YC&AC Sunday 23rd October. A beautiful day at YCAC, with Fuji-san looking splendid in the Autumn sunshine and temperature a balmy 20 degrees. There can't be a better place to play football when the weather is like that. YCAC were a little shorter of players than the email response had suggested, but still a good 13 or so. Nice to see Paul Wood and Tim Williams back. And always a pleasure to play in front of Peter Pauli in goal!
Vagabonds started the stronger of the two teams and probably did enough in the first half to score, although in truth clear-cut chances were few and far between. Their forward line was lead well by James, whose ability in the air and general pace were a handful. He was ably backed up by the ever-green Adrian, Pabs and Ian Warner. The YCAC defence was undoubtedly the busiest of the 2 teams, with Paul Wood and Tom Richards particularly effective. Both teams struggled to put a good passing game together for any length of time, I thought Jonathan and Genki worked hard up front with any ball they did get.
Second half we felt was more even with chances at both ends. The insertion of Viv in the YCAC midfield certainly added some drive. We also looked better on the right when we switched Tim Williams to midfield and Nick Cooper to right back. YCAC should have scored when Tim was inches away from a great cross by Genki, while at the other end Peter P. did a great job in saving a penalty. The penalty itself was a bit harsh. YCAC 2nds probably had the next-best chance to steal the points towards the close, only to see the shot beaten out by the Vags keeper Taylor. The game ended goal-less.
Quite competitive game with a few yellow cards dished out. Referee had a great game, kept control well at all times and ignored a lot of whingeing. And thank you to Joe for running the line - what a good Club man he is!
Steve McKie
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