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Hachioji Park, Sunday 24th January.
As many TMLers can attest, worse than just having a hangover is having one and having to show up to the soccer ground and play a tough opponent. More than a few lucky Hibs players had that honor on Sunday, and our opponent was none other than the Geckoes, a team that has been improving a lot during the season and proved that by winning against FC International.
But when the ref blew the whistle we were ready, and pinned them in their side for most of the first half. It took about 10 minutes for Hibs to find their way into the net from a nice free kick taken by Tomo, who drove it near post for a diving header from Kuni, the header seemed more like a shot and left no chance for the strong Gecks keeper.
Hibs didn't seem satisfied with the result and kept pushing forward, wasting a few more chances with Yohei, Josh, Sam and Andre. But it seemed to be just a matter of time before the second goal and it came off a fast counter-attack, Raffa found Kuni on the right side, he used his speed to take on his defender, then put in a beautiful cross to Andre who turned and smashed it home with his right leg. After the goal the Hibs slowed down a bit, but kept moving the ball around and creating opportunities, all of which we wasted.
I would be happy if the game had finished in the first half, because nothing really important or worth mentioning happened in the second half, except for a couple of good chances, one from the Geckoes and another for the Hibs when Yohei hit the bar with his right foot. It seemed like both teams were content with the result because nobody did anything to change the numbers on the score board. A great win for Hibs, especially after a hard night out. As for the Geckoes, they played well defensively and fought all game as they always do, but thankfully seemed to need a bit more firepower up front, though the Hibs defense has been solid this year..
Report by Andre Pinto
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