Toddy
Saturday lunchtime saw the Fellas take on Legal Head in a sweltering soiree at Kowloon Tsai Park. The day started with what looked more like a picnic than a collection of athletes but the eventual warm up, including Peps smashing them in from all angles, showed the later to be reasonably accurate. Legal Head were to start with 10 and after some unintelligent intelligence from yours truely, Howie got down to the starting lineup, which was something like this...
Mullens
Shui Bear Flo Issacs
Toddy Howard D Cheung Leo
Chris Ced
In the initial few minutes Legal Head had one of their better spell winning the ball back in midfield a few times and holding on to it well. They didn't create anything of note and as time passed The Fellas took a stranglehold on the game. The breakthrough came fairly quickly after that following some good work on the left wing. Leo fizzed in a low cross and just before Toddy could score against his old club their right back finished sweetly. The own goal realistically ended the competition and the next 10-15 minutes saw Goodfellascontrolling the show.
The next goal came very quickly as Cedric stood on the edge of the box Howard made a well timed run through their back line and was well found with a little through ball from Ced. The finish seemed like one of those that Howard hit, hit the keeper, hit Howard again and then trickled in...it may have been much better than that...but it definitely put us two up.
The next two goals were from Chris and could have been in either order and atl east one was assisted by Cedric. That said, on both occasions I don't recall how Chris got the ball, maybe from Ced, maybe not. The first one I will mention (which was either our third or fourth) had a healthy portion of flair. Chris danced round one player about 8 yards from goal and then pulled out a trick that looked more like a move from hop-scotch than the football pitch, before finishing low to the keepers right. The other goal he got (which again was either the 3rd or 4th) was another of our pacy counter-attacks. As Chris picked up the ball on the inside right channel he outpaced the defence before finishing cooly.
4-0 after about 25minutes and the game was already put to bed...cue for some substitutions that I cannot exactly remember but saw Peps, Adrian and Justin join the game, probably at the expense of Howard, Chris and Leo. With these introductions we started to play less direct and kept the ball well for long periods. The next goal was from another lightning fast attack, a Ced picked up the ball in the centre circle he played the ball behind the right back for Toddy to latch onto. A first time square ball picked out Ced (probably the only cross from Toddy that found a Fella all day) on the edge of the box who finished cooly in the bottom corner.
The final goal of the half came after a spell of pressure with Shiuy putting in a deep cross to the back stick that was easier for Cedric to score than miss from 3 yards out. The half also included Dougie and Chris hitting the post at some stage, Toddy getting his deliveries all wrong and Leo carrying on his shooting form from the warmup...unsure when. They also had a good opportunity from a free kick at some stage. Ball came in and their player got a free-ish header. The ball seemed to bounce around between Flo and Bear for ages before it was spanked out by one of the aforementioned.
Legal Head had 11 for the second half and we started the second half with the same lineup as we started the first except Justin came in for Howard
Mullens
Shiuy Bear Flo Issacs
Toddy Justin DC Leo
Chris Ced
There were loads of substitutions in this half with players playing in loads of different positions to help out in the heat. I won't bore you with those as I can't remember them but safe to say everyone got very involved.
Two goals from Chris this half, and again not sure of the order. One came after some great pressing by DC and Justin in the middle of the park saw the ball land at Chris's feet. Chris drove into the box, pulled out an audacious Cruyff turn before finishing well. The second came after a spell of passing where we didn't push it but just kept probing. Eventually it opened up and Flo (?) was able to find Chris in space. By this time we just left it to Chris to notch up his fourth, which he did with aplomb.
Legal Head had their second big opportunity from a set play late in the second half. Big Ken stepped for to take the kick from a central position, 20 yards from goal. His looping effort came back off the bar and after a lot of ineffective head tennis between the teams the ball was cleared. I also recall Peps hitting the post and Toddy almost finishing a great cross from Leo.
The game finished 8-0 and while we should always beat teams like this we handled this is a workmanlike manner, especially given the heat. The passing around the back and midfield was great at times and the speed of passing was also much improved. We didn't force things when it wasn't on and utilised the space well. If Toddy could learn to cross, Leo had brought his shooting boots and Peps stayed onside we could have had a few more but that would have been greedy. Well played lads :)
UP THE FELLAS
