OGJ FC started brightly in the Intermediate Cup game against fellow league strugglers Green Dragon FC. Our passing and moving looked lively and we were defensively solid dealing with any of the counter attacks brought on by the Dragons.
With 25 mins gone, OGJ decided to properly test the stand in goalie with a few quick shots in succession from the forward 4 players. The next 10-15 minutes saw some intense attacking and a number of chances came close with Danny striking from outside the box and 2 mins later Umberto with a carbon copy, both times the keeper getting a hand to it and pushing it onto the crossbar. It is safe to say the keeper kept them in the game in the first half, stopping a number of chances from OGJ, but what happened next had nothing to do with the keeper. Dan “I want to play up top” Christopher found himself stood in front of the goal (a wide open goal) ball at his feet, people were cheering already, and then Dan tripped on his own foot and blasted the ball high and wide.
Despite the constant pressure and a few stand out performances from Vilson, who looked really lively and controlled on the ball - so much it caused the opposition players to kick out at him numerous times to try and stop him that way, and Pat, who held the ball up really well and won a lot of headers from our goal kicks and helped keep possession, we ended the half 0-0.
Second half came and again we started really quickly, and after winning a corner in the first 10 mins of the restart, Matt found himself outside the box when the ball fell to him, hit a low longe range effort which hit the post and bounced back to Danny who slotted it home for OGJ’s first goal of the game.
Craig, who was very good on the attack in both halves, picked up the ball on the right wing from matt, took it forward a couple of yards and struck it low and hard past the keeper to score the 2nd
For the next 10 mins OGJ were put under a lot of pressure and it looked like the Dragons might find a way back into a game they didn’t deserve to be in with a few long range efforts but nothing really caused Luke any problems. OGJ gained control of the possession again and a high ball into the area from G, who was having a blinder at left back, found Pat who won the ball in the air sending the defender down to the ground calling for a foul, he then ran the ball into the area and slotted the ball into the near post for the first of his 3 goals that afternoon.
Danny and Umberto, not set on copying each other just once with their cross bar efforts in the first half, decided to have carbon copy one on ones with the stand in goal keeper. Danny rounded the keeper but his touch saw him fall over himself and Umberto tried a sneaky curl into the far corner of the goal but only to tamely place it into the oncoming keepers feet. That left Vilson to show them how its done when he rounded the keeper and scored his 5th goal of the season.
Pat then set off rounding up the game with another two quick fire goals, one a superb solo goal and the other an assist by Vilson.
All in all it was great performance from everybody on the pitch and lets hope they can take this momentum into the next game against league leaders AFC Spartians.
