Round 2 had Evil traveling to Soccer Drive Slacks Creek to take on Punter FC. The Punters are a new team to the QIF and were an unknown quantity. Those that arrived on time were met by an opposition kitted up and ready to go. Most of them built like brick shithouses so the arrival of Howie was a welcome sight. We would soon find out that a few of them had indulged in a couple of Friday drinks.
Unlike Leicester City, Evil would not be lining up the same 2 weeks running. Hicko was promoted up the field into defensive midfield after his great effort of driving 10 hours to make the game, and Wally (Michael Wolhuter being his real name for those of you who cannot find him on the weekly votes.) would hold onto the central defender role after last week’s great display.
Axis came out of the blocks fast making a few good possibilities early however unable to find the back of the net thanks to an invisible defender clearing a ball just off the line after Bourke had like the previous week rounded the keeper and passed the ball to the open net. They would take the lead after about 15 minutes when Toby found Liam in miles of room on the right to wack in a cross to the far stick for Bourke to head home from an acute angle.
The pressure being applied from the midfield on all of the Punters goal kicks was intense. Hicko, Ham, Tracey and Dags were picking up the ball inside the oppositions half and the attacks were coming thick and fast. Dags may have been a little overly animated after a challenge in the box that the referee wasn’t interested in. This pressure could only be contained for so long as eventually Evil doubled the score line with a great through ball from Hicko allowing Bourke to go one of one with the keeper who up to this point of the game resembled Manuel Neuer with his very adventurous dribbling and charge downs. However, on this attack Neuer retreated to 1 foot inside his goal for Bourke to smash to the lower right. The net hadn’t stopped rippling before Adge made the call to substitute the goal scorer for his secret weapon up front Howie.
There were shots aplenty with an effort from Dags being pushed into the woodwork. Lloyd took his first shot in anger for the season with a well hit low drive from outside the 18 yards. Other efforts would come from Viccars, Toby, and Chris. Adges forward substitution would now pay off with only minutes to play in the half. The keeper once again charged forward to clear the ball but it would end up heading to Howie who stuck it first time. It was as if Howie’s body was being possessed by Pele as he pivoted off his left peg to meet the ball at hip height and send it rocketing into the net. It was at this point in time that the Pele inside Howie went from the young talented version to that of the Pele aged 75 with erectile dysfunction as Howie’s left hamstring twinging enough to force his immediate substitution. His replacement Shaw Dave get his Axis of Evil debut up front. Dave showed some real Evil Spirit running after everything including a defensive bit of work to cover for a few midfielders sucking in the big ones.
Evil headed into the half time three nil up and at first our fearless manager was not sure what to make of it. We should probably have had a few more goals but a lack of finishing and final balls were letting us down. Adge was sure this team would run out of legs.
Early in the second half, Tracey would be thrown at the ball inside our own box and of course with the referee we had it was always going to be a penalty. Punters put away the pen and the boys on the bench began to have a few stomach turns as we had not started the second half strong and another goal was just around the corner.
Lloyd was playing the role of enforcer well putting the punters most attacking midfielder in his pocket with some solid challenges and body checks throughout the game. Eventually one challenge was ruled a little too enforcing and he picked up his first yellow card of the year and gave the Punters a free kick in a dangerous position. Before Evil knew it the Punters had scored 2 goals in a few minutes to bring it back to 3-2 with 30 minutes to play.
Evil pushed forward again looking for more goals. The new keeper for Punters who was still recovering after a 4 day bender would make some very lucky saves. Bourke, Chris, Viccars and Toby all went close, however the 4th and final goal from Evil would come thanks to the keepers bazaar punching away of the football that would fall to Chris’s feet from about 35 out who as expected pinged it straight back over his head and onto the lower part of the crossbar. Another rocket goal with the assist going to the keeper.
The game was called 6 minutes short by the referee without any clear reason why. It is anyone’s guess but possibly, he was running late for his funeral service.
For those that stuck around looking for a beer to quench the thirst headed down the road to Meakin Park Sports Club where an enthralling game of Bingo was taking place so we had to be a little quieter than usual. Highlight of the drinking session was Nate shushing the old duck who just screamed BINGO. All in all a great result and next week sees us take on the old foe QUT FC Black at home.
