Shall we Sing a Song for you?

BALLYMENA (Reuters / SWS) Renwick this evening completed the signing of an official team commentator. The role of commentator has been conspicuously lacking this season, but with Steelo apparently eyeing up the role, Jonny was dispatched to secure someone else so he wouldn’t be distracted from his goalkeeping duties by having to repeatedly ask what the late Steve Irwin was doing playing for Renwick. SWS are therefore delighted to confirm that Renwick have secured the services of Northern Ireland commentating legend Jackie Fullerton.

“Can you believe it?”

Fullerton, 65, will be a welcome edition to the Renwick backroom staff. Now all we need is a kit-man and we might get dry kits for a change! :-P

Jackie also took time out to sign Jonny’s glove, leaving the ever-present Renwick stopper with the dilemma of will he ever wash it again?

Related: Renwick complete Healy signing (nearly 2 years ago to the day! check out the comments! :D)

DURBAN (Tyrone Courier / SWS) And if that’s not enough news for you, with Renwick set to lose a number of key players for their vital clash with the Law Society on the 17th of December, club representatives last night flew out to Durban to try and secure the services of Renwick legend (well, just legend in general really), Walker “Wocca!” Walker on a one-game loan. Walker dramatically retired from football, rugby and Gary-baiting at the end of the 2006/07 season to get married, which he recently described as “really very pleasant”.

Comparisons are already being drawn between the proposed move and David Beckham’s forthcoming loan to AC Milan, however Renwick’s marketing manager has denied that it’s all about shirt sales, despite a recent surge in South African shirts in local JJBs and reports that Adidas have run out of number 6s.

Negotiations are ongoing, but rumours that Walker is demanding an extra R 24 Million (about £10) to turn out on his 24th birthday were said by a club source to be highly exaggerated.

Match report by Philip Dunwoody

RENWICK 7 BELFAST BIBLE COLEGE 3

- Coach hails one of the greatest performances
- McCavery and Johnston in the goals yet again

Another Mark McCavery hat-trick and a four goal haul for Andy Johnston made it five wins in a row this week for Renwick, with a well deserved, professional performance against old rivals Belfast Bible College. Whilst it would do the team a disservice to suggest that the score-line flattered us, BBC provided some stiff opposition for much of the game, but were ultimately outplayed by the RP outfit.
Yet again there were a few changes this week – if we ever play the same XI consecutively it will be a major achievement – mainly due to the fact that Phil and Mark got held up in court last week, prompting a desperate last minute reshuffle. Both players returned to their usual positions. Gavin Blackwell continued on the wing, this week the left, and Conor and Ian remained in the heart of midfield. Sean dropped to centre back, along with Andy Lynch, who was deputising for Steve McCollum, the latter returning from his one-night-in-Glasgow by way of an afternoon flight. Ben Hanna returned to left back. Andy Johnston made a welcome return upfront. Mr Robert Cromie refereed the first half.
Whilst the manager was visibly exacerbated [exasperated? or maybe Phil was already angry! - S] by pre-match tomfoolery (chuckle chuckle) [I blame Simon] the Renwick lads made an excellent start to the game, and gave BBC a few early scares. As I said, they are a good team, and previous encounters with them had yielded mixed results. They were unbeaten for a year, and had perhaps expected an easy match, and so were taken by surprise when they found themselves 2-0 down inside ten minutes. Gavin was causing early problems on the left flank, and from one of his spurts up the wing Mark took the ball to the by-line before crossing along the floor into the box. Phil couldn’t reach it but the cutback found AJ unmarked nine yards out, and with the ‘keeper stranded he comfortably smashed the ball into the net. Minutes later we doubled our lead; some good work in the middle by Ian allowed him to play a dangerous ball through the BBC back-four, which they failed to deal with, and Mark punished them with a great shot into the top left of the goal, again well beyond the ‘keeper’s reach.
All over the pitch Renwick were fighting for first and second balls and meeting BBC in the tackle. They were showing their ability as well however, and gave our relatively untried back four a few scares. Fortunately for us Jonny was on form, decisively coming off his line and getting his hands on any loose shots. Nevertheless, BBC pulled one back on twenty five minutes, when we only half cleared an attack, and their player hit a good shot from distance beyond Jonny. BBC continued to push forward, and after half an hour they were awarded a penalty when Sean was adjudged to haul down a striker. Their captain stepped up to deliver a cool finish into the bottom corner, and we were left ruing some missed opportunities at the other end and reminded that we still had work to do.
We tried to attack with a bit more urgency again, and had some good chances, particularly for Mark and AJ, who were working hard upfront. One such move resulted in a corner, which Phil swung in from the left. AJ met it at the far post with a great header into the top corner to restore our lead. We kept things tight and held our lead until half time, and the goal proved to be the turning point of the match.
Across the road, Steve had touched down smoothly, and was brought on for Ben, to restore some composure and leadership in the defence, with Andy Lynch moving to his more familiar left back berth. We had talked at half time of making a strong start, and we delivered, with everyone staying sharp and contesting the tackles again straight from the whistle. After ten or fifteen minutes we got the bonus of a two goal cushion. Phil was sent down the right wing with a clever flick from AJ, and delivered what can only be described as a David Beckham-esque cross (excuse my indulgence, but in light of last week’s free kick comments I feel I need to redeem myself!). Mark read it perfectly and met it on the volley to get his second of the game, and for the first time in the game it looked as though BBC heads had dropped slightly. Steelo came on shortly after this, in place of an un-well Ian Buchanan. Gav moved into the middle whilst Steelo went onto the left wing. Cromie Robert came on soon after in place of Gavin, and Renwick house-mate Peter Gillespie made his debut at right back, replacing Andy Mo, who can feel hard done by after yet another great performance. Thankfully the changes didn’t upset the balance too much. Another great piece of team passing resulted in our fifth goal: Andy Lynch tidied it up at the back, played it on to Conor at the halfway line, square ball to Phil, and a ball over the top for Mark to run in for his hat-trick. Shortly after AJ got his third after a swift counter-attack down the right involving Phil and the two strikers once again, which AJ finished in style! His fourth was another great team goal, with the midfield [as in Steelo - Ed] playing AJ through down the left, and the EP man putting it into the far corner from a narrow angle. Somewhere along the way BBC got a third, and did always look a threat going forward, but left themselves too much to do and looked a beaten side for much of the half.
It was a great team performance, and continues our unbeaten 2008-09 season. Most pleasing, players are getting more familiar with each other every week, and improving their games all the time. We should have plenty of confidence going into our future league matches if we can continue passing and tackling like we did this week. Thanks to Naomi and Kathryn for the support and pictures [well, it's the thought that counts!], and let’s hope we can keep up the good work next week, when the opposition will be – Church of Ireland.

Team (4-4-2): J.McCollum – A.Morrison (P.Gillespie), S.Sorohan, A.Lynch, B.Hanna (S.McCollum) – P.Dunwoody (c), C.Hyndman, I.Buchanan (S.Steele), G.Blackwell (R.Cromie) – M.McCavery, A.Johnston

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: The new Northern Ireland top, which has been £45 since it was released in September, has now been reduced to £15 in JJB and the IFA shop (and online). Along with most of their other NI stuff. Possibly something to do with JJB in financial diffs.

Renwick turned up for their second league game of the season on Wednesday in the very unusual (unprecedented in fact) situation of not having Mark (who had only ever missed 10 minutes in the history of Renwick football before) or Phil – due to an unforseen delay. A few last minute call-ups saw Strob arrive to sub and Ian’s friend David Smith (taking the number of ex-Foyle boys in the lineup to 3) being thrown straight into the mix at centre half. Seán made his first start, alongside Skills in centre midfield, with Gavin taking on the right wing mantle, although not the shirt. Steve was calling the shots as manager in Phil’s absence, although Jonny did have a bid in to continue his 100% record as captain.

Honestly Phil, I thought it said ’1′!

Jonny was called into action early on for Renwick, saving a header from a corner, but apart from that was a spectator for most of the match. At the other end, we had a few corners ourselves, and then I should have opened the scoring after a kind deflection saw the ball roll into my path but the shot was straight at the keeper. The Eunuchs had a shot just over the bar themselves. All in all, the first half was a bit of a struggle, with the new look defence doing well, and Andy L putting in a man of the match performance at left back, but at the other end a few shots over the bar were about all we had to show for our efforts. The Ethiopians came into it a bit more as the half came to a close, but as we looked to see things through to half-time, disaster struck 2 minutes before the interval as they took a sneaky short corner, resulting in their player hammering the ball into the net from just inside the box.

At half-time, Strob came on in the centre of midfield, with Skills moving up front. After a bit more plodding, Renwick started doing a bit more knocking on the opposition door. Skills cracked a shot off the bar from 20 yards, Seán did the same from 2, and someone else rattled it for a third time. The breakthrough finally came around the hour mark when after a throw-in the ball eventually fell to Dave who lashed it home for a vital debut goal.

One game, one goal

Minutes later, Renwick had the lead as Strob (I kept forgetting he was playing in midfield and was wondering why he kept wandering so far forward) gleefully slid in at the back post to poke a low ball home, for his first goal of the season. Which is one more than I have!

Best photo ever?

The floodgates were well and truly opened now. Renwick won a freekick a few yards outside the box, slightly to the left of the goal, and with Phil still having his lunch, Skills stepped up and smashed the ball home. Are you watching Aggie Blair?! There will be 9 players watching with interest the next time Renwick get a free kick in a similarly dangerous position!

Skills got his second a few minutes later with a shot from long range which bounced as it crossed the line but their keeper still wasn’t able to keep it out. At this stage I came back on for Gav, who took over the whistle, to play on the right wing. Our fifth goal of the afternoon came as Steelo floated a lovely ball in from the right, which Skills headed towards goal, it hit the defender, and Ben swivelled to poke home his first ever Renwick goal. For his goal celebration he was obviously trying to think of something that a prolific striker would do, but couldn’t think of one, so had to settle for a Robbie Keane roll instead.

And that was about that. A bit nervy till the goals started coming, but in the end Renwick proved too strong, and provided me with numerous headlines that I couldn’t possibly write.

Will be good to have you back next week Phil. This match report lark is harder than I remember, so you can take over again. Freekicks, on the other hand… :-P

RENWICK: Jonny; Andy Mo, Steve, David Smith, Andy L; Gav (r: Steelo 73), Seán, Skills, Ben; Conor, Steelo (Strob ht)

The rest of Bob’s marvellous photos:

Andy Throw. Honestly, there’s one of him smiling coming up!

My favourite strike partner of the season!

Arrive-just-in-time-for-kick-off-in-a-Covenanter-books-van-comma-honestly-Sean-must-have-been-wandering-what-was-going-on-!-well

Phil is just a class above other managers!

Right, I must try and get these South Africa posts finished before the Walkers get here in December! There were some amount of photos of Kruger to sort through!

We left Kruger View bright and early to get there for the gates opening.

Our first sight of Kruger

Baby croc

Lion (zoom in) – last of the big 5 to be seen

Match Report by Philip Dunwoody

Renwick began their Belfast Super League campaign with a solid performance and three points this week against the unfamiliar opposition of Bar Staff. It was the third win in a row for the team, and continued their unbeaten start to the season, so the RP lads had every reason to walk off the Ozone pitch thoroughly satisfied with their performances so far this year.
Having struggled to field a team last week, we were spoilt for choice this week (relatively speaking). Ian Buchanan was once again a late addition to the squad, along with new player Sean Sorohan. Joel Loughridge found himself with a free afternoon and also jumped on the Renwick bandwagon for the day, and provided a good option for referee in the first half! Andy McKelvey returned and partnered Conor in midfield, with Gavin moving to left wing. Steelo moved back upfront and Robert McCollum played in centre back and gave another great performance alongside Steve.
We knew little about our opposition this week, since they didn’t manage to get a team together for much of last year. We last played them in November 2006, back when no one had heard of Barack Obama and Robbie Keane was a prolific goal scorer, but they were a physical team and seemed up for the game. We put them under pressure early on though, and soon realised that what they had in size they lacked in skill. They had a huge back four but they weren’t comfortable on the ball, and very early on Steelo and Mark were forcing errors and came close to rounding the ‘keeper. Similarly in midfield there were plenty of tough challenges for the ball, but Bar Staff couldn’t string their passes together and cause us problems at the back. Three minutes (thanks Joel!) into the game Mark finished off a well worked move and beat the ‘keeper with a good strike to put us in the lead. Then we got a corner on the left that Phil swung in towards the near post – several flicks and missed headers, plus an effort from Gav that may or may not have been the decisive touch, led to the ball nestling in the back of then net and we were, deservedly, 2-0 up after fifteen minutes.
At this point we continued our usual trick of taking the foot off the pedal instead of putting the game beyond our opposition. They didn’t put Jonny under any pressure – our back four made sure of that – but we didn’t trouble them too much either. Mark had a great shot across the face of goal saved by the ‘keeper, and Gavin and Andy McKelvey went close, but we didn’t score again before the half.
Bizarrely we found ourselves playing for half time, and five minutes before the break we failed to clear the ball after some good play by Bar Staff, and after Gav got caught in possession they fired a good strike into the far bottom corner. It was 2-1 at half time.
We made two changes at the half; Sean came on for Phil to make his Renwick debut in midfield, with Conor moving to right wing, and Ian replaced Steelo upfront. We started the second half in much the same way as we started the first, and after ten minutes Gav got the ball at his feet on the edge of the box and hit a great curling shot into the top right hand corner. It was a great finish, again a fair reflection on the game, and it gave us more confidence to take the game to them once again. Once again however we couldn’t build on our lead, and ten minutes after Gavin’s goal they had pulled one back, when we didn’t deal with a throw-in and they capitalised on the ensuing goal-mouth scramble.
The game went a bit flat after this, and lost its urgency. Phil came on again for Gavin, and Joel made a cameo appearance at the back in place of Andy Morrison. About ten minutes from the end we put the game beyond their reach, when we got a throw in deep in their half, which put their keeper under pressure. Mark smacked in his thirteenth goal of the season from close range and it finally looked like the end of the debate. Joel and Robert came closest to adding to our lead – Joel from a header, after he surged upfield in the hope of a goal on his return, and Robert when he went on a majestic run from right back but opted for safety first in front of goal! Mark also had a number of chances, but had to settle for just the two goals this week.
So, another victory, and a good start to the league campaign. The good news is we’ve already played five of the ten other teams in the league and are yet to lose, so we should be confident of our chances in the league this year. Andy McKelvey gave a man of the match performance and Sean gave a solid debut and will provide a good option for us in the coming weeks. A good week’s work lads, not that anyone is likely to comment on it on this website…!

Team (4-4-2): J.McCollum – A.Morrison (for J.Loughridge), R.McCollum, S.McCollum, A.Lynch – P.Dunwoody (c) (S.Sorohan), C.Hyndman, A.McKelvey, G.Blackwell – M.McCavery, S.Steele (I.Buchanan)

Photos and annotations courtesy Naomi:

Yeah, just laugh at the new guy…

It’s clearly over me – though as Jonny says it looks like I’m on Crimewatch or something…

Gavin denied-a-hattrick-by-a-clearance-off-the-line-well

Emmaline and Naomi providing a photo in the hope of winning fans of the year…