DBFC 4 : 4 JLeaguers
14th Nov. 2017 @ Ma On Shan Recreation Ground for a 6:30pm kick-off.
Team: Yanou (GK), Morse (LB), David and Thierry (CB), Rodders (RB), LM (JBone), CM (Pascal and Steve Lang), RM (Darius), Halder ( in the hole ), Jordon Brown (up top). Subs: Rolph, Oscar and Dan Keenan.
Scorers: JB x2 (assists JBone and Halder) Halder x2 (assists David and DanK)
Another hard week trying to get a squad together because of players work commitments and injuries, but eventually (Saturday morning) it came good and a strong squad was confirmed.
We all arrived in Ma On Shan in good time for a warm up, or so we thought… As it turned out our opposition had been there for an hour working on elaborate warm up drills.
Nonetheless, Manager Gaz picked the team and we did our usual preparations of hitting the ball as hard as we can at Yanou followed by a few half-hearted stretches.
The first half started well with DB in complete control. JBone was working really well with Halder and Jordon along the left whilst Darius and Rodders were putting JLeaguers under pressure down the right hand side. Soon the DBFC pressure told and an exquisite piece of skill saw JBone lose his man at the half way line on the left wing and dribble towards the box as Halder ran across to pull away the JLeaguers’ Centre-backs and leave a gap for a sublime pass to Jordon. Jordon who was one on one with the keeper made no mistake.
DBFC continued their pressure and we should have been awarded a penalty soon after our first goal, but the linesman under pressure from the JLeaguers bench told the referee that the foul took place just outside the box. JB lined up to take the free kick but hit it against the wall thus continuing his ratio of 1 goal per 50 free kicks – hopefully he will score one again before Xmas. DBFC soon had another chance, after Darius put in some good work down the right to put the ball across the box for JB to side foot just over.
Then, completely against the run of play JLeaguers scored two goals in quick succession in the last 10 minutes of the first half . The first one arrived from a routine cross that DBFC didn’t defend well – with the Jleaguers’ left winger getting a head to the ball and score with their first attempt at goal. The second arriving from a long range shot when DBFC failed to close down.
Despite, going in at half-time 2-1 down, DBFC remained positive knowing that we had played better and had the better chances.
Dan Keenan came on for Darius who had put in a great effort after playing in a tournament before the match, and Oscar came on for Morse who had a tight hamstring.
The second half begun as the first ended – DB on top.
Some good play between JBone and Halder again put the ball at Jordon’s feet with a clear shot on goal. Jordon again made no mistake hitting the ball sweetly into the bottom corner of the goal and out through a hole in the side netting. This is when JLeaguers showed themselves to be utterly poor sportsmen by trying to convince the referee that the ball didn’t go in the net. The referee was about to agree with them, until DBFC players protested and some people behind the goal informed the referee that the ball did in fact go in.
Following this, DB again got sucker-punched with JLeaguers getting a lucky bounce from a free kick, which saw the ball drop to one of their players just outside the 6 yard box. Their player completely miss-hit it and wrong footed Yanou. 3-2 to JLeaguers.
JLeaguers then started to waste time. Every time one of their players fell over, it appeared to be a terminal injury with their usual rolling around. However, DBFC kept their cool, and soon got the equaliser from a free-kick in their own half, when David, upon receiving the ball from Thierry, showed precision, skill, awareness, poise, skill and excellence to ping an 80 yard defense splitting ball to Halder who controlled the ball and beat the keeper to make it 3-3.
The game then took another twist soon after when pressure on the Jleaguers defence resulted in a poor clearance to DnK on the right who brout it forward and played in a cross that the Jleaguers centre-back attempted clearance went straight to Halder, who in the rare absence of a hangover was on lethal form. Halder cut inside and slotted the ball past the JLeaguers keeper to make it 4-3 to DBFC.
A period of relative calm followed after – with some good defending keeping JLeaguers at bay. Unfortunately with just two minutes to go, the JLeaguers winger got the better of Oscar and was able to cut the ball back to the Jleaguers midfielder running in to the six yard box to slot past Yanou.
An unfortunate end to a game where DBFC never gave up and deserved the win.
MOM: Steve Lang for a very decent performance in the middle. Rodders and Jamie Bone also deserve a mention for a very strong performances.
DOD: Halder. Not that there ever is a need to justify such a natural choice – but during the second half he passed the ball to Morse, who was 5 yards out of play on the sidelines having been subbed off 30 minutes earlier. He can see everything can Halder. Although, Steve L gave him a run for his money and nearly got the much coveted MOM-DOD combo with the hat pictured below – he probably misunderstood pier bar for going to the dog races.
