I think the ‘D’ this week stood for Dad’s Army, with myself (Saf), Jan Pfitzner, Wez Reid & Rob Alberton all returning to the team nearly doubling the average age of the squad. If it wasn’t for Steve Bresolin being away I’m sure we would have achieved & indeed surpassed that goal.

After reading that Uni SA had their game abandoned last week due to some on-field incidents, i was a little concerned that there was no referee for this game. Thankfully one of the Uni SA boys put his hand up, advised us they had a couple of players suspended & then went about doing an excellent job of refereeing (nice to see).Robby was the manager this week & with a very different squad from previous weeks, he went for a change in tactics. The D’s set up with a 4-3-3 formation, as Rob wanted us to be more attacking this week.

Glyn returned to goals (after Lim’s midweek injury), with Pete & Saf at the back, Dimi & Adi on the flanks. The 3 midfielders, with about 1000 Uni White appearances between them were Jason Russo on the left, Jan Pfitzner central & Rob Alberton on the right. Our 3 attacking players were Matteo (left), Wez (Centre), Captain-Bobby (right).

Tomas proved what it is to be a team player, arriving to the ground on-time even though he had tonsilitis & hadn’t eaten for 2 days, but was still willing to sit on the bench in case we needed him & we also had Paolo, Oscar & Darren healthy and available to provide some run.

The first important play of the game saw Dimi win the ball from the Uni SA striker, place a through ball to Matteo on the run. Matteo then crossed the ball in perfectly to Wez, who took a touch & then buried the ball into the back of the net.. 1-0 after 2 minutes – Awesome!

Uni SA were caught napping for the goal, but they then posted a number of good attacks. Our defence held on well though & after about 15 minutes our midfield began to take control. Matteo & Wez both looked particularly dangerous up front & with Jan, Rob & Jason delivering the ball well, our wingers began to really stretch the Uni defenders.

Matteo, Jan & Bobby all went close to scoring in this period, but none were as unfortunate as Jason, who’s volley from a lovely corner absolutely clattered into the cross bar, but didn’t go in.

Completely against the run of play, Uni SA were very fortunate to get back on even terms. Their winger got behind Adi on the right & crossed the ball in (off his shin)… Somehow with the aid of a cross-wind, the ball drifted into the far corner, leaving Glyn stranded. 1-1 at the break.

After the half the older brigade really put on a show – with Matteo, Jan, Wez, Rob & Jason completely dominating proceedings. Wez made it 2-1 after another lovely through ball & Matteo was had a stinging shot saved before Wez wrapped up his hattrick after a nice play down the right this time ended up with the ball at his feet in the box (welcome back mate).

Wez took a well deserved break, as Oscar came on up front, Bobby & Rob also had a rest on the right for Paolo & Darren.

Uni SA brought a goal back just after this as some lax defending from a long throw allowed the Uni SA captain to score. Many times this would be enough for us to crumble, but the fresh legs of the substitutes actually allowed us to get back on top. Paolo perhaps could have had a hattrick in the last 20 minutes, but unfortunately first a header & then 2 strikes all went just over the bar. Matteo had another chance to score, but hit the side netting & Oscar and Darren both also hit shots over the bar.

The end result of 3-2 really didn’t reflect how well we played as the boys created a huge number of chances. One highlight of the game was Glyn’s delivery from goals – both from goal kicks and in open play he hit his targets brilliantly, this allowed the whites to control the ball for long periods. In fact, the only blot on the copybook (where a throw out was intercepted), Glyn managed to race out to it and make a fine save to keep us ahead.

Hard to pick a best on ground as really all 14 boys played well, but Matteo’s running all day was a highlight, Wes’ 3 goals were clinical (boys, take note) and Jan owned the midfield all day.

Well done to the boys for a great win.