Gaye Old Time

Zephyr Rovers had three players shortly before kick off today against defending Division 1 Chapions Els Gaye. "We eventually got there will the help of a Mercer player and we played really well for most of the match" said Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall "but whilst we had more territory and more shots, we lacked players like Jamie and Matt to put them away". Hall said the game was very close until the last few minutes. "It was 4 - 4 at one point but I went in the outfield for the last five minutes" said Hall "and I opened up quite a few gaps in my own defence and Ben (pictured) in goal got to experience what is like to give the opposition free shots on goal". Hall said it was encouraging though with an understrength team to run the champions close. "We know we can beat them on our day and as long as we make the top four we'll get our chance" said hall "we'll have to get on the winning track again next week".

Rovers 4 Els Gaye 7

Rovers Versus Champions

Zephyr Rovers have been hit by injuries and unavailability ahead of their match on Friday against current Division 1 champions Els Gaye. "We're playing the current best team in town, a position we aim to be in by 30 June 2030" said Rovers Manager Steve Hall (pictured) "and although we have a squad of ten, we currently haven't got five players for kick off due to injuries and overseas commitments". Hall said at least part of winning an indoor championship was actually finding people who could play the difficult kick off times like 2 pm on a Friday. "It's not the most sort after kick off time in town" said Hall "but with the current injury woes we can barely field a team at any time". Hall said Rovers faced an uphill battle but would put up a fight. "We're not going to roll over and I think it will be tight" predicted Hall "but I think if we had all our players available we'd have a good chance of toppling them".

Heroic Effort Sees Rovers Through

Zephyr Rovers were reduced to four men for the fixture today at the Shed of Dreams before picking up a passer by and putting him straight into the midfield. "We got Joe from Els Gaye to play for us and he did pretty well considering he always waers jeans when he plays" said Rovers Manager Steve Hall "and we certainly needed the extra player as harp Shooters looked a bit strong than the team we played a fortnight ago". Hall said it was a fairly even fixture although Rovers stayed ahead for much of the match. "We were going pretty well until the last five minutes when we ran out of a bit of puff from having no subs" said Hall "I know I had to make quite a few saves in the end and they sneaked two or three goals to make the score respectable". Hall said it was good to get in some keeping practice but with champions Els Gaye coming up next week he was hoping to muster a stronger team. "It's one of the features of this time of the year that football players get injured" said Hall "so we might yet be looking to find some extra talent to boost the squad in coming weeks". Hall said Rovers were definitely looking for a top four place and he thought they would get there as long as they could keep putting five players on the pitch. "We were lucky today as even with injures we had a solid defence and we still have players like Jamie (pictured) who can bang them in the net" said Hall "but a couple more useful guys to call up in a crisis wouldn't go astray".

Final: Rovers 7 Harp Shooters 5

Injuries and Unavailability

Zephyr Rovers were tonight reeling ahead of their match with Harp Shooter tomorrow at the Shed of Dreams. "We've built up a strong squad of ten to cover us for injuries and unavailability" said Rovers manager Steve Hall "but we've currently got only four of the regular squad available for tomorrow so we're struggling". Hall said injuries had hit Mystery Matt, Peter Perfect and Nigel and Eddie had now played his last game for over a month as he was off on an overseas trip for several weeks. "I'm thinking of renaming us the globetrotters" said Hall "we've got Eddie in Ireland, John in Italy and Matty in Oz in coming weeks, and if I go to Palmy North for the weekend then we can say we've gone to the four corners of the Earth". Hall said many underestimated the value of Palmerston North as a holiday venue. "You can get away from the big smoke, watch wheelies outside of Maccas and still be back in time to play your indoor footy during the week" confessed Hall "and I'm told it even has a Warehouse for shopping". Hall said he expected Rovers to account for Harp Shooters as long as five players were available.

Go Tiger

Zephyr Rovers manager Steve Hall said this morning he was always willing to learn from other sports in his bid to get Zephyr Rovers to the top of Wellington indoor sports by 30 June 2030. "I was watching Tiger Woods this morning winning the US Open and it reminded me a bit of George Nash (pictured), and a little bit about myself" said Hall. Hall claimed that Tiger was obviously playing with an injury and that reminded him of George. "Playing on whilst not a 100% is certainly something that George would do" said Hall "whilst what I recognised about myself is the fierce drive to win". Hall said the never say die attitude of Woods was something Rovers needed in the big games. "I think the big thing in indoor football is to be able to come from behind and win" said Hall "we're not going to win every game from scoring first and staying ahead". Hall said he had had no report on when Nash would be back in the team but it would "no doubt be before he is 100%".

Italian Interest

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall said this evening that he was at a loss to explain the sudden interest in Zephyr Rovers from Italy. "I'm told by our web master that we've had well over two hundred hits from Italy in the last two days" said Hall "I'm guessing it has something to do with John Cao (pictured) although even he can't know that many people surely". Hall said he would be happy to accept offers from Italian players to play in the tough and competitive Wellington lunch time five a side league. "I'm not sure their national team is going so well lately and they may have a few people wanting to leave the country shortly" said Hall "we're prepared to pay at least twice what we pay John for the right player". Hall said he felt Rovers should cash in on the Italian interest. "I'm happy to take Rovers on tour to Italy if the right finance is offered".

Black Friday

Zephyr Rovers Manager Steve Hall (pictured) today advised the entire Rovers squad to lie low for twenty four hours to ensure that there were no mishaps to the squad resulting from Black Friday bad luck. "We don't want to see Pete Roberts twisting his neck to match is stuffed knees" said Hall "and George needs to be careful he doesn't over extend his delicate bits or he'll never make a come back". Hall said a bit of reverse psychology was needed on these sort of days. "The obvious way to ward of any bad karma is to go to the Black Harp and have a beer or three" said Hall "let's face it you're never going to have bad luck in an Irish pub on a black Friday, what are the chances of that?". No points have yet been entered in yet in the Division 1 League table apart from those for paying fees on time. "I suppose you could say that is bad luck" said Hall "we were outside of the top four before we'd even played a game".