Further plans

Alright then. It's time to stop being on holiday (briefly) and actually do something.

Since our last installment, our hero has had some ups and downs. Despite all reports to the contrary, I am no longer confident that the job I had lined up is still going to go ahead. The last information I heard was that I was going to receive a contract in the mail, which I haven't. And then there was the possibility of receiving the contract via PDF, which also has not happened. So it appears I will need to start applying for jobs all over again. Which is a bugger, as it would have been nice to have everything sorted. It does allow me to look for a job in either Ireland or Scotland though, which would be cool. Very chilly in the case of Scotland...

But the trip is pretty much all planned. As much as I can anyway...I should be arriving in Antequera at 1336 on the Friday....at the railway station...could someone with a car pick me up please? Apart from that, all flights, accommodation are now booked. There is no turning back now, especially since most of those are non-refundable :) The visa has arrived and it looks like it'll allow me to get through customs nice and easily. We'll see about that when it happens though.

So that's the travel things sorted. I leave Australia in less then a week now, starting to get very exciting. I will be keeping this up to date with my travels and life experiences etc (keeping it clean, because my Mum does read this) so don't go away dear readers!

But while you're all here and reading, I need to tell you that my team made the grand final for outdoor. We are playing at Moggill at 1230. If you want better directions then that (if you're coming) you're going to have to let me know so I can provide you the details. I played quite possibly the best game I have all year last night, which is fantastic. All week I've been dreaming of scoring a goal in the final, and for it to actually happen was fantastic. But I'm getting ahead of myself....

The semi-finals are a two-legged affair. So on Saturday we played UQ at their homeground. We had some issues getting enough players, especially when one of our players got his car confiscated by the cops on the way there for drag racing. I kid you not. Especially given the temperature, we had some problems. But we kept our shape reasonably well, and came away with a 1-0 victory. Good result, especially away from home. So we had the second leg last night at our home ground at 730. It also happened to be junior presentation night, so we had a decent crowd. We went ahead 1-0 about half way through the first half, and to be honest it was against the run of play. It was turning into a pretty tough battle. In the second half, we took off our two strikers and replaced them with two guys who hadn't played in a while, and it showed. UQ had all the running and they got a goal (if he'd had one more touch I would have had him) to make it 1-1. For those who aren't aware of the away goal rule, don't worry too much about it, but from this point on if UQ won by 1 goal, they would win on away goals. Any draw would see us through. So naturally they started to press forward in search of that goal, and we tried to absorb the pressure. We lost our left fullback to a back injury, which was kind of good as we brought on the coach Roddy. Big target man, used to play for Brisbane Lions in the old NSL. Anyway, must have been about 20 to go when play broke down in the middle of the park and I happened to be near the ball. Seeing an opportunity for a trademark run (anyone who has seen me play knows what I'm talking about) I chipped the ball over my opponent with the outside of my boot and started running down the line. The defender came across with one of the clumsiest challenges I'd seen all game and I ran straight past him. Given my speed, he wasn't going to catch me at this point, so I put my head down and ran at the goals. The other defenders were getting back so it wasn't a one-on-one situation. Keith (our other striker at the time) hung back and called for it. I heard the call, steadied myself and played the ball straight to him, and he calmly smashed the ball into the back of the net. Wild celebrations erupted on the pitch as that had pretty much put us home. UQ still had a sniff of a chance...but not for long. The ball came to me in midfield again (I know I'm a defender, but I keep finding myself in the middle of the park) and I played it up to Roddy and kept going. I yelled for the ball but didn't get it as he played it out wide to Keith, who drew the two defenders (the rest having pushed up). I'm still screaming for it, and Keith looks up and plays a perfect ball to me. I controlled the ball with my stomach (it bounced awkwardly), looked up and placed the ball past the on-rushing keeper and into the bottom right of the goal with my left foot.

You always dream of playing well in the big games, especially when you're captain. To actually have it happen is a fantastic feeling. So my decision to push my flight to Europe back a week is justified, as we are through to the grand final. Now I just have to hope we all play well again so we can win this last game.

Anyway, that's all for this post. Next post will be after the grand final, win or lose. Possibly earlier if anything exciting happens. Stay fresh y'all.