Derek Kilburn
As a total surprise to everyone, we were graced with yet another holy-sh&!-it’s-fu(*%-hot day for last Sat’s match against an impressive Monopoly squad. After no speeding tickets or accidents (that I’m aware of), all of the Fellas arrived safely and early for a rare (but insanely well run) team warm-up. Howard elected yours truly to offer up an inspirational couple of pre-game words, proclaiming it had to do with last week’s goal when we all know it really had to do with him needing someone to write the match report. The speech was average with the highlight being the offer, yet again, for a beer to the first yellow carded Fella of the match.
The game started in a 4-5-1 with the lineup being: (GK) Andy, (LB) Jason, (CB) Parker, (CB) Bear, (RB) Doug, (LM) Peps, (CM) Justin, (CM) Howard, (CM) Cedric, (RM) Koh and (FW) Killer. Subs were Alex, Eddie and Garrow.
The game started off fairly even with no clear chances in either direction. The Fellas, however, saw the majority of possession and more importantly, held the ball mainly in our opponent’s end for much of the half. Most notable chances came on a breakaway for Peps, though the 7 kph shot didn’t end up troubling the keeper much (surprisingly – sorry Peps!), and a couple of very well placed crosses from both the outside middies and defenders. The Defense was solid as always and Justin and Cedric were again welcome newcomers with impressive play in the middle of the park. Koh was particularly effective with constant pressure down the right hand side, but we weren’t able to capitalize.
Monopoly started to see more possession 3 quarters of the way through the 1st half, but a quick switch to a 4-4-2, with cap’n 3’7” Howard moving up top, ended any of their chances as the last 10 mins were heavily favored toward their goal with Monopoly being limited to very long range shots that Andy scooped up with ease (despite insanely bouncy turf, I might add).
The 2nd half saw Garrow come on for Cedric and Eddie come on for Justin. Both welcome substitutes given the aforementioned massively hot day! Unfortunately, good play in the first half did not come through in the 2nd. Monopoly broke through on several occasions, but with great defense (and a bit of luck) they were unable to finish any of their opportunities. We transitioned into playing a bit more long ball with Killer and Garrow up top with some quality balls out of the back line as well as Andy, but we were not able to consistently keep the ball on our opponents end. The best chance came on a majestic long ball from Parker (I think) that Killer was able to head on to himself for a clear (albeit…very very clear) chance on goal. In typical defense oriented style, Killer didn’t pull the trigger early and the score line remained 0-0.
In short, no goals on the day and despite the extremely enticing free beer offer, no yellows were offered either! The game ended with us feeling ok about a strong defensive stand, but ultimately feeling a bit disappointed as the consensus is that we will be winning the league this year…no matter what!
