REAL GUMBIES FC DEF. LUCKY STRIKES 5-3
Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 4, Howie Leung 1
Review: Victory at long last! After three very competitive draws we finally converted our form into a positive result on the scoreboard, and 4th place on the ladder. The Lucky Strikes have definitely had the wood over us over the last two seasons but last night all of us were determined to end the duck. The stand-in keeper should be made a permanent part of our team as he saved our bacon on more than occasion. He told me later that the improvement in our team structure and fitness was obvious after just one week. Another fill-in, Fayez, defended aggressively and used his solid body to thwart many attacks.
Even though it was easier with 8 players the entire team still ran out the game strongly with plenty left in the tank. One problem we seem to have had previosuly is slacking off toward the end of frames as the intensity picks up. But last night it was the Lucky Strikes who seemed a bit flat and sloppy – gifting three penalty goals to the sharp-shooter Nav, who was dominant as always.
Special mentions to Howie, who ran himself into the ground as usual and scored an awesome goal (in top corner), Mond, who continued to present (and call) into space, and Chris, for helping down back with numerous tackles following turnovers in attack.
May 21, 2007 at 3:03 am
Hear, hear.
Well it sounds like you guys avoided foul trouble. I’m surprised they gave away three penalties, although I have no doubt Nav would have scored 4 or 5 no matter what the circumstance.
Andy – what did you think of your game?
There are pros and cons for 6, 7, 8 players so well done on getting a victory and putting Lucky Strikes in their place!
May 21, 2007 at 3:27 am
Whoops, did I say penalties? They were actually free kicks within the attacking half, but two were without a wall.
We didnt exactly avoid foul trouble though – pushing the limit of about 5 fouls per half.
About my own game I felt really fit this week and was barely puffed afterwards (last week my heart was still racing an hour afterwards!). I found it a LOT easier to run up the ground and be effective in defence with plenty of energy in the tank. Fitness is everything in this game…
May 21, 2007 at 3:28 am
I was 3 free kicks with no walls not penalties.
sent this to james… but here is some general comments on the game.
It was a good game.
although only nav and howie scored. I think chris was very unlucky not to be on the scoresheet.
he had a sitter but I think the nerve got to him and he failed to make a proper contact with the ball.
But he made up for it with his pass leading to the first goal.
Andy was solid at the back, and the fill ins (nav’s friend and ben) we’re all very good. Very disciplined marking with very little/no ball watching.
Nav, in addition to his goals and trickeries, releases passes earlier which lead to some goal scoring chances.
there’re still flaws on our game though,
one is that both me and Chris still didn’t take our chances, while we’re on goal.
I had a few shots, but one was high, the other wide, and another was ruled out because I fouled a defender in the lead up.
then, we gave away too many fouls early in the second half, but we stopped fouling after the first frame of the second half so that was ok.
We can see that this is a common problem in the last few matches as well.
there’re a bit of ball watching late in the last frame.
I think we’re just slacking off because we had 2 goals cushion and losing a bit of concentration. Luckily it didn’t cost us.
like I said it was a good game.
we should build on this.
May 21, 2007 at 3:32 am
Oh I also felt fitter on the match. but that’s probably because of the smaller amount of frame we played.
I though I was gonna be knackered on the game co’z a friend of mine dragged me into a jog in the morning.
May 21, 2007 at 3:39 am
Mond you played four frames, the same as usual…
We probably felt fitter because we weren’t defending and turning the ball over the entire game as sometimes happens. Also the Lucky Strikes built up their attacks slowly, less fast breaks this time.
Another reason is the huge number of stops in play for the all the fouls conceded by both teams.
May 21, 2007 at 7:38 am
something u guys didn’t mention is that we passed alot more (and even back pass!! finally!!)…
which meant more possession, which meant less chance for the other team to do any fast breaks.
Although I was a bit disappointed seeing a lot of passes that goes all the way back to the keeper.. its still a better improvement than doing some stupid attempt at shot/pass with 10% chance of gettin thru and 90% chance of them turning over to a fast break.
Our 2 non free-kick goals was really well setup… no need to ‘get past a player to score’