WON 2-0 VS BLOOD RED 22.3.20
CHAMPIONS 2020!!!
Yes, it was 2 weeks ago yesterday, but what are you gonna do about it? Answer: Book flights to Honolulu!
ALTS 2 - 0 Blood Red (Josh Dry, Joe Bootland)
The fabulous guys over at The Bad Sharks, whoever they are, have discussed this game on their podcast and now have a full match commentary on their channel too, so go there to hear about this great game!
Your ears are full of ralgex and you prefer the written word? Then LO! Here are some!
As expected, Blood Red weren't too shabby and were well up for beating an Alts team that are just so darn annoyingly good and tight with each other that they are the envy of the other 9 teams in the league, and so Blood Red were aiming to do it for them. Lets face it: nobody wanted us to win, really. But we did.....HA HA HA HA HA! We are brilliant!
Anyway, it was a bit nervy for a while with what was at stake....in a normal pressure game, such as when the Alts beat the Battlers 3-1 to 'clinch the title' a couple of months back, the Alts actually improved and were more determined than ever, but since then have had the extra monkey on their backs of 'right, we will look right chumps if we don't win it now after those celebrations!'.......but the Alts were always on top, and the breakthrough came when the ball came to Josh Dry, who hit a low shot into the left hand corner and ran off doing about 7 different celebrations, the weird rotating elbows things being a particular favourite. 1-0 up at half time meant Blood Red would have to score 2 without reply for the onlooking Super Paddy's, there as their game was cancelled by the opposing Mariners to give them a forfeit 3-0 win and be top of the table on goal difference before the Alts game, to claim the title.
The game was put to bed when a through ball to Joe had him in his favourite position, chasing a ball towards goal with a dopey-arsed defender thinking he's got a sniff, and he plopped a low outside-of-the-boot finish into the right corner, that seemed to take an age to go in but once it did, those in attendance knew the Alts had sewn up their first league championship, including my boss who had come down for a bit of sun and some quality football from those in black and white.
The whistle went and the Alts made sure the dry pitch was moistened with loads of beer they had brought on down, before we were removed by striker Brad Dry's boss and we went down to the Welshie instead, and got loads of complaints there too. Photos and the like of that to follow, but this post is just about the glorious 2-0 win, and there was a 3-way tie for Man of the Match between the clearly-up-for-it and deadlock-breaker midfielder Josh Dry, striker Joe 'run around and make defenders life hell and goalscorer of the goal that put the title to bed' Bootland, and to complete the spine of the team Man of the Match awards, defender Euan Alexander claimed what should never be his first but actually somehow is man of the match award with a solid display at the back, playing a massive part in the clean sheet and making sure we didn't do anything stupid at that end of the pitch and give ourselves a nervy finish. He did, however, miss a volley from no more than 8 cms out, and cemented his Dick of the Day award by breaking the handle of the trophy before most of us had even had chance to look at it. Yes, Euan is also the DICK OF THE DAY!
17 games, 5 months, 10 teams (in the end) - to come out number 1 after all that, especially given that half the team had only met each other at the start of the season in 1 pre-season game, is a bit of a special achievement, and I'm glad to have played with this absolute bunch of legends, who I am missing very much right now. Can't wait till we are back and trying to take Cap 6 by storm too.
WELL DONE EVERY ALTS SQUAD MEMBER AND ANYONE WHO HELPED ALONG THE WAY! Top, top achievement and fully deserved! UP THE BASTARD ALTS!!!!