Team WoW 8
Awesome Futsal Team 5
(Thompson 2, Foster 2, Bryan 2, Gale 2)
Team WoW cruised to a comfortable victory on sunday night, shrugging off a slow start to take control for the remainder of the match courtesy of some clinical finishing. The fans turned out in droves for this fixture which promised a lot, and it did not let them down.
There were ominous signs for Team WoW shortly after kick-off as they conceded the first goal of the night inside 2 minutes. The boys on the bench looked on anxiously, casting thier minds back to the week before where the team let in the first 4 goals in the space of as many minutes.
The damage was limited however. Some strong defending from Phil Gale and Alex Kidd, and some good work from M Riske between the sticks ensured that Awesome Futsal team would not score for some time, while Jonathon Bryan and Sol Foster found their feet.
It was a tight, scrappy match in the opening, with not many clear chances. Scott came on for Bryan and instantly made an impact, pushing some guy in the back and conceding the free kick. But it was Thompson's injection which really sparked life into the game. Finding himself with the ball about halfway out, he took it around a couple of opponents before crafting the choicest of curlers into the top corner- arguably goal of the season so far.
Awesome Futsal Team scored once more in the first half but Team WoW, thanks to the spark from ther captain, started finding the back of then net an easier target that first thought. Gale scored a typical low driven shot into the corner after a penetrating run. Foster found the back of the net with a trademark toepoke, after coming on towards the end of the half with Bryan. Indeed, Foster and Bryan looked a potent strike team; Riske found Foster out wide on the right, who played an inch perfect ball. Bryan's volley was struck home with confidence.
They weren't done yet. Scott came back onto the field just before half time and found himself in front of the goal after one of those not much room in the box scrappy situations, and looked desperate to open his account for the night. His shot came off the post or the keeper or something, but Bryan was waiting on hand to dink the header over the flailing arms of the man in goal for Team WoW's 5th of the game. 5-2 half time.
Half time address from the captain, and it was all about not letting them get back into the match. "We've squanded leads like this before", pointed out Gale, after Thompson had commanded the attention of his chargers, and indeed Team WoW had. They were determined not to let it happen again, however.
Awesome Futsal Team made a desperate switch and brought their goalkeeper onto the field at half time, weirdly replacing him with the smallest bloke on their team. He was a readhead, too. The half saw some more great goals, one from Thompson leaping about 5 feet into the air as he shot into the far corner, and another which was a nutmeg from one of the boys. Two goals to Awesome Futsal Team kept it interesting, but they never really looked like coming back.
The crowd were audibly shocked when Bryan replaced Kidd with 5 minutes to go and started playing a defensive role; Thompson looked worried. Rob Schaap had earlier asked his captain if it might be ok if he could spend a bit of time up forward ("I'm going forward in the second half boys"), and Bryan was on in his place. It didn't matter in the end though, as the clock ticked towards full time and the scoreboard read 8-4.
The final play of the night saw a desperate attack by Awesome Futsal Team. Gale was on hand to stop the run through and the ball looked to be going out, until Bryan stretched hard to keep it in, hoping to counterattack with a ball up the line to Scott. He wasn't in control of it however, and instead tapped the ball straight across goal and into the path of the opposition striker, who took a touch and smashed it home, seconds before the final buzzer. Bryan threw his hands up in the air, frustrated that yet again he would do something stupid in the final play of the match. It thankfully didn't matter, however, and the boys went home happy.
Captain Andy Thompson was particularly happy with the pressure placed on the opposition by the forwards, which allowed Team WoW to play the game at their own tempo and find some space and time with which to construct play. "I think that forward hustle is really good, its great when our offensive guys deny the opposition time to construct any meaningful passages of play, and I think we did that tonight," he told the media in a press conference after the game. "Another great team effort as well, i think all the attackers scored a couple? Makes for an enjoyable night," he added. Jordan Scott was unavailable for comment.
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