Justin Cresser
After a cloudy, rainy and cool Saturday morning, pleasant conditions for playing
some hard tackling and end-to-end running style football, the weather made a
change for the worse producing a Saturday afternoon of blistering heat and
balls-sweat humidity. Nonetheless, after a disappointing 0-3 loss to a unlikely
opponent the week before, the Goodfellas squad were determined to come out and
play exciting defensive football, as determined by our 4-5-1 formation with 2
defensive style midfileders, but optimistic to capitalize on the counter
attack. After and inspiring speech by both captain and yours truly, the Fellas
came out hungry for a win. The first 5 minutes of the 1st half saw nothing but
quick, crisp passes by the Fellas only to lose out in the final third of the
opposition’s territory. (Most notable were the passes between Cedric, Shaka,
Kilburn, and the rest of the team.) However, the Fellas’ hard work and hunger
quickly payed off with a wonderful counter attack mainly involving the other
black Fella on the team, Shaka hinds, whose interception of an oppositions pass
followed by Usain Bolt–equivalent speed led to cross inside the penalty area,
where D Kilburn could do nothing but score, and score he did with an emphatic
Marco van-Basten type finish.
The hard work of the Fellas continued and was again rewarded approximately 5
minutes after when the defense conceded a corner, much to their dismay. The
corner, curling beautifully away from the opposition’s goalkeeper, was met and
cleared with a header from the tall center back. His header went only as far as
Cresser (Your’s truly) however, whose first touch was less than exquisite, but
sufficient to produce a ferocious half volley that could only be parried by the
keeper into his own net. A goal that was very much dependent on the training
skills of the resident Bulldog.
The attacking display of football continued and soon after the second
well-deserved goal, the Fellas had a wonderful opportunity to go up 3-0 when
the elegant and deceptively quick Cedric went past at least 2 men with ease
only to send his low-skidding shot a fingernail width past the far post. The
keeper could do nothing but watch and sigh thankfully.
Half time approached and came with the squad making 2 changes, involving the
Scot who doesn’t speak English making way for Koe on the left, and Li coming in
for the Frenchman on the right.
The first part of the second half was uneventful except for a well placed
clearance that was met with superb reflexes by an opposing striker that
trickled into net, leaving the fellas with a one goal advantage. The opposing
team then put us under pressure with hard and attacking football, but this
pressure was comfortably handled by a defense bolstered by Parker, Bear, Ike
and Dougy. The unslaught of attack seemed to have stemmed from a tired fellas
midfield, and Cresser was soon replaced by the veteran peps who was moved into
the strikers role after Kilburn was moved back to add substance to the middle.
The best chance for the opposing team came with an attempt on the left side, but
a superbly-timed slide tackle from the American Ike, though met with opposition
shouts for a penalty, quickly resolved the situation.
The final whistle was met with jubilant screams from both players and supporters
and confirmed the first win of the 2009-2010 season for the Fellas.
