DBFC Vets – BTDT 3:0 (HT: 3:0)

Date: 11th May 2021, 20.00h kick-off

Venue: HKFA Football Training Centre in TKO pitch 6

Squad: Bradders, Morse, Pedro, Tita, Thierry, Brendon, Pierre-Olivier, Crommy, Stephane, Brendan, Pickles, Dan, Rigby, San, Kwai, Ping and Pui

Goals: San, Crommy, Pierre-Olivier

Match report:

After a 3 week break from the last Legal league Vets game a big squad of 17 players turned up at the HKFA Football Training Centre in TKO for the game against BTDT. Crommy, Pickles and Rigby all making their comebacks after injuries especially Rigby having being out for a long time.

From the first minute of the game DBFC team was determine to not let BTDT take control of the game and DBFC scored already after 5 minutes with a nice shot from San from close distance to the right corner of the BTDT goal assisted by Kwai. I took DBFC less than 5  more minutes to score a second goal. This time it was Crommy that scored with a shot to the left corner of the goal of BTDT leaving the BTDT keeper with no chance to block the shot. It was again Kwai who provided the assist. Having started the game in such a good fashion, being 2 nil up after 10 minutes, DBFC continued to have the majority of the share of the ball and launched more attacks towards the goal of BTDT. In minute 20, Pierre-Oliver was fouled at the edge of the 18 yards and a free kick was awarded to DBFC. It was Crommy who took the free kick but unfortunately hit only the cross bar. Pierre-Oliver was quick to react on the loose ball and easily buried in the back of the net. After 20 minutes it was already 3:0 for DBFC and it was looking like a walk in the park for DBFC. But that’s when BTDT started to realize that they are here to play some football and they started to be better organized in the back and in midfield. BTDT was able to get some passes from defense into midfield but their strikers still found it difficult to pass the very solid DBFC defense, which was once more marshaled perfectly by Tita. So, the only way they had an opportunity to score was with long range shots on the DBFC goal but Bradders dealt with everything that was thrown at him with ease. DBFC remained dangerous in front of the goal but was not able to convert some of their chances before halftime, so the score line remained still 3:0 at the break.

Having 6 players on the bench and being comfortably 3:0 up, Gazza decided to make a few changes in the second half in order to give all 17 players enough playing time. Pedro came on for Morse in Central defense, Pui came on for Brendan as right back, Dan came one for Thierry in defensive midfield and Pickles replaced Stephane upfront. Having made five changes at half time it took the new guys a couple of minutes to settle down in their positions and finding their marks in the new formation. During that period BTDT was having a bigger share of the ball and created some dangerous situations inside our 18 yard box but without really creating clear cut goal scoring opportunities. It was either Tita that intercepted the last pass from the BTDT midfield player into the attacking lines of BTDT or Bradders dealt with any crossed balls coming either from the left or from the right side of our half. Once the DBFC defense was again organized as usual, we started to have again more ball possession and created a couple of goal scoring opportunities with Pickles, Pierre-Olivier and Tita but all three failed to convert their goal chances. The closest BTDT came to score against DBFC in the second half, was when Tita in one of the very rare occasion he lost the ball against his opponent and one BTDT player was able to pass the ball to their striker who was standing alone at the edge of the 18 yards box and fired a shot at Bradders which he brilliantly saved. For the last 20 minutes of the game Gazza brought two more substitutes on, with Thierry coming back on for Kwai and Rigby coming on for Brendon. Thierry moved immediately into the defensive midfield and San played behind our two strikers in a more offensive role, while Pedro moved to the right back position moving Pui up to the right wing, while Rigby played in his natural position as Centre back. With these last changes DBFC was able to take back full control of the midfield and created two excellent goal scoring chances for Pui. He was twice one against one with the BTDT goalkeeper and in both occasions he hit the ball wide. If he would have scored one of his two chances, we could have put the game to bed. With 10 minutes left on the clock DBFC manage the time by keeping the ball in their own half and let the BTDT players chasing after the ball. With the ref’s final whistle we had another clean sheet (6 clean sheet so far this season!) and an eighth victory with the same number of games in our books. DBFC unbeaten record continues and we are looking forward to our next Vets league game.

Man of the Match: Bradders for another clean sheet and despite not being too busy during the night, he made a decisive save in the second half against the BTDT striker that allowed us to continue our clean sheet record.

Dick of the Day: This goes to Gazza and Thierry for having a bit of a disagreement too that nobody understood the reason why, especially when winning 3-0. So best left to the two guys to figure the reason and safe to say they were seen cuddling each other soon afterwards, presumably a manly show of apology  rather than a move of foreplay.

Report by Pedro and Thierry and edit by Gazza