Magic of the Cup

What a difference five days can make. I was going to touch on our FFA Cup fixture a little in the next post after this Saturdays NPL game, but it definitely needs its own one now.

Absolutely flat out with work these last couple of months and will probably stay that way until I head overseas in about 6 weeks. So I was seriously considering giving this game a miss, especially after our loss on Friday night. In the end I decided to make the long journey to Oakleigh (on my own because no one really wanted to go) and am eternally grateful that I did because it will be a match I will never forget. 

2011 Mirabella Cup Semi Final

There's just something about playing Oakleigh in the Cup that is so fantastic. Our last encounter in the Cup was back in 2011 when we also came from behind to win 2-1 and book our spot in the 'Mirabella Cup' final against Northcote City who went on to win the one and only 'Mirabella Cup'.

The only difference to the starting eleven was the inclusion of our most experienced campaigner Ben Surey, who did well to control the middle of the park. Perhaps the biggest difference tonight was the man between the posts. Michael O'Farrell had an outstanding game, pulling off a save for a definite goal to put Oakleigh up 2-0. If you hadn't watched a Knights match this year, you would have thought he hadn't conceded a goal all year with the confidence he came out with. Great to see that he has been able to pick himself up and have a great match after what he has gone through so far.

Magic of the Cup!

From the get go we were the better decide, and it seemed fairly likely that we would be the side to progress further into the Cup. However an Oakleigh goal just on half time from a quick break gave the hosts and unlikely lead. As the second half wore on, it was looking more and more likely that our Cup run would be ending very early this year, with the baby faced referee not doing us any favors in that regard (wouldn't be surprised if he was a bricklayer to be honest). But, the boys didn't give up. And when the Oakleigh keeper through the ball out to go down with an injury which I believe he was faking just to waste time, the match took a turn. The resulting throw in lead to a corner for us, where Milan Batur leveled in what looked like a bit of a goal mouth scramble. It's fair to say that it felt absolutely fantastic to get an equaliser in the last minute, but I wasn't expecting what happened next. It all happened to quickly that I can't even recall exactly how it happened. Almost immediately after the kick off we gained possession sending the ball straight up to Josh Brekalo who did well to take the ball past the Oakleigh keeper and put it into the roof of the net, sending the small but chaotic number Knights fans completely mental. I mentioned to someone that I hadn't celebrated like that in a while, jumping around like a little kid trying to jump higher than everyone else. It was the kind of finish to a match that you dream of and don't get to experience too often, which makes progression in that Cup that much sweeter. Not sure when the draw is for the next round but it might not matter cause they will probably 'randomly' draw us against South Melbourne again.

Speaking of South Melbourne, didn't they have an eventful NPL match over the weekend? I will leave my comments on that until after our match this Saturday at Epping.

Decided I would give the Oakleigh donuts a go tonight. They weren't as large as your normal donut so I decided to get two. As I was walking up I noticed there was only one left which got me down a little, especially since there was a 10 year old kid there before me eyeing it off. To my relief the guy out the back brought out another 8 hot fresh donuts, when the kid belts out, "I'll have 9 donuts". Are you fucking shitting me kid? 9 donuts? Do you know what all that sugar will do to your teeth? Anyway I waited about two minutes for another batch off fresh ones and they were delicious. And at a low price of $1.50 a donut you can't go wrong. Fresh hot donuts and two goals to win in a minute, is there anything better?

I don't like losing 3-1

I was really quite confident this morning that we would be taking all three points tonight. But perhaps I wouldn't have been if I had known which players would be sitting on the sidelines.

It's no secret that our squad is young and lacks experience even when fully fit, so when you have 4 starters out including your keeper it's kind of hard to be too optimistic. Despite mentioning Ben Surey being sent off last week, I somehow forgot he was suspended for this match and for some reason expected James McGarry and even Robbie Zadworny to be back from injury by now. With Surey and McGarry both out, young Nikola Jurkovic would have been a great chance to start in the middle of the park, but it looks like FFV managed to count 5 of his yellow cards so far and decided to give him the week off also. Not what you would be hoping for one of your young players especially when most of the cards were silly. And to top it all off, goalkeeper Fraser Chalmers pulled up injured during the warm up and sat out the match hopefully just as a precaution. I must admit I do feel a little sorry for second keeper Michael O'Farrell who perhaps isn't quite up to the standard of the league, but I am sure gives his best whenever out there. It wouldn't be easy to have the confidence required after the rough start he had to the season.

FFA Cup action back on Tuesday

For those of you who witnessed the match, all three goals we conceded were terrible. Even though we were a little down on man power tonight it's just not good enough. And I can't keep using the same excuses every time a result doesn't go our way. We improved in the second half particularly later on with some more young players coming on off the bench and probably could have even got it back to 3-2, but I can't say we would have deserved a point. If we are going to progress in the FFA Cup on Tuesday night we need to step it up a level. I think we are capable of it, especially if we can get a couple of players back for the occasion. Otherwise we might need to start looking at some reinforcements when the transfer window opens in a few weeks.

I was feeling quite down on the way home thinking I would blurt out another negative post like this morning, but I don't want the blog to be painted in that light. I like receiving compliments from people who say they had a good laugh reading the blog while they were reading on the dunny during their morning shit.

I made a few observations tonight which I would like to touch on. First of all it was bloody cold. I think it's fair to say that the warm weather is over for this season and we will have many more cold and colder days/nights to look forward to. 
I noticed Paul Mavroudis was sitting in and amongst the injured and suspended Knights players. However I'm still trying to figure out if he was there to spy for Chris Taylor, or for South of the Border purposes.
My $7 roll was delicious and was packed with meat. Would have to be along with the Richmond kransky the best value for money feed in he league. (Not sure if Pascoe Vale still do the pizzas).

What is the World coming to?

The ref did an excellent job tonight. Called it as it was. No bullshit, was consistent and most importantly didn't favour either side. If he was a bricklayer I would be telling him to quit his job and become a full time referee.
And what was probably the most depressing fact, the lineswoman (is that the correct term?) had the best pair of boots on the park. Black Adidas Copa Mundial.

Not related to football or my beloved Knights. I have been having a lot of grief with my WiFi since getting this new laptop. I believe it is a fairly common issue for Windows 10 users which really frustratingly still has no easy fix. For those of you who have any idea what I may be on about, it's the (No Internet, Secured) problem. Any advice or better yet solution would be greatly appreciated. If I can't get it fixed soon, I might need to take it back which would mean a little downtime for the blog.

Another loss to Shaun Evans

It isn't without reason that this post comes on the morning of our next match. What happened last Friday night pissed me off so much that writing anything to soon would have seen me say some things that I wouldn't be very proud of. Warning: If you don't like the word fuck, close your browser now.

It's never easy playing against a quality side like Bentleigh, which is why it makes it an almost impossible task when they have the assistance of Shaun Evans. I am not saying he is the reason that we lost or if we were issued any other official we would have won, but we might have done so and definitely would have been in with a better chance.

I'm not going to say too much on the match itself other than Bentleigh once again have a top quality side and probably have the best chance to take it out again this year. And that it really is a great shame that Shaun Evans ruined what could have been a cracking match after we got the scores back to 2-1 through a stunning Cvitkovic finish.

Stick to bricklaying my friend

Not sure what option he has taken, but it seems that Mr Evans has some sort of lease to officiate at least our games at Kingston Heath every year. And every year he does something to fuck us up. I even had a bit of an angry laugh at one stage, when after awarding us a free kick he pointed in Bentleighs direction. So one sided was his officiating that his arm would just automatically go that way. And to top it off he has a bit of a fudking chuckle to himself, like it's all just fucking funny to him. I don't have a problem with yellow cards for bad tackles, and I certainly don't have a problem with them leading to red cards if they are both indeed yellow cards. But I do have a problem with NOT SHOWING ANY FUCKING CONSISTENCY WHATSOEVER. How does a handball for Knights earn a yellow card, but not for Bentleigh? How does the weakest shittiest foul earn a yellow card for Knights, but a tackle 10 times worse does not for Bentleigh? GET YOUR FUCKING HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS MY FRIEND! I am contemplating contacting Knights TV to purchase all footage of our matches at Kingston Heath to do a best of Shaun Evans collection, I just hope YouTube doesn't have any time constraints. On behalf of probably a very large number of people, I ask Shaun Evans to do himself and everyone else in the footballing world a favour and give it up. You are the worst referee in the world. No second worst, after Bruno (but not by much). 

The only positive to come out of Friday night was the taste of the souvlaki I had just before half time. But not positive enough to mask the $12 price tag. Cut your fucking player wages and give us some reasonably priced food for fucks sake. I'm definitely not touching another souv this season.

Tonight we take on Oakleigh before taking them on again this Tuesday in the FFA Cup. If I had to pick one I'd rather win Tuesdays game and sacrifice this one, but I think we take both.

How many corners does it take to win a match?

How many corners does it take to win a match? 0! Our first test to see where we are at this season and we have passed with flying colours. Man have we come a long way since our reality check at Heidelberg a month ago.

I learnt from our last game not to offer lifts to people who are likely to get you there well after kick off. I did give a lift to two people this week and still managed to get to the club an hour early. Was a little shocked at how full the car park was so early on, but it seemed to be a case of more cars than people. 

Constantly delivery the goods

Once again Knights News produced some top quality content, which I will have the pleasure of publishing on here in the coming days/weeks. A big congratulations must go out not only to Andrew Marth for reaching his 150th game milestone but also to the club for not sticking with the tradition of changing coach's every 5 minutes. 

For some reason I was quite confident heading into this match. And when asked how we would go a few minutes before kick off, without hesitation I said we were going to take all three points. And I was right.

The match opened up with Hume on top for the first 5 to 10 minutes, but once we found our feet I was certain we weren't going to stop until we found the back of the net. I started to get that bad feeling that we were going to be cheaply punished for not making the most of our chances. But surely enough we broke the deadlock through Stipo Andrijasevic after an impressive quick break spearheaded by non other than (not good enough for South Melbourne) Jason Hicks.

What happened in the second half and for the remainder of the match is irrelevant. We might have been under the pump until the final whistle but at the end of the day we contained the pressure and took all three points. Some might argue that Hume had 19 corners compared to our 0 but none of that matters if you can't find the back of the net. And while they might have had that many corners, I don't recall them having any shots on target. Whether we scored in the first minute or the last, I believe we would have been in control for the majority of the match until we were able to open the scoring.

All in all it was a very well deserved win for a relatively young side, against one of the so called stronger sides this season. Not to mention not quite being at full strength yet with some players still on the sidelines. I must admit that Nick Glavan has been impressing me more and more each week, and I'm still trying to figure out why South Melbourne didn't do more to keep Jason Hicks. The win takes us up to equal third place, being only a point behind second placed Bentleigh Greens who we face this Friday night. 

I did manage to have a delicious gyro down there over 5 years ago now, and if it doesn't live up to it's reputation then I am sorry Greek backed clubs but I will boycotting your food until further notice.

Keeping it nice and short this week mainly because I am brain dead and waiting until I am not brain dead will see me miss my Tuesday publishing deadline. And finally, Happy 63rd Birthday to the best club in the world and Happy 10th of April to all the good folk out there celebrating this glorious day in history.

Better late than never..

Man the week has gone by quick. I did plan on writing this no later than Sunday but there just isn't enough time in life.

1-1 with Richmond last Friday in a pretty even match. I was really looking forward to getting there nice and early for a feed and few beers before kick off, especially after seeing something about Hofbrauhaus the week before. As if the couple of years I had to wait to return wasn't enough, the person I was kind enough to offer a lift to the match decided to make me wait in their driveway for 20 minutes before they got home. I was already fairly pissed off because I was running late myself and wouldn't get there until kick off, so you could imagine how I felt when they pulled up 5 minutes before kick off and get into my car. To top it off after finally heading out, we had to turn back because someone forgot to bring their jumper. Now 3 minutes before kick off and even more pissed off, I was informed I had to stop at the servo for an ATM withdrawal and some cigarettes.

With pissed off no longer being a true way of describing how I was feeling, I mentioned that we are going to miss an early goal, cause that's just what happens when you're late. So it didn't come as too much of a surprise a few minutes later when I heard the phone go off and was told we were 1 nil down. Going a goal down that early didn't really get to me because I wasn't there to see it, so it doesn't hurt as much. And with the mental state I was in I don't think anything could have got to me at that point.

Were the costumes necessary?

After getting there quicker than anticipated and only being about 15 or so minutes late, we grabbed a token German beer from the bar where we were served by some lovely German ladies. Whether they were actually German or paid to be German I'm not exactly sure. For a club with not so many Germans, they seem to push the German theme a lot. Kind of feels like walking into an Irish themed pub but all the workers and patrons are true blue.
Anyway within a few minutes of wetting my moustache we came back with a scrappy equaliser that seemed to take everyone a good 10 seconds to realise that we had actually scored. Can't say that I celebrated the goal at all, guess I still hadn't quite calmed down just yet.

As half time approached I headed into the club to beat the rush (lol) for a cheese kransky. I can safely say that the instant my tastebuds were able to process what was happening in my mouth, I instantly went from being pissed off to pretty damn happy, and also for my second serving. Can safely say it's the tastiest piece of meat I have had in the league, and definitely shits on all the Greek clubs charging you $10 for a shitty souvlaki with hardly any meat.

The second half saw both sides have enough chances to take all three points. Jacob Colosimo was dragged down in the box, while Richmond were denied a handball in the area. Don't think this is normally the case with us but for some reason we had made all three subs by the 70th minute. This bit us in the ass pretty hard when 10 minutes later Chris Talajic went down with yet another dislocated shoulder, the first after having surgery. I really feel for him as he is a top kid who at his young age has endured more injuries than some people do in their life time, and has never given up. I wish him a very speedy full recovery and hope to see him back on the park again soon.

And the boys will be back on the park tomorrow night against Hume City as we start our run against some of the tougher opponents. I think the next few games will give us a clear indication of where we are at this season.

PS. Sorry to the person who expects something no later than Tuesday.

Back from the dead!

Some of you may have been wondering what has been going on for the past month or so. To cut a long story short I cracked the screen on my laptop just before Round 1 and have been out of action since then. If I didn't break it then, I would have a week later, purposely. I've only managed to get around to buying a new one this week which why there has been no activity up until now. 

Quite a bit has happened since I reported on the Friendship Cup. Some of the bigger things you may have noticed at Knights Stadium this year are the new fence and the new car park. Even without going to Knights Stadium you more than likely would have seen or heard about #FenceGate with the coverage it got on social media. 

Melbourne Knights Car Park

Cosmetically not too much has changed at Knights Stadium in the past 10 years, which makes these improvements look and feel even better. When I heard about the new car park I was expecting it to be asphalted to match what the majority of the existing asphalt looks like, but boy was I in for a surprise. We have gone from crushed rock and recycled asphalt plagued with puddles and pot holes to not just one of the best car parks in the sport, but in the country world. It kind of felt weird that for once the club had actually done something properly. Full credit to Tony Karlusic, his board and all others involved for getting this and the fence done.

As good as the car park, it's hidden away from most people that don't have the privilege of parking there like sponsors and players/officials. Which is why the new fence is rightfully more impressive and important. Gone are the 'dark days of the NSL' where players and supporters were separated by barbed wire. Whilst I do admire the intimidating feel of a nice tall wire fence, nothing looks neater that a nice short fence that you can lean on while telling an opposition player what you really think of them.

More Somers St fence. Taller than I expected. Almost Chaplin Reserve height. Plus two Gully fans. #PS4NPLVIC #MKvGG pic.twitter.com/jWxaJ0eAWz

— Les Street (@official_lesdog) February 19, 2016

So impressive is the new fence it even prompted Les Street to come down and take a few snaps. It seems to have had such an impact that I even overheard people still commenting on it at the game last night.

The last and most recent change to the venue (which I don't believe was at the hands of the football side of the club) was the removal of the trees between the South end of the ground and the club rooms. It's not that I liked the trees that were there, but it kind of just feels too empty now.

So onto our opening match of the 2016 NPL season against overrated and talked up Green Gully. The first thing I noticed after the car park and fence was the new and improved match day programme. Like with the car park and the fence, it is a massive leap forward compared to the black and white edition that was photocopied in the clubs office up until now.

Don't forget to pick up your program at tonight's match! #MKFC #OneLoveOneClub #MKvBL #PS4NPLVIC pic.twitter.com/QqDHi7Yy8m

— Melbourne Knights FC (@MelbKnights) March 24, 2016

I'm not going to claim to know what an A-league match day programme looks like, but I somehow doubt that any of them would be better. Full credit to the Knights media team and anyone that has contributed to the quality content that has gone to print so far.
As far as the match itself goes. I don't think anyone would have turned down a point if it was offered to us pregame. I mentioned a lack of preparation for the season and it clearly showed in the first half. Fortunately for us we only managed to concede once and a returning Jacob Colosimo was on hand to level the game to send us all home satisfied with the result. It's a shame the same thing couldn't be said about the next game!

In my 20+ years of supporting the club, I cannot once recall contemplating leaving a match early because of the result. The opening 20 minutes against Heidelberg were an absolute disgrace. Without a doubt the worst opening to a match I have ever witnessed, with the overall result not being too far off what South Melbourne did to us the year Adrian Cagalj came off injured early in the first half at Bob Jane Stadium. I don't think we can put this down to a lack of preparation, rather a lack of desire to want to even play. Our half hearted attempt of playing the game coupled with Heidelberg coming out with a point to prove after being embarrassed by South Melbourne led to a perfect storm. As I mentioned earlier, If I hadn't already broken my laptop, I would have then. Perhaps it was better I didn't have an avenue to vent after the events that took place that day.

Our first victory of the season in our third match against a Northcote side that many will tip to go down this year. While our performance was much better than the week before, it's safe to say that Northcote were no where near the standard of Heidelberg. I was pleased with our first half and thought we should have punished them even more, but was left quite frustrated when we let them back into the game in the second half. Even though I felt that we still weren't playing quite as well as we should be, it was an improvement on the first two games. Fraser Chalmers made his debut and looked comfortable from the get go. And again it's a shame I couldn't say the same about the next game!

I wasn't quite sure what to make of our fourth game at Port Melbourne as I don't know too much about their squad. The only thing I do know is our record has been fairly good there in the past few years, which I guess counts for something. We didn't make the best start to the match with Port being in control from early on, and it didn't get any better when Chalmers kicked the ball straight out to Port Melbourne leaving captain Milan Batur with little choice but to take the man down in the area awarding them a penalty and himself a couple of weeks off. Luckily though Chalmers redeemed himself by making a save and keeping us level. It seemed luck was on our side from then as Port Melbourne continued to waste any opportunity they had in our area, whilst we took our chance up the other end with a penalty of our own, as Jacob Colosimo made it 3 goals from 3 appearances. Seemed though that luck didn't want to stay on our side with Port being awarded yet another penalty that they weren't going to miss this time. Even though we didn't take our chance to snatch all 3 points in the end, I think we were all content with the point and proud of the way the boys (majority of them very young) fought for each other and gave it there all. It felt like we had gone from a side mixed with new individuals to a team.

Once again the FFV fucked up royally with the commencement of the FFA Cup for NPL sides. Not only did they have the draw 3 days before the first game, but made a 'catch up round' in the league to accommodate for the fixtures. As much as they like to label it as the FFA Cup this early on, no one really gives a shit for these rounds, especially when you draw Eltham Red Backs. So rather than scheduling the matches over the Easter weekend when no one goes to the games anyway, they do it a week before when clubs could have maintained healthy early season crowds. Great job guys (thumbs up).
Regardless of which lower league team we draw, it's always good for the boys to get a bit of a confidence boost. Was also great to see us not take them for granted and put out a full strength team from the first minute. Not sure when the next fixtures will be drawn but you would hope it's more than 3 days in advance.

And finally we are back to last night, which brings me back up to date. With the courage we showed against Port and the confidence booster last week, I felt quite confident going into this match. Always difficult going up against a newly promoted side early on as they are still unknown. The addition of 3 of our former players (Alinejad, Colosimo, Covarrubias) as well as Griffin McMaster in goals suggests that they can't be too bad, but results so far wouldn't suggest they are excellent either (despite drawing to the mighty South Melbourne, more on them soon). Thought we started well and had the better of the play in the first half and deservedly took the lead through Hicks who get's more impressive each week. Even sweeter that he left South for us who said they didn't need him when they found out he left, but talked him up when they first signed him. Fraser Chalmers also pulled off a killer save in the first half which is becoming the norm for him. I'm going to put it out there now and say he is better than Chris May (who is looking for somewhere to buy metal studs because of something about all the grounds being no good, didn't have a problem when you were keeper of the year with us last season? Hmm.) The second half should have seen us 2-0 up with Hicks missing a clear cut chance. And former player Covarrubias could have leveled at the death when he blasted over the bar from inside the box. Would have really hurt to concede in the 95th minute when there was meant to be 4 minutes added on even though there was barely 2 minutes of stoppages? Anyway overall I was pleased with the way we played and obviously the result. Seems like we are starting to gel nicely now and should only keep getting better each week as we have been up until now.

Next week we take on the other newly promoted side in Richmond. Looking forward to getting back to their ground for a good feed. Always liked them as a club and felt very comfortable and welcome whenever we have played there. Got a funny story about them actually, not too funny because we face them next but funny because of who they did it to.

@RichmondSC1953 defeat @smfc by 6-3 after trailing 3-1 at h/t A 5 goal second half gives the 3121 boys 3 points pic.twitter.com/pGZyDlRKnn

— Chanoz79 (@Chanoz79) March 24, 2016

Trailing 1-3 to world beaters South Melbourne at half time, they came out in the second half to smash 5 goals past the Oceania Super-Club of the Century to take their first 3 points in a 6-3 romp. That's pretty funny, right?


Back in about a week provided I don't break my laptop again.

Wishing you all a very safe and Happy Easter!

What to make of the Friendship Cup?

Not too much really. But what better way to kill some time during the flight back to Melbourne than another blog entry?

This year was the 10th instalment of the Friendship Cup which began in early 2005 after the demise of the old dark violent ethnic NSL. Some of you may have done the math and figured out that 2005 to 2016 is more than 10 years, and you are right. The reason for the difference is a 'breakdown in communication' which halted the event for a couple of years, that's not entirely true but we will just leave it at that. 

Knights media team view before the match 

Despite the unpleasant weather, the arrival at the club was a rather pleasant one, seeing many familiar faces and catching up with friends made along the way of the 10 year journey. You could say that things have changed quite some bit since the event first came to Sydney back in 2006. From the club undergoing a few makeovers, to older faces moving on and younger ones emerging.

Knights Fans in 2010

The presence of Knights fans I must admit was also not what it once was, with 30 odd fans making the trek over by bus in 2010 in what was to date the most exciting match in the cups short history, which saw United run out 3 - 2 winners with a goal in the dying minutes. Apart from the scoreline, not too much was replicated this time around, with crowds getting smaller every year and the event maybe, just maybe, not serving the purpose it once did.

For most part of the 90 minutes I wasn't too impressed. The first half didn't see us produce much more than a Jason Hicks free kick which hit the crossbar (more on him later). And we only really got back into the game in the latter stages due to combination of our younger players coming on trying to prove their worth, combined with United either doing the same or being worn out from the heat. To be honest I didn't give the match my 100% attention as I was a little preoccupied trying to swallow my warm can of Toohey's New. Warm because I had to walk half way around the ground in the sun with it, and because I had to get more than one in case they sold out of them like they did with the Corona. I guess serving beer out of a minibar for the whole stadium doesn't help.

Although I wasn't impressed, I'm not overly concerned. Last year saw us go down to them 5 - 0 at home only to go on and win out opening 5 games of the season. But maybe I should be concerned, as we had a very favourable fixture last year and although we didn't have an excellent pre season campaign then, it can't be any worse than the one we had this year. As far as I am aware we are yet to have a hit out against a decent or even any side with our full starting 11. I guess having a few small injuries doesn't help that, but either does not playing anywhere near enough serious opponents, nor does still signing players. Which brings me back to Jason Hicks. I must say it feels rather sweet to have him on our roster. A man that was once hailed as a great signing and exactly what was need in the middle of the park by South Melbourne fans, has now been deemed surplus by the same group of people who act like it's no big deal. Cry me a river, you guys are full of shit. But hey, what's new? 

Hicks joins SMFC

The arrival of Hicks you would assume is the end of our transfer window campaign, however a little birdie may have told me that it ain't other yet. But whether or not another player is brought in or not doesn't really phase me too much. We might not have replaced the quality that departed at the end of last year but that's ok. I think we had an exceptional team then, and for our budget I can't say I expect us to maintain that level of quality every year.   

Mid flight snack

The parmesan paprika bikkies were OK but nothing special. I didn't have any of the tomato salsa dip because it's not my type of thing. Drinks being offered more than 10 minutes later didn't enhance the experience at all. Would much rather have enjoyed the usual cheese and crackers I was served on the way up, where I received a drink at the same time mind you. 

Not sure if it is because I have been quite busy in the off season and haven't had a chance to attend any club events until the Friendship Cup, but this off season seems a bit longer to me than the last few years. In saying that, I cannot wait for Friday nights game. Where win lose or draw, I'll just be happy to be back where I belong.