After a two week break the O-Leang’s and Gek Huey’s were well rested and eager to continue their rivalry. The Gek Huey’s were without their inspirational captain Mani who was on a one-week sabbatical. His loss meant first-equal draft pick Hasto led the Geks who were intent on making their absent skipper proud. Unfortunately the loss of Mani proved too big a mountain to climb. The Geks missed his run and his ability to score goals. Despite a spirited performance they were overrun by an O-Leang’s team who had too much class on the day.
The first quarter saw the Oleang’s squander chance after chance as they kicked five behinds without a major score. It was the Gek-Huey’s best quarter as both Hasto and Deng kicked what ended up being the Gek-Huey’s only goals of the match. Yes, you read that right. The Geks were kept goalless for the remaining three quarters.
The Oleang’s kicked with the wind in the second turn and took the lead with a five goal quarter; Welby and Rut kicking five between them. The Geks only managed one behind.
It was in this second quarter that tempers flared and coach Gunny’s season rule, don’t abuse the umpire, got temporarily forgotten. Lleyton received more sprays in this quarter than in the previous four games combined. He kept his composure though and stamped his authority by marching Big Nate 50 meters for backchat. He could have done the same to several other Tigers. Test passed, authority stamped, the remainder of the match was played in good spirits.
Not much happened in the third quarter. J-Mac scored for the Oleang’s, both Skinny and Pez had to move out of the middle due to knee troubles and Khengy suffered a minor hand injury. Big Nate also went off with an ankle injury that looked fairly serious.
The fourth quarter saw more injuries with newbie Kane copping J-Mac’s knee to the solar plexus. He went down in a heap but bravely continued to finish his first domestic match as a Thailand Tiger. Welcome to the squad, Kane. J-Mac himself suffered an injury shortly afterwards, perhaps the footy Gods were dishing out some karma. He battled on manfully, refusing to leave the field despite the Geks fans (Sammo) hurling abuse at him from the sideline. Mac got cramp and had three players giving him a physio session on the field. There were more injuries than goals in the second half but thankfully none, apart from Nate’s, seemed too serious.
It was an unusual match. The Gek’s played quite well but simply couldn’t score. Nam had another strong performance, hitting the posts on at least one occasion. But the Oleang’s were just too good again and won the match comfortably.
Normally a match report would finish here but not this week. How can I end without mentioning the evening celebrations? The Thailand Tigers were nominated for multiple awards in the AustCham Thailand Spirit of Australia Awards night. The Thailand Tigers Committee got their fancy clothes on and had a great evening supporting our finalists. Jarrod (Jazza) Roberts was nominated for the Spirit of Australia Individual Award. Mark (Big Boy) Saunders and John Welby were both nominated for the CSR Community Service Award and the Thailand Tigers were finalists in one of the biggest awards, the CSR Corporate Champion Award.
It was a fantastic night, made extra special by the Thailand Tigers winning the award in their category. The whole committee went onstage, Welby and Mark both gave moving speeches and although I’m biased I’m pretty sure we got the biggest cheer of the evening. It must also be said that J-Mac did the club proud by emceeing the event like a pro. He actually is a pro now, with offers rolling in for his future services. We partied hard, most of us staying up to at least 10.30pm and I for one enjoyed the mini lamingtons I snuck home in my wife’s handbag.
Match Summary
| The O-Leangs 9-9-63 defeated the Gek Hueys 2-7-19 | |
| Goals O-Leangs Welby: 5 Rut: 2 J-Mac: 1 Mac: 1 | Goals Gek Hueys Hasto: 1 Deng: 1 |