City Life vs C3

The true samurai only engages the worthy opponent... For the weekend warriors of City Life, C3 (last season’s champions) represented such a challenge. After a disappointing performance against the Rock (1-1) City Life needed to perform well in the first of their final two games against C3.

Local weather conditions looked set to drastically alter the course of the game

They lined up on a cold and blustery Sunday afternoon with a 4-4-2 formation, with Sam and Mike making the unusual decision of playing Adam upfront alongside the deadly Dave Halse. The defence was the reliable unchanged formation of Dick in goal, Sam and Faz at centreback with Phil and Richard at left and right back respectively. The midfield had the central pairing of Loz and Colm, with Joe Laycock on the right and Ian on the left. All was set for a potential six pointer and City Life's minds were focussed clearly upon the game after an intense warm up led by Mike (I've got coaching badges and little orange cones) Farrington.

The first twenty minutes were as expected dominated by C3 who had a lot of possession but unable to make any clear chances. City life seemed able to deal with the C3 attacks and slowly grew in confidence seeing more of the ball and attacking on the break. The tactic of playing Adam upfront seemed to work well as City Life were playing into the wind and his height and presence caused C3 some concern with the ball hanging in the air. Loz and Colm soon appeared to be getting the upperhand in midfield and City Life's competitive nature surprisingly ruffled C3 who seemed to lack their usual desire and hunger for the ball.

The match seemed evenly balanced with both teams getting into their own rhythm. C3 came close when one of their players broke into the box and CL needed Dick to come off his line to block the shot. C3 also enjoyed several corners which caused CL some concern especially with C3’s strength in the air from players such as Quentin. However CL were the ones who looked like they'd broken the deadlock when good link up play from Dave saw Loz beat two players before rounding the keeper only to see his shot cleared off the line from under the post.

Half time
City Life 0 - 0 C3

The second half stated at high tempo with CL now able to enjoy some of the wind advantage and playing more of the game in the C3 half. It was now C3 who had to look to attack on the break. Another corner from C3 caused CL hearts to flutter as firstly a shot had to be stopped by Dick and an ensuing six yard scramble needed Richard to clear of the line, with Faz following up to concede another corner. The pressure was definitely on.

Luke forces the ball into the net

Time for a tactical change saw Adam come off for the quick front man Luke and Joe was replaced by Mark Plane who went into left midfield moving Ian over to the right. This saw a change in circumstance for CL as the wind had died down and the pace of Luke up front quickly caused C3 genuine problems. CL's continual pressure caused a corner. This was imaginatively taken short by Ian and Loz who whipped the ball in while C3 appeared to be napping. This caused panic in the six yard box and although Sam thought he'd done enough with his shot Luke was on hand in the following scramble to stick it in the back of the net. City Life 1 - 0 C3. Get In!

The game continued at it's fast tempo and unfortunately for CL the lead only lasted 10 minutes. In the 75th minute good running saw a C3 midfielder braking into the box a sloppy challenge from Richard was not enough to stop the danger. Whilst the C3 player added his own artistic interpretation (that had he been wearing sequins and ice skates would have done Britain proud in Turin) it was no surprise to see the Ref point straight at the spot. Their seasoned striker Darra sent Dick the wrong way to even up the scoring. City Life 1 - 1 C3.

The last ten minutes was nail biting stuff as both teams looked for the win. Luke coming very close to sealing it getting on the end of a cross from Dave and C3's Darra nearly doing the same thing at the other end. Controversy was yet to come as Dave came running into the penalty box only to be barged out the way by a C3 defender making no attempt to play the ball. The referee waved play-on arguably largely due to Dave managing to stay on his two feet. No doubt he’ll be working on his forward and inward somersaults with tuck for the re-match.

A well contested match and all in all a draw seemed a fair result with CL failing to penetrate when it mattered. There is also plenty to play for in the return leg, particularly as rather embarrassingly for the C3 keeper he refused to shake Mark Plane's hand after the game questioning Marks sexuality. It’s very disappointing to see such petulant and immature behaviour from a player part of a C3 team who have a proud and successful history in the Cambridge Churches league.

Final Score
City Life 1 - 1 C3

Our next and final game of the season will see an intense and no doubt fiery re-match at the C3 stadium. Bring it on!

Adam Cullingham

Dave Halse, 28/02/2006