Perth in Control at Dorrien

Perth played host to a Cockburn side that in recent weeks has been regularly scoring in what was a rather deflating match at Dorrien Gardens in their National Premier Leagues WAU clash.

Perth were generally in control of the match with controlled passes and a tight defense but Cockburn just couldn't find the back of the net when they ventured forward and tried to find the equaliser. Halfway through the second half Cockburn were given the chance to equalise but there was a few moments of disagreement with the Cockburn City players and finally the kick was taken and was quite possibly the worst penalty kick the Punctual Football Fan has ever seen live in person. The ball was no where near the netting, upright or the crossbar as it just simply took off like a rocket being launched into space. Perth ended up winning the match 2-1.

Food was as usual at Dorrien very good. The pasta is a nice touch but the pasta was over cooked and was just plain tomato sauce. I know to keep costs at 7 dollars wouldn't be able to be done if there were some meat in the pasta sauce but there needs to be an added touch of 'love' for it to be better than over cooked limp penne pasta.

Perth always has a great selection of beer, ciders, spirits and soft drinks at the bar with Peroni served in branded glassware was great to have. Felt like it was like going to a pub and watching football at the same time. Beer was 10 dollars a pint which is bordering on the expensive side but the glassware pushes it into this realm on the price range. If it goes beyond that I would suggest to not get drinks there. They had soft drinks for 2.5 and cruisers for 7 dollars. Chocolates were 2.50 and midis of Peronis were 5 dollars which is reasonable but this hopefully isn't the start of an increase in alcoholic prices at the ground.

An Average Farewell from an Average Facility

Yes the headline is rather scathing to the 2000 Olympic games host stadium. However there are many reasons why it is so. Firstly getting there is a pain. Trains normally dont stop there as you have to get to Lidcombe or Strathfield and then take the olympic shuttle. Some express services from Central run but not very well. Stadium staff are not very helpful and are incredibly difficult when you are trying to get seats with friends or in the active supporters area due to other spectators complaining of the noise, standing and singing.

Food was expensive much like AFL prices in Perth and the alcohol was mid-strength. The game was rather average with Australia giving too much space and being indecisive when going forward. Australia are now heavily relying on Tim Cahill really shut down any attacking options for the Socceroos, much like when Josh Kennedy plays they play in one manner and will never divert from this.

All in all it still give me goosebumps knowing that electric night on the 16th November 2005 when we finally broke the drought and booked our tickets to Germany 2006.

The Old Foe Loses At Home

Decided to venture to Belmore Sports Ground on a sunny yet cloudy afternoon to watch former two time National Soccer League winners Sydney Olympic host Bonnyrigg White Eagles.

Contest was end to end with both sides making plenty of work for each defensive half but it was Bonnyrigg around the 25th minute mark who drew first blood and hit the lead. Olympic were shut down toward the second half and were unable to create any real threats until Olympic had a man given a second yellow and sent off. Olympic pressed frantically and were close to equalise in the last dying minutes of stoppage time.

The game ended 1-0 to the White Eagles but there was also a contest in the stands afoot. Compared to the NPLWAU venues Sydney Olympic didn't have much to offer in regards to food. They had lamb wraps on a skewer with garlic sauce wrapped in Turkish pita bread for 8 dollars which was rather delicious. I had a few of those but was rather underwhelming in size but very delicious. Cans of drink were a bit expensive at 3 dollars and the service was rather poor. The fry up was slowed down in the first 10 minutes of the second half and they packed away ALL their drinks within 15 minutes of the second half. I had to have an argument with the staff to unpack the ute and give me 2 cool drinks.

To make matters worse they had no coke or coke zero just diet coke and when you asked for a Sunkist they gave you a diet coke. Once again I had to argue with them to give me what I wanted as they were trying to get rid of the diet coke.

Catching a train to get to Belmore is rather easy. All you do from Sydney Central is to leave on the platform for the Bankstown Line train and get off at Belmore station. Then walk along the park pathway and through to the gates of the sports ground. Adult tickets are 10, concession is 5 dollars and under 12 are free. Getting back to Central isn't an issue and all in all train travel is about 30 to 40 minutes each way depending on stops and delays.

Ice Cold Football

Decided to once again try the oval ball game on a very, very cold Geelong night to watch North Melbourne play Geelong at Kardinia Park.

The issues aren't getting to Geelong on a football day the problem was in the back of my mind "How do I get back to Melbourne in time?" The match was at 7.50 and being an Aussie Rules game would run for about 2 more hours. Last train from Geelong was supposed to be 10:40 but a 10:53 train was a bit of a tough order to get to if you were not paying attention. Clearly V-Line are behind the trend when it comes to train services compared to Perth for football trains.

Can't say this venue was a stand-out; on par with Subiaco Oval as one of the poorest venues I've had to watch sport at. Despite the rather provincial and frontier like facilities the food and drink was very good.

They had chicken and chips, Fish and chips and dim-sims for 10 dollars; Strips were 8, Chicken burger was 7 dollars fifty, Chips were 5 but large chips were 7. Hot-dogs were 5 dollars but they had Dagwood Dogs for 5 which were really nice. Finally spring rolls were 4 dollars. The food looked very good and had some of the 'delights' at the game and certainly warmed me up.

Beers were very reasonable mid strength were 6 dollars I saw and the full strength RTD's (Ready to Drink) cans of BUndy, Jacks, JW etc were 8 dollars. Bulmers Cider was 8 dollars but the 330 mL bottles poured into plastic cups were not too bad. 600mL bottles of Coke were 4 dollars and although a dollar less than nib is just on the edge of being acceptable, barely.

The pies which were provided by the rotary club were 5 dollars were not too bad, bit crumbly and nothing too special but going to a good cause and a reasonable price for Aussie rules.

North Melbourne were horrible all game but late in the 3rd quarter and the final quarter they made a come-back and gave Geelong a scare. However the game ended with a 20 point win to the home side.

Crowd was well behaved except for a few incidents and a rather unfortunate drunken scuffle on the V-Line service back to Melbourne soured the evening.

Cup Football at Inglewood

Decided to watch some cup football at Intiga Stadium. Quarter Finals featuring Bayswater and Inglewood battling it out to a thrilling penalty shoot-out after extra time. The match ended 2-2 after 90 minutes and after 30 minutes of extra time with no winner had to go to the penalties. Bayswater ended up beating Inglewood but sadly the exciting match on the park was not the same in the members bar.

The food was not what it used to be of days gone by but with ciders at 6 dollars and beers at the same price that was the saving feature of the affair. Hot dog was basically a small sausage with myriads of chopped onion piled on there like an overcrowded ferry on the verge of capsizing. Most of the onion with the choice of your own sauces which were the usual tomato, barbeque, sweet chili and Dijon mustard to have on your hotdog fell out as you ate and made a horrible mess. Plentiful amount of napkins were recommended so you can c=keep clean as you were eating. The bread was fresh at least but nothing exciting.

The burger on the other hand while not a knock out like at Perth, Stirling or Bayswater was up to scratch. Bread was fresh with lettuce, tomato and the patty being full of flavour and not dry or bland. The patty was not a thawed pile of raw meat like Claremont and with your own choice of sauces made it very enjoyable. Burger was 8 dollars and hot dog was 4 dollars. The prices were reasonable but the hot dog was a let down.

Inglewood used to have a food selection much like the 'big four' but due to a change in personnel sadly Inglewood is no longer part of the top five but now just another face in the crowd in the NPL WA conference.

Cup Football in new Territory

After all of the quarter final matches in the Coolridge Cup matches went to either extra time or penalties I thought I venture west to give the benefit of the doubt to a new team in the NPL WA conference; Subiaco AFC were taking on Cockburn City who in the last 2 weeks were in some good form and were scoring goals in bountiful amounts.

A rather unusual surprise was the fact there was not only a ticket office but the office had printed ticketmaster style tickets ready to go once you paid for your ticket with all of them having general admission printed on them. Adults to all cup matches were 10 dollars and concession 5 dollars. Nothing new there but was a rather interesting difference compared to the other NPL WAU sides.

Subiaco must have heard me voice my disappointment on the radio a few months ago after I slammed them for having no food what-so ever. They had the canteen open and although I must admit was expecting another closed canteen or if one even existed I decided to eat at an establishment before arriving to the athletics stadium.

Food seemed reasonably prices for a Venues West ground and with the usual assortment of crisps, lollies and Ice Creams was a nice addition. The difference was and I did not try but they had sushi rolls, sandwiches, pies and toasties available. All seemed reasonably priced but 9 dollars for sushi? That is a bit of a racket there.

They had Jack Daniels and Smirnoff both for 8 dollars which was decent value for the cans. A nice touch to watch the game too. I didn't see any beers there however on quick inspection.

Cockburn had a horrible night and pushed constantly with long ball football, I would rather Marc Anthony inspired overabundance in bicycle kicks than that rather dour and unimaginative football they were showing to the small crowd. Subiaco had control of the game as they too were using long ball but not as frivolous as Cockburn. Subiaco ended up comfortable 2-1 winners with Cockburn pegging it back with 5 minutes to go as a consolation of their hard work. Looked like Cockburn's rich goal scoring form and good football came to an end that night which was a shame as they impressed against Bayswater in the NPL and defeated Perth SC with ease in the earlier round.

While I am still not sold on what is on display at the WA Athletics stadium it would be a nice touch to have a venue that would regularly hosts the cup final each season OR the NPL championship final as I would only assume having those at nib Stadium would be far too expensive.