Charlwood Cup - OR III vs OR IV

A brisk February morning saw the old rivalry between the 3s and the really interesting 4s rekindled, being drawn, as they were, against each other in the fabled Charlwood Cup competition. Bearing in mind that both teams had played the day before and there are a lot of players therein that, shall we say, are not in the first blooms of Spring, it was a good showing - and plenty of spectators to boot, although Banks settled for the opposition in this pursuit.

It was the 4s that started the brighter of the two sides, with forceful and determined passing and plenty of good, intelligent running off of the ball. Indeed, barely five minutes had gone by when Harding had the clear off of the line. Far from waking up the sluggish 3s, they continued to hibernate and were justly punished. A mix up on the edge of the area allowed Jeremy Stephens to pump in a high lob - more hit-and-hope than anything else, but it caught Dixon hopelessly out of position and the 4s were in the lead.

Finally the bears came out from their cave and bloody hell they roared. It took some time for the equaliser to arrive, but it was a fine header when it did come. At half-time, the scores were level, which reflected the play for the 45 minutes. The second-half was a different story and featured four goals and a vest.

Although this will probably raise some protests, it is true that it was all one-way traffic from the restart. The 3s were kicking downhill and the 4s, in a manner of speaking, were also going downhill. Desperate defending, a host of golden saves from the evergreen Stapleton and forceful shouting and stern glances from Tully could not stem the white tide; no way, no how.

A disputed penalty saw the 3s take the lead and though there was many a moan afterwards to the effect that this was the turning point of the game, the 4s had, in reality, lost already. A tactical substitution saw Zanzottera replaced by another evergreen, Mark Allen and the Zanzottera shirt replaced by a very fetching singlet - molto Italiano. Whilst the 3s third goal was truly superb and undoubtedly the cream of the crop, their next two were almost comical. Beech scoring with his belly and Howick being able to walk it in from the 18 yard line.

A thoroughly entertaining spectacle. Well done to both teams who played throughout in the true spirit of ORs.

Match report by Mark Eagleton (and if you don't like it, bloody well write one yourself!)