It must have been the boots

Posted By admin on Apr 6, 2013 | 0 comments


No-one likes getting spanked. Particularly away from home on the opening day of the season. It’s safe to say this would not have been one of the best days in the history of Waitakere City.

It was a decent day for me, however. Oh, and Wanderers too, I guess. But firstly, me. This Saturday was a great father-son bonding afternoon. Nathan, my five year old, accompanied me after being coerced into it with the bribe of a pair of new football boots. Well, the season’s coming up, so it kind of makes sense.

After we got the boots (blue – an omen?) we spent a lazy 90 minutes at Hamilton Zoo hunting for the mysterious Kokako. We didn’t find one but the Meerkats were cool. By the time we got to the zoo the rain, that had threatened to make watching football a real bugger, was gone and the sun was out. That had me looking forward to the football. It had Nathan looking forward to his ice block (bribe #3. I’ll explain bribe #2 in a minute).

Porritt Stadium is the third ground in a row I’ve visited this year that doesn’t have a media car park. What’s up with that…? Maybe I’ve chosen the wrong caper with this blogging thing. We walked from the end of the car park and made it inside the stadium as the match kicked off.

Initially I was a bit underwhelmed as the settling in period saw the ball launched all over the place by both teams. Soon enough, Wanderers had it down and started to look like a decent side. Waitakere’s keeper made a great double save early on, one with his guts, before dropping the ball from a corner for the first goal. From there the afternoon for the visitors headed as steeply down hill as the bank on the far side of the Porritt Stadium pitch.

It was over to that bank I took Nathan with bribe #2 (a new yellow and orange football) to keep him entertained. He was. And so was pretty much everyone else in the stadium as the goals started to fly in. I was working overtime with my camera, taking photos and movies, and posting score updates for the Northern League Forum Facebook page. Half time came at the right time. I needed a rest.

Five-nil at the break became 8-0 at the end. It was a good day at the office for Cossey’s Wanderers who look a very tidy outfit. They look organised, motivated and, on this showing, good from set pieces. Actually, lethal from set pieces as that’s where four or five of their goals came from.

Having said that, it was tough to gauge just how tidy as Waitakere struggled. Really struggled. Wanderers will have tougher games (like just about every weekend this season) so we’ll find out over the next few weeks whether they can mount a serious title challenge. I secretly hope so as it would be good for football in my region.

As for Waitakere, they will have suffered the long drive home and have a couple of miserable days to look forward to as they work their way through this result. I was once in a Swifts side that lost 10-1 at Central and I still remember the feeling of being completely owned on the football field. It’s horrible. It’s a crap drive home and it makes for a rubbish Saturday night. No-one should lose 8-0 at that level, but they did. So let’s see how they respond.

Enough sympathy. This is my article and I’ll finish with this. I had one of those really good days out, that any father who has a son will be able to identify with. That, more than any football match, is what makes like good.

 

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

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