Helping friend move, Qld Roar's season opener

I was out & about yesterday (Sat 25/8/07). I, together with a few others, helped a friend (S) from Clay move apartments. Her new apartment is just next to her workplace, & it's pretty nice. The move was quite physically demanding; lots of hard work & it was quite tiring. But luckily, many hands make light work. I was quite shocked at the amount of my friend's (& her sister's) possessions, as reflected in the number of boxes we helped move. Luckily, the move was smooth. As S right remarked after the move, many hands made light work. S provided lunch - 15 boxes of Dominos pizzas & garlic bread. The lunch was meant for everyone who helped with the move. However, some of them (the bunch who came with the removal truck) had left before lunch started, so there were lots of food for those that remained! We managed to see S's new fridge delivered to the unit, before leaving.

I dropped off a couple of people, then went to the shops to look for a plastic raincoat to take to the Queensland Roar season opener v Adelaide later that evening (it was threatening to rain). However, there weren't any suitable raincoats, so I went back home & showered. After that, I was out again. Dinner was had with some friends at Jackpot Noodles at Toowong. (I had crispy skin fried chicken with rice). After dinner, we caught the train at the Toowong Station & headed to Suncorp Stadium for the game.

The stadium was buzzing prior to the kick-off. The game was a rather good one, even if some of Qld Roar's moves floundered through bad final pass or tame goal attempts. Qld conceded an early goal (within 10-12 minutes of kick-off), but they but managed to equalise around the 44th minute mark. They then put the ball in the back of the net just a minute later via a freekick, but the goal was disallowed. So the half-time score was 1-1, & the referee's decision to disallow the goal drew loud jeers. Then, Adelaide regained the lead within 2 minutes of the second-half, & when Qld's captain Craig Moore was sent-off after collecting his second yellow card, thing looked bleak for Qld. Nevertheless, Qld didn't give up & with little more than 10 minutes left in the match, they equalised - a Qld defender headed in from a corner kick.

Final score: Qld Roar 2 Adelaide Utd 2. A win would have been better, but considering how the game went (twice, they had to come back from going behind), a draw is a fair result & one I can live with :) The goals that Adelaide scored were avoidable, & Qld must defend better. They also must improve on their finishing. That said, Qld did hit the bar twice & had a couple of other good chances. On another day, they could have won. At least the game was rather enjoyable, on a whole. The attendance was a little over 16,800, which was not bad at all considering the threat of rain. Atmosphere at the stadium was good, as always. I screamed a lot, as usual. I look forward to the next game at Suncorp Stadium. Bring it on!

PS: My friend T had bet with his colleague that Craig Moore would get sent-off, as he's familiar with Moore's tendency for rough play from watching Moore play his club football in Europe (before signing for Qld Roar). Since Moore did get ejected, T will be $100 richer. Good on him.