Ridgebacks Have Last Bark

LPFC U21's played out an entertaining two-all draw against an old foe and current league-leaders in the shape of Barden Ridge 2. A deftly placed finish from Alex Poulos and an own goal were enough to secure a potentially vital away point for the East Shire side.

Pilli's intentions were starkly obvious from kick-off - jumping head first into a game they knew held high importance. All was well until eight minutes in where, as much as it appeared Pilli were in control, a momentary lapse in concentration from the left side of defence was seized upon by Ridge. A sharp through ball was fed to the now appropriately nicknamed 'Guy who runs fast', who pounced onto the ball like Kurtis Thompson on women, placing the ball to Clayden's near post after apparent miscommunication between Fynn and his keeper, to give Ridge the opener.

Ridges' celebrations proved to be short-lived, with Pilli level within ten minutes of their opener. Now, the following goal possibly has two versions - one about Matthew Burg lofting in a spectacular corner, harnessing the almighty winds' power to guide the ball with incredible ease into the top left corner...or the one where some guy scored a goal against his own team. We will stick with the first one....So yeah, Pilli's second goal came about when Matthew Burg lofted in a spectacular corner, harnessing the almighty winds' power to guide the ball with incredible ease into the top left corner.

Not far from half time Pilli completed a move which would have produced a rather strong jealousy-related orgasm from each and every Barcelona player. Pilli spread the ball beautifully from the left wing, across the backline and then up the right wing where diminutive winger Squeak and macho man Damien Fonseca played a succession of rapid one-touch passes, only for the final through ball directed at almighty wind-controller Burg to be called offside.

All the while, Pilli suffered three successive injuries, losing lanky defender Jackson Versitano to a suspected hamstring-related injury and midfield playmakers Jacob Healey and Matthew Phipps to ankle sprains. The former of two which seemed to be less serious as the players were later subsituted back on.

The second half whistle brought about a sense of increased urgency for both squads. As the half progressed it became more apparent that Pilli were dominating an increasingly tiring Ridgeback side. Channels started to open up, which saw an increase in fluidity of Pilli's passing game, primarily around the centre of the pitch. Midfield maestro Healey showed little signs of his injury as he constantly won possession and fed his runners. Captain and winger Stephen Foldi did well along the left side - always keeping the defenders on their toes and providing crosses. Goalscorer Burg and sex symbol Fonseca developed a deep understanding of each other and hence often exchanged a few neat passes. Daniel Fletcher proved handy in his now well known ability to hold up the ball in the centre park, adding to the tidiness of Pilli's counter attack. 'Keeper Will 'Schwarzer' Clayden (yes his nickname did get worse) also pulled of a couple of great saves. Though, it was not any of these players who broke the dead lock.

Previously a quiet figure in the game, Alex Poulos emerged from the shadows to hand Pilli a well deserved lead - brushing away critisicm of the morality of having particularly crazy night out beforehand (a.k.a. strip club, getting lap dances cause he's so famous and shit). An ever present Healey fed a well-endowed Fonseca through on the wing with a pin-point pass. Fonseca then spotted a sprinting Poulos midfield, took a few strides and sent a curling ball straight to his teammate who was now on the edge of the box. With still a significant amount of work to do the forward proceeded to leave Ridge defenders in his wake and slot the ball calmly into the old onion bag (note: ESPN's soccernet presspass' Tommy 'I-want-to-punch-him-in-the-face-because-of-his-annoying-Scottish/Irish-voice' Smith). Pilli 2, Ridge 1.

The game was not over yet as Ridge began piling players up front to try and secure a point and an unlikely victory. About ten minutes from time the unthinkable happened - a long-range shot (other than that of a Pilli player) in the 21D's actually went in. There was some controversy as whether the ball went in (lol) as it shot downwards off the crossbar and onto the line. Costa received his first yellow of the season as a result, an uneccessary one at that as video replays did, unfortunate as it is, prove the ball went in (lol). So, back to square one. The last ten minutes proved to be nothing spectacular except for an odd, yet arousing (for the females) event where Fonseca was seen grating parmesan cheese on his abs in preparation for dinner.

Though it is still early on in the season Pilli will have left feeling minorly aggreived for what seemed a game they should've won. Pilli's next fixture pits them up against Miranda Magpies 1 at home at 1:20pm. Ok it's f***king 12:20am and I have uni tomorrow.

Oh, and we're going to need extra Butter Menthols for Kurtis too.