MATCH REPORT : RED at home to St Peter's Primary, 18th September 2010...

On Saturday the RED team welcomed the mighty St Peter's Blue team (and their frankly enormous travelling support) to The Meadows Stadium.  As ever, the Saturday morning weather was kind and the pitch eventually looked like it could be used for football (one or two issues on Saturday with 'missing' kit, the culprits will be found and dealt with).  The game when it started was simply brilliant.


The RED team looked good during the brief warm up.  Some nice crisp passing and some excellent goalkeeping from Danny.  Surely there would be no first half disaster?


Danny started out in goals, Ollie at the back with Jack sweeping things up in a new role as the sitting-holding-sweeping-in-front-of-the-defence midfield player.  Kjartan started in the middle of midfield, Struan on the right and Eyvindur on the left.  Ali The Goalie was the striker and Alex A started on the bench but was soon involved.


In the opening few minutes The Mighty St Peter's Primary swarmed forward but the RED defence stayed firm.  Jack was relishing his new role, constantly detecting trouble, intercepting and then bringing the ball out from the back.  Appears that we have found a solution to our trouble getting the ball up field in a controlled manner.


Struan was playing well on the right, keeping the dangerous MStPP left midfield player very quiet.  Kjartan was working really hard, tracking back to help his defence.  Eyvindur was as busy as ever, looking to help Ali at every opportunity.  Ali had a tough afternoon up front being marked very tightly by the two best defenders we have faced.  I'd say that they were the second best defensive pair in the league - the RED defence are obviously the best, no matter who is playing there!


At the back Ollie was in fine form, snuffing out any danger and playing the ball to Jack or other midfield players or sensibly taking no chances and playing the ball out.  Danny was in excellent form and had a couple of excellent early saves.  Alex came on during the first half and was in great form.  He was given a specific marking job which really suits his style of play.  The MStPP number 6 went from being the most dangerous player on the field to being the quietest (from a footballing point of view, vocally he still had a few things to say!).


As the game raged from end to end it was obvious that a single goal could win this.  As the first half neared completion some excellent play for Kjartan and Struan resulted in Alex getting the ball on the edge of the box.  A nice trick from Alex and he had broken through the massed defence and smashed the ball off the post.  Oh, so, so, so close.  HALF TIME 0-0.


So far so good.  The MStPP are always very impressive and play some excellent football.  Both team were having to work extremely hard to keep the other team at bay.  Would anyone manage to break through?  Would we have a 0-0?  Could anyone break the deadlock?


Second half started with Ali The Goalie starting in goals, Ollie as the sole defender, Jack sweeping behind the midfield, Danny at centre mid, Kjartan on the right, Eyvindur on the left and Struan up front.  Alex, still recovering from his first half thunderbolt started on the bench.


The game was becoming slightly more stretched now with gaps beginning to appear in both midfields.  Danny was supporting Struan at every opportunity and on a number of occasions either he or Struan were one touch away from breaking free.  The MStPP defence was proving to be hard to break down and they somehow always found a touch or a flick to keep the REDs out.


RED pressure was building though and if anything the RED coaching team were feeling more confident of scoring than conceding.  Suddenly the MStPP broke up field. The RED midfield were caught out and as more MStPP players broke forward Ollie and Jack were outnumbered.  As they struggled to cope with the onslaught the ball broke to the back post where an unmarked St Peters striker left Ali The Goalie with no chance.  0-1 The MStPP.


So cruel.  RED faces looked a little disappointed.  The RED spirit is too strong to let a single goal put them off.  As the RED team swarmed forward in search of the equaliser another MStPP break left the RED defence in trouble.  Ali saved superbly from the striker but the ball broke free, Ollie half blocked the rebound but the ball broke free and as Ali threw himself onto the ball the St Peter's midfield player poked the ball over the line. 0-2 MStPP.


Very cruel.  The RED faces looked red and very disappointed.  However, if there is one thing that the RED team have then it is outstanding team spirit.  The midfield suddenly doubled their efforts.  Alex was everywhere, tackling like crazy.  Eyvindur was full of energy and looking dangerous.  Danny was full of running and Kjartan finding team mates with some excellent passing.  The MStPP were not finish though and swarmed forward again.  However the RED midfield tracked back and picked up their opposite numnbers and broke free with the ball.  Eyvindur found Danny with a short pass and suddenly it was Danny and Struan crossing the half way line with only one St Peter defender in sight - "...not so mighty now we thought...".  Unfortunately it was their best defender!


Danny flew off down the right.  The St Peters defender, we should call him Callum because that is his name, retreated not sure if he should tackle Danny or mark Struan.  Somehow he managed to cover then both at the same time!  He forced Danny to make a decision - pass to Struan or shoot?  With advice raining down on Danny he shaped to shoot, but then dinked the ball up and over Callum perfectly into Struan's path.  Struan followed the ball and as it dropped over Callum's head he volleyed it with his right foot into the top corner.  Wow. 1-2 MStPP.


Goal. Of. The Season.


Inspired by this brilliance the entire RED team became, er, inspired.  Jack was causing the MStPP midfield no end of trouble.  His distribution was excellent and his covering back was simply brilliant.  Even Ollie was pushing up as the RED team tried for the equaliser.  RED forced a series of corners that caused the MStPP team real trouble.  First a short corner from Kjartan to Danny caused mayhem in the box.  Next a fired cross from Danny flew across the box and Kjartan just failed to meet the ball.  Next another short corner resulted in Danny smashing the ball near post where the goalie made an excellent save.  The pressure was building.


Another corner was whacked clear and the RED team found themselved stranded up field.  The MStPP midfield broke forward and the RED midfield looked tired.  Ollie and Jack did their best but being out numbered meant that the MStPP took the chance to end the contest with an excellent finish from the breaking midfield player.  1-3 MStPP.


Shame.  Just as we thought it was going to be 2-2 the RED team found themselves 1-3.  Game over.  Or was it?  Once again the RED team took hold in midfield and swarmed forward.  Struan slipped past a couple of defenders and fired in a shot that was well saved.  Eyvindur had a tiny chance from the edge of the box that he did well to test the goalkeeper with.  Danny had a couple of rockets blocked.  Kjartan and Jack spread play brilliantly.  Alex battled to win control of the ball and always looked strong in posession.  Another bout of RED pressure forced another series of corners.  The first was fired dangerously by Danny across the area but missed everyone.  The second was floated over and Struan collected the ball on the edge of the box, slipped inside two defenders and fired the ball home.  2-3 St Peter's.


Yahoo!


With only minutes to go the game really stretched as REDs tried to force an equaliser.  Ali has two superb saves as the RED team abandoned defence in favour of all out attack.  Some outstanding MStPP defending saw shots from Danny, Kjartan, Jack and Struan all being blocked.  Alex forced his way through a packed midfield but was denied by a last ditch tackle from that Calllum bloke.


Finally the ref blew for full time as the exhausted RED team tried to mount one final attack.  FINAL SCORE 2-3 to the MStPP.


What a game!  The signs at half time were that one goal would win it - this was true but you really couldn't imagine that there would have been 5 goals in the second half.  It was one of the best games RED team have been involved in with both team contributing to a very entertaining match.  Both sets of supporters when home happy with their teams.


Well played to the entire RED squad - Ali, Ollie, Jack, Danny, Alex, Kjartan, Eyvindur and Struan.