Sat vs Sun Spartans, 2005-06 Season

Sat Spartans 1 – Sun Spartans 1

Goals: Sanjoy1, Jason 1

Spartans are use to playing on all kind of surfaces, whether that’s the dust bowl of Kowloon Tsai, the hilly terrain of Community Sports or the gravel at Aberdeen. But Kwu Tung threw up a new surface all together….the poo surface.

Facets of poo flinging across players from left to right made for a stench that I’m sure my washing machine will never recover from, nevertheless my nasal passage. If I made you un-easy at this point then be assure this is nothing compared to what all the players felt on the day. Enough of the lack of sewerage facilities out at Sheung Shui….on to the game.

Toni Choi looks ready to rumble while Captain Kirk stretches out…"bring it on".

With 26 players being available the usual cry-offs took place on the day. The game was reduced to a 10 vs 10 affair, with neither team having goal keepers. One of the more genuine cry-offs was Flabbo’s infected toe that looked like something out of a horror movie and provided lots of entertainment on the long bus trip. With both Tim and Terry providing bus compares everyone got their fair share of digs that kept the humor rolling prior to the match. No Spartan was left untouched.

Alan holds a brave face from the stench. Dev’s looking around….

Kick-off and the Sat’s matched their more fancied opponents in the first 20 minutes. The spoils were fairly even and both sides had there chances to score but neither converting. Halsey’s strike that hit the cross bar was close for the Saturdays, both Alan and Rickman has some great chances but nothing was converted.

Man in motion as Halsey’s strikes the cross bar.

Then controversy, the USA crusader belts the ball 1 foot away into Jonathan arm who in turns continues his runs and slots the ball back in the net. Now with no referee there was a few heated arguments about this one being a hand ball, the goal was disallowed but was a bit debatable.

Tim lines up a shot with his deadly left…..not quite this time.

This was what was needed to get the Sunday guys going and wave after wave they attacked the Saturday guys in the last 15 minutes of the first half. The pressure told and when I nice inter play by Rickman, Steve and Alan….Sanjoy was put through and with calm of natural born striker slotting the ball in the back of the net. Saturday guys were clinging on and so was Steve after being taken out by the chiropractor of the side….if his back really needed another hit.

Sanjoy opens the account for the Sunday Team One-nil.

With halftime photos of both sides and the Sunday’s going one short the game slowed considerably in the second half. Both teams were attacking having numerous chances with a few Paul Hoy shots and some great last minute tackles from Pablo. Jason and Ben started to cause problems up front for the Sunday guys with both Toni Choi and Dev holding their own in true style. But nice work on the left with Jim (who did he nutmeg?) and Ben resulted in Jason slotting in a nice goal taking his opportunity with open arms, yet again.

Paul Hoy’s more gentler looks.

Jim Milligan gracefully on the ball……nutmegs who????

The game continued back and forth with both sides could have easily added to the score but in the end settled for the draw. A fair result played in committed fashion but in good spirit. The journey back to After 5 "Wine" bar and our new additional sponsor "Kenny the Man" allowed us to present all the kits to the guys. With beers flowing and model photo opportunities galore, sets up for a very promising season ahead for both sides.

Up the Spartans….

The Drummer narrowly escapes a Hoy tackle….