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Big Circus Sunday 23rd October. A Sunday evening encounter in the Kanagawa mountains saw Shane seeing off a strong challenge from AFC. The only victory AFC recorded in the league last season was a 3-2 win over Shane which was still very much fresh in the memory as the Shane felt they threw away the 3 points in the last 5 minutes of that game.
With a full compliment of players to choose from this evening the stand-in Shane manager had an unusual selection headache, the usual one being filling 11 shirts with a linesman a bonus.
The game itself was an open affair with many chances at either end, with both teams showing the same ferocious zeal as my taxi driver had done in getting to the pitch for kick off. AFC had the better of it for the first 20 minutes or so with some lively running from their Japanese players and their big striker making a nuisance of himself and laying off the ball well. After 20 minutes of playing pin ball Shane eventually managed to take it down and make some passes on the very hard surface. As a result of this Shane began creating the more chances and it was fitting that the always threatening Alex Padmore ran on to a through ball showing good strength and pace to slot home his 3rd goal of the season. Soon after Andy, only on the pitch a matter of minutes, popped up in the AFC penalty area to coolly claim his first goal for Shane.
AFC must have felt aggrieved to be two down at half time, and went about the second half in a very committed manner. Shane, however, seemed to have more cohesion and linked up better but you always felt that if AFC could get a break then they would be firmly back in the game. That break never came although they came pretty close on a few occasions. Shane too had their opportunities on the counter but couldn’t manage to find that elusive goal to seal it. With possession equally divided and neither side able to keep the ball for very long, Shane’s superior teamwork proved to be decisive in making up for last season.
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