Crown create daylight
After the scorching sun we’ve had this week, the prospect of playing football was looking like it could be hard work, but thankfully it cooled down enough for another competitive night of footballa as CrownEroon created daylight between themselves and the chasing pack.
FC Snorkel sprung out of the traps in our first game and took an early 3-0 lead vs Park Arabs, returning to the more effective long-ball tactics they adopted in previous seasons, with striker Nathan Smith offering some great touches and finishing. The Arabs got themselves back into the game with a couple of quick replies but Snorkel were in no mood to let their lead slip, and they exposed the Arabs defence time and time again. In familiar fashion, the Arabs started to lose their cool and began to argue among themselves, and Lewis Kingdon was even sent to the sin bin for constant dissent. Snorkel went on to win 9-4 and closed the gap between the two teams to a single point.
Game 2 give the Vaders a chance to climb off the bottom of the table as they faced Scouting for Goals one place above them, and they looked on course to do just that having led 3-2 and 5-3 at various points of the match. However, the attacking abilities of Ryan Jones, Ricky Lewis and Geraint Dyment stole the 3 points and broke Vaders hearts for the second week running as they threw away another leading position in the dying minutes. Scouting move up to 6th while the Vaders are now 4 points from their nearest rivals, and a battle with a wounded Park Arabs looms next week.
Our third match pitted probably the two best footballing teams in the league against each other, but the game was owned by current champions CrownEroon who blew away their youthful opponents, the Young Arabs, with a 5-2 victory. Without a recognised striker in their squad, CrownEroon had to rely on their very talented midfielders to get goals and they didn’t disappoint. The Young Arabs had their moments and improved in the second half as they clawed two goals back, one of which was a sublime finish from Tom Williams, and the other from the persistent running of stand out player, Keane Watts, who scrapped for every ball throughout. The ability and experience of the Crown shone through though, as they laid down the gauntlet for Honey Badger FC in game 4 to keep up with them at the top of the league.
In last week’s round-up, I predicted a tight affair between Honey Badger and Jimmy Sevilla, both of whom have boasted mean defences and just enough going forward to keep winning matches, and that proved to be accurate as Jimmy Sevilla won by the narrowest of margins, 1-0, thanks to a nice low drive from Tom Atyeo. The Badgers were a bare eight for most of the first half and lacked much invention going forward, but were looking as solid as ever at the back. Both ‘keepers, Rhodri Thomas and Christian Davies were also in fine form and it looked like we may see our first ever 0-0. But midway through the second half Tom Atyeo drove a very powerful shot through a defender and under Rhodri Thomas in goal. Jimmy Sevilla decided to see out the game and wasted as much time as possible, frustrating the Badgers who started to look a little more dangerous with the late arrival of Rhys Dyke. And see out the game they did, moving back up to second and setting up a top of the table clash next week with CrownEroon.
Clarification on Rule 15
I have noticed over the last few weeks that there’s been a lot of badgering the refs over Rule 15, which prohibits time wasting by playing a one-two with the goalkeeper, so I just wanted to clarify the rule.
The rule is as stated:
When an outfield player receives the ball from his own goalkeeper, another player must touch the ball before the ball can be played back to the goalkeeper.
This means that you CAN pass the ball back to the goalkeeper and then receive it back from him, however you CANNOT give the ball back to the goalkeeper before anyone else touches the ball if you receive it from him.
The rule was included to cut out time wasting and stop defenders being able to constantly give it back to the ‘keeper. Passing to the ‘keeper once and receiving it back does not waste time and therefore is allowed.
Hope that clears it up for both players and referees. See you next week!