FIRST HALF
A brilliant end to a fantastic Spartans weekend with a crushing victory against Japan League who curiously had China kits. The ground was heavy, it was incredibly hot and there were several hangovers on display. We therefore agreed that we have to destroy the Japan league in midfield and close down aggressively as it might take a while to get the ball back. We start with the 11 below in a 4-4-2 formation.
Danny (G)
Hemant (RB)
Colin (CB)
Tony (CB)
Stef (LB)
Ed (LM)
Scott W (CM)
Tom (CM)
Matt (RM)
Cowley (S)
Mansfield (S)
Subs:
Dan
Seb
Scott K
Almost from the off Scott W gets a shot in. Matt and Cowley strike an immediate understanding much like their hobbit icons Frodo and Samwys and win a corner.
Patrick also wins a corner corner after some good work bundling traffic out the way like a white Heskey. Tom then has a powerful /dribble of a shot from long range which is saved easily. He then redeems himself with a scorcher of a drive that is bravely headed over by one of the defenders for another corner. Scott then makes two crunching tackles and sends a long ball through. It’s clear after the 1st 10 minutes it a completely one sided affair. They Japan league are not able to compete with the intensity of our game. The onslaught continues with Stef crossing dangerously and Cowley narrowly misses out on a simple goal. Stef, Mansfield and Matt combine and Cowley finishes well. We are 1 – 0 ahead and looking good. Minutes later Cowley makes an excellent run and Matt has a shot which is saved. Ed also sends a dangerous ball in after some hard work. Hemant also gets a cross in. The defense does very well with anything that gets through. However, although we dominated the half they almost got an equalizer with a minute to go in the 1st half when they hit the bar.
SECOND HALF
Changes : Scott K on for Matt,
Seb on for Ed and Dan on for Tony
Seb makes an immediate impact seizing the moment with both "feet" he does a few Justin Timberlake dance moves on the left. He unfortunately out dances his own shadow and then collapses to the amusement of everyone. Sorry mate, it had to be done. Seb didn’t have another foot wrong after this. Patrick then gets a shot at goal in the aftermath. Dan M with the aggression of Chuck Morris then goes about his business at CB with tacking hard and leaving Japan League bodies all over the shop. On one occasion one of these tackles sets a move going where Cowley crosses perfectly for Scott "don’t let the Alice band fool you" Wilkins smash in from close range. We are now 2 – 0 ahead.
Another corner is won by Scott W. Dan and Seb both get strong headers in but with no luck.
Our next goal comes from another excellent run and cross from Cowley who finds Patrick who scores a header from close range. They hug it out shortly afterwards like Sheringham and Cole. Its good to see them working so well together 3 – 0. More shots from Tom, Cowley and Stef who hits the woodwork from a free kick. Patrick after a brief moment of "love" with Cowley gets back to his "bad" self with a trade mark Kung Fu effort…. Man goes down…. "I didn’t touch him ref"…. Usual story but on a serious note its good that defenders are regularly under pressure from our guys.
Scott then Plays a brilliant through ball which finds Cowley who leaves their defense in his wake and runs the ball to the goal line before nonchalantly scoring 4 – 0. Scott Kieren also gets a shot in late at the end. Tom comes off after taking a knock and we have ten men for the last few minutes. This writer’s favourite moment of the half was Hemant seeing the red mist, dragging one of Japan league of the ground and then hurling abuse at him. The guy was terrified and is gonna have terrible flashbacks for a long time.
Everyone did extremely well both as individuals and as a team. However, there have to be two winners of this week’s awards.
Scott – Man of the match, an allround brilliant performance.
Seb Mug of the day, for his dance of the left!
STRENGTH & HONOUR
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