With 14 changes from the last game it was always going to be difficult to find early cohesion. Wandsworth were slow out of the blocks and wasted the breeze in the first... This was compounded by an equally lethargic second quarter that had Wandsworth 16 points down at the half. A brace from Hosko and Ronnie Goal the only highlights in a skill riddled encounter. The margin actually could have been far worse had North converted more accurately and had one their players not been sent off for the quarter.

The coach was a little slow to react to North's tactic of playing a spare man in defence and with limited options, we were forced to look to Dan in his first game for a tagging role. Great job. Pete Leeson was also told to stop the key North midfielder and Thrify went to centre half forward. With clear instructions to have a red hot dip and put their 'lines on the body' the boys responded in this game of two halves.

Early in the third a sliding knee into the captains forehead, amazingly went unpunished, but the football Karma Gods work in mysterious ways and this spark seemed to be what the Wandsworth Boys needed. Pugnus Addo Magis indeed.

Deep in defence Meat and Steve were solid. Polly, Nathan and Connor Walsh all excellent across half back, thwarting many an attack and starting to give much needed drive from that very important line. The midfield lifted with Grinspoon getting his hand first to the ball, Audi, Pete, Lummers, and the relentless Extractor started to boss it. Jimmy and Niall lifted on the wings too. Niall running everyone around in circles including himself. Thrifty back to what he does best, flinging himself into packs and Hosko with his shoulder popped back in, finishing off some clean marking and giving that spark that the Clapham boys needed to close the Gap. When Hosko goaled after the 3/4 time siren, Clapham had closed to within 3 points and had the running but still not the lead.

The full forward added his sixth early in the last to finally take the Wandsworth boys into the lead but it was still far from settled. The lead changed a few more times with Thrifty kicking a rippa to restore it for Wandsworth. With the clock ticking North were awarded a fortuitous free kick within range for deliberate out of bounds. However, Walshy took a timely mark and Polly, Nathan, Pete and then Extractor worked the ball into the breeze to other end of the park, where Wandsworth kept it for the final minutes to hang on and pinch 4 points that will really set up the season.

A big thanks to all those that contributed especially those who played injured or answered last minute calls to help out when we really needed you. Even 16 year club veterans.

Training is back to Tuesdays and Thursdays this week and we hope to see a few old faces around again.

Great result for England. Go Aussies!

- Hollers

Goal umpire abuse - Guns, Hollers
Boundary umpire abuse - Lummers, Hollers, Robbo (NLL)

A very early start for the Clapham boys on Sunday saw some very sore heads.

When I arrived at the Alex meeting point Stevey was sitting on the steps looking like he had spent the night, and from there I thought it might be a tough day.

It got tougher when the Meat and Grinspoon were pulled up to the Wandsworth side.

Clapham, however were out to prove a point in the first quarter and totally dominated proceedings. Some good ball winning in the middle from Mad Micky, Guns, and Fez and some quick movement to Macca and first gamer Dan looked menacing. However, the boys were unable to capitalise on the scoreboard and only had 2 goals from the boot of Macca to show for a quarter to the scoring end. Last game's hero Stevey O had also retired early following a knee injury as he attempted a set of splits that Barishnikov would have been proud of.

North got a rocket at quarter time and came out accordingly with renewed vigour. The quarter was riddled with mistakes and poor skills and it looked like the Clapham boys had put the guns back in the holsters. If not for the fantastic work from Fish and Wally on the half-back line we could have been in big trouble. As it was the game was even at half-time. With second spot up for grabs the boys got a rocket and went out to amend their ways.

The change in attitude was palpable, with Clapham winning the first clearance and kicking long to Phil inside forward 50, who duly converted. This was the pattern for the first part of the quarter, before North London fought back late. They weren't going away easy as we had expected from a side fighting for top 2 with us.

The last quarter again saw some good endeavour, despite some more skill-errored play. However, the Dees eventually ran out relatively comfortable winners. It was definitely not the best game that Clapham has played this year, however the effort provided at times was very good and if we can get away with a reasonable win when we don't play to our best, then that is sometimes ok.

Lets get out and work on the skills at training boys. We're half way through the season and we've put a lot of work in so far and had a lot of fun, so lets make sure we strive to get something out of it.

That means 2 premierships.

- Hosko