Ah, the life of an NQ Fury blogger. I've been waiting for the 'right' time to write my next FFT blog, in the attempt to avoid the subjects I've already mentioned so often in the past. Subjects that have been debated ad nauseam. Subjects such as the survival of our club.
The right time, for me, would have been an announcement from Rabieh Krayem, saying that we've secured the funding and will be around next season. Or perhaps a heroic backs-to-the-wall performance, akin to our early season performances against Melbourne and Sydney.
I'd even have accepted an outstanding bit of individual brilliance: nothing would have delighted me more than basking in the glow of a David Williams hat-trick. Unfortunately none of these seems very likely at the moment.
Krayem has asked for an extension to our deadline, with a number of potential investors severely impacted by the floods in Queensland, and the FFA are perhaps saying plenty with their silence on the matter.
The squad has been notable in the past few months for a complete lack of individual brilliance and team unity (the less said about our startling capitulation to Adelaide, the better). The destabilising effects of our lack of certainty have manifested themselves in exactly the sort of displays we've turned on recently.
And then came last night's game against Melbourne Victory, a match that in 90 minutes perfectly summed up our season so far. We had the opportunity to right the wrongs of the past few weeks in what could be the club's second-last home game ever. Considering some of the results we've copped recently the boys started terrifically well; their high pressing transported me back to the start of the season where our relentless pressure had us near the top of the table for a couple of glorious weeks.
We even returned to the days where we looked the better team: Williams had a couple of very good chances, Panny Nikas and Ufuk Talay were pulling the strings nicely in midfield, Isaka Cernak was showing Ernie Merrick exactly why he's signed him on for next season. Hell, even Chris Payne looked the goods for a while!
And then, perhaps inevitably, it all went to hell. A defensive lapse allowed Melbourne to break down the right, and Erik Akoto didn't track Danny Allsopp well enough as the Victory striker converted at the near post.
Rather than let our heads drop, as was very evident in recent weeks, we picked ourselves up and kept attacking. For most of the match we looked the team most likely to add the next goal.
And then, the penalty shout. So many times this season we have been on the wrong side of some referee decisions, and last night Jarred Gillett got it badly wrong when Michael Petkovic clipped Cernak's ankles. It was just like Williams v. Matt Ryan all over again - the only man in the stadium who thought it wasn't a penalty was the only one who mattered. History was repeating itself.
The second half had a sort of inevitability to it: Fury would continue attacking, but lack the cutting edge to really hurt the Victory. We'd probably even see a defensive howler. Unfortunately for the DFS faithful we got two, and the man with the perfect Australia Day name, Mate Dugandzic, benefited both times. Only the Fury boys can explain why not a single defender challenged him for a header after Justin Pasfield's attempted punch: Dugandzic isn't much taller than some of the ball boys, and he had all the time in the world (and the aid of Mark Hughes' noggin) to nod it past Pasfield. Then of course Akoto gifted him his third, another one I shan't mention again.
And there we had it. A game in which we had more chances, more ball, more industry. A home crowd who kept with the team right to the end.
Sadly we also had a defensive performance that would have had most Under 12 coaches shaking their heads. A refereeing decision that was utterly wrong, and could have changed the complexion of the match entirely. In a nutshell, 90 minutes that eerily reflected our season.
Although some might consider this clutching at straws, I'm hoping that this match is a microcosm of Fury's year. In the dying moments of the game Victory had the chance to complete the job with an open net, yet they gave us a reprieve when their player could only find the bar instead of the back of the net.
With a bit of luck, the same reprieve for the club and its suffering fans is on its way.
