Season Two Ends for the Roar

Well that game against Newcastle was the decisive do or die for the Roar, and the Roar died. My loyalty is tried, but will prove absolute I know. I will continue to watch every Roar game and cheer the boys. I even trust that they'll win a couple more before the end of the season. But they just haven't got the stuff to be in the top four this season. Tonight they crossed that psychic rubicon from 'we can do it; we have what it takes' to 'there's always next year'. It was in the air. It was in their faces and in the voices of the crowd. Truly the Roar may have dropped the ball weeks or months ago, but tonight the very ball of hope was dropped. Sad but true.

Excuses? Yeah, plenty. I would have loved to see them with even a well Matty. When I made my prediction I thought they'd have the beautiful Matty/Spase combination I saw last week. Despite the fact that he's made a few mistakes, we bloody missed Sasa Ognenovski in defence as well. As an aside here, as I don't want to make a primary point of it, is it good coaching for Farina to train the boys so hard that they lose two of their key guns in training? ("...All part and parcel of having intense training sessions.") Moot that. I dunno.

But hey, let's get really wild. We all know how the Roar kicked arse in the early season. Let's wonder for just one second how Newcastle would have buckled under a Roar with Massimo as well as Matty, Spase and Sasa. It's just dreaming of course, because it wasn't. Our engine room is gutted. Meanwhile Zhang and Reinaldo, our promised magic strikers, are apparently permanently off the squad. It's not easy to say how much our gutted midfield is to blame for the lameness of Mori and Lynch either, though tonight I'd have to say there was a few balls that Lynch in particular really could have had more of a go at. Mori just doesn't connect with this team it seems, and no wonder because he doesn't even train with them. Does he know them all by name? All just speculations now. All just those post-mortem 'what ifs'.

I got a yellow card tonight. My first, and hopefully last as a spectator. When Mat was substituted in the twentieth minute I was just shocked. The Roar were already playing terribly, and I would have been the first to say that Matty was being a bit slow, but he was hardly the only one and to me, after Spase not being available at the last minute, it seemed truly mad. I was ballistic. I screamed out, "What are you doing Frank?" Then I screamed, "You are a fucking madman, " or something to that effect. This would have been fine if I was with the Rejects or something, but I was very close to the front and Farina turned around, looked me straight in the eye and said, "He's sick." Various people from rows behind threw a bit of abuse upon me and I had to eat some humble pie. It all made sense. Matty was actually ill. Embarassment, and no less frustration. This was the end of the season.

A few minutes later a security man put his hand on my shoulder. He said someone had complained I'd used the 'F word' and that there were families about. I said I wouldn't do it again. John said I was lucky to not get a red. Whoops.

Not a good night for Football Down Under. Not a good night for the Roar. Poor Jacob was embarassed too with his frustrated father, foot firmly stuck half way down his throat.

We waited around at the end of the game so I could just feel the vibe and watch the Roar players - those still on the field and those like Zhang, Spase and Sasa in suits - and their grades of despondency. The vibe affirmed for me that tonight we did not just lose another game. Tonight we lost the season.

But there IS always next year.

PS, and it is firmly a PS, my hat is off to Dario, who brought renewed energy onto the field after Matty came off, and almost made us look good for a bit, and to Packer, who showed some great skill attempting to step into the gaping breach. Grossman also showed some real flair a few times.