opposition 城市草根。 HKU Alumni

Squad for Cup Final: Bertie (GK), JasonE, ScotW, TonyC, Stef, Henry, ThomasD, Tom, Miles, Rob, Cowley, Joe, Jens, Gez, Ed, Jeff, Matt

A first for nites with everyone kitted up prior to kick off, even more surprising given the kick off time and kit confusion.

Plenty of options with a strong squad we plumbed for 3:5:2 hoping to control the midfield with 2 speedy wingbacks giving us plenty of defensive cover and width on the counter attack

Starting line up : Bertie (GK), TonyC/ThomasD/Scott, Stef-Tom-Rob-Miles-JasonE, Jens & Gez

5mins in Gez catches defender out wide, into the box 1-on-1 but gets caught by defender before can fire off shot
7mins Scott earns a yellow for a tackle on the edge of the box and does his best to talk his way to a red.
13mins ThomasD intercepts the ball perfectly on the half way line only for the opposition to run into his foot….free kick and a yellow card

14mins a mess up in box see a soft shot across the goal evade 3 defenders and somehow  trickle over the line 1-nil down
15mins we win a header on the half way line ThomasD’s lofted pass into the box is met by Tom but straight at the keeper.

19mins JasonE got on the end of a long ball out wide, a good run into the box and a pass to Jens in box, back healed to JasonE however his shot goes wide.

23JasonE again down the wing crosses into the box however no one can get the ball under control and the opposition lines are cleared.

24mins a corner for the opposition is cleared to the edge of the box, however the ball comes right back and someone how hits the post then cross bar – a lucky escape.

25mins attacking down the left a long ball into the box evades Tony Choi who has an unmarked played behind him, smashed into the goal  – 2-nil down

25mins First sub up with Joe on for Gez, Joe under instructions to play more on the left and deeper.

Half time – no changes, Sanj gave a talk, while Patrick went to complain to the ref about no extra time played for subs and time wasted waiting for opposition to put on shin pads.

2mins Stef breaks down the left  wing, curving ball into path of Jens 1-1 in box, keeper saves loose ball outside with box with an open goal, Miles shoots over the bar

3mins long ball from the opposition to their miles off side player saw Bertie screaming at the linesman "do you know the rules for gods sake"

4mins Joe tacked from behind, nothing given, Joe decides to punche their player in the back in front of ref – straight Red Card

4mins after the restart Jens missed an open goal (I did not see this as looking down the line of subs…)
7mins Deny on for JaonsonE, formation changed to 3:4:2 with Miles moving onto the wing.
12mins hitting us on the counter then grabbed another goal 3:0 down.
13mins ThomasD slid in to save TonyC’s bacon after he was caught in possession and their player motored towards our goal

15mins Cowley on for Miles with an instant response, someone picked out Deny who held up the ball, turned and dribbed around a few of their players before picking out an unmarked Cowley who just had to first time the ball into the goal  3:1 and back in the game.

18mins Jeff for Jens, Rob up front and Jeff into midfield
21mins Henry for Tom changing formation to 2:4:3 with Scott pushing onto the wing and Cowley up front with Rob and
23mins Rob for Ed
25mins Scott for Coombes
28mins Deny cross, Cowley at the back post ducked defender clear for corner
30mins Bertie up for corner, narrowly headed wide
31mins cross came from the right for Stef who was motoring down the wing, first time volley just went wide
32mins Stef jumps up wins a header only to get headed by the opposition – surprise surprise free kick for them..
33mins time up….

We managed to get everyone on, although some people only got a short run out, everyone gave it their best and we looked dangerous right to the end.

Hugely disappointing result, however tactics never quite came off as the opposition basically bypassed our midfield and we never managed to get the ball on the ground and pass it around. We looked good on the counter especially Stef on the left linking up well however someone of our passing was poor and our finishing let us down on the day. Opposition did not have a huge amount of chances however they put all their shots away bar 1 or 2. The fact that a defender got man of the match says it all – but hats off to ThomasD for an outstanding performance at the back.

Mug of the day looked like a shoe in prior to the match however Joe had a sprint to the finish line for numerous reasons kindly listed by Cowley including “stealing spots from other players”, “
red card”  and “ wearing gloves” – the gloves in question have been taken into custody and will either be ceremoniously burned or framed in Yorkshire Pudding.

A good turnout down the pub and handy that the owner was there to see us.

That finally closes out the 2009/10 season. 41 games played W14 D7 L20 scored 90, conceded 94. There were 33 teams in the cup and we ended runners up as well as consolidating our post in our first year in the first division – 8th out of 12.

This season we are currently 4th and through to the last 16 of the cup so let’s go one better this season and bring home the cup

We get a trophy and medals for runners up, 18 for free however I’ll order extras to cover everyone who played during the 2009/10 season.

 

Patrick