For the second pre-season friendly of the 2011/12 season, Jubilee FC headed to Enfield playing fields to face AFC Finchley. Head Coach, Elton Marks, had a squad of only 12 men with 8 members of the team being trialists. The team started with the gaffers preferred 4-4-2 formation. Philip “backpass” Tester was in goal, Max Charalambos and Nigel Agyekumhene at left and right full back with a makeshift centre back pairing of Michael Richardson and Nicky Alvarez. Jubilee veterans Johnny “leftpeg” Heather and James Cristion played on left and right wing respectively with Ashley Glen shielding the defence alongside new Turkish Under-21s international Deniz Boyeaz in the middle. The attack was spearheaded my Marc Farell and trialist Jack Clark.
Jubilee kicked off the first half, passing the ball around and doing well to retain possession against a dogged AFC Finchley. Jubilee were first to test the goalkeeper with Marc Farrell cannoning a shot off the opposition cross bar. The Jubilee defence were only being tested by desperate long balls over the top which they were able to clean up with ease. There were chances for James Cristion and Max Charalambos as the half progressed but neither could put the ball in the net. Elton looked to freshen things up in attack and substituted Jack Clark for another Turkish international Deniz Bozkort. Things did not go to plan. A long ball pinged over the left wing was misjudged by Nigel Agyekumhene and allowed the attacker down the left channel. Nigel Agyekumhene used his Usain Bolt like pace to reach the attacker and make a great recovery tackle. Somehow the referee saw a foul and pointed to the spot. It is safe to say it was one of the most dubious penalty claims to have graced Enfield playing fields. The attacker was undeterred and scored the resultant penalty kick, 1-0 to AFC Finchley. The Jubilee players could not believe what had just happened. After kick off the tackles were flying in with plenty of aggression. The referee had ruined the game and with the scenes before half time Jubilee were lucky to finish the half with 11 men on the field. At half time it was 1-0 to AFC Finchley and Jubilee were extremely unlucky to be losing.
After a rousing team talk from Elton Marks, the Jubilee players refused to be disheartened by the penalty and went out looking to win the second half. There was a bit of a tactical shift with Jack Clark slotting in at CB replacing the solid Michael Richardson as AFC Finchley kicked off the second half.
The second half started well for jubilee with some excellent interplay from Ashley Glen, James Cristion and Deniz Boyeaz. Their play was creating massive gaps in the opposition defence and a devilish cross from Ashley Glen found Johnny “leftpeg” Heather who toe poked the ball into the back of the net. 58 minutes played, Jubilee were level and could sense fear in the opposition. Unfortunately it was AFC Finchley who scored next. A route one ball over the top was being dealt with by Nigel Agyymhene and Jack Clark when Philip “back-pass” Tester had a rush of blood to his head and came steaming out of this goal missing the ball. This allowed the attacker the opportunity to run round and simply roll the ball into the back of the net. 2-1 to AFC Finchley.
Jubilee kicked off and straight away went on the attack. Deniz Boyeaz was bought down allowing Marc Farrell to prove his worth at free-kicks while Saul “set piece” Charalambos was out of action. Marc hit a cracking free-kick which again smashed the upright and the ball was cleared for a corner. Marc whistled in the corner which hammered against the cross bar and dropped to Deniz Bozkort. He cannoned a shot on the half volley towards goal, it came off the underside of the bar and into the back of the net. Deniz Bizkorts first goal of the campaign for Jubilee FC and the one to draw them level, 2-2.
With a new found confidence Jubilee went in search of the winner, with James Cristion having shot just wide and Max Charalambos forcing a save from the AFC Finchley keeper. A corner taken by Marc “woodwork” Farrel causing mayhem in the box, Jack Clark connected only to have it saved off the line. There was a big shout for hand ball and it will be another feather in the cap for those advocating video technology in football. However, it was a lovely pass and move from Jubilee that opened up AFC Finchley. Ashley Glen played a lovely ball to the feet of Johnny “leftpeg” Heather, who weighted a through ball perfectly to Deniz Bozkort who shot first time into the bottom left hand corner. Jubilee FC had come from a goal down to be 3-2 up.
There was 10 minutes left of play and AFC Finchley threw everything they had at the Jubilee defence, which was holding firm thanks to a few great stops from Philip “back-pass” Tester. However, they were undone in injury time from a corner as one of the opposition players tripped Philip Tester as he came to collect the ball, allowing another player to easily head home.
3-3 was the final score in a game which Jubilee FC should have won easily. The jubilee players and management showed real character to recover from a terrible penalty decision and remain unbeaten in pre-season. All the new trialists impressed and will hopefully prove their worth when the season starts on the 11th of September, 2011.
Written by Philip Tester and Max Charalambos.
