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YC&AC Sun 11th December. The cold, bitter wind blows hard, the AFC number 9 hunched over, hands on his knees, gasping for air looks round at his team mates as if to say "I have no more to give". It is an hour before kick off and AFC are making their way up the steep hill towards YCAC. Somewhere between hammered and hangover, Olly is starting to regret an ill-advised night out in Roppongi!
The mood is buoyant after last week's cup success and AFC are quietly confident of putting another 3 points on the table in the TML League 2 fixture against the YCAC 2nds.
Wanderers arrived unusually early with a squad of 15 and hoped to maintain some continuity by fielding as close a team as possible to the one that featured in last week's drumming of the Celts.
The starting line up: Jackie in goal, Kenji at right back, Mark and Jim in central defense and Ben at left back. Tobias and Jason flanked by Shinki and Trent in midfield, with Tai-chi and Yusuke upfront. On the bench: Nishant, Lincoln, Olly and Lee.
Wanderers picked up where they had left off the week before. After a few attacks from YCAC were easily thwarted, Wanderers midfield began to dominate and feed Taichi and Yusuke whose pace was too much for the YCAC defense. The Wanderers back line was able to push up to the half way line pinning the opposition into their own half. The occasional break from YCAC was stopped either by Mark's dominance in the air or Jim's brand of no-nonsense defending.
Eventually the pressure paid off after a series of corners and throw-ins deep in the YCAC half. Taichi played a beautiful corner right into the danger zone towards Mark who had run up from the central defense position. The ball deflected off Mark and the YCAC central defender and found its way into the net. 1-0 up: a combination of a great corner and determined pressure from Mark, who rightfully claimed the goal.
(20 minutes in: Nishant for Kenji at right back, Lee for Shinki)
Substitutions from both teams saw the game change a little with YCAC seeing more of the ball and attacking down the flanks. AFC held these attacks off and continued to win in midfield with strong challenges from Tobias and excellent running and passing from Jason. AFC pushed for the second but failed to find the pass that could release Taichi and Yusuke. Then in a seemingly routine attack from YCAC a defensive mix up allowed a YCAC striker to get a shot off ending up in the right hand corner of Jackie's net. 1-1.
B*****s!
AFC didn't let this get to them and continued to push for a second goal, with some excellent running and passing from Trent, and some skillful play from Taichi, it seemed as though a goal couldn't be far away. But it didn't come, and AFC went in at half time a little annoyed that they weren't at least one goal in front.
The second half saw Ben substituted for Kenji, who moved to right back, Nishant moved to Left back, Olly, fresh from his pre-match snooze in the dressing room, came on for Yusuke, and Lincoln came on for Shinki. AFC carried on in the same vein with some great moves by Taichi and Trent down the right, the final ball into Olly however, elusive. Lee provided an outlet on the left with some determined, gritty runs whilst the defense held strong with Kenji putting in some tackles down the left and Nishant dealing with attacks down the right. Lincoln came off with an injury and so Shinki was soon back on in the right midfield position. Olly was proving troublesome as he held the ball up well, the YCAC finding it hard to cope with his strength on the ball (or was it the alcohol fumes?).
AFC put in some hard tackles prompting one spectator to comment authoritatively to his friend:
"This team in red are known to be the toughest team in the league"
"Really?'
"Yes, not the best team, but the toughest"
Twenty minutes to go and still 1-1 with Wanderers looking most likely to get a goal. Nishant was substituted for Ben who resumed the role at left back. Then the sucker punch! The ball was played into the AFC box in another rather speculative attack from YCAC. The ball took deflections, hit a post; hit a goal keeper, before falling kindly for the YCAC forward to tuck away. This left AFC 2-1 down with little time in which to salvage a point.
AFC then went for broke determined not to be beaten by a side that they had dominated for lengthy periods of the match and outplayed in others. The breakthrough seemed like it would never come, Taichi and Trent made great runs down the right but the final ball in kept finding YCAC defenders, Trent had a series of shots, one slightly wide, one hitting the bar. On the left Lee was determined to open up the defence making a series of solid runs; again the final ball went missing. Trent put a perfect cross over to Ben who saw his volley go wide of the right post.
Was it to be one of those days?
Then, with about 5 minutes to go after some great work down the right by Taichi and Jason, Trent picked up the ball and put a cross in towards Olly, the ball took a deflection and fell to Olly who momentarily sobered up to turn and put the ball in the net, the power of the shot giving the keeper no chance. The Number 9 celebrated with a drunken, tirade of explicatives. A point salvaged for the Wanderers.
All in all: a decent performance by AFC. It was agreed that we need to eliminate silly mistakes in defence and become more clinical in front of goal. We certainly will need to be when we face France FC come January in the quarter finals of the cup.
Man of the Match: Couldn't think of one!
Honourable mentions: Taichi, Mark and Olly
Report by Ben.
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