31/08/13 – Northern Premier League Match Review by Admin - SWGB Bay Olympic (1) 2 (Joe Edwards, Chad Coombes) Birkenhead (0) 2 (Jack Hobson-Mc Veigh 2 (incl pen)) So, we get to decide the title at Olympic Park. I would have preferred it was us going for a historic hat trick of titles. Still, as expected, a good crowd turns out with a decent load of Birko fans. Although, one of our club stalwarts, Debbie, informs me that her AFF sources told her that East Coast Bays were planning to send a couple of bus loads full of fans. When I do go outside, I do notice a few people with the ECB badge. Of more interest is that the ECB coach, Willy Gerdsen, is here. To the game, Birkenhead in their away strip of all back with white trim, kicks off playing towards the Northern end. However, we start off strongly. The rumour is that we trained well during the week and we are showing the benefits of this. Indeed, we have the first chance when Maxism Manko turns and shoots after a goalie error on the Eastern side of the penalty area. John Fletcher makes up for the error by saving Maxie’s shot to his right. Several minutes later, Joe Edwards has a double chance at the Eastern side of the goal, but he puts his ultimate effort over the bar. He also has the next chance as a Chad Coombes cross from the Western flank finds him at the far post. But, the goal remains intact as Joe’s header goes wide of the Eastern post. Joe Edwards then turns provider with a run down the Western flank. He finds Kyosake Kitano in the Western part of the penalty area. Kyo’s shot across the goal is saved by the keeper. The next chance falls to Chad Coombes who turns with the ball just inside the penalty area on the Western side. However, his weak shot towards the Eastern side of the goal is comfortably handled by the keeper. The visitors finally are spurned into action. James Lawson has a dangerous run into the Eastern side of the penalty area, but his cross shot is blocked by Roy Bell. They also have the next chance with a Sam Jasper shot in the Eastern side of the penalty area. Roy Bell is up to the task and saves to his left. I then next witness a nice bit of skill by Byron Paulus when he turns an opponent inside out as he progresses the ball near the touch line in front of me. It typifies what he has done for us over the season, although I am not so sure that we are playing him in his best position? 1-0: We get just rewards for our efforts in this half. James Pritchett goes into attack mode down the Western flank. His pass finds Byron Paulus further down the field. Byron makes a dash down the Western flank before pulling back a cross into the penalty area. Their goalie makes another fumble, and Joe Edwards on the Eastern side of the penalty area cuts in and executes a flying half volley (a bit like Kyosake Kitano) which puts the ball into the Western corner of the net. In response, Jack Hobson-Mc Veigh has a free kick for the visitors, but his shot is saved by Roy Bell to his right. We nearly double our lead but the tall visiting keeper makes up for his earlier errors by pulling off a fine save to tip Maxsim Manko’s header over the bar at the Eastern side of the goal. Mention should also be made to James Pritchett who was involved in the set up with his cross coming off a one two to get around the defence on the Western flank. As I have mentioned before, we look good when we can get launch attacks down the wings. Mind you, the visitors also like to use their flanks as well. On cue, David Parkinson dangerous low cross from the Western flank is stopped by Roy Bell. The final chance of the half falls to the visitors. Sam Margetts attempts to score with a bicycle kick on the Eastern side of the penalty area. But, it goes wide of the near post and it does not really threaten our goal. Sorry Sam, our JP does a better job at scoring goals in this manner. So at half time we are leading 1-0. The visitors need to win this game to take the title. On current showings, it would take a change of fortune for this to happen. 1-1: The visitors equalise after starting off the half more strongly than us. We pay the penalty, literally, when we let the Birko attackers run at us. Roy Bell fouls one of their players in the Eastern side of the penalty area after the attacker creates a one on one situation. Jack Hobson-Mc Veigh takes on the penalty taking duty and he puts his penalty away in the Eastern corner of the net. Unfortunately, Roy dives to the other corner. Not long after Roy Bell is subbed by Ali Hulameh. You know things were not 100% well with him as Ryan Elder was taking the placed goal kicks. It seems his leg injury is still with him. The visitors create the next chance as they look to take the lead. However, Jack Hobson-Mc Veigh shoots wide of the Eastern post from the Western side of the penalty area. We respond with the next chance when Kyosake Kitano steers a shot wide of the Eastern post from a quick free kick. Maybe, the pressure which should be on the visitors is also affecting us as the next chance sees an optimistic Chad Coombes try a Beckham long range shot which is off the mark. It is comfortably handled by the keeper to his right. To be honest, this is not the first time that Chad has tired this trick this season. So far, his success rate is zero percent. The visitors come ever closer to taking the lead as a Sam Jenkins shot hits the crossbar on the Eastern side of the goal. At this point of time our midfield looks shot. I am trying to telepathically tell the gaffer to put on some subs with fresh legs. But, that idea seems to be on hold as Daniel Rattray appears to be injured after repelling another attack by the visitors. Luckily, he can continue. That is a good thing as he is doing a good job. I always rate his ability to climb up for headers, despite often being the shorter player in exchanges. Although the visitors are having a good second half, we also continue to create chances. A Joe Edwards cross from the Eastern side of the penalty area finds Kyosake Kitano on the far post. However, his header goes over the bar. The next chance is created after Shane Tanner puts in a cross from the Western flank. The ball is pulled back from the far post to Maxsim Manko in the middle to pull the trigger. It is not proving to be Maxie’s day as his shot towards the Eastern corner of the net is saved by the keeper. 1-2: It had to happen. The visitor’s pressure pays off as they take the lead. A corner from the Western flank goes to the far post where several Birkenhead players are steaming in with attacking runs. Jack Hobson-Mc Veigh is the one who gets the vital header into the net. Cue possible celebrations, not only for a goal, but also a possible title win. Could the visitors keep their nerve and shut up shop? Well, it is easier said than done, as we have the next chance of the game. A cross from the Eastern flank finds Chad Coombes in the penalty area on the far post. His shot back towards the Eastern side of the goal is turned around the Western post by the keeper. 2-2: We do equalise as the mercurial player that is CC, scores for us. Chad Coombes scores direct from a corner. He curls in the corner from the Western flank. The ball curls over the keeper into the Eastern corner of the net. Their gaffer, Paul hobson, gives the keeper a decent tongue lashing. It does not do the trick as in the several following minutes he looks even shakier in goal. As for Chad, we will give him this goal unlike that free kick in Manurewa where there was a clear deflection. As expected, the visitors were now going for the game all guns blazing as only a win will give them the title. First, Ali Hulameh in goal has to have a couple of attempts to stop a shot from James Lawson on the Western side of the goal. To be honest, Ali has had a torrid season in goal for the Reserves. He is also on the short side for a keeper so the tall timber must have fancied their chances, especially after their second goal. Mind you, the visitor’s policy allowed us to counter attack. As mentioned before, we have looked good in the past when we attack down the flanks. Joe Flecther in the visitor’s goal had to pull out a save at the Eastern post from our sub, Ken Yamamoto, who shot from the Eastern side of the penalty area The next piece of notable action sees Ali Hulameh save on the Western boundary of the penalty area to stop James Lawson. Not before thinking has our keeper come out too far? The final play in this chess game saw the visitor’s gaffer put on the pacey Roussin Nkoy. Not long after, a run and cross from Roussin Nkoy on the Eastern flank finds Adam Wallis on the far post. Luckily for us, his header hits the post. It seems that the stars are with us. So as I predicted it would be a draw, and so it was an entertaining 2-2 draw. The only thing that did not happen was that there would be a red card, but we were treated to a range of yellow ones. We could have done without the argy bargee scenes at the end of the game. Maybe it involved that anti Bay Olympic nitwit from the Northern League Forum. So, the fairy tale title did not happen. On balance, they probably deserved to won, but on the other hand we created enough chances to nick a win. For a meaningless game, it was good to see that it still mattered to most of us that we wanted to win and put up a good show. Till next season, where it all starts again….. Post = 6th
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 09:59:10 +0000