There’s a kind of Hush...

First team coach Campbell Johnston was able to smile for the first time in three weeks after his team’s convincing 5-2 victory over Balmoral last weekend. But it was not a win without controversy! First Team Assistant Coach Greg Small was sent from the home team dugout by the Referee for using abrasive language. Though as we all know, with Greg’s English/South Australian accent, anything he says comes out sounding abrasive!

The Heighter’s were up 2-1 at half time, thanks to nice finish from Brendan Cowman which he followed up by with a clever cross to give Chris Kandi an opportunity to perform a clinical finish. But the Heighter’s defence still managed to leak a goal.

Early into the second half, the Heigher’s conceded a second goal and it became terribly apparent that the pressure was getting too much for coach Campbell Johnston. It was obvious to this reporter that Campbell wanted to be somewhere else as he tried to secrete himself deeper and deeper into the Heighter’s dugout. Despite the moderate weather temperature, a coat of sweat appeared on his furrowed brow and there appeared to be a mist clouding his pharmaceutical spectacles. It had been a tough time for the Ginger haired coach. Three losses in a row had taken their toll on his usual over confident self and with his lads surrendering the lead for a second time; chinks were appearing in his brazen armour.

When situations seem to be at their most dire, the time comes for a hero to step up and fight the Just cause. Fortunately for the Heighter’s, up stood Greg Small. It was he who stepped forward to take the dangling reins of the precarious Watsonia Heights Stage Coach and he gallantly guided the lads back to winning ways.

With a few abrasive instructions from Greg, the Heighter’s gradually began to claw their way back on top. Eventually the continuous pressure on Balmoral’s defence took its toll. It was up to Trevor Clark’s good mate, Trevor Carson to put away a simple tap-in to edge the Heighter’s back in front. After some more pressure, Brendon Cowman capitalised with his second goal for the game and finally the Heighter’s started to look like they were going to celebrate a win.

With the Referee finally taking offence to the loud English Accent with the South Australian twang, Campbell was able to shake himself out of his self imposed solitude and regain the mantel of coach. With a new found confidence, he saw to it that the boys finished off the game.

But just when the Heighter’s faithful thought it couldn’t get any better than this – it did! The referee awarded a penalty to the home team.

After two disappointing penalty misses two weeks ago, there was a hint of jocularity from the crowd suggesting that anybody should take the penalty, anybody except Richard Duerden.

But the lad wearing number 10 who originates from Burnley, pushed aside his team mates. He was a man on a mission. He needed to put aside the ghosts of two weeks ago and regain his position as the flamboyant centre piece of the Watsonia Heights first team attack.

Richard placed the ball on the spot, angling the ball slightly to the left to favour his much vaunted right foot.

He stepped back slowly, measuring his run up precisely.

He checked his appearance in the reflection of the nearest car windscreen and smiled to himself – this was the day!

The crowed hushed to an almost deathly quiet. The jocularity from a few moments ago faded away and was completely forgotten.

As Richard began his approach to the ball, a vacuum was created by every member of the crowd inhaling their breath at the same time. If the Balmoral goal keeper had intended to dive to his left, well, we’ll never know. But such was the force of the vacuum he was pulled to his left anyway. Richard seeing the opportunity open up before him calmly slotted the ball into the vacant side of the goal.

The crowd erupted!

The euphoria was immeasurable. The darling of the Watsonia Faithful had redeemed himself and was thus welcomed back in to their open arms. Richard’s young fiancée quickly phoned her parents to let them know she didn’t have to come home for dinner after all and that Richard will be cooking a gastronomic treat for them both to celebrate.

The pressure on Ri chard before he took the kick had to have been immense. Like the true professional he is, he took it all in stride. Well Done Richard.

In a somewhat dour performance from the usually prolific goal scoring squad assembled by Mike Donohue, the Watsonia Heights reserve team won 1-0 thanks to a James Fazzino goal. Despite the performance, Mike was quick to point out that that win was the twenty second game in a row without a defeat - which is the equivalent of going through the whole season undefeated!

The Heighter’s next game is away to the Brimbank Stallion’s on Saturday the 28th May at the Club Italia Sporting Club, 128-152 Furlong Road, Sunshine North – Melways Map Reference 26 E5.

The Heighter’s next home game is on Saturday the 4th June against the Meadow Park Eagles at Gabonia Avenue.

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Things are looking grim…..

After two heart breaking loses where the results could have quite easily been quite different, first team coach Campbell Johnston could only shake his head in dismay. “Who did I wrong in a previous life to deserve this!” he confided in me after the game.

I shared a quick glance with first team captain – Anthony Marney and together we both nodded our agreement knowing full well as to what was the cause! “He insists on wearing those ill-fitting Manchester United shirts with the old beer stains on!” explained Anthony to a crowd of desolate supporters. “Of course the Football Gods are angry – how can you coach one team and support another! It’s sacrilegious!”

Even this reporter has suggested to Campbell he take some fashion tips from the authority of sharp dressing local coaches – the one and only Matty McNamara. Matty can often be seen striding up and down the sidelines of a soccer pitch on the weekend, resplendent in an off the shelf ensemble that he had hastily put together that morning! Many crowds have in the past, been captivated with what Matty is wearing – so much so, that they forget about what is happening on the pitch itself.

This reporter believes (and has the full support of the first team captain on this) that until Coach Campbell learns to attire himself correctly on game day, there will only be further heartbreak for him and his team in the foreseeable future.

Then there is the enigmatic Richard Duerden. One week, a darling of the fans with his sharp new haircut and four goals to the good. Two weeks later he’s the scourge of the Watsonia Heights faithful. It all looked good when he scored early in the second half to bring the score back to 2-1. The crowd lifted and his young fiancé glowed with pride beside their captivated little dog who only had eyes for her master. If they only then had some premonition on how the afternoon would unfold, they could have made a hasty retreat to the sanctuary of Bec’s parent’s house for theevening.

Not long after Richard’s goal, Watsonia were rewarded a penalty. With an opportunity to put the Heighter’s back on level terms, Richie was entrusted with the spot kick. He strode in his usual way into the box, checked on his reflection in the windscreen of the nearest car and placed the ball on the spot. A knowing smile to the crowd was followed by a laconic amble and he let fly with a shot on goal. Straight to where the Keeper had dived.

The crowd groaned in disbelief. Richard’s young fiancé hung her head and their little dog shivered – feeling the cold for the first time.

To rub further salt into the wound, Moreland Wolves immediately capitalised on the devastation that had just hit Gabonia Avenue and scored a third goal.

The Heighter’s picked themselves up and in true fighting spirit applied continuous forward pressure. This eventually won them a second penalty after James Fazzino was pushed to the ground in the 18 yard box.

It was time for redemption. Richard purposely pushed the other boys aside to give him a chance to atone for the previous diabolical miss. This time, he did not check his reflection in the nearest car windscreen – for this time he had a job to do. In unison the Watsonia faithful held their collective breath as Richard again placed the ball on the spot. He charged in, let fly and placed the ball in the left hand corner….

…straight into the waiting palms of the Moreland goalkeeper, who deflected it nicely away from the goal.

Two supporters passed out as they had forgotten to let their breath out. Richard’s small shivering dog summed up the feeling of the crowd when she let out a long, sole wrenching howl to break the deafening silence.

The game ended in a 3-1 defeat for the Heighter’s. Oh how different the result might have been if Richard had put away the two penalties. Oh how different this report could have been if Richard had dug deep into his pockets after the game and bought this reporter a beer. Sometimes Richard – you have to learn the hard way!

At the other end of the spectrum is Reserve team coach Mike Donohue. Indeed it is often said that in many ways, Mike is at the other end of the spectrum in many things.

After coaching is team to a 21st game without a defeat, Mike firmly believes that this must be a club record. In fact, he’s decided it is a club record, as there have not been any such historic records, recorded at all by the local scribes! In the past, we’ve always tended to rely on Pete Delany’s memory.

A goal from Adrian Bate and a stunning hat-trick from a much leaner Al Popovski, saw the reserve team win 4-0 on Saturday. The result could have been better with the boys hitting the cross-bar with consecutive shots late in the second half. The crowd were bemused to see the Moreland Wolves goal keeper completely miss judge one shot as it cannoned into the cross bar and he just stood there watching it.

After the game, I asked the hat-trick hero how he was feeling after a nasty bout of gastro the previous week.

“Well as you know last week I attempted an act of extreme dieting, partially for the thrill of doing something in the extreme and partially because somebody said I was starting to resemble my portly little brother!” Al explained.

“Never again will I do that! I couldn’t complete the first half of the game last week as I just had no energy.” But as Al stopped to think about it he said, “But then again, I guess I’d prefer to spend a couple of day’s sitting on the toilet than resembling my younger brother.”

This reporter did note something unusual on Saturday. During the first half of the first team game, I spied Mike Donohue heading to the carpark with an unopened can of VB. Why is this odd, I hear you ask? Well, I happen to know that Mike Donohue would rather drink raw sewerage than VB! Indeed I once saw him drinking Foster’s Lager as it was the only other option to VB at the Darebin ground. Anyway, I can only assume that he was using it to clean his shoes or was just hiding it from Al Mercer. I can’t believe he’d actually sneak off to drink it! Could he?

The Heighter’s next game is away to the Essendon Royal’s on Saturday the 14th May at the Reggio Calabria Club, Brunswick Road, Brunswick – Melways Map Reference 29 B9.

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Thirteen goals later…..

An undermanned Youth United came to Gabonia Avenue Reserve on Saturday hoping to steel a point or two. Both their First and Reserve teams were subsequently sent back home to Campbellfield with no points and a severe negative goal difference.

A relieved and somewhat rejuvenated first team coach – Campbell Johnston could not hide the smile on his face after his team’s 6-0 rout. “If the canteen had VB Stubbies – I’d shout you all a drink” he cried. A few pointed out that there were Carlton Draught stubbies available – but Campbell explained that he was a man of principle and would not shout what he considered to be a sub-standard beer! “You all deserve better than that” he told the crowd.

The Heighter’s came in at half time with a 1-0 lead thanks to a Trevor Carson (or was it Trevor Clark) goal. The Heighter’s fans felt that Youth had battled well to stay in the game up until then but is was only a matter of time before the flood-gates opened.

And open they did.

A wonderful finish from Brendan Cowman saw the Heighter’s go 2 up early in the second half which was quickly followed by a mesmerising run into the 18 yard box by the hard working Ian Dineen. The Youth defence eventually gave up on trying to catch Ian and blatantly fouled him in front of the Referee. The Referee quite rightly pointed to the penalty spot.

Pushing his way through the crowd of players to take the spot kick was none other than the lad from Burnley himself – Richard Duerden. Sporting a new hair cut and giving the crowd his usual mischievous grin – Richard calmly slotted the ball home for his first for the day and followed it up by making the rest of day all his own.

“After slotting home the penalty, I felt that I was finally in the zone!” explained Richard after the game. “Though I have to admit, my second goal left me a little dazed for the rest of the match!”

“What happened Richard?” I asked.

“Well it was that cheeky bugger Jesse Krstevski! When he had the ball on the right wing, I pointed to my feet because obviously that’s where all the magic happens. Jesse just looked at me, shook his head and grinned.” Richard paused to reflect on what happened next.

“Before I knew it, he’d unleashed a rocket across the box and before I could move my head out the way, the ball had rebounded off my forehead and into the Youth United goal.” Richard went on to explain. “Jesse was determined from the start of the game to mess up my hair! Anyway the rest of the game was a bit of a blur after that. The boys told me I scored a couple more and just missed out on a fifth!”

Richard was helped off the pitch at the end of the game and might not have made it to the change rooms had not somebody provided him with the sustenance he needed to get there - in the form of cold stubby of Corona!

Likewise a happy reserve team coach – Mike Donohue toasted his teams 7-1 success but not before startling the crowd with the outrageous demand he yelled out to his team after the final whistle!

“Nobody talk to Al Popovski” exclaimed Mike.

Well as a long time fan of the great man, I was sh cked. Al had scored 4 of the seven, with Adam Jones scoring 2 and Dave Rottura taking the Mickey by scoring from the half way line.

I spoke to Al after the game but as usu al, the suave sophistication of the man shone through showing why he was still a crowd favourite among the Watsonia faithful.

“What 4 isn’t enough.” He exclaimed. “Sure I could have had a couple more (Reporter’s note: about 15 more) but wrapping up the golden boot in only the third game of the season would have been incredibly unfair to my old mate Scotty – emphasis on the old, of course!”

“One goal I didn’t even take a shot, I just dribbled past the defence and thought – I’ve tormented them enough – and let it go for the Keeper to pick up. He missed it!”

A big thank you should also go out to Nathan Turner for volunteering to Referee the reserve game. As no FFV Referee turned up, Nathan’s assistance was greatly appreciated by all at Watsonia Heights S.C.

At the end of the day, some more glorious highlights to be remembered in the history of the Watsonia Heights Soccer Club just before going in to the Easter Break. A majestic four goals from Richard Duerden and a comical four goals from Al Popovski.

The Heighter’s next game is away to Darebin United on Saturday the 30th April at Mayer Park (Corner Normanby Ave/Leinster Gve, Thornbury – Melways Map Reference 30C5).

I look forward to seeing you all there in 2 weeks time – Go Heighter’s.

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Back on track…

A couple of workmanlike performances from both the first team and the reserve team saw the Heighter’s come away from Mill Park with all 6 points – thanks to two 2-nil wins. A special mention must go to Martin “2 clean sheets” Laidler for his Herculean effort to man the Watsy goals for 180 minutes.

With First team keeper Liam Miller – a late withdrawal due to back problems, Martin kept 2 clean sheets despite gale force wins barrelling down the pitch for 2 sets of 45 minutes. Well done Marty. First team coach – Campbell Johnston was grateful for the win, but is still ruing the number of absent first team players due to injury.

“Really, most teams in our league would have put 8-10 past Mill Park today.” Campbell said discontentedly after the game. “Admittedly we put out a young team, who’ve down the job they needed to do – but we need to step up substantially if we’re going to challenge for the title!”

Goals from Ben Catania (first half) and Michael Roberts (second half) saw the Heighter’s take all three points.

Club Captain – Anthony Marney had an alternative solution as to first teams form reversal from the previous week. “I told Campbell, we hadn’t won a game while he was wearing that hideous Manchester United shirt. He wore it last week when we lost to Brunswick – he didn’t wear it today and we won!” explained Anthony. “We’ll have to ask his lovely wife to bury it in his back garden somewhere!”

Newly returned jet-setter and Reserve team Coach – Mike Donohue was exasperated with both his teams performance and that the Mill Park canteen only served Victoria Bitter beer. In fact it was somewhat troubling for all those who know him, to see Mike watching a game of football and drinking a can of soft drink.

“Surly this hasn’t happened since he was 10 year old lad in Liverpool” a somewhat bemused comment was heard uttered from the crowd.

I tried to interview the Title winning Reserve team coach, but his teams performance and the lack of a ‘quality’ beer being available – had Mike in a somewhat surly disposition for most of the first team game (even more so than usual!).

I tried anyway, “Excuse me Mr. Donohue, have you any comments for the club website about today’s reserve team performance?”

Mike D: “No, so …Koff”

Reporter: “But Mr. Donohue, people all over the world read this web-site and are keen to hear what you have to say.”

Mike D: “Are you from the BBC?”

Reporter: “errrr no”.

Mike D: “…Koff”

Reporter: “I’ve got an A-Mex card that I’m happy to give you for your time! It belongs to an Al Mercer, I found it at the clubrooms on Thursday night.”

Mike D: “Why would I want that?”

Reporter: “Well on the back – it’s signed in green crayon!”

Mike D: “Ha! All right, what do you want to know?”

Reporter: “Just a summary really on today’s performance!”

Mike D: “All right, we scored in the first minute and I thought – here we go, we’ll put 10 past them today…. that was it! It took until late in the second half before we scored again. They were a man down for the last 15-20 minutes after Al Popovski nearly decapitated their number 10 with one of his shots for goal. Admittedly, the ball would have landed in South Morang had it not hit the bloke – but really with them down to 10 men a 2-nil win just isn’t good enough.”

Reporter: “Fill in coach Al Popovski told me last week that his influence on the sidelines was instrumental in the 4-1 win!”

Mike D: “Bollox! He only got a game today, because we were short on numbers!”

After thanking Mike for his time, I relaxed with the crowd and enjoyed the friendly banter between the Watsy reserve team players. I particularly enjoyed listening to the gentle coercion from the boys, insisting that young Kogu offer them all a free prostrate examination after he completed his studies and young Jack Fazzino’s explanation that despite ‘Doing the Deb’ with the Mill Park first team goal keeper, he assured the boys that they were just friends – on Facebook!

The Heighter’s are back at home this week – Saturday 16th April , hosting Youth United. As usual, the reserve team will kick off at 1:00pm and the first team will kick off at 3:00pm.

Come on down to Gabonia Reserve in Watsonia to cheer on the Heighter’s as both teams look to cement their positions in the top half of the table before the Easter break.

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Bouncing back….

A devastating second half onslaught by the highly fancied Brunswick Zebra’s saw Watsonia Heights 2-1 half time lead disintegrate into a 5-3 loss. Even when the Heighter’s were 3-2 down, the heroics of their man between the sticks – Liam Miller - saving a some-what charitable penalty could not lift the Heighter’s out of their second half slump.

Coach Campbell Johnston could only shake his head and assistant coach Greg Small likewise. Campbell reflected later that evening that he missed the intuitive words of long time friend and life coach – Chris McInnes. “I could see the boy’s heads drop as they conceded 4th goal. With Greg and I out of ideas, I turned and looked hopefully for my mate Chris. Sadly all I could see was the gaping space on the hill that he and half a dozen empty stubbies usually occupy. Many a time in the past I’ve listened to his learned doctrine on all things – even football – but he wasn’t there and I really felt the loss!” confided Campbell.

Fortunately though - after the game, Campbell was able to discuss the match with a couple of past Heighter’s first team coaches in Dave Grbin and Dave Delany. The two Dave’s passed on their thoughts and provided Campbell with plenty of food for thought as to how he and the boys should re-group and get their plans underway for the away trip to Mill Park on Saturday the 9th April.

Watsonia’s goals were scored by debutant Brendan Cowman, Richard Duerden and Ian Dineen.

Fill in Reserve Coach, 2010 golden boot winner, runner up 2010 B+F winner and car polisher extraordinaire Mr. Al Popovski, was a complete contrast to the first team coach. Brimming with pride after his Reserve team convincingly defeated the Brunswick reserves 4-1, Al was feeling reflective when asked by this reporter “Do you think the boys value you more when you’re on the pitch or like today - off of it”.

“That’s a very tough call Mickey”, Al said thoughtfully. “Obviously if I had been playing, the victory margin would have been a lot bigger – but at the end of the day, there is only a maximum of three points that can be claimed – and that’s what we achieved.”

I then asked Al the following to get a better insight into his coaching technique - “As the coach for the day, were there any decisions you made or regretted making that may have affected the final result?”

“Welllllll I do regret not subbing off earlier that old bloke who I believe conceded the penalty with his floppy hands in the 18 yard box – what was he doing? The ‘I’m a little teapot song’? But seriously, it took a little while for the boys to jell and once they did it was all plain sailing from there.”

“I heard it was Adrian that conceded the penalty!” I queried.

"Yerrr I heard the boys say that too, but I have no doubt in mind that it was Scotty – trying his hardest to tarnish my excellent coaching record by giving a way a penalty!” replied Al shaking his head.

“Do you think Mike Donohue will be able to get more out of the boy’s one his return?” I asked.

“He’ll have me back in the team for a start” snorted Al. “You can add 5 more goals to the team sheet straight away – not that I’ll score them all. I’ll have to lay off a couple to Scotty Brown so he can try and keep up with my golden boot tally for 2011. I gave him a games head start and did he take advantage – No! Bloody doing the Teapot dance in the 18 yard box…. Anyway, Mr. Donohue will be happy in the knowledge that I got his team off to the perfect start and I’ll happily share some of my 100% coaching record success knowledge with him on his return!”

As alluded too earlier in this article, the Watsonia Heights boys are off to Findon Reserve, just off Crampton Crescent in Mill Park to take on the Mill Park boys who received an absolute towelling from the Heidelberg Stars last weekend. The Reserves kick off at 1:00pm and the first team kick off at 3:00pm on Saturday the 9th April, 2011.

So get down to Mill Park to cheer on the Heighter’s and support Campbell as he turns it all around this weekend.

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And so it begins again...

Saturday the 2nd April, 2011 sees the start of a new season for Watsonia Heights Soccer Club. The reserve team winning the title and the first team finishing a courageous third after a slow start will now be forgotten – they are merely a part of WHSC history.

The First team coach Campbell Johnston is under no illusions about what to expect in the new season. A veteran of many, many games himself, he knows that it all begins at 3:00pm on Saturday against a worthy adversary in the Brunswick Zebra’s. “I could see last year that Brunswick Zebra’s are a very well coached and very well drilled team. They were always in place for their set pieces – they are a team that will be up there this season.” confided Campbell late one Thursday night to this reporter.

The first team remains relatively unchanged from last season. The retirement of Andrew Seeley and Paul Sutton will be a big loss to the team, but new recruits Paul Duffin and Brendan Cowman should help compensate. The new super trim Liam Miller and the emergence of Martin “can’t run anymore” Laidler as the two goal keepers will bring a new look to the Watsonia Heights defence. Fortunately, coach Campbell and retained the services of the ever reliable Anthony Marney, Alfonzo Santone and Rob Rottura to maintain the structure that helped concede the least amount of goals in the Provisional League 3NW for the 2010 season (17).

The reserve team coach Mike Donohue decided the only way to steady his nerves and survive the pressure of coming off a title winning season, was to go to Thailand for the week and relax. Therefore it’ll be up his second in command - Al Mercer and veteran Rob DeMatteo to sort out how the reserve team will line up this Saturday at 1:00pm. Injury concerns relating to the big toe of last seasons golden boot winner Al Popovski may be the only notable omission from this Saturday’s line-up. Al has tried everything to get his big toe sorted by the start of the season – even rubbing some imported Dodo Juice into the offending appendage! This Thursday we’ll all be anxiously awaiting the Reserve and First team line-ups to see if Al has made it to the season opener!

So get down to Gabonia Avenue Reserve, Gabonia Avenue Watsonia – this Saturday to help celebrate the start of the 2011 season and cheer on the boys to morale boosting win over the Zebra’s from Brunswick.

Go Heighters!

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Watsonia Heights have been drawn against the old enemy Epping City in the Mirabella Cup to be played on Saturday the 19th of March at 3pm at Gabonia Reserve, Watsonia.

No love has been lost between the two clubs and everyone will be fired up for it so get down and show your support. The bar will be open and a BBQ put on for the match.

Watsonia Heights vs Epping City - Saturday the 19th of March at 3pm, Gabonia Reserve, Watsonia