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Hanno, Saturday 20th February.
It took half of the Panthers team 40 minutes to get from Shibuya to Yoyogi in 'The Machine's', red machine on Saturday evening, and it was looking somewhat girigiri as to whether we would have a team on the pitch (which was another 60km away) by kick off. Thankfully, some pretty tidy getting changed in the sitting position saved the day and the teams were able to kick off with full sides. The first leg of this tie back in early December had been played in a washing machine on a dreadful night in Chiba, this time the weather was perfect for the teams to play their game. Diego are a good side and move the ball about well and this is how the match started.
The Panthers started on the back foot a little albeit comfortably, with Diego having more of the ball and territory. The Panthers were limited to the odd counter while Diegos sharp shooters tried to shake the arthritis out of Sids wrists with a couple of stinging drives. Nothing too troubling however and it was the pinks turn to test the keeper from range with Ma and Ben having a couple of efforts from distance. The ever-reliable Saco, ringing in, was seeing a lot of the ball with Tom and Sho working hard up front trying to offer an outlet. There was a lot of huff and puff in a goalless first half without many chances, with both teams holding a good shape and playing some nice football. Diego may argue they shaded the first half but nil nil was about right.
If either team was going to win this match, they had to want it more and after a similar start to the second half as to the first, the Panthers started to find their groove more with Romen mopping up in the middle and the pinks working the flanks with Dan and Ma. Mark Ralph was dropping deeper to receive the ball allowing the pinks to push forward as a unit. Diego were still finding spaces especially down their right and there was a sense that they were going to rue not testing the keeper more as a few shots blazed high and wide. And so the break through came. Tom Thurman, tireless all night went on a huge run down the right forcing the play forward and it was after this shift in territory that Ma was able to swing in a cross from the other side of the pitch. Dan did well with dummying a header which took the keeper out and Ma's cross looped in. Ma will claim the goal, unless you can actually score with a dummy header!
One nil and let's keep it tight, or not.
Practically from the restart Diego equalized. The Panthers were focusing so hard on not losing focus after scoring, that they did just that. Some nice interplay between Abe and the forwards took out the panthers holding midfield and a crisp finish into the bottom corner left the red and silver red machine with no chance. On the balance of play it was a deserved equalizer but you can't be happy conceding so quickly after taking the lead. Back to square one and the last 20 was going to decide if anybody wanted it more.
Diego again failed to hit the target a couple more times on the right and with the Andy V and Kei holding firm, the Panthers looked again for the outlets of Sho, Dan and Tom. A nice move from the back led to Ma feeding Mark Ralph who, as the Diego defence backed off, absolutely laced one. The lad has a laser of a right foot and the ball flew into the roof of the net from just outside the box. The keeper had no chance with Mark showing great technique. Great things to come from the boy, no doubt. Time to focus now.
The final ten minutes were seen out with relative comfort by the Panthers with the midfield dropping in and not allowing any space for Diego to push on. The pinks held their shape well bagging another 3 points towards the promotion push. A good game of football and all the best to Diego for the rest of the season.
Report by Ben Cordier
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