casanova on the right hand side crossed the ball only for it to hit the defensive player on the hand slightly away for his body. The referee pointed to the spot with no hesitation. Casanova grabbed the ball immediately and headed to the spot, shaking away a questioning Fink. Murmurs from CPR players on and off the field didn’t result in any action as this was the first penalty kick the ‘boyz had been awarded all season, and so there was no hierarchy of penalty takers set, which meant he who was the most aggressive and wanted it the most got to take it. Sadly, Casanova’s boundless confidence was inversely proportional to the quality of his penalty, which narrowly missed hitting the underside of the Triborough Bridge when all it would probably have taken to score on the wet slick surface was a simple shot on target. CPR visibly wilted for a couple of minutes after, as the moments of foreboding before the penalty were turned into reality. However, a check of the watch revealed 20 minutes were still left, and considering the sheer abundance of time wasting exhibited by a canny Rovers team it was probably more like 25 minutes left.

	Scientists worldwide have gathered together to plot the path of the Penalty Manuel sent into orbit. The consensus is that it doesn’t pose a clear and present danger. For now…

CPR changed their formation to 2-4-4, as the Rovers coache’s exhortation to his team to stay back meant that CPR in turn could send everyone up top. Tiredness begat injuries as more of the Rovers players started going down. With a missed penalty, a disallowed goal and some good saves it seemed only a matter of time before CPR got the deserved equalizer and perhaps even a winner. A loud whistle from the referee caused all players to turn to him only to realize he was actually calling the end of the game, despite the clear indication of only 38 minutes having been played as CPR was keeping time on sideline. Apparently amongst all the rules that the referee had decided to create and interpret, the most fundamental law regarding the actual time of the game had eluded him, although his continuing complaining about the rain should have given all a clue.

The game was a tough one to sum up. Rovers were good value for their lead in the first half regardless of how it came about. But for an unfortunate injury reducing their numbers, they may have been able to continue the high energy level on both sides of the ball. The several bad decisions against CPR could be seen to have been balanced by the two non calls of penalty that went in their favour, even though one of them was clearly not a penalty. However the one overriding thing that sticks in the craw is the referee’s decision to call the game 7 actual minutes early and with the injuries and time wasting more like 12-15 minutes early (including the quick trigger finger in the first half). Referees incompetence in this league is nothing new, but the bottom line is that they are paid for 90 minutes and performing considerably less than that just because it was raining is inexcusable, especially when it can be pointed out fairly that the missing time impacted the decision given one team had several substitutes and were ready to go, whilst the other team was on their last legs. Ultimately it was a tremendous performance by Shamrock who can feel gratified with their victory. CPR’s cutting edge has deserted them in the last couple of legs, and needs to be found in the last two games of the season in order to cement themselves in third place.

Competition: Shamrock Rovers, League Opposition
Location: Randalls Island #74, Randalls Island
Conditions: A steady rain but the temperature was comfortable.
Fans: 2 (The Finks)
Result: 1-2 (1-2 at H/T)
Goals: 1-1: Gallagher, Assist Fink
Yellow Cards: Hamilton, Morse, Nizam
Red Card: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
Old Man of the Match: Several decent performances including Brindley & Resnik, but nothing outstanding.
Old Man of the Bar: No Man of the Bar, but Creighton wins Man of the Night Before for the great Kentucky Derby Party.
Team Bar Showing: 10 out of 16 (63%)
Team Bar Night: 2 1/2 out of 5 – A solid group showed up and stayed for a decent amount of time.

Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Becker (GK),
Mark Resnik (DF), Drew Faherty (DNP), Scott Brindley (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Ernesto Teran, John Bodt (DF), John Hodges, Adi Gallagher, Hakan Nizam, Creighton Mershon, Manuel Casanova, Jonny Lincoln, Kevin Fink

Scouting Report: Shamrock Rovers are a solid physical side who have talented players and a strong overall energy level. This will always be a tough matchup for CPR unless they match the oppositions intensity.
Goalie: Not generally challenged, but made an excellent save on Adi’s goal-bound shot. Looked competent enough.
Defenders: Not physically imposing but played smartly, clearing the ball into touch at any hint of danger so that they could regroup.
Midfielders: Good skill and aggressive wingers who played hard on both sides of the ball.
Strikers: Took both of their goals well and always looked dangerous.

CPR knew it was going to be a hot day, but the heat was truly debilitating before the game started, ensuring that the substitutes were going to be needed more than usual. With the late arriving referee taking charge early although starting the game considerably late, SC Gjoa had enough time to marshal their resources and start with a full side plus substitutes. The game started fairly evenly, with CPR passing the ball around better than they have in a long time. The characteristic 2 or 3 pass then giveaway was not apparent as the team was consistently able to make several passes and keep possession. Unfortunately none of this possession was able to be converted into real chances, as in stark contrast to their slick passing their set pieces were terrible.

Meanwhile SC Gjoa belied their bottom dweller league standing by playing a solid physical game of their own. In fact, they were able to develop a couple of chances in good positions that were poorly taken. Fink had taken charge on the CPR sidelines and was doing an admirable job of keeping the free flowing substitutions going, and it was clear that CPR were more efficient at this than the opposition, probably because they were more used to having several substitutes than other teams. However this advantage could not be converted into a goal and the nondescript first half ended in a stalemate.

Fink could not contain himself any more and begged to be allowed on the field. With the risk his own, the heat playing a part in fatiguing all the players and the paucity of scoring chances there appeared to be no downside to this so on he came. He made an immediate impact on the left hand side, teasing and torturing his defender and consistently getting to the bye line. One such run provided a cross into the penalty box, but one touch from Venkataraman was a touch too many as the defence swarmed and cleared the brief opportunity. The heat continued to play its part as the midfield were unable to run box to box as they previously had, thus often leaving the two strikers isolated up top. On hindsight, Management should have made a strategic reorganization to a 4-2-3-1 to ensure more support up top while having enough defensive cover at the back, but hindsight is 20-20. With midfielders unwilling to commit up top in a tight game against dangerous opposition it was always going to take something special to unlock the doors. Although there were brief periods of possession domination, the final ball in the area never quite connected, and at the end it was SC Gjoa who had a long sustained stretch of corners to end the game that had all the makings of a late goal.

In the end a 0-0 draw was a fair result, and as a sign of progress was the first time this entire season that CPR has failed to score, and in fact the first game they have tied. With the best record in the league in the last 5 games, the Old Boyz were still able to make up ground in the top four as the second and fourth teams both lost. The passing all around was top notch, and based upon previous games the poor set pieces could be viewed as an aberration. The most disappointing aspect of the entire game was the fact that there was not a single shot on target to challenge the part time keeper. Having said that, the team did well not to completely wilt under the heat, and in the previous season would surely have given up a late goal. With 3 more games to go, there is still plenty to play for.

	Both can torture defensive backs, both only have a left foot and both are perennially injured, Fink and Robben share a lot of similarities. We have not yet heard whether Robben was also conned into paying $800 for a pair of jeans…

Competition: SC Gjoa, League Opposition
Location: Randalls Island #75, Randalls Island
Conditions: A blistering hot summer’s day in Spring.
Fans: 1 (Laura)
Result: 0-0
Goals: N/A
Yellow Cards: None
Red Card: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
Old Man of the Match: A decent performance by everyone which naturally fell off as the heat took its toll. Fink deserves an honorary mention for coming on in the second half and torturing his defender on the outside left.
Old Man of the Bar: Another solid performance by the group.
Team Bar Showing: 11 out of 17 (65%)
Team Bar Night: 2 1/2 out of 5 – A solid group showed up and stayed for a decent amount of time.

Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Becker (GK),
Mark Resnik (DF), Steve Teesdale (DF), Marc Walby (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Ernesto Teran, John Bodt , John Hodges, Adi Gallagher, Hakan Nizam, Creighton Mershon, Manuel Casanova, Mark Dean (DF), Jonny Lincoln, Kevin Fink

Scouting Report: SC Gjoa’s play did not correspond with their record. The anticipated easy match did not occur as not only were Gjoa solid but also brought in a raft of substitutes to match CPR.
Goalie: Sadly although he did not look like a goalie CPR’s inability to get a single shot on goal meant he was never tested.
Defenders: Strong and physical but were prone to mental errors.
Midfielders: Decent but put no pressure at all on CPR’s central midfield.
Strikers: The short striker had an abundance of energy and was able to carve out several opportunities that he did not capitalize on.

CPR continued an encouraging spring with another full sized squad ready to take on the bottom dwellers Homenetmen of New York at one of the new turf fields on Randall’s Island. It was a gorgeous spring morning, but the closer the squad got to the field, the more the wind made its presence felt. The field brought back memories as it was directly underneath the Triborough Bridge, formerly known for its rock/syringe surface. The new turf certainly played well, but with water on two sides the wind was going to make itself a strong factor in the game.

The game could not have started off any better for the Old Boyz. Kick-off sent the ball back and then down the left side to Jake. He strode past the defenders and had his cross received by Nizam, whose shot conspired to hit the bar. As everyone stood watching the ball Dean rushed over and bundled the ball over from the 1 foot line for his debut goal for CPR. Having scored inside 60 seconds against the bottom team, it was clear that CPR were expecting a landslide. However, they hadn’t counted on a couple of things. Firstly the team was playing into the wind, and despite the pre-game talk people were still lofting high balls that were quickly battered down by the wind. Secondly, for a last placed team the opposition certainly didn’t look it, with a couple of talented midfielders and a hustle that for the first time this spring outworked CPR. Just such hustle was to prove CPR’s undoing, with a mistake at the back letting an attacker in one on one, and although Becker saved the initial shot the striker came in unmolested to tap in the equalizer.

Regardless of their hustle and a couple of quality players, Homenetmen were still clearly an inferior team to CPR so it was with disgust that the team watched the opposition draw level. Rather than deliver a swift awakening, it was more of a slow tapping of the snooze button and a slow rousing that brought CPR back in the game. Tackles slowly started matching the intensity of the opposition, passes started staying on the ground and the forwards started paying more attention to positioning to stay onsides. Chances started to develop, and it was a slick through ball to Gallagher that unlocked the lumbering opposition defence. This time Gallagher charged down and made no mistake, chipping the goalie for the lead.

	After scoring in the first minute, the Old Boyz started to sleepwalk through the first half, and it wasn’t until a few minutes after the equalizer that they slowly woke from their slumber

The 2-1 lead was important to take into half time, as the momentum should be all the Old Boyz going into the second half. Homenetmen had only one substitute and one glance at them revealed that that wasn’t going to be enough. The wind would be an ally in the second half, and as has been characteristic all season, the continual substitutions of CPR should help keep the intensity up and pressure the opposition into mistakes. Indeed, as the second half started to unfold, all of the items started to be checked. CPR were able to play a much higher line thanks to the wind, and thus aid the midfielders in putting pressure on and developing better chances. As Homenetmen tired, spaces started to open up, especially after one of them went off injured reducing them to no substitutes. Nizam was unlucky to hit the inside of the post, and a screaming shot from great distance by Teesdale rattled the crossbar.

Finally the lead was stretched by Nizam. Taking a throw-in by Resnik, Nizam found himself in acres of space and launched an almost perfect shot into the top right corner. Soon, a fourth followed when Resnik intercepted a throw by the goalie, passed it to Venkataraman who slid it in the path of Mershon for another long distance goal. Now all of CPR were hungering to appear on the score sheet, with shots coming in from all players and all angles. Solid shots from Resnik & Faherty were unlucky to not go in, and Mershon’s header seemingly died right at the line. Although CPR were executing their fast breaks well, they could not seem to get the final ball in. Casanova was fortunate not to have his legs broken by a frustrated defender after playing the Ronaldo step-over solitaire game for almost a minute in the corner. The portly goalie made some surprising saves, and the defence made some desperate saves and tackles.

In the end, it was another solid victory for CPR, pushing them up to 4th place in the table out of 14. Although the 2 week bye break comes at the wrong time momentum wise, it could help a couple of players heal up and allow the team to come out even stronger. Although finishing in the top two might be tough, they should be able to get to third place, which might be enough to gain a playoff place.

Competition: Homenetmen, League Opposition
Location: Randalls Island #73 (under the bridge), Randalls Island
Conditions: A sunny day that got nicer as the day wore on and the wind started to die down.
Fans: 0
Result: 4-1 (2-1 at H/T)
Goals: 1-0: Dean
2-1: Gallagher, Assist Mershon
3-1: Nizam, Assist Resnik
4-1: Mershon, Assist Venkataraman
Yellow Cards: Morse, Hamilton
Red Card: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
Old Man of the Match: Apart from the first half blip, it was another strong performance by the team, helped with the liberal substitution policy. The vote was a close one but came down to Gallagher edging out Nizam. Honorary mentions go to Nizam & Faherty for solid performances in their positions.
Old Man of the Bar: A solid group showing, with an extended stay by the usual suspects as well as Nizam, Gallagher & Beeman.
Team Bar Showing: 11 out of 15 (73%)
Team Bar Night: 4 out of 5 – With 6 people staying for over 8 hours, we have to award this one of the highest scores of the season. The multiple rounds of shots were unnecessary.

	It’s a good thing there’s no drug testing in the Over 30’s league, as Adi Gallagher shows off his strength by doing push ups with the girls on his back

Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Becker (GK),
Mark Resnik (DF), Jake Beeman, Steve Teesdale (DF), Marc Walby (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Ernesto Teran, Adi Gallagher, Hakan Nizam, Creighton Mershon, Manuel Casanova, Mark Dean, Drew Faherty (DF)

Scouting Report: Homenetmen did not play like a last placed team. Their major deficiency was similar to that of a number of teams CPR has played lately, which is a lack of numbers. Only one substitute was available, and after an inevitable injury that meant they had nobody to rotate in and thus wore down. They were tough tacklers, had a couple of good playmakers and did not make too many obvious mistakes.
Goalie: Portly, he showed surprisingly solid skills. He made some good saves and couldn’t do much about the 4 goals scored against him.
Defenders: They wore down as the game went on, but were able to make decent stops for the most part. They were pretty slow as well, so CPR had a decent speed advantage on them.
Midfielders: #10 & #11 were solid playmakers, but had no speed so could not use their skill to any real advantage. Their goal was nicely taken.
Strikers: They were smart and played well, and a little unlucky not to score a second goal after hitting the post in the second half.

A game in deepest Brooklyn required an earlier commuting start time and some coordination, but Silent continued to do an excellent job of making everyone’s job easier by assigning people to cars. Ollie Morgan certainly helped by bringing the big people mover from Westchester to transport 6 of the squad on a murky spring morning. Once again the Over 30’s league suffered from the usual lack of respect, where their assigned field was changed from the nice one with lights to the further field covered in a patina of goose droppings. Hakan tried to help everyone out by performing janitorial duties to clear as much of the refuse as possible from the middle of the field, but there were too many droppings and only one Hakan (nobody else wanted anything to do with the job).

	The Maltese Dolphins pool of potential players is drastically limited to those from Malta with the first name George. Fortunately none of them had to wear Hodges velour pants (sure they weren’t velvet?)

Unlike the last game of the Fall season, it looked like the Maltese Dolphins would have a full squad, but on closer inspection not all of their group were players so it was only a bare 11 that were eligible to play (apparently their rules of eligibility involved being Maltese and having the first name George). CPR actually took it as a compliment that the suspicious Dolphins requested the late arriving referee to check the ID’s of all their players as they thought they looked too young. Quite who they were referring to was a mystery, but since the Old Boyz have never in their history fielded an under-age player they had no problem in proffering the ID’s.

The field wasn’t enormous, but was large enough and the damp mud helped sap the energy from the old legs of the players. With CPR bringing 15 to the game again, it was clear that the goal should be to play the Dolphins competitively and then wear them down while hoping the referee didn’t reduce the game time too much due to the late start. It was clear from the start that the Dolphins were a well organized and smart team, with a couple of playmakers in #8 & #9 who could make things happen. The Old Boyz appeared a little sluggish other than the hyperactive Casanova, and the Dolphins managed to put some pressure on CPR. However as the game wore on Fink, Hakan & Teran continued from where they left off last week with some pleasing passing play in the last third of the field. This culminated in the first goal for CPR. Fink once again executed a dangerous corner that put the goalie under pressure, leaving Hakan the simplest of headers from about 1 foot.

With only a few minutes until the half it was upto CPR to take the lead into half time, but they almost blundered into letting the Dolphins come back. With a few corners the Dolphins were able to cause some consternation in the CPR area, and actually scored from a header that was fortunately disallowed for offsides. At half time CPR talked about continuing to play as they had been, as the longer the game wore on the more their much older opposition was going to get, especially considering they were chasing the game. The 4 substitutes provided plenty of relief to the players on the field and allowed everyone adequate playing time.

Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men. After discussing how dangerous the Maltese were on quick counterattacks, that is exactly how they scored the equalizer within the first few minutes of the restart. Although this gave the Dolphins a shot of confidence CPR were still playing well, and fortunately were able to play with a little more maturity than they exhibited in a squabbling first half. Maltese had the misfortune to lose one of their players to injury, thus going down to 10 men. This put immense pressure on their team, and CPR started to make use of the increased space available. Nizam continued to pull the strings offensively in the midfield, and was able to send Fink through, as he just managed to reach the ball before the keeper to slide the ball in off the post to regain the lead.

	Hakan had all the time in the world, but after passing the goalie to be presented with an open goal decided to stop for a smoke. To poor effect.

Despite only having 10 men, the Dolphins still looked capable of scoring on a counterattack from one of the Georges so a third goal was imperative. It was Fink who again helped CPR stretch the lead, a shot from the left which the goalie could only parry to the oncoming Teran. The Old Boyz on the sidelines were then entertained by some offensive highlight reel bloopers. The first was Hakan, who did all the hard work, rounded the goalie and then inexplicably spent several seconds playing with the ball in front of the gaping net, finally allowing the keeper to come in and block the eventual shot. The second was when Drew took advantage of the cushion to play as striker. A ball over the top produced an alleged sprint between two stout over 40’s shuffling towards the goal. Although Drew was leading at one point as they got to the penalty and onrushing keeper he started leaning in towards the defender until both toppled over. His appeals for a penalty were not helped by the guffawing on the sidelines. Combined with a couple of gaping misses by Gallagher and it wasn’t the finest day of finshing for CPR in the second half.

Finally the Dolphins were put out of their misery and the Old Boyz walked off with another victory. Missing a couple of key players so far their depth has been able to carry them, and with the prospect of playing the last placed team next week the spring could potentially see them in the top 3 in the next couple of weeks.

Competition: Maltese Dolphins, League Opposition
Location: Verrazano Fields, Brooklyn
Conditions: A little murky and misty, but not that cold.
Fans: 0
Result: 3-1 (1-0 at H/T)
Goals: 1-0: Nizam, Assist Fink
2-1: Fink, Assist Nizam
3-1: Teran
Yellow Cards: None
Red Card: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
Old Man of the Match: Another good overall performance by the team. There were a few contenders, but for the second week in a row it was decided to award Co-oMoM. Fink’s pouting from last week paid off in some quarters as this time his goal and assist along with a little more defensive hustle helped him gain a share of the award. His partner in crime was Steve Morse who played a very strong defensive midfield position to thwart the menace of the Georges.

	Once again, Two Straws, One Cup for the Co-Old Men of the Match Steve Morse & Kevin Fink

Old Man of the Bar: What can I say? 8 hours at Central Bar, 4 hours at assorted Upper West Side bars followed by almost 3 hours at Karaoke. Manohar Venkataraman.
Team Bar Showing: 12 out of 16 (75%)
Team Bar Night: 3 out of 5 – Another good squad showing but this time more of an early departure for most.
Team (No new profiles this week):
Mark Resnik (GK), Jake Beeman (DF), Steve Teesdale (DF), Marc Walby (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Clive ‘Ollie’ Morgan, John Hodges, Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Ernesto Teran, Adi Gallagher, Hakan Nizam, Manuel Casanova, Kevin Fink, Drew Faherty

Scouting Report: The Maltese Dolphins have been struggling this year with numbers, as evidenced by only having 9 players last game and 11 players this game. Combine that with more of an Over 40’s side and this naturally hurts their ability to stay in the game towards the end. The players that do play have good stamina and they play a strategically mature game, with midfielders #8 & #9 particularly dangerous.
Goalie: Competent, his sins were of the aggressive nature which is what you would want a goalie to err on the side of. None of the balls he spilled presented any danger, and he saved most of the balls hit directly to him cleanly.
Defenders: Slow and vulnerable to speed, they were able to pass the ball around.
Midfielders: The Georges in the middle #8 & #9 were particularly dangerous, and were able to spring some dangerously quick counterattacks.
Strikers: Decent but not many chances to speak of.

The first game of a season or after the winter layoff always sees an enthusiastic response, and this one was no different. This particular break seemed to last forever, but the benefit was to allow long term injury victims Fink & Mershon to cautiously try comebacks and other injured Over 30’s to recover (from now on we will proceed under the assumption that everyone on the Over 30’s team is injured, its just a matter of degree). The lingering issue this season has not necessarily been numbers but the lack of Center Backs, not made any better by the late scratch of Walby, called into work no doubt to tend to the latest AIG blunder. Fortunately ‘The Gecko’ had been recruited to provide cover, and along with Beeman was going to start the game. On arrival at the game, it appeared that Creighton’s hair (C-Ha) could also play its own position on the field, a worthy successor to Tommy’s hair (T-Ha).

	Creighton plays a solid defensive midfield, but his hair (C-Ha) prefers to play in the hole behind the two strikers.

With initial reservations regarding the field since it was not artificial turf, the concerns were somewhat allayed upon viewing it. Although the grass & mud were no match for the southern Randalls Island fields, the ball appeared to play fairly enough, and the size of the field was more akin to an 8 a side field as opposed to a regular 11 a side field. Any opportunity to curtail the amount of running required was always welcome, especially given the fragile status of the centerbacks and central midfield playing. At the end of the previous game there was no sign of the opposition, to the point that a forfeit appeared to be a possibility which would have enabled the team to head down to Central bar for the Liverpool vs Aston Villa pounding, but it wasn’t to be.

On a nice day like this and with CPR having warmed up after a fashion they were in a good position to start the game running. Indeed, CPR did start working the ball and kept their shape well to start. The 5 substitutes were fortuitously split along the lines of defence, midfield and forwards which allowed for a smooth segue when switching. Another benefit was that players were more than happy to come out when necessary, meaning the team could continually send in relatively fresh players and take advantage of their numbers, something that hasn’t necessarily taken place in previous seasons.

The field played relatively fairly but for all that still required adequate concentration and a suitable adjustment to the method of playing, in order to avoid the inevitable awkward bounce. This benefited CPR early when the Pele striker was put through and decided to take a shot from the top of the box. Becker stood his ground and although the shot was fierce it was straight at him so he was able to push the ball off of the crossbar and out. This turned out to be one of the only clear chances for Pele in the first half, and although they threatened on counterattacks early the CPR midfield was able to get back early enough to help slow the game down.

The match conditions were helping CPR out, a welcome change from some of the previous poor luck suffered by the team. The short thin grass field benefited CPR’s more industrious approach and blunted the expansive opposition. The referee was quick on the trigger regarding physical play, and with CPR for the most part not acting up it was Pele whose verbal dissent resulted in a few cards. In addition, some of the wily CPR players were able to steal a few decisions by quick requests to the referee and subtle flops to hard tackles. One such request for a corner granted led to the first CPR goal. A superbly struck corner by Fink into the dangerous no-man’s land of the penalty spot was met equally flawlessly by the hard charging Teran for the lead. The game had been somewhat even upto then, but CPR built on their renewed confidence and were desperately unlucky not to bolster the lead. This time a hard foul at the edge of the penalty box gave Fink another opportunity, and taking this one solo he cracked the ball against the cross bar, the ball bouncing and just the wrong angle to elude the oncoming CPR attackers.

A 1-0 lead felt pretty good at half time, and it felt like if the Rangers could keep composed they could also keep control of this game. The Managers impressed onto the team the need not to react to the referee as the opponents were doing a good job of antagonizing him, and also the fact that it was our team that had the lead, which meant that defence should be paramount.

Pele started the second half pushing up to obtain the equalizer, but consequently leaving space open at the back. This started to give CPR more space for counterattacks, and one of these fairly early on led to a superbly executed second goal. With Nizam continuing his superb playmaking from the middle he led Fink well on the left side. Seemingly from a fair distant Fink looked up and placed the ball clinically past the onrushing keeper right into the side netting.

To their credit Pele continued to plow forward, but CPR were equal to the task. Playing a tactically smart game they kept an extra midfielder back to blunt the field switching of the opponents, but also allowed the strikers and central midfielders the room to exploit the acres of space starting to appear in Pele’s half of the field. A few more chances and corners started to appear, but none fell just right to an attacking CPR player. The best of these fell to Adi Gallagher, who happens to be almost as one footed as Fink and endeavoured to contort himself to strike the ball with his left foot when a simple right footed chip over the stranded keeper would have left to a third goal. It was a testament to his skill that the shot only narrowly missed the goal.

Finally the whistle blew and it was a hugely satisfying first game and first victory of the Spring Season. With a couple of new players joining the squad soon and the injured members coming back to full fitness the Old Boyz could be in for a good second half. They now have good depth at almost every position and the attacking players added since last year allows the team a greater margin for error, as could be seen by the fact that the team was shut out 6 times last year but has scored in every game this year. With continuing familiarity with teammates, retaining composure in the fact of aggressive opponents and dubious referees as well as retaining a relentless physical spirit on the field, the signs look good for the CPR Old Boyz.

Competition: Pele, League Opposition
Location: Randalls Island Field #123, Randalls Island
Conditions: Lovely spring day, just about perfect conditions.
Fans: 0
Result: 2-0 (1-0 at H/T)
Goals: 1-0: Teran, Assist Fink
2-0: Fink, Assist Nizam
Yellow Cards: Teran
Red Card: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
Old Man of the Match: It was an excellent performance by virtually everyone, not just in playing well offensively and defensively but also in willingly substituting themselves when needed. This made the choice fairly tough, with the final consensus going to Becker & Nizam. Becker made a couple of good saves and was solid overall at the back, and Hakan barely made a bad touch (although the hot tempered Turk still needs to cool it with the verbal team abuse on the field). An honorary mention goes to Fink, who with a little more playing time and some defensive intensity could easily have been the sole MVP on the back of a goal, assist and crossbar performance. The Gecko also did well in playing 90 minutes with a strong physical and verbal performance at Center Back.

	With one Man of the Match Tankard and Co-OMoM, what’s a team to do? Answer = Two Straws, One Cup

Old Man of the Bar: An excellent turnout by most with the usual suspects staying for long hours with the Reds at the front of the bar.
Team Bar Showing: 12 out of 16 (75%)
Team Bar Night: 3 ½ out of 5 – Good performance by quantity and longevity
Team (No new profiles this week):
Mark Becker (GK), Mark Resnik (DF), Drew Faherty (DF), Jake Beeman (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), The Gecko (DF), John Bodt, John Hodges, Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Creighton Mershon, Ernesto Teran, Adi Gallagher, Hakan Nizam, Manuel Casanova, Kevin Fink

Scouting Report: Pele are a good solid side, with both size & skill. The tiny bumpy pitch hurt their ability to stroke the ball around and allowed CPR to use their extra substitutes and organization to help them out. On a bigger fairer playing pitch this team would be harder to handle, as evidenced by the 3-2 loss in the Fall season.
Goalie: As in the previous game, they played two different goalies. The first one caught the shots hit at him but appeared to be mediocre. The second keeper didn’t receive any real threats, although should have given up a goal when way out of position to Gallagher who chose to hit an ungainly shot with his left.
Defenders: Physical across the board, they went in with some hard tackles but were vulnerable in their positioning. Susceptible to speed, as are most defences in this league.
Midfielders: Decent but the field didn’t help them. At first they showed good counterattacking ability, but that seemed to quickly dissipate. They tried to spread the ball and switch fields, but each time the CPR midfielders and defence were equal to the task.
Strikers: Only one real chance to speak of, and the striker hit it straight at Becker. Never really appeared to be a threat.

At long last it appeared that the Old Boyz were not going to have to plead, beg and borrow for players to show up on Sunday as a robust 15 players indicated an interest in playing football. A 9am kickoff in Queens at the abomination known as Con Ed field meant that management was going to take the numbers with a pinch of salt. Astonishingly, fully 20 minutes before the game 14 players had manifested at the field in contrast to the 3 Maltese Dolphins across the pitch. For a change, the good news kept coming as the appalling pitch that reduced the previous visit to football entropy had actually improved, mainly due to the random clumps of grass in the 18 yard box having been completely obliterated over time to produce a level mud patch. In addition, the 3 Maltese players only grew to 9 by the start of the game, so if CPR could play another first half as good as the ones they’d played recently they should be able to establish a good lead by the time the rest of the opposition showed up.

Of course, the one remaining wildcard as always was the referee. Having arrived as expected at RST (Referee Standard Time, which is usually right at game time resulting in a several minute delay for paperwork), the referee did more than the usual diligence in checking paperwork, and also made it very clear that he would not brook any dissent. With this in mind, Management once again pleaded with the not always composed Old Boyz not to foolishly continue complaints at the cost of a booking, or display any of the previous internecine behaviour that had caused such irritation the previous game. With the terms set and the teams ready, play started with CPR encouragingly using its numerical superiority to start creating chances. A snap shot on target was saved by the goalie right into the path of Lincoln who gratefully took it. As the boyz congratulated themselves on taking the chance and had retreated to the halfway line, they eventually noticed bemusedly that the referee had pointed to a spot to take a free kick for offsides.

This was to begin a pattern of several goals denied for offsides, as well as numerous offsides calls including some that weren’t remotely infractions. The fact that the opposition had only 9 men of course meant that there were going to be gaping holes, but to the referee took that to mean that any opposition player in space was going to be blown for offsides. So much for the rule interpretation that if in doubt the attacking player should be given the benefit of the doubt. The one thing to be said for the referee was that he was consistent in blowing the whistle for anything remotely close. This in turn displayed one of CPR’s biggest weaknesses this year, their apparent inability to play with the intelligence they should have having played the game for decades. This has previously manifested itself in players not knowing how to play their positions in any formation other than a 4-4-2, or unproductively complaining against teammates. In this case, although right from the onset it was clear that the referee was trigger happy, players continued to find themselves in an offsides position despite the fact that with a superior numerical advantage they didn’t need to.

Of course, there have also been positives to CPR’s play this season, and one of them has been the addition of offensive firepower with Nizam, Gallagher and Teran. Last season the loss of so many central defenders would have led to many more losses, but so far the team has been able to generate a significant number of chances leading to enough goals to keep the team in contention. Granted, the conversion of chances to goals has been disappointing, but the players are getting more and more used to each other’s play, and this led to several chances in the first half. Nizam showed he was unafraid to challenge the keeper from distance, although after unleashing several shots wide he may need to refine his pregame shooting ritual. Meanwhile Casanova was showing his usual love of tricky flicks and feints, which usually result in ooohs or frustrated grunts from his team in equal measure. In this case, they worked perfectly as he glided past his defender on the right hand side to chip over a ball for Teran to finish. A carbon copy of the play on the left hand side resulted in another nifty chip from Casanova for Nizam to put away and what should have been a comfortable 2-0 lead at the half.

With no signs of Maltese cavalry, CPR maintaining 3 somewhat healthy substitutes and a 2 goal lead as well as the inevitable fatigue that was sure to set in to the opposition soon it looked like this was the perfect time to start rebuilding CPR’s goal difference. As long as the Old Boyz kept their composure, made simple passes and took their shots on target, goals would be inevitable.

That was the plan.

Alas, nothing was that simple. The second half should have been videotaped as a clinic in offensive ineptitude, poor decision making and some old fashioned bad luck. Wide open players on the wing either hit the ball inexplicably out, straight into their defender or tamely to the keeper. Players either took shots from way out of the penalty area or made dinky one touch passes to each other all the way to the 6 yard box before the ball was cleared out. The frustration in the air was palpable, and CPR started losing their composure and pushing even more players up, despite the 2 goal lead. This was despite the Dolphins having some dangerous players, and CPR’s hubris was justly punished by the Maltese capitalizing on one of the several poorly played passes leading to a clinical counterattack and finish.

Aesthetically, protecting a 2-1 lead against 9 men was far from appealing, but the truth of the matter was that all the ‘boyz needed to do was space out the field and make simple passes while playing a standard 4-4-2 and still have enough to increase the lead. However, the team continued to push up and were an inch away from giving up a devastating equalizer. Yet another miscue led to another counterattack, and the shot at the far corner left Resnik in goal rooted to the spot. Perhaps it was the field, perhaps it was some overdue good luck due to CPR, but the ball hit the post and bounced into the welcoming arms of Resnik merely 5 minutes before the final whistle, and was to be the last notable skirmish before the end of the game.

CPR ends the fall section of the season with 5 wins and 4 losses in the league, not great but also not bad considering their bad luck and undermanned appearances put forward in the losses. The weaknesses displayed in this first half should be easily addressed during the break, most notably by having a strong presence on the sidelines to use substitutions to address issues such as internal verbal dissension and defensive indiscipline. However, Spring presents more reasons for hope than despair, most noticeably with returning injured players and some new blood, as well as the continuing familiarity of the offensive players with each other and the growing adaptability of the team to flexible formations. The improvements on the field should be matched with improvements off the field as hopefully the current seasons lack of bar attendance (even for just a couple of pints) will prove to be a temporary blip and the team will return to the gregarious cast of characters they were last season.

Competition: Maltese Dolphins, League Opposition
Location: Con Ed ‘field’, Queens
Conditions: Brutally cold, with the icy wind only making conditions more unpleasant.
Fans: 0
Result: 2-1 (2-0 at H/T)
Goals: 1-0: Teran, Assist Casanova
2-0: Nizam, Assist Casanova
Yellow Cards: None
Red Card: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: Nat Roberts, who clearly hadn’t seen the Seinfeld episode regarding the Marathon runner remembering to set his alarm clock.
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
Old Man of the Match: An average performance by most, but Brindley held the defence together when most others were pushing up, and for playing the full game deserves the Man of the Match. An honorary mention goes to Manuel for the two assists and continuing to provide problems on the offensive side.
Old Man of the Bar: No candidates mentioned, but honorary mention to Jake & Fink for showing up
Team Bar Showing: 10 out of 14 (71%)
Team Bar Night: 2 1/2 out of 5 – No input given, so giving this an average night
Team (No new profiles this week):
Mark Resnik (GK), Drew Faherty (DF), Scott Brindley (DF), Gavin Hamilton (DF), Mark Dean (DF), John Bodt, John Hodges, Steve Morse, Manohar Venkataraman , Jonny Lincoln, Ernesto Teran, Adi Gallagher, Hakan Nizam, Manuel Casanova

Scouting Report: The Maltese showed exceptional fitness and stamina considering they were playing with 9 men for the whole game. They had a couple of skillful players, and midfielder #8 was a dangerous playmaker
Goalie: Didn’t look imposing but was competent enough to handle balls hit straight at him, which were most of them that weren’t hit wide.
Defenders: Old and slow, they did tire near the end but CPR couldn’t take advantage of the acres of space. They were helped immensely by the referee’s quick trigger whistle
Midfielders: #8 was a good player who was able to not only take players on but make the right passes.
Strikers: Not much to talk about naturally since they only had 9 players, but they weren’t afraid to move forward on counters.