MEFF #53: DARIJO SRNAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH 5 - 1 ALL THE GEAR, NO IKEA:
Sicky’s Squad Scores (sponsored by Experian):Aidan’s Team = 8.26, Rowan’s Team = 8.33. Rowan should win by 1 goal.
Confirming his claim to be “Captain Invincible”, an (apparently) hungover Aidan made it 10 games unbeaten as MEFF Captain as he steered his team of Croatian vaganbonds Darijo Srnaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh to a decisive win over Rowan’s Swedish mooses All the Gear, No IKEA. The game started quite slowly with very few chances created, but is was Darijo who struck twice in the first half as they latched on to under-hit passes from All the Gear and put away their finishes with clinical aplomb (the second from Aidan particularly nice). All the Gear did create a few chances of their own, with Jack powerfully running through twice before seeing his shots denied by Steels, but overall there was a great deal of build-up play but no shots as Darijo defended strongly and made the sun-blinded Rowan work on the counter-attack.
Despite a dazzling team goal from All the Gear almost immediately after the restart, the second half once again belonged to the Croatians as they added to their total with three goals, all created by quick passing around the area that couldn’t be picked up by the defending team. Rowan denied Ash when he was suddenly through on goal, while at the other end Steels parried a Patto left-footed strike away, and saw Spence head a corner over and Crozier sweep several short corners into the side-netting. In the end All the Gear looked short of ideas and movement in attack and couldn’t find a clear way through the strong tackles (a cynical foul from Luke ending one goalwards run from Patto), and struggled to get near the opposing attackers in defence. A confident Darijo Srnaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh worked well for one another with constant movement and quick passing, with Fletch impressing as the link-up man to Luke up front, who frequently found Ash, Aidan and Phil P sprinting in from the wings with the backheeling Neil in support.
1-0: Ash(Fletch intercepted a loose ball and brought it forward, before playing a pass wide to the unmarked Ash on the right, who struck a hard, low shot in off the far left post)
2-0: Aidan(Great build-up play from another intercepted pass ended with Ash smashing the ball across the area, where Aidan was on hand to crash the ball into the top bin on the run)
Half Time
2-1: Patto(Sprinting down the right wing, Jack hooked on to a long ball and sent a looping cross to the edge of the area, where Patto arrived to volley into the bottom left corner and “burst the onion bag”, Blenkinsopp 2012)
3-1: Fletch(A good team move ended with Ash setting up Fletch for a low finish)
4-1: Fletch(A composed passage of play ended with Phil teeing up Fletch, who sent a low shot through a crowd of players and in-between the unsighted Rowan’s legs)
5-1: Ash(With the last move of the game, Luke sent Ash free on the right and he finished under the keeper)
Men of the Match were Steels, as he “saved all three shots well”, and Crozier, as he didn’t give the ball away and made the defence work hard.
