Im a hungry fish as well.
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Geez you know how to gee us up ill give u that! 2 weeks anyway till our next game should be good.
Thanks for the kind words dingdong. I thought today was a pretty good day for both sides. Hamilton being short a few players and Muswellbrook trying out a new formation. Personally the penalty we missed was probably a good thing-our striker CLEARLY just tripped on the ball.
Just enough niggle between players to keep it interesting and show some passion, but not enough to ruin the game.
Summed it up very nicely! Like you said, the Olympic penalty at the end of the first half & the Mussy missed pen at the start of the 2nd half really kept Hamilton in the match. Muswellbrook's keeper is one of the best keeper's across all the ID divisions & did pull of some very nice saves (as usual).
To be honest PV4, the Hamilton boys werent too bad in regards to their infighting. They were even very good sports when it came to copping some friendly banter from the Muswellbrook faithful.
I assume all teams are safe in zl2 this year as Bellbird have pretty much relegated themselves by pulling out of the comp. ZL2 is currently a 9 team comp and i'd imagine the association would like a 10 team comp in 2014. It will be up to the Stockton " sharks" to win promotion before we see shark on shark action in 2014.
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Finally some one has seen what has been so obvious from the start of the season.
Plus if we actually kept the same team in first grade for two games in a row we might get some more points which in some games we have played would have been deserved. But that's football Still what is it like an 8 point gap between us and 4th. not saying we going to make a late run for top 4 (stranger things have happened) but that does mean its close down the bottom. half a season to go yet. looking forward to a second crack at all.
So we have reached the halfway point of the season and pretty much every team has had a look a each other. Any thoughts or predictions on how the second half will play out? Any teams or individual players that have caught the eye?
For me obviously Jesmond have been getting the job done, will be interesting to see of they can keep it up in the second half of the season. This weekends 5-1 win would suggest they aren't showing any signs of slowing down as yet. Charlestown, Hamolton as Westlakes are two other outfits that have caught my eye and if they can string a few wins together and knock off the teams above them will really challenge for honours. The bottom half is also really tight meaning a win for any team is like gold and could see them jump a couple of places.
Standout players, Hamiltons little striker is a tricky customer, was a really enjoyable challenge marking him yesterday. Seems a top bloke as well. Jesmond have a defender that seems to get his lanky legs in when you wouldn't think it possible and I think they would be leaking a lot more goals without him. Charlestowns number 7 in the middle of the park is a real threat whenever he gets the ball and would walk into any team in this division and probably a lot of teams in the divisions above as wel, and again is a really good bloke.
Looking forward to facing big Dunc down at Westlakes in two weeks time as well, love a good challenge!!
Hamilton- probably the strongest team in my opinion but when they are up against tough opposition they either self destruct or begin to go in for dangerous challenges, which is the reason the scoreline blew out when we played them. the number 21 is probably the most dangerous player in the league.
Jesmond- easily the best defensive team in the comp, seem to park the bus with 5 defenders and have a strong counter. when we played them it seemed to be a solid stalemate between us, with a ref making what could be a costly call come season end.
Musswellbrook- was my tip at the start of the year and look most likely to take the premiership. play the most attractive football but dont think it was their best performance against us. looking forward to seeing them play again.
I think these three teams will be in the finals with us, charlie being the team to just miss out.
we havnt played tennambit yet, but ive been quiet supprised by medowie. big improvement from last year by those guys.
The biggest interest for me is that half way through the season first grade and ressies seem to have similar trend. the top 4 is the similar (besides mussy and uni) and charlie is 5th in both. Its interesting that assuming the table stays the same at season end, westlakes hamilton and jesmond will have sides in both finals yet last year only one team could do this
I think we caught Muswellbrook a little flat in round 1 and as they are undefeated since, their quality cannot be underestimated. Always rated Westlakes as a team and still do, possibly the leagues best passing game when they turn it on. I've watched a bit of Olympic and they can be really dangerous - but couldn't call them the strongest as they've only beaten the bottom 4. Smacked by Westlakes, smacked my Muswellbrook, smacked by Charlestown, pointing to a defence that may have errors in them. The only point gained against the top half was a draw with us. Consistently beating teams you should beat is an art though, one we must learn.
I know they're a tad away but Charlestown impresses me and we had to work to earn draw against 10 men. They can play good football but also can get gritty and grind out a result, which is important in this division.
That brings me to players, Clint from Mussy, Chris M from Charlestown, Lucas from Olympic and also their little quick striker. A couple of them are ageing but that's irrelevant. Few others in our league have played high divisions and suspect are getting a 3pm gig based on past glories but definitely not those guys.
As for us, little old Jesmond will just continue "parking the bus", lucky we got the twin turbo model than enables us to get forward and score the odd goal though I suppose. That was the first time we had our top team to choose from yesterday and it showed in 5-1 win. Injuries and inabilities again next week for the top of the table clash but we'll do our best and realise every team rarely gets their best 11 on park.
Second half of season should be good with the breakaway 4 needing to keep an eye on Charlestown and then the rest of the comp have proven they can pick up wins, often through out-enthusing and capitalising on complacency which is so hard to coach out of a team. The finals format means it's anyones once you're there and somewhat rewards mediocrity but that's another topic.
I think that the results show how even the comp is this year. Between Olympic, Westlakes, Mussy, Jesmond, Charlestown anyone can win. Not to forget Uni and Merewether who on their day can beat the leading sides. Whoever shows more hunger and discipline on game day wins.
Westlakes prob the strongest along with mussy i think. Anyway, still plenty of games to be played and i think any those top 5 can win the comp/grand final.
I believe Jesmond & Muswellbrook will fight for the minor premiership. Hamilton and Westlakes will make up the top 4. Other teams that will push for one of those #3 and #4 spots are definitely Charlestown and Uni. Going to be an interesting 2nd half of the round with everyone having had a look at how each other are playing. There is bound to be some upsets and , in classic ID football style no doubt a team from nowhere coming through to surprise everyone. There are a lot of quality players spread across the division this year and it is one of the strongest 2nd division competitions I can remember in recent history. Looking forward to seeing what unfolds. Goodluck to all.
NBN is 2nd division on the pyramid A-League is 1st
Ah so it is. il just shut up now. lol
What's tenambit looking like guys is the game likely to be on tonight?
tenambit vs westlakes called off again, hopefully it can be played next week
after spending hours on Monday getting the ground in top condition. Ducks will be the only ones playing on it for some time. Our ground has become renowned for being slow at recovering from wet weather ( along with a cancel happy council) lucky for us we only have 3 home games left. (if this game V west lakes ever gets played)
No dramas the weather certainly hasn't helped but can't do anything about that. Thanks for the heads up
got a mate that wants to change teams from a zpl side any1 got vacancies in there teams
We at Jesmond have had to call on 35's and all age too often as well as play injured players which is frustrating and is the case this weekend too. We're not after outright reserve graders as when (and if) we get most available it just mean someone else misses a game, however if he has ability to play or at the very least push for a first grade spot he is welcome to attend training tonight at Heaton Park, 6.15 - 8pm. Really good bunch of blokes, going ok on ladder in both grades too. Also feel free to send a private message, i'll make sure I check later in day. Cheers
A big THANKS to Jesmond tonight for letting us ( Merewether ) train at their ground tonight. Jesmond park is in terrible condition and we dont want to tear it up before saturdays game v Westlakes, even though the council wet weather line has it "open" for use today. Its good to see the clubs getting on these days and im sure we can repay the favour in the future. Also was good to train under some decent lights for once.
When's the cutoff for transfers
Ace send him up to raymond terrace if hes keen let me know and ill give you a number to contact
Correction it is actually ID 2nd division. Zone premiers , new fm , nbn , etc aren't part of the interdistrict association. Sorry to steal your thunder mate.
Tenambit V Uni
Res
3-1 Uni
First
4-0 Uni
Mereweather v cats
Res 0-2
Good win from the cats
First goal was a lucky own goal from pressure but missed alot of chances.
Firsts 2-3
Was a great game to watch. IMO the first goal for both teams was harsh. First for westlakes was off a free kick for a player saying "mine". This seems like bobbys pet hate as we have had it against us alot and I personally don't agree with it even if its in the rule books. The free kick was a gem tho.
Mereweather first goal came from our keeper getting to the ball first and contact made by a mereweather player knocked it out of his hands which lead to the goal.
IMO neither team could complain as both were harsh but it would be nice if we could go a game without these types of calls.
As for the game it was a game of two halves. Westlakes were in control of the first half and then had to make a change in the back due to work commitments which gave them a little bit of room and mereweather were very impressive in the second half taking control of the game.