Div 3 [VMSL Div 3] Results, Predictions & Banter 2014/2015

[RickG]

Wow, actual chat on TTP...
I think Boners can give a decent account of themselves at Brennan although I suspect our young and unevenly skilled squad aren't quite good enough yet to snake a point or get 3 from the undefeated league leaders. The player pool here just isn't quite big enough to compete with a major metropolis like Squamish!

Most of our team is in the 17-21 range, but we've also got a couple of guys in their 40s who won't be able to run with the Squamish boys. Still, with a bit of luck, a little inside knowledge of some of their personnel, and a good player turnout I think it should be a fun, competitive, game. Give us another year and we'd be a sure thing....

 

[RouletteWheel]

Can't wait to have some boners Close to me.
With knowledge of our players, you should know that star player "Jordan" finally found his scoring boots this weekend!

 

[RickG]

Ok, Jordan, thanks for the tip...

 

[fingywaggle]

Hey riiiiiiiiick. How come you guys don't play your home games on Bowen? No field? Too many riots in the stands? I know the Squamish lads would like to come to the rock, play a match, get drunk in your bar and all in all just have a time.

 

[Gurps]

I would be careful when you got to those small island pubs....

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ga...ur+standoff+with+Mounties/10335155/story.html

 

[RickG]

Fingywaggle, you'll have to talk to Ruben about that.

When we applied to VMSL last year they accepted us on the provision that we don't ask teams to come play on Bowen.
And, yes, we have a field. Its a bit on the small side, but still FIFA minimum in width and a bit above the approved minimum in length. But, its a decent surface and better than some of the grass fields the VMSL uses in Vancouver. Our youth teams play games against off island opponents on it all the time.

Sooooo, we'll have to put that trip to rock off until the spring or summer and we'll invite you guys out for a friendly, maybe a barbeque and some good pub time afterwards.

Should be a fun match this weekend.

 

[fingywaggle]

Prediction time:

PCOV 0 - Bosna 0

West Van 1 - West Coast 2

Squamish 2 - Bowen 2

NorWest 1 - Lobbans 4

Arya 9 - Warriors 6


Next......

 

[RickG]

Well, Squamish is one Hell of a side--fast, skilled and physical. They pretty much jerked the Boners all over the park in the first half, went up a goal and could easily have had 2. They are a good notch better than the island boys at this point. But, our guys played for pride and fought back in the second half, getting a goal then going down again almost immediately. But, nobody's head dropped and Boners kept it close, winning a free kick around 25 yards out in the final two minutes, then scoring on a CR7 style scorcher to steal a point.

Very exciting game where a combination of grit and luck took Bowen to a draw against a better team. The thought did occur to me at the end that the Squamish lads gave us the 2 goals just to make fingy into a prophet....

 

[trece verde]

Celtic 4-0 over B's. No Bubbles this year, to answer Mr. Base's question. Max's lads look to be in for a tough season when the old guy himself is still the best player they've got on the field.

 

[RickG]

Great result Trece, and against the side that Mr. Base predicted would win it all!

Bones 3, West Coast Celt 0 yesterday at Confederation. They are an improved side with some technically excellent players, especially one of their central mids, who I recognize as a guy who was by far the impact player on the Cosmos team in our division last year. (That is probably one reason why Cosmos are struggling in Div. 2 this year). Celts are also bigger and more physical than our boys and show a lot of team spirit. There were big segments of the first half when our lads were penned in and giving up a lot of corner kicks. But, as the game wore on the island boys found their stride and started to move the ball more effectively, mostly by countering well after soaking up the Celt pressure. We didn't generate tons of chances, but the boys were lucky enough to finish the ones we had.

 

[fingywaggle]

Sorry for my absence but after the 2-2 draw prediction of the boners/Squamish game. I had to cash my bet out from the ttp bookie and celebrate with a relaxing week vacation full of hookers and blow in sin city. Annnnywhom, Rick u guys were a solid squad that weekend and deserved that point by working your asses off for 90 minutes. Look forward to playing you again in the 2nd leg of the sea to sky derby. Last weekend same old story from a bottom feeder team. Come to Squamish with 8 guys. Get smashed around. Not fun for anyone. Big game this weekend tho. Squamish vs celts. We over heard one of their guys saying they would smash us at their park after the 8-0 defeat in Squamish. Must be some type of home field advantage they have.

 

[trece verde]

Catch up time for 3B...

Celtic 1 Ex Pats 2 - these guys have improved, but not that much. Basically we shat the bed, and should have been better.
Royal Dutch Ovens 0 Celtic 3 - played better and got the result.
Celtic 1 Serbia 2 - best game of the season for oor bhoys, despite the loss. Tying goal was called back by a confused ref - their keeper spilled a ball badly when he came off the line, and their defender tried to knock it back to another one standing near the goal line. By doing so, he played our striker onside (which Mr. Ref missed), who of course poached the ball and banged it in. A bit miffed about that to say the least. Game finished with handbags at 10 paces and a true sub-genius from their side yelling "I'm going to cut you up" over and over at our goal-scorer after he was sent off. Way to stay classy, pal.

This weekend (maybe) at the ridiculous hour of 6 pm on Sunday at Burnaby Lake vs. Bby Metro Athletic. Wish I could say we'd have the same lineup as last week, but too many guys at work. Might have to borrow some masters' players again...

 

[jordano]

the chat really slowed down in here is rickG on vacation?

 

[trece verde]

Yes, he is. Boners at Van Tech up by 1 on PCoV Europa (who have no subs). Europa was starting to run out of gas when I left...

Celtic 2-0 over Ante-Up last week; no game report because I wasn't there.

Visiting the other PCoV team (Benfica) at the ridiculous hour of 6 pm tomorrow; hopefully we can put them further into the rear-view mirror.

 

[RickG]

Got several texts while away on vacation from guys saying, 'we are winning without you, don't come home.'

Seems like Boners have managed to win in my absence but there are some tough games ahead in what is proving to be a very competitive Div. 3, C group. Squamish looks assured of the Division title--although after that 2-2 draw we are still competing with them, and with West Van too, for the unofficial title of 'best Div. 3 team in Howe Sound.' After Squamish I'm guessing the next 3 places in the Division will go right to the wire, not least because I know Celts have the potential to run the remainder of the table. But, all of the mid table teams can win on a given day. For example, I think Randy Samuel is doing a great job with a very young Lobbans team and they are just going to get better and better.

We've been very fortunate, because I thought last year's Div. 3 group was also extremely competitive, with our new team jumping in to the VMSL only to have to face Greencaps, Snipers, Astros, Twin Arrows, Cosmos, Cliff Cobras and West Van among others. We finished two thirds down the line last season, but the level of competition helped move the team forward more quickly than we hoped and we are seeing the improvement this season.

As an aside, when I heard Cosmos lost their best player, I knew they would struggle in Div. 2--even with that guy they lost to us 1-3 last year and they beat us 2-1 in the rematch on virtually the final play of a very close game. They are a decent team, but I didn't see them as Div. 2 quality. For my money, Astros were a lot better than Cosmos last year and I was surprised to see them stay down when Cosmos went up.

I also knew that Snipers and Greencaps would compete strongly in Div. 3. Having said that, losing Remy is a huge blow to Greencaps --marking that guy was always a challenge--and my money is on the Snipers of the former Div. 3 C teams to improve the most over the remainder of the season.

Boners hope to keep riding their luck--we've had a lot of it this year--and hope we can maintain the momentum and finish strongly. But, I've also learned that nothing is assured after Christmas in the VMSL--a league that is clearly a marathon and not a sprint.

 

[trece verde]

Back after training with Grandma's holiday regimen - Christmas cake, turkey dinners, and lots of vitamin beer.

Celtic 3-2 over Pro Touch in a come from behind win, with BTom opening his account in his first game for us. Hopefully more to come. Next is a Wednesday nighter vs. B's on the turf at South Memorial. Hope the lights don't go out on us again...

 

[RickG]

Good result Trece. Congrats!

We've had some bad luck over the holidays, with a couple of guys injured in ATV accidents (apparently ATVS and beer don't mix) and likely out for the season, another out for several weeks after a car accident and another away for 6 months on a school exchange. All four of these guys were starters and their absence leaves a big hole. On top of that we are scrambling a bit right now for bodies.

Started with 8 against West Van last Saturday, and had a 9th arrive midway through the half. We brought up a youth player, one of our guys' younger brother, fresh from his MSL game in North Van, and that gave us 10 in the second half. the first half we pretty much just tried to suck up the pressure and generate something on the counter, but without much luck, and West Van got a PK awarded (justly so) and went up a goal. The second half, with us at 10 guys, was back and forth, but we got a goal to tie it up midway in the half.

Most of the guys were completely bagged by this point and they probably would have settled for a point, but a few of the guys were convinced we could win and were still working hard. Late in the game we scored on a long chip that caught their keeper off his line. Pretty fluky shot, and, really, more luck than anything else. So, 3 points, yes. But, it was both an ugly and a lucky win. We are going to have to come up with some magic from somewhere to beat Squamish next weekend. At least I think we'll have 12 or 13 bodies for the match.

 

[RickG]

Squamish 2, Boners 1 this afternoon at Confederation turf: so Squamish will not only win the division handily, they also win the unofficial championship of Howe Sound.

The first half was filled with a lot of outstanding football from both teams, with Squamish going up a goal then the Bones catching them on a counter attack and bringing it back even. With the exception of a few counterattacking moments, the second half, was all Squamish as Boners started to tire and just began clearing the ball, leading to very little possession. You could feel the goal coming, although we were hoping to hold them off. They had very good pace up front today with Hans and Charlie working hard and they got the winner with about 4 minutes left to go. Squamish have some outstanding players and their central midfield is premiere quality. They are the better team and deserved the win. But, there were moments when I could see vulnerabilities too. It will be hard for us to stay with them after they go up to Div. 2 next year and we stay down. But, I think in a year or so there will be very little difference between the teams. I'm questioning the wisdom of only 2 Div. 2 divisions at the moment. There are 7 or 8 teams in Div. 3 this year who could be competitive in Div. 2.

 

[trece verde]

Don't think we're quite at that "competitive in Div. 2" level yet, but getting there.

5-1 over B's on Wednesday night. Feel bad for Max McRae; he's a decent guy who can't seem to get a break.

In terms of who might be in RickG's "competitive category," I'd suggest Astro, Twin Arrows & Cliff from 3A; Serbia, Burnaby, and America from 3B; and Squamish, Boners, and West Coast from 3C. Hard to tell otherwise before Cup play; might be time for the Bonefish formula to be applied.

 

[RickG]

I'll need to get Mr. Base to explain the 'bonefish formula'.

I agree with your list of Div. 3 teams who might have a shot at competing somewhat credibly at the next level, although having made that posting about 'competitive' teams, watch us start to play like complete shite and tank our last few matches....