19th May 2007 - CSL Cup Round 1: Scotch vs Rostrevor

Scotch A1 3 : 2 Rostrevor B1 Scotch B1 0 : 16 Mercedes A1 A1 SUMMARY Well isn't it about time!! :o) Well done boys!! we got our first win for the season.... its on now! The first round of the 2007 CSL Cup had us drawn against the B1's top side, Rostrevor. From a couple of weeks ago when we played Rostrevor we knew we would have to be on top of our game as their B side is a strong combination. Absentees from our line-up today included Eirik (who had El Presidente of the Norwegian Day Organising Committee duties... soft!) and Dietmar (work and sore legs from so many goal kicks last week!!). We welcomed back into the side the dynamic Norwegian duo of Stig and Baard, who would later have great impact on the game. We again lined up with a 4-5-1 formation, that I think will now suit us much better, with Baard at striker, Mitris wide left, Geordie wide right, Fergie, Patty and Paps in the middle, and Fabs, Chris, Johnny and Stig holding a strong back four. It worked very well. It was an eventful 1st half, with midfield maestro Patty pulling his hamstring within the first 1 second (maybe 3 minutes), and his replacement Dayne then copping a vicious ball the the face and being concussed and sore-nosed! Oh yeah... and we scored two ripper goals!! The first was following great play down the left from the Frenchman Fabs, who after a storming run put a ball into the box towards our super-striker (who puts fear into defenders!!!) Baard, who miraculously took one touch off his chest then 1st time bicycle-volleyed it into the top left corner from 12 yards! If only we had a video camera! Certainly one to remember!!! 1-0. The second goal again came from the left with a great '1-2' played between Mitris and Baard, with Mitris then finishing with a thunderous shot from a tight angle just inside the box across the keeper. 2-0 and two fine strikes! For the 1st half we had most of the possession and control of the game with Geordie and Mitris controlling the flanks and putting in dangerous balls, Baard running very hard and creating havoc up front with his great ball skills and pace, our midfield taking the line share of possession in the middle of the park, and our back four looking controlled and untroubled. Our third goal came midway into the second half when the game had opened up quite a bit, with Johnny and Fergie playing a couple of good return passes between each other, with Johnny then slotting through a "world-class"!! clinical diagonal ball through to split the defence and find Baard who hammered it past the keeper to give himself a well-deserved double. There were plenty more chances for us to get some more goals of we could finish a little better. Rostrevor's two goals came from a sloppy header from a corner that was poorly defended in the first place, and from an unfortunate hand ball in our defensive area to give them a penalty. Over-all it was a good win to get and hopefully gets the ball rolling with regards to the next few weeks of fixtures with the "must-win" games. There are plenty of positives from the game that we will definitely take out. Great to snag our first win!! Oh yeah... and HAPPY NORWEGIAN DAY to half of our team!!! 3 votes: Baard Kristiansen 2 votes: Chris Rogers 1 vote: Brendan Connelly (Geordie!!) B1 SUMMARY It was easily the worst team to draw in the 1st round of the cup, Mercedes A1, who are no doubt the stand out team thus far in the entire competition. In a one sided game, Scotchies B1 did very well to have as much posession as they did, and were unlucky not to snag a goal or two! Thank you to everyone for trying so hard and keeping their heads up, it is a testament to our player group and we showed great fight for a very young and extremely inexperienced team. Chin up boys!!! Things will turn! 3 votes: James Catton 2 votes: Andy Dean 1 vote: Jassa Amir-Lang