Goal scorer; Ozan Gunes
Mom: *Richard Hyde
DD: The Player who had to go shopping with his mum instead of turning up.. You know who lads!
“If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!”
The first game of the season came and went on Saturday with a flurry of blood sweat and tears and not AP’s I might add, more on that later. It was great to see the awe in the eyes of the younger players who have never been to the HSBC ground. Looking at the pitch and facilities for the first time one said he was excited about playing at a venue like this.
It was a bright and sunny day idea for football and the match kicked off with much vigour. 5 minutes into the game the AP team looked strong and purposeful showing good movement having our first attack and shot on goal. One minute after HSBC conceded a free kick that resulted in the ball being played into Ozan only for the ref to deem him offside much to our disappointment.
HSBC played a long ball game and were very physical but the AP team matched them in terms of physical prowess, we continued with the plan of playing good attacking short ball football, with the two central midfield players Paul Jannece and Jason Smith controlling the centre of the park. 10 minutes into the game a loose ball resulted in HSBC playing a defence splitting pass that their striker latched onto taking the ball on the run to slip pass our on coming keeper, 1-0 HSBC. Although you could see the disappointment in the player’s eyes everyone knew it was game on.
HSBC with their confidence high started to press home there advantage and we had an unsteady few minutes as the team regained its composure, in fact HSBC nearly went 2-0 up when a long ball in was glanced goal bound and it was only a great save by Ryan court that kept it out. The rest of the first half saw AP apply steady pressure on the HSBC team and we went into half time looking the better and stronger team.
The team came out of the half time session determined and positive in mind and approach and 6 minutes into it produced a lovely move that saw the ball move from the defence through the midfield via Alex Patterson, Paul Jannece and Shaun Reid finally through to Ozan Gunes who gave the goalie the “eyes” and tucked the ball away neatly… Game on!
From there it was pretty much one way with the AP team constantly attacking. We looked like we were going to score but the HSBC keeper had other ideas. Leslie Manu and Dodo Levin were introduced to inject some pace on the wing and up front replacing Jason who played extremely well in the centre Midfield area and Shaun Reid who played a pivotal role in supporting Ozan and the midfield as well as an assist in the goal.
Attack followed attack and truth be known I honestly felt we would score with the amount of chances we had. The end of the game came too soon and the HSBC team were dead on their feet and looked quiet pleased. I was pleased with our performance, and the result we will take, but we have to learn to close out games and finish teams off.
Now a strange thing happened in the game concerning Leslie and HSBC’s left back, this is the Blood sweat and tears, the ball was pushed down the wing and Leslie and the defender was in a foot race for the ball, those of you who know Leslie will know he is a slight lad but extremely strong, well the two came together with the defender in my opinion not getting to the ball decided to take Leslie out by launching himself head first! Into what I though was poor Leslie, an almighty clash followed with Leslie ending up off the pitch. It was not until the dust settled that we saw Leslie arise rubbing his head and the well proportioned left back laying on the floor still! And too the AP team and some of the HSBC team amazement the ref gave AP a throw!
We later found out that the player had to be taken to hospital with a cut and an egg sized bump to his head, and Leslie? Well all was fine needless to say there was much talk about Leslie’s coconut after the game. And in case you were wondering where the tears came from, Well that was the Captain holding court on the train and in the bar after, I think as a stand up he has a new profession. We wish the left back all the best and a swift recovery let hope a valuable lesson was learned there.
Team: Ryan Court, Lee Carlin, Alex Patterson, Will Irvine, *Richard Hyde,Paul Jannece (Capt) Jason Smith, Sly Cornibert, Richard Hancock, Shaun Reid, Ozan Gunes, Leslie Manu, Dodo Levin
Big Bad Bukus
