11th october 2014
Away game
Best 72 vs Maiwand Football Club
After a very long one and a half hour journey we got to the ground. This is the first game of the season that we are playing on Third Generation Pitch (artificial ground).
It was beautiful sunny day with a very slow pitch to play on. Some of our key players were missing due to work and travel commitments. There were three debuts for Mahmood, Mahram and Prince Kelvin.
We started the game positively and the boys were full of energy and keeping the ball on the ground. Within the first ten minutes we controlled the tempo of the game but our forward play was limited due to their quality of play all over the pitch. Soon there was a pattern to their attacks as their players utilized their wingers very effectively on both sides. This tactic made the pitch a lot bigger for our players and at times stretched to our limits. This was a test of their nonstop attacks towards our goal against our solid defence. Hassan (Captain) and Idrees had outstanding performance in their partnership in the middle of defence. There were a lot of attempts at our goal and we managed to hold our shape and defended well. Our attacks were very limited as our strikers were helping us in the middle of the park. On the 40th minute of the match a ball was released to Rashid and he took on one defender from the half way line and moved very quickly towards their goal. As he was making the ground very rapidly towards their goal the keeper had to come out to intercept him half way, which give Rashid the opportunity to look up and chip the keeper from outside of the box. It was a well deserved and absolutely cracker of a goal. One nil to us.
Message was passed on by the coach to keep the lead till half time and it was not to be as on the 45th minute of the first half a through ball came to their striker and our keeper came to meet him but he took it on the first touch and scored the equalizer on the last minute of the first half. This is not how we wanted to finish the first half.
We worked really hard in the first half and we knew it will be even harder the second half. Farddin was injured and the middle of the park was missing the endless runs by Ramazan who was absent. It was apparent that they were a far stronger team than us on the day. On the 55th minute we conceded a corner and after our first attempt to clear the ball it fill nicely to one of their midfields and he took it on the half volley and scored from five yards out. Soon Idrees was injured and had to be subbed and this made a gap in our defence and they took advantage of this. They scored four more goals in a row to which we did not have a response as the boys knew that it was not our day. We really did work hard and the score line is not a true reflection of our efforts but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve.
