Rino returned to the scene of their Labour Day triumph on Saturday with high hopes of coming back to Vancouver with something much better than a new ball or even a Nissan hubcap: three points. Although our cobbler-to- the- stars benefactor was conspicuous by his absence, his team was roared on by their ever-increasing supporters club, which now comprises ‘Chair-breakin’ Steve Thom, ‘Mo-Money-Mo-Problems’ Khan, Cyrus’s party-loving dad and alternating members of the Hanson family.
The line-up remained mostly unchanged from last week’s demolition of CAFA, although Tyler started between the sticks and Peter made way for Cooper. And after a prolonged period of sterling work for the CAT team, Vinny Martin has forced his way into the first team picture, beginning this one on the bench.
Rino began the game with confidence and purpose and didn’t have to wait long for the breakthrough; Wadey’s far-post corner nodded back across goal by Charlie and Cyrus finding the bottom left with a carefully placed header. And while he may bear more than a passing resemblance to Ross Geller from Friends, Cyrus certainly wasn’t ‘on a break’ when he had the wherewithal to return the favour to Charlie a few minutes later. His smart pass to feet gave his partner the relatively simple task of turning his lumbering marker and firing into the far corner.
Things were coming along rather nicely now, with Bligh and Brent again looking assured at the back and Desmesh’s 4-5-1 formation giving Coop and Haas time and space on either side of the burly duo. Even McMeners showed some lovely touch and passing in the engine room – the impish Scottish midfielder finally seems to be coming to terms with Corner’s abandonment of him and looks ready to fill Ally Gray’s child-size boots over the coming weeks. He still got taken off at half-time though; Ryan
taking his place.
The second half began with Zain and Peter lining up down the left side and it was that combination which created the crucial third goal. A patient passing build up began at the heart of the defence and ended with Peter feeding Zain, who showed lovely feet to jink around three defenders and finish with aplomb. Vinny was also in the action now and was spraying passes around in distinctly Cantwellian fashion as well as proving more than capable in the defensive third of the field. On that note, it must be said that Desmesh were limited to exactly one goal scoring chance in the entire game. Bligh told me to put that in.
Just like last week, goals were now there for the taking and take them we did. First, a precise long pass from the excellent Vinny was controlled by Charlie and laid into the path of goal-virgin Ryan Armstrong. Moranis confidently found the bottom corner, but only via a diversion by Andrew Wade. Unlucky Ryan. Wade’s lucky day continued when his mishit ball to Cyrus was left by a defender and dropped at the feet of Charlie, who gratefully half-volleyed it past the hapless keeper. Remarkably, these two serendipitous contributions were enough to earn Wadey the Nissan man-of-the-match award at the filthy hubcap’s spiritual home. The fifth goal also marked the end of ‘Billy-Ray’ Cyrus’s afternoon, the on-form forward departing with an achy breaky ego when he saw that Wee Laurie McMenemie was his replacement.
All in all, this was another good performance from a team rapidly recovering its confidence and there
was encouraging work all over the pitch from all 15 guys involved. Next week`s game should prove a much tougher test but with no fresh injury concerns and no silly yellow cards, a head of steam has certainly been built up. I would say that the team seem to have bonded in the wake of a difficult start to the season, but I don`t want Wadey to get the wrong idea and hate crime me with his hubcap.