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Fukuda Denshi, Saturday 23rd January.
With BFC missing a few key players, the match being played in Chiba and with the sun residing in Aquarius along with Venus (check your horoscopes...it's true!) there was the distinct smell of a shock in the air for this 3rd vs 3rd bottom TML clash. And, Sala delivered. Courtesy of wunderstrikes from Pete, Scotty and Shige. A solitary reply from Pabs for BFC meant Sala trumped this one 3-1.
Thankfully, for Sala, their clinical game performance was in stark contrast to their dreadful warm-up. Stu, Pete and Scotty turned up an hour early, the rest of the team turned up half an hour late, Toby didn't turn up at all, then Pete cleared the gargantuan Fukuda Denchi fence with a warm-up shot that skelped a budding young footballer in the face. Ouch. The whole team then messed up their warm-up drills (again!), even though Guido had emailed the whole drill the previous week to everyone. Basically, Sala's warm-up had as much gusto as a hamster's fart. Aaaah thank you.
In exasperation Guido turned to Olivia Newton John for help, donned a spandex leotard, cranked on a ghetto blaster and said "I wanna get physical...let's get into physical!" As usual though his cloth-eared retarded subjects misunderstood and got clinical instead. Aaaa rum pum tisk. See how it all works back to the headline....sheeesh, laboured I know. Anyway, just like at his stag-do party, Guido's lycra worked a treat.
The first meaningful attack of the match came from Sala. Take, received the ball on the right and with Guido's misunderstood words ringing in his ears he ignored all possible passes and lashed an absolute pinger of a shot off the bar from about 25 yards. Oooooh, almost clinical.
BFC then missed a gilt-edged opportunity when their normally reliable marksman, Jon Day, put his header wide from close range. This was to prove costly as Sala netted the opener soon after.
Pete played a looping pass forward which looked like it was going to be gobbled up by BFC's defence, but at the last second Stu nipped in and nudged a header over the last defender. Galloping onto it, he tried to lift a shot over the keeper, but the keeper blocked it. However, Pete reacted first and drilled the loose ball into an empty net on the half volley.
Cutting. 1-0 Sala.
For the remainder of the half, Sala soaked up a lot of BFC pressure with Ian, Yusuke, Lenny and Sala's new Scottish/German signing, Herr Suit (cymbals please), showing some resolute defending. In goal, Taylor was spritely off his line and sharp with his distribution, and all this limited BFC to only one more clear chance which regular scorer, Evans, headed wide.
The second half saw Sala increase their share of the posession, their hold on the match and their lead. After good play from Koji on the left, the ball found it's way to Shige who played in Scotty. Beating the offside trap he finished with a nice volley over the keeper into the top of the net. Clinical. 2-0 Sala.
Sala looked in firm control at this point, especially with Ryotaro making some nice moves, Shige and Pete linking up well and Taylor having his best game so far in a Sala shirt. A leaping save from John Day's classy curling effort being his best save of the day. But he was not to get the clean sheet he deserved. Sala's defensive sleepiness on a throw-in saw all three centre backs sucked over to the left, and with Taylor left exposed, Pabs slotted home. Bugger. 2-1 Sala.
At this point, Sala could have lost their grip on the game, but some intelligent defending against BFC's dangerman, Shousuke, continuously showing him down the sides, and a well-timed professional foul, from Herr Suit, kept BFC at bay. With 5 minutes left, a long range effort from Shige, which looked to be heading into the safe clutches of the keeper, somehow found its' way into the back of the net. Fortunate. 3-1 Sala.
Man of the Match - The collective Northern European no-frills mob that is Sala FC.
Sinner of the Match - Pete for clearing the fence with a shot and spanking that keen young footballer in the face all in one go!! That kid will be off footy for life.....big boo for the dream-destroyer.
Report by Scotty "Star Gazer" Thomson
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