Week 12 (4 July)
Opposition: West Pennant Hills Lions
Result: Loss 2-1
Scorers: Ranga
A big double header didn’t get off to the start we needed. With Southy in Europe, Godders at the snow, Cam in Fiji, Ranga 2.0 in Adelaide and Priddy out injured, we called on Team Merrick for support, and welcomed back Sloth from his exile. The new look lineup played some great soccer, with Ranga somehow threading the needle from a fine angle with the opener. Extended pressure couldn’t buy another goal, and the half time chat was all about getting that first strike to put the game in our hands. We opened up with a great game of passing, but with Southy gone our finishing touch was lacking. The Lions then got two identical goals in 1 minute, with a cannon throw and deft header beating our defense each time. 2-1 down, we needed to bounce back, but again our domination of the mids didn’t translate on the score sheet. Ranga went closest with an open goal but the ball bouncing just out of reach, and with that the whistle went and so did the points. It’s not often you lose a game you control for 88 minutes, but the Lions have done it to us twice now. I hate soccer.
MOTM: Team Merrick for allowing us to play with a full team.

Week 8? (5 July)
Opposition: Putney Rangers
Result: Win 3-0
Scorers: Ranga 2, Muppet 1
Part 2 of the double header went according to script, at least from kick off. The early 9am Sunday match had the Pumas car pooling down to Gladesville in hilariously overpacked small cars, with some Merricks and Tim filling in for us from AA21’s. No ref meant we reffed ourselves, and I’m glad we were playing the Rangers, who were a fair and non-violent lot (if you don’t count the death threats between their centre mid and left back). We almost conceded about 20 seconds after kick off, but luckily Clayts was awake to make another fine save. We then set about breaking down the Putney defense, with first Ranga then some Muppet putting us 2-0 up. At halftime we had to choose a ref, and with Gordon playing the dousche-bag card Skip stood up to take the whistle. The second half was totally dominated by the Pumas, with Stathis, Gordon and Nicho all going close before Ranga slotted his second to kill the game. The backs racked up another clean sheet (5 from 9) and the mids were well held by Nicho and The Hater, whose list of hates was expanded prior match to include Transformers, parties at clubs and the Sun. An even weekend from the boys leaves us a game clear inside the 4, but with 5 games to go anything can happen. With Ranga 2.0, Godders & Cam back next week, we can all but cement our place with a win over the second placed Panthers. (Insert big cat joke).
MOTM: The Hater. Prematch talk about Transformers fired him up to new heights.