DBFC Vets 1 – 0 Godfathers
When: 31 October 2022 with 21:00 KO
Where: King George V School pitch
Squad: Bradders, Tita (Captain), Nin, Ping, Morse, Jonatan, San, Kwai, Sammy, Ben, DJ, Pedro, Emerson and Stephane.
Scorers: Kwai.
DBFC Vets had a few last minute drop-outs from what was looking very healthy numbers for a strong squad and ended with 14 players, two of whom were carrying injuries. On the other hand, Godfathers looked to have many of their regular players back in their ranks to have a strong team.
It was good to see Ping and Kwai available for this game as they have missed the first two game, although Ping was carrying an injury (groin strain) so we were not sure how much game time he could last. Also with Tong and Crommy missing for this game it was Ben and Stephane that would share the no. 10 position supporting DJ up top. The midfield would start with Jonatan and San in the middle, Sammy left and Kwai right. The back four, in front of keeper Bradders, was Nin and Tita at centre, Morse left and Ping right.
As expected, Godfather came out of the starting blocks quickly, closing down and out muscling our midfield to press our defence. The defence was strong and Bradders just had routine keeping for about the first 15 minutes when DBFC started to take the upper hand in the game. Sammy was getting lots of joy down the left and many crosses that just didn’t connect with DJ and similar story from Kwai on the right, but he did find himself one on one with the Godfathers keeper (Alessio) who made the angles difficult and stopped the shot. In fact, it was the Godfathers’ keeper, during this spell of play, that kept DBFC out by managing his area really well to cut out many crosses and closing angles down when DBFC got through on goal. The first half finished 0-0, which was pretty fair reflection of a tightly contest dual that was a generally even affair, although I thought DBFC were edging the game but with no clear cut chances (except for Kwai).
The second half started with Ben filling in at right back (and what a very decent job he did) because Ping’s groin strain pain had over reached its limit. Stephane was playing at no. 10 position and lasted 10 minutes into the second half before having to be replaced by Emmerson because of some strain at the top of his leg (I didn’t investigate further). The second half was again ebbing and flowing from one end of the pitch to the other but no clear cut chances for either side to score. During this period Gaffer Gazza had made comment to the Godfathers’ manager (Matt) that I could only see a goal coming from a defensive mistake and after DBFC had survived a mix up on the 18 yards’ goal-line between Nin and Tita, it was Godfathers’ two centre-backs that hesitated to clear a ball and Kwai dashed in between the them both to poke the ball passed the out-coming keeper. DBFC were 1-0 up with 20 minutes left.
The last 20 minutes saw Godfathers turn up the urgency in pressing forward and got through our defence a number of times with a chance on goal but their final shots were rushed and put over the bar or wide, so DBFC survived. Meanwhile, the Godfathers attacking left them vulnerable to counter attacks, which DBFC failed to capitalise on at least 3 occasions when Sammy had 3 one on ones with the Godfathers’ keeper but didn’t get passed him. One of Sammy’s shots was certainly in the top left corner if it wasn’t for the keeper’s full stretched dive to hand it over the bar (fantastic save). At the other end with only 5 minutes left to play, Bradders earned his salt when seeing the Godfathers’ striker (Ingham) charging in to meet a low driven cross. It appeared Ingham took his eye off the ball to blast over the bar from 10 yards out, which is suspected to have been caused by Bradders’ growling face scarring him? Whatever, and unfortunately, Bradders’ commitment to spread himself at full speed, carried him through to collided with Ingham’s boots and down he went. Despite the screams and protests from Godfathers’ players and their bench the referee waved fair play and pointed to a goal kick. Ingham was down for a few minutes clearly hurt and had to be helped off the pitch, while it was reported that Bradders’ apology and gesture in asking of Ingham’s well-being was met by a punch to the face (not seen by the referee or the report writer). The whole incident supports the call for VAR at the Legend League matches.
DBFC survived the late drama and took away all 3 points.
Fantastic showing from the DBFC Vets!!!!!
