Howdy, apologies for the lack of activity but i spent most of July in LA completely devoid of footballing action. It was a difficult time but was great to get a fantastic break somewhere totally different. Plenty action to comment on now though. Before I went away we managed to squeeze in an incredible encounter against Teuchters FC in the OCSL. A sweltering hot day that set the scene perfectly for this top of the table clash. A ding dong battle ensued with whistler Chris Muir keeping an eye on things. In a match that saw VAFC take a 2-1 lead from a tremendous Mark Valentine brace the smart money would have been on the Volleys but the relentless Teuchters made the best of a smash and grab job and snuck away with the 3 points in a bag marked swag. With Teuchters top of the league i felt apprehensive about leaving the team with such a crucial match against Sykes to get our campaign back on track, and thankfully the match was cancelled very late on and is scheduled to be played next week, possibly Tuesday. Roughly a month before I went on holiday I organised a particularly challenging match against Dunedin FC who play in the LEAFA Amateurs leage. I never envisaged how challenging it would turn out to be with 7 Staggs men on the pitch come kick off. Eventually we had to borrow 3 of their subs, one of which a goalkeeper which meant Mike Kinsella had to play outfield for the match. Despite how much of a difficult match we faced we held them for nigh on 40 minutes and were unfortunate to go into the break 1-0 down. It was an exciting match and a real challenge to fitness in the sweltering August heat. Dunedin walked out 5-2 winners but VAFC never lacked ambition and have nothing to be ashamed about, particularly considering Owen Kinsella’s characteristicly crisp finish for one of our goals. This match also turned out to be the debut of the new strips that finally arrived. Colin Campbell has done a fantastic job on these and we’ll get a team picture up after the Sykes game. Now the focus is on the remaining OCSL games and the competition has really opened up thanks to Dunbar beating Teuchters in Dunbar and now it really is anbody’s league. I’ll post a table as soon as i can figure it out.
Keep the faith
JD
