Cosmos v Marconi

Round 3 report by Fred Legget
Canberra Cosmos v Marconi-Fairfield


On entering a refurbished Bruce Stadium I was surprised at its grandeur, and immediately thought, "If ever Socoz decides to play the Grand Final at one nominated location in Oz, then this would do nicely."

I could add, that there would be absolutely no danger of the home side ever having ground advantage in such a fixture, but I won't, as it would be unkind to my hosts last night.

Forza junior showed aspects of his breeding, by immediately securing us seats only two rows from Canberra's most attractive cheerleaders, while GKW and I set off in search of refreshment.

Somewhat dismayed that only Tooheys was on offer, but no doubt that is something to do with Rugby sponsorship at said location....we moaned and groaned, but eventually gave in, and drunk it anyway.

The first half of the game was predictable enough, with both sides trying their best it seemed to pass to the opposition, with Canberra in the early stages marginally finding their men more than Marconi.

Peter Buljan's opener was a well struck shot from about 18 metres, but questions must be asked about what Marconi's central defenders were doing at the time.

Questions must also be asked as to why the linesman and referee ignored a blatant off the ball Harry James assault on Brad Maloney, which put Bugsy over the sideline and almost into the cheerleaders' laps.

By such action Harry ensured that he would be the victim of some good natured verbal abuse for the remainder of the match, but alas, he didn't last the distance and was carried off in the second stanza.

Back to the first half however, and Brad Maloney scored for the third week in a row when he managed to get his head to a ball at the back post.

I won't say he 'headed home', as it was more of the ball bounced off his noggin, and with the goalie at the near post the ball rolled agonisingly in at the other post with both me and GKW blowing like buggery to make sure it crossed the line.

Half time came and we engaged in a game called "what the f*&* did he say?" as we tried to decipher the half time scores that were being called over the tannoy....acoustics like the Opera House, Bruce Stadium does not have.

Second half Marconi never looked like losing it, although I can't say I was over confident that they would win it either, as once more the midfield put in a less than handy shift.

The winner came when one out of a hundred high diagonal balls eluded Canberra defender Burt (who had a fine game) and Kris Trajanovski finally got the monkey off his back with a delicate chip over the advancing goalie.

Indeed Mr Trajanovski went close on two other occasions, one hitting the underside of the bar, and if it had happened in a World Cup Final, England would have been awarded a goal.

Rale Rasic may complain that his side should have had a penalty when one of his players fell over in the box being pursued by Kim, but as I was up at the refreshment shop a the time I had a clear view and it was no penalty.

Rale had been complaining about the referee in the programme, and methinks that the coach doth protest too much.

If Canberra are going to finish anything other than bottom they will need to remember that very few goals are scored from within your own half....unless the opposition score that is.

It appears to me, and several Canberra fans, that the object of Sunday's exercise on their part was to keep the score down.

Frank Farina will be once again happy with the points but not too pleased with the performance.

Big Francis played quite well, but sadly could not match last week's record of 21 minutes before falling on the ground, going earthward at 6 minutes, while Mike Smith again had a couple of goal scoring tackles.

Unfortunately Mr. Invincible once again did not live up to his name, and one wonders if he is ready for a spot of bench warming.

All in all a very pleasant afternoon/evening spent in the capital, but the bloody Bogongs sure make a mess of the car radiator.