MEFF #69 – THE ANTHONY TAYLOR FAN CLUB 4 - 1 DAVE JONES IS OUR HERO:
Sicky’s Squad Scores (sponsored by Experian):Brett’s Team = 8.21,Sicky’s Team = 8.32. Sicky should win by 1 goal.
Brett’s Anthony Taylor Fan Club continued their winning streak with an unexpected victory over Sicky’s Dave Jones is Our Hero. Due to a number of late arrivals, the opening 20 minutes were played as a friendly which the Fan Club won easily thanks to the man advantage, with Kieran tapping home Crozier’s pass, Pete blazing a long range effort through a crowd of defenders, and Rowan scoring an incredibly unfortunate own goal when he tried to chest down Ash’s backpass from halfway, but the ball looped up over his head and under the bar!
With the 16th player (Neil) finally arriving, the real contest began and the first half was a very tense affair with limited space. The Fan Club were forced to soak up a lot of pressure in defence as Dave Jones kept on winning back the ball and forcing chances through Fletch, Sicky, Luke and Phil, but they were denied by Pete’s saves or strong tackles, with Adam, Neil and Ash presenting the biggest threat (usually down the right).
As half time came and went, the game opened up as legs began to tire, and slowly the Fan Club began to assert themselves on the game with some accurate triangular passing and continuous (if ponderous) movement! Kieran notched a few goals as Spence, Ian and Croz linked well with the ball, while Brett, Griff and Patto defended stoutly and let little through. Adam grabbed a consolation for Dave Jones before the Fan Club exploited the space on the break to put the game to bed, with Spence and Patto adding the final goals. Griff had a stint in goal and had to pluck several shots from Sicky and Rowan from the air, which allowed Pete a stint outfield as he cracked one shot centimetres over, while Brett shattered the bar from long range (Rowan getting a vital fingertip to the ball) and Patto dragged a shot wide from distance as he beat the exposed Rowan to a loose ball.
1-0: Kieran(Good passing play from the Fan Club ended with Spence laying the ball off to Kieran who advanced on goal and beat Rowan at the near post)
1-1: Adam(Dave Jones robbed the ball off the Fan Club defence and Sicky squared across the face of goal to Adam for a simple tap-in)
2-1: Kieran(A long ball from Pete was deflected into the path of Kieran by Spence’s left moob, and Kieran did the rest with a confident finish under Rowan)
3-1: Spence(Patto lifted a cross towards Spence at the back post, and although Rowan got his fingertips to the ball, it dropped behind him where Spence was on hand to volley into the unguarded net)
4-1: Patto(Ash picked up the ball in the area and ran straight at Patto, who tackled him and then volleyed the bouncing ball into the bottom left corner)
Men of the Match were Rowan, “for a number of saves, in particular the tip onto the bar from Brett’s long range effort”, and Kieran, as he “defended and attacked skilfully with two well taken goals on the break”.
