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Saffron Crocus 0 - 2 City Life 1/3/08
On a sunny but windy day the City Life squad took off to some little village in the middle of nowhere again to play on another farmer's field. It did have nice changing rooms and a decent shower though. The team was much changed with 6 squad members unavailable for various reasons ranging from Antarctica expeditions to damaged ribs. The line-up was a 4-4-1-1. Lewis back in goal for the first time in almost 6 months due to illness to Matt. Back four was Tom at right back, Sam and Matt D at centre back and Wayne at left back. Midfield was Ian, Col, John and Oeyvind. Up front Martin and Luke.
The first half was largely uneventful apart from one incident which saw the Crocus right midfield attack a menacing cross only to have a mad Maradonna moment and handle the ball into the head when it seemed for certain that he could have put his head on it. The referee saw it as a deliberate handball seeking to gain advantage and sent the Crocus play off.
Unfortunately City Life failed to take advantage in the first half although the quality of play did improve as the half went on with Wayne finding himself as a second left midfielder rather than a left back on several occasions. The build up play was looking good despite a lack of quality in the final third and few clear-cut chances.
The second half got under way after a short team talk where coach "Saturday night" Mike was on the whole happy with the performance. In the second half more use was made of the wide players and more passing went through the midfield. Crocus never really looked that threatening apart from the odd attack that was usually snuffed out by the back four.
Halfway through the second half the approach play and passing made its way to the wide right, where there was a lot of success in the second half, to Tom. Tom's cross would have been an excellent ball into the box. In the end it ended up as a ball into the net when the keeper totally misjudged the flight and saw the ball go in at his far post. With this City Life grew in confidence and the passing was excellent with John outstanding in just getting and giving the ball at the right time. The second goal was inevitable and it came 25 minutes from the end, incidently just after Dave had come on to replace Ian, after more build up on the right. A ball into the box found an unmarked Colm who shifted it to his right foot and cooly curled the ball into the top right corner of the net for his 9th goal of the season. A much harder finish than one he was presented with a few minutes later when the keeper made an excellent save.
All that was left was for Paul to replace Tom and City Life to concentrate in order for their make shift back 4 to earn the 5th clean sheet of the season. This was done largely without scare but when defending was needed it was done well and the ball was cleared. A much improved performance from last week and a well earned win.
Matt Double |
Dave Halse, 02/03/2008 |
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