New York vs. Baltimore/Washington Eagles at Baltimore-Swan Park

The Magpies headed to Baltimore with sole focus of winning the final NEAFL fixture, against the Baltimore Washington Eagles, and thereby securing a home Grand Final. Indeed, some players were so focused that they drove through huge lightning and rainstorms without any hesitation to get to the ground. Others, like Neil “Crazy Indian” Thakker, were so focused on the match that they forgot that with all of the technological advances in the automotive industry that you still have to put oil in the engine.

Notwithstanding threatening weather and unreliable motor vehicles and hotel reservation systems, the Magpies took a strong squad to the Baltimore field overlooking the Inner Harbor. The Magpies again had a large interchange bench, due to the smaller nature of the field restricting the game to 16 a side. The grounds were in reasonable shape considering the recent downpours; luckily the hill in the back pocket caused a great deal of the rain to run off the ground and into the harbor. The day was hot and at game time the sun was very strong with the temperature approaching 103 degrees F / 39 Celsius. In fact the Pies video camera overheated and was unavailable to record the action.

Despite controlling the play right from the opening bounce, the Magpies did not kick a goal until halfway through the first quarter. The goal drought was broken through an inspirational “with the flight” mark and then goal from Sean “Monkey Magic” Keenan. Following Keenan’s courageous efforts, the Pies added a few late goals to take a commanding lead at quarter time. Brett “Bretta” Moorcroft continued his strong and creative play at full forward, but ran into some bad luck by hitting the post dead on from less than a meter away, leading some Aussies in the crowd to reminisce of Peter “Percy” Jones’ goalkicking feats for Carlton in the late 1970’s.

The 2nd quarter did not provide as many goals, but gave the New York back line a chance to display their wares (thankfully Sam Reid was too busy strapping his ankle after an early injury to display his). The Eagles were kept scoreless through the first half through great play by first year Americans Ojas “Juice” Desai and Chris McIntyre, who continue to improve with every game. Dennis “Hardman” Malarkey, back from his sellout European Tour, and playing in his first game in a few weeks was solid in the last line of defense, along with Paul Anderson. The on-ball division of Eric “Lerndog” Lerner and Guy “I never took a photo I didn’t like” Luminato ran hard and played disciplined football by continually gaining possessions through getting “front and center” leading forwards Tom Wilson and Erik Kallhovd.

Halftime showed the importance the Magpies Brass in James Paterson and Peter Gurry placed in the game. With players seemingly losing focus due to a commanding lead, the coaching staff reinforced the significance of the match focused the team back on the team goals they had set earlier in the day. At the start of the 2nd half, New York put their foot down on the accelerator and built a match winning lead with 4 goals, while more good work by Wayne “(surprise surprise) Wayno” Andrew, and Tom “Cal Ripken” Thompson kept the Eagles goalless. Sean Keenan and Simon Bell both provided great drive across the centerline; perhaps Belly was unaware the camera was not operational. The Magpies fluid movement of the football across the field on the day was highlighted by a particular passage during the third term where the Pies, through a Paterson, Lewis, Kallhovd, chain of possession, took the football the length of the ground from an Anderson kickout to a converted Moorcroft goal, his 4th for the afternoon. This passage of play also highlighted the stellar form of Erik “Chucky” Kallhovd, reaping the benefits of hard fitness work off the track, who consistently gained possessions by running to provide options across half forward and further up the ground.

The final quarter brought some refreshing rain and background lightning sending spectators rushing for cover. While part-time New Yorker and Magpies assistant coach Peter Gurry implored that the team not let the Eagles get the jump at the start of the last term, the warning went unheeded, as the Magpies allowed the Eagles to kick the first 2 goals of the last quarter. The Pies have allowed this in their last few NEAFL games, something that cannot happen in games against stronger sides if the club wants to achieve their goals this season. However, the continued great form of new American recruits in Desai, Mantzaris and McIntyre has instilled great depth into the Magpies line up, and will hopefully result in their consideration for the Revolution’s Under 23 American representative side. The final result being a 10 goal victory to New York.

While the rain sent some spectators rushing for cover, the resulting rainbow led directly to a pot of gold - tinnies of ice cold VB! Following the post match drinks, the clubs then met up that night in Baltimore’s Fell’s Point area, where Beeker found his female clone, Slater cleaned up at the raffle, and New York’s part-time resident but full time dancing queen, Peter Gurry, gave a dancing display not seen since, well, his previous elbows flailing effort in Pittsburgh. The Magpies celebration in finishing top of the NEAFL ladder in its inaugural season went well into to the evening, and judging by many of the Hudson River Rats’ queasiness late in the evening and well into the next day, they were just as hard and committed as they had been during the game itself.

Special thanks go to the Baltimore Washington Eagles for their hospitality and to the New York emergencies and water runners Leonie Lewis and Nicole Wilson for braving the heat and making the trip.

Scores:

New York: 6.3; 8.5; 10.8; 12.8: 80

Baltimore / Washington: 0.0; 0.0; 0.1; 3.2: 20

Goalkickers: 4 – Moorcroft; 2 – Wilson; Kallhovd; 1 – Bell; Luminato; Lewis; Gurry.

Best Players: Keenan, McIntyre; Moorcroft; Desai; Kallhovd; Bell; Paterson.