It was 3:16 a.m. on Sunday morning, and CUFC manager Bernie Ward was jolted awake by a sharp pain in his side.

After a quick trip to the bathroom to alleviate his pain, he returned to his spot on the couch, and voila, an apparition had decended from the football gods to provide the answer to Coveside's continuing woes.

There, laid out before him on the living room rug, was a vision. Ten empty Molson Canadian cans and piece of pizza crust spread out on the floor formed four lines, the hard, half-chewed crust was the goalie, three empties formed the back line, there were five crushed cans in the middle, and two more at the top.

Bernie rubbed his eyes, first making sure it wasn't an old Christmas ornament he hadn't yet put away, but there was no mistaking it, this was the lineup, the 3-5-2, that would change Coveside's season.

"This will work," Bernie croaked excitedly, "If we play Sunny, Al and Randy at the back, then make the Jason and Randy J. can drop back a bit more, yes, yes, this is it!"

Then a loud voice beckoned prophetically from above: "Bernie, shut the f- up and come to bed, and bring that log up with you."

And so when Bernie arose just five hours later, he quickly set to work, scribbling out the starting lineup on the box of Lucky Charms at the breakfast table.

In practice, it worked as well as in theory, as Coveside gained a point from division leaders Malones with a 2-2 draw Sunday at Griffin Park. Despite blowing a 2-0 lead, the draw was probably the fairest result as the two teams played a hard, fair and entertaining tilt.

Bernie's new formation got the lads off to a great start. The passing was as crisp as the bacon on Brad's Egg McMuffin, the shots as powerful as the tequila on Amar's Mexican vacation, the tackles as brutal as Dave Wood's new die job. Finally Coveside came ready to play.

Playing with Mike Norris, Al Roberts and Randy Ash at the back, things were solid from the ground up. Five midfielders, with Randy Johal and Jason Fisher out wide and coming back to help, provided width and strong tackling while Craig Larson and Sean Bartlett provided speed and strength up front.

The first real chance went to Malones as noted thug Cass Bennett steamed in on a partial breakaway down the right side.

Bennett was caught from behind by Fisher, and was scared silly at the sight of the fast-approaching goalie, prompting a weak chip over the bar as he desperately wanted to get rid of the ball.

Things turned quickly in Coveside's favour. Fisher came back deep to retrieve a loose ball, and made a stunning run all the way up the right wing. He stepped around, through and over Malonians left in his wake, and knocked a great ball through to Paul Kellor. The lanky midfielder then slotted a perfect pass to Sean Barlett (for the second week in a row), which was cooly finished by Bartlett ramming past the fallen keeper.

Shortly after that the team suffered yet another injury blow with Kellor twisting his knee on the artificial turf and leaving the game. Kellor joined other injured CUFCers Dave Woods, Rob Paul and Bernie on the sidelines.

Malones battled back well, but some belief in the manager's system, with Andy Dudley and Mark Docherty coming back to make some key tackles and snuff out solid scoring chances, sent CUFC into the half with a lead for the first time since November 25th vs. Carribbean All Stars.

Bernie made a few tactical changes, bringing on Russ Hennessey, Harp Dhaliwal and Brad Chapman to join the fray.

Craig Larson reminded us not to make the mistake the Rams did the week before by getting satisfied. Larson lived up to his word about 10 minutes into the second half, taking a feed from Fisher and blasting a rocket into the net to give the boys a 2-0 lead.

Fitness kicked in, or rather lack of it, and as Malones started to jump up into the attack, Coveside started to tire. A phantom foul, where a Malones forward seemed to wrong-foot himself and fall down on the edge of the box, caused a dangerous free kick.

Once more, the CUFC keeper was woefully out of position on the kick and it sailed into the top corner to get Malones back into it. The first sure sign the keeper was at fault for the goal was the immediate neck rub he got from Doc. Either that, or he's just getting bored with Russ.

With about 15 mintues to go, a shot from the top of the box took a deflection and snaked into the far side of the goal, 2-2.

Rather than just pack it in, Coveside fought harder for the win, and were unlucky not to pot a third as Fisher and Larson pressed up front as the final 10 were a frantic to and from between both teams. Russ Hennessey and Al Roberts both made game-saving plays in their own box in the closing minutes, and the final result of 2-2 moved CUFC a step closer to promotion.

All were happy after the game, and Bernie headed back to his couch to start working on the next apparition.

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