Dear Diary 21st July < going by the dates of games
I am really excited about this, as a young gun i only dreamed of playing professional football. I had only ever played for a local club in Brisbane's first divsion and almost thought I wouldnt get any further than that. Then the call up came, a small second division English team, i was so excited for this oppurtunity, finally i could get some recognition among the big names, mind you it would be still alot of hard work.
There was still alot of time to get ready, over two months to get to the small English club for the officially signing. I left everything i owned to my parents, so they could sell it off gradually, went out and got Umbro and Asics sponroships, bought myself some first class gear, and flew out within two weeks... My girlfriend was obviously heart broken, however very understanding and said she would join me in four weeks.
the day of the official signing was beyond my belief, but everything from then till a couple of days ago have gone very quickly...
18th of July saw Webbers United FC's first game against Solothurn. Coming into the game, i wasnt really sure what to expect, then to find i will be starting on the bench, i was starting to think it would be one of those games.
It felt good to put on my new number 19 Webbers Utd FC Home jersey, finally something different than the old Purple and Gold of The Gap Pastime Club. But sitting on the bench i was feeling a little disapointed, with not a strong crowd, our team a very new club and the Solothrun finsihing a miserable 15th on the ladder. From kickoff, we were walking all over them, the only possession they could get was off alot of our bad balls, but every time we got the ball we looked somewhat dangerous up front. Getting 20 shots away on goal in the first half...with a dissapointing 7 shots on target. 4 goals from the first half with Tarick Weber bagging three of them.
After half time, it was my time to shine, with massive Tarick boats to fill up front. With our kickoff, it only took 4 minutes for us to find the net again...
this time a wonderful strike from 20 yards out by Paid the Umpire, it had to be one of the best strikes i have seen in a long time...i started to feel a bit better about my own game. My first touch was improving and generally everything about my game was top notch... except my ability to find the net, all my strikes on goal were straight at the keeper...
Another goal by Robertinho in the 56, and we were well on our way t our first victory, but moving into the final 10 minutes of the game, and i flet like i wouldnt be able to find the net this game... 84th minute in, and just outside the 18 yard box, i took a dig at goal, only to find the rear end of one of the defenders and watch the ball roll out for a corner... The ball was delivered in perfectly to the penalty, i had been working on my heading alot and this is where it paid off, i connected with it with prefection and watched it sail past the keeper.
My first goal of the season, in my first match, at a new club in England, i was having the best year of my life. Off the kickoff we got a quick tackle and showed what proved to be some great football, passing was suberb, and the finishing by Andrew Garven was even better... 8-0 and thats where i thought it would finish, but in late in injury time saw Rob almost snatch his second but quick thinking and some great goalkeeping from Solothurn saw a fingertip save defected off the post for me to put in the easy goal i have ever scored, to leave the final score at 9-0. I was on a high, two goals in the one match...if i was ever going to make a premiership title, this was definately the place to start
Next match saw me start on the bench again, but on such a hgih from the last match i didnt care...
with marc scoring in the 3rd minute of the match i was pretty sure this was going to be another walkover. And surely enough it was... the only resistance was a qucik goal to Dave Gruter putting it nicely past Tom in the 54th minute but two quick goals, certainly shut the opposition out of the game...
I was on a high 4 goals in two matches, i knew i had made the right decision and i was in awesome form and so were the other players, the whole team was working together and everyone was very friendly...some more than others....
James Stedman, my old mate from The Gap Pastime Cub, had join with Webbers Utd Fc and had a screamer of a game, winning every tackle and very header and completing 23 out of 28 passes...
tomorrow is our last friendly before kicking off into some real games. Have trainingin the morning, plus a 30km run to comlete...there is still alot of work to be done...