Football on Tuesday 23/09/08

Whites
Mung'ara
Rush
Stas
Vas
Gaurav

Colours
Nav
The Comeback Kid
Amit
Ravi
Raj

Whites 2 - 5 Colours

MOM - tough one, I would say Nav...

A game of three games…

what a feeling…its great to be back…! Tuesday nights will now be spent as they were always meant to be, either playing football or watching it. Gone are the days of lash in Lang Kwai Fong or playing with camels in the desert - and man I am happy the later is over..!

So, the teams lined up as they always do at 9.30pm on a Tuesday night - 4 vs 4, because we had a couple of late arrivals…no not Jai and Sunny this time, but Amit and Rush (come on guys…) I am sure the idea of fines was introduced a while back, but I guess when the management are late there is no-one to enforce it - we need to get someone in as procurement officer - Ravi is front runner, given that he showed up at 8.15 (just in case there was traffic…)

Anyway, back to the game...after all the forced reshuffling by the gaffer during the day shouts of "what colour am I meant to be playing in" came ringing from all corners (well, Nav was actually the only one…) Fortunately he came wearing the darkest strip in the premiership…

Game 1 - Stas, Mungara, Vas and [Gaurav] vs Manu, Ravi, Rajesh and Nav - the colours led 1-0, with a goal from Rajesh (standard raju coming on late to a ball played from right to left, clinical finish with his right foot - 1-0)…enter Rush and Amit…

Game 2 - Rush, Stas, Mungara, Vas, and [Gaurav] vs. Manu, Ravi, Rajesh, Amit and Nav (Colours)
The colours were just too strong and too organised for the whites - the game was played for about 15 minutes with colours up by 6…the colours passing was good, the defending and organisation was better and the luck/finishing was excellent - whites just never got going, and found themselves 6 down before they knew what had happened - decision to swap Ravi and Mungara had to be made - it did even up the teams slightly, but the bigger factor was that the whites actually began to play football...
Game 3 - as above, but just swap Ravi and Mungara
Game 3 was a great game, a close game, a tight game, a low scoring game, a boring game…it basically had a bit of everything. The whites as mentioned, started to find their men, they began passing and penetrating more than they had done. Stas and Ravi began to find each other and Rush was marshalling excellently at the back. Colours inevitably found it difficult to raise their game again after the result of game 2, but still looked solid defending and dangerous going forward. They missed the target man and suffered from having too many players of the same style on the same team. Either way, the colours managed to work a system and defended with discipline throughout - Amit organised and the others followed - we were tight and then attempted to break with speed…it didn't always work, but at least we got half of it right…The whites were unlucky and will consider it a poor day at the office - next week will be different…

Football on Tuesday 16/09/08

Whites
Nav
Sam
Rajesh
Nanak
Mung'ara

Colours
Stas
Vas
Pan
Amit
Rush

WHITES WIN by 2

Football on Tuesday 09/09/08

Whites
Amit
Nav
Stas
Ravi
Jai

Colours
Rajesh
Sunny
Sam
Rush
Mung'ara


Result:- Whites WIN by 2
Man of the Match:- Stas – Having been humbly voted MoM from yesterdays game, I am not one to blow my own trumpet….but I’ll give it a damn good go!!!! Was on fire with long range shooting throughout and kept the whites ticking over.
Moment of the Match:- It is a very tight call this week between Rush and Rajesh:
Rajesh: Having picked Ravi’s pocket on the edge of the box, to tap the ball through Nav’s legs, he went into an unprovoked rant, only to realise that no one had contested the goal. This was followed up with some quite stunning put down’s from Amit!!
Rush: After crashing a left foot pile-driver against the post and then his team mates pulling a string of saves from Amit and also hitting the metal work within a matter of seconds, Rush could contain the frustration no longer and, as Sam put it, "went into c**t overdrive"!


Straight from the kick off, Stas lashed a long range effort through the crowd and keeper to get the whites off to a strong start. This was followed up with some excellent play as the Whites dominated the early proceedings. Passing and moving well, while the colours were still struggling to find their form.
After whites had stretched their lead to 4-5 goals, they started to take their foot off the pedal, which was the cue for the colours to pick up their game, which they did to tremendous effect! Rush began picking out passes from the back and Sam started to make his trademark dangerous drives into the opposing half. With Sunny and Rajesh providing them with electric pace and hustling to boot, the colours pulled the tie right back to level pegging without reply from the whites.
Colours were visibly buoyed by their resurgence, while in contrast the Whites’ heads had clearly dropped and were fearing the worst. At this point a ball dropped to Stas just inside the colours’ half, which was dispatched with a venomous volley into the colours net. This was just the lift the whites needed and they began to play with composure again. Ravi pulled off an outrageous piece of skill to pass Sam but sadly pulled his shot well wide. The game was far from won, however, as the colours kept plugging away and never let the score slip to more than 2 goals.
In the final few minutes colours managed to pull within a goal of the Whites and put them under pressure in the closing stages. But their hope was short lived as, after another one of his marauding runs from the back, Amit unleashed "The Hammer" from the angel, leaving the keeper helpless and, with that, the Whites had sealed a hard fought victory.