The Australasian Branch of the Town Supporters Club claimed another famous Derby Down Under victory over deadly foes Canaries Down Under in Melbourne on Saturday, the Blues running out 4-2 winners.
The Blues line-up included Toby Osman, son of Town legend Russell, who was handed the captain’s armband by Ed Parker, the Branch chairman. Russell had sent Toby a shirt bearing the Osman name and his number five for the occasion along with another with the name Butcher and a six.
"We had a good turn out on Saturday, unfortunately Norwich were short of players as a couple of them had their flights cancelled, which was disappointing,” Ed told TWTD.
"We gave them two of Toby's mates that had come along to play for us as they were not affiliated to either club. They were pretty good, and there was some healthy competition between Toby and them.
"Norwich played with no subs, we had the luxury of being able to rotate and keep things fresh which probably saw us over the line in the end.
"We went 1-0 up care of an individual effort from Martyn Byford, who had flown in for the game from the Gold Coast, followed up by another individual effort from energetic youngster Freddie Glue.
"So we were 2-0 up at half-time. I’d made Toby captain so he gave the half-time teamtalk, stressing the importance of keeping a clean sheet and having us drive on to score more.
"However, within 20 seconds of the restart it was 2-1 as our defence were caught napping, pondering the half-time teamtalk and digesting their orange segments!
"The 2-1 scoreline became 2-2 as what looked like a cross looped over our keeper Nathan Hall.
"From there it was all Town as we pressed for the winner. We strung together some great moves as Norwich legs tired but they remained resilient and rode their luck - we hit the woodwork five or six times.
"Just as we were thinking that it wasn’t going to be our day and that we may have to go to penalties, James Mayes popped up with a screamer over the keeper from outside the box, leading to a huge roar from the Town contingent, partly at the skill of the shot and partly with relief that we had finally broken them down.
"James followed up again shortly after with another long range effort that was deflected in and at 4-2 the stuffing was knocked out of the Canaries and the clock ran down the final few minutes.
"A great effort by Town, a great showing of support from the local Melbourne contingent, players, families and friends.
"Great thanks to Pietro Cosenza and his football club for supplying the venue, HA Smith Reserve, infrastructure and for putting on the beers and food afterwards - he worked tirelessly to provide a great experience for us all.”
The Derby Down Under, was initiated in 2014 and was back after a three-year Covid-related hiatus.
Saturday’s was the sixth edition, the first in Melbourne with the first four having been in Sydney and the 2019 game in Brisbane. Town have won five of those encounters.
You can listen to Ed and Toby talking about the game on Saturday’s Life’s a Pitch here.