Brookfield (1)3 V Harbor City (0)1
Cummins 28, 68
Gilbert 75
Gentlemen,
0 Mins: This is the meeting of the year between the two teams with the most to lose from a loss (does that sound right?). Harbor City (Les Bleus) are undefeated having slaughtered their opposition so far this year. Brookfield got steamrollered by Steamrollers but otherwise have won their games handily. Half of the Harbor City team played for Brookfield last year but the lure of playing at the professional level proved too much for the young and the restless. The loyal half of Brookfield, well-pickled from years of immersion in Newcastle Brown Ale are a stout (pun intended) bunch with some spine. Do they have the legs to beat off their youthful opposition? I think not!
0 Mins: The line-ups are predictable. Brookfield are in a 8-1-1 formation and Harbor City are in disarray. Youth is on Harbor City's side and can only lose this game if the headless chickens come home to roost. Brookfield look doomed with an average age of 67 versus Harbor City's 19.
0 Mins: We are underway with Harbor City in their very spiffy all-blue with nice highlights and shiny numbers kick from left to right. Immediately Brookfield are on the defensive, absorbing the thrusts and jabs from Harbor City's one-touch passing. Babich at the heart of the defense has already intervened to stop the killer pass. Unless his team tightens up the defense this will be a long evening.
4 Mins: Les Bleus are stroking the ball about but don't seem to be making any headway. The Stripies are weathering the storm and Cox, Gilbert and Bradin are possessing the ball nicely in the middle of the park, slowing the game down and releasing the wide men into space behind the Blues' full-backs. Interesting game.
7 Mins: Ooooh!!! A close call for the blues as their back line is torn asunder by a raking ball from Cox to Fiedler who controls neatly and advances one-on-one with the 'keeper. He is denied by a smart save but the warning signs are there as the Stripes catch the pretty blues with the shiny numbers on the break. Game on with the first real chance of the match.
13 Mins: Pepper makes a great tackle in the right back spot, intercepting a through ball and turns defense into attack. The ball is played up the right wing and up to Gilbert in the middle who plays a beautifully flighted ball, with perfect back-spin over the top to an on-rushing Favill who is just too old, slow and feeble to control the ball on the bounce away from the onrushing goalkeeper. It could so easily be 2-0 right now with no arguments.
18 Mins: The far side of the field is a bit dodgy with some standing water and skid marks left by the ground staff who worked so hard to get the pitch in playing shape, unlike the cow pasture-like quagmire that the Turks and Swiss paddled around on the other night. There are a few slips and slides out there and the blues don't seem to want to go in the nasty mud and get their shiny numbers and nice highlights muddy. The stripies don't seem to mind and seem to be quite up for it.
26 Mins: A warning shot across the bows from Harbor City. A cross from a muddy bit comes in and number 17 that used to have pride in the stripes of Brookfield last year meets the ball with his head and slides an effort across the goal and safely out of play. That's their first real chance which is surprising really because this commentator thought that they were supposed to demolish the fossils opposing them today. Brookfield have had the better possession and chances so far.
28 Mins: Goal! Another of those cross-field balls is played into the top of the box where Schilling meets it with a prodigious leap and flicks it on to Cummins who is two yards onside. One touch to control and he slides the ball under the advancing goalkeeper into the net. Les Bleus sing the bleus and whine that Cummins was offside but the innocent bystanders wave away the complaints and the goal stands.
33 Mins: Harbor City don't seem to have a response to the goal. For all their possession and huffing and puffing they make little progress down the left wing, let alone the nasty muddy one that gets their shoes dirty.
37 Mins: Another close call for Brookfield who are riding their luck. The running of Fiedler, Senn, Cummins and Schilling, backed solidly by Vermilyea (J), Pepper, Babich, Boldt and Gilbert are causing Les Bleus all sorts of problems, but a loose ball in the back was almost punished.
40 Mins: Big Andy Owsiany in the Brookfield goal hasn't been called upon to make a save so far. His kicking and sure hands have relieved the pressure, but he seems to be chomping at the bit to stuff a breakaway, but the stingy defense won't capitulate and give him a chance to show off. There's the half-time yell and the teams troop off to a welcome cup of tea and orange slices.
45 Mins: At the halfway point in a hugely entertaining game, can the Blues come back from a one-goal deficit or can the Stripes hold on to their slender lead?
47 Mins: A close call for Brookfield. Harbor City seem to have a handle on the game now as they move the ball neatly up the middle with short, incisive passes and slanting runs. They are playing like a team for the first time all game. Brookfield are hanging on. Have they been found out?
56 Mins: Goal! An equalizer for Les Bleus with shiny bits. The goal was well-fashioned with a sharp exchange on the edge of the Brookfield box and Owsiany stood no chance. Is the game up? I can foresee a lopsided win now the dam has broken. My pre-match prediction looks like coming true.
58 Mins: Owsiany makes a stunning one-handed save and Favill hacks the ball to safety. It's all systems go in the Brookfield box. They look shaky at the back.
60 Mins: Gilbert is struck on the hand by a shot that was not bound for the net and Favill hits the woodwork on the sliced clearance. The ball is brought outside the box for the free kick and there is no let up on the siege. It's time for another Harbor City goal or Brookfield have to get a handle on the game. They aren't controlling the middle as they were in the first half.
65 Mins: Better from Brookfield. Wightman feeds Fiedler and he's off on another run down the left wing. His mazy run concludes with a cross to Cummins who deflects the ball with his studs. The shot drifts just wide of the far post and the stranded goalkeeper breathes a deep sigh of relief. It looked odds-on like a goal but somehow the Blues escaped.
68 Mins: Another goal for the Stripies! You can't say this is against the run of play as Favill catches the Blues defender in possession on the touch line. He's pulled some muscle or other, or maybe several in the attempt, and can barely stagger. Somehow he stabs the ball across the six-yard box just out of reach for the despairing defender. The unmarked Cummins takes one touch and with a carbon copy of his first goal calmly slides the ball into the net under the 'keeper. There's no reaction from Harbor City, just a deflated sense of disbelief. this was not part of the blitzkrieg script!
75 Mins: They think it's all over....it is now! Gilbert runs from deep in his own half, through twenty-six opponents, tries to pass to Cummins who is possibly in an offside position. The pass is blocked and it cannons off the defender back onto Gilbert and squirts past the goalkeeper, rolling agonizingly over the goal line into the net. 3-1! Even Boldt and Bradin wouldn't have wagered on this one!
82 Mins: There is no response from Harbor City. They are out of ideas, out of steam and out of the game. They are an ex-team. Actually apart from fifteen minutes at the start of the second half they have not resembled a team. They have been undone by the Stripes' tactics, calm composure in the middle of the park, willing support play and gritty determination. Both teams are going through the motions, doing what they have done for most of the game with Brookfield soaking up the blunt Harbor City attacks and counter-attacking against a slow and flat-footed defense. The score could easily be 6-1 and Harbor City couldn't really complain; though they would of course.
85 Mins: That's it! The Stripes triumph. Possibly the game meant more to Brookfield than to Harbor City, but the weight of the presumed victory weighed heavily upon Les Blowers when all was said and done. I am sure that Brookfield have the more wounds to salve but the pain will be assuaged by the thrill of a very convincing victory. Congratulations to the Stripies on a job well done. Brookfield has made the rest of the league very happy. I understand that half of the Harbor City have handed in transfer requests, sufficiently disappointed at the team's reaction to defeat to break out the handbags and pull each others' hair at a closed-door meeting after the match. I am sure Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United have been put on the alert by this fact.
Cheers,
Ian.
