FINAL SCORE: SPACE
2 - 3 ATMOS
Stubbs (2)
Djavidnia
Murray
Toumi
Attendance ~ 60
Match report
With Atmos winning the toss and electing
to play, the highly anticipated
match kicked off with both enthusiasm
and blood lust. Fortunately the
latter was soon satiated with an early
clash of heads between Jon Murray
and Matt Taylor, with Murray's nose coming
out the worse. Despite plenty
of play from Space's hidden talent Gulamali,
the opening goal soon
followed from Samy Djavidnia demonstrating
his pace and ball skills with a
darting run and stunning finish. 1-0 Atmos.
The goal brought about renewed determination
from the Space side, aided by
frantic screams from cheerleader S. Balogh.
Tim "Foxy" Stubbs, spear-head
of the Space attack, almost scored with
a looping touch, only to have it
cleared from the line by Ashmall much
to the delight/disappointment of the
crowd. Unperturbed, Space kept up the
pressure with excellent passing
distribution being demonstrated by the
Cluster contingent. A number of
pacey runs from Woodward (despite some
problems with grip) met their
demise with the stalwart defence of Green
and the safe hands of Tomsett,
however one ball eventually found Foxy
in the box and after a goal mouth
scramble and much confusion Stubbs provided
the Space equaliser. 1-1.
Two substitutions from Atmos brought them
quickly back into the game. An
injury following a hard (but fair) tackle
prompted Taylor to take the
Space goalie position, bringing all-rounder
Clack into the pitch.
Despite this, the fresh legs of the Atmos
subs plus accurate and powerful
throw-ins from Bantges gave Murray the
room he needed, seeing him cripple
the Space defence with a dash across the
goal-mouth followed by a
fine-angled strike to take Atmos back
into the lead, 2-1. The remainder of
the second half yielded no goals but succeeded
in demonstrating the
excellent Atmos back four, with Kernthaler
& Hicks providing critical
clearances.
The half time break saw changes for both
teams. Even with the respite,
fatigue began to rear its head for many
players except, it seemed, the
women. Excellent challenges from Smith
and a new-found confidence from
Gohar gave support to Sagoo who continued
to surprise her oppo up front.
Dalla found her feet providing a number
of cheeky 'one-two's with Jones.
Sustained effort from the seasoned Insley
lead to number of crunching
tackles and a foot injury, but the continued
pressure from Space soon
provided a free-kick awarded some 20 yards
out: a touch by Clack and the
trusty left boot of Stubbs curled the
ball around the wall to take the
score line to 2 all.
With play reaching the final ten minutes
the tension rose to fever pitch.
Khaleeli led chanting battles between
the Space & Atmos supporters, the
noise of which (or maybe just raw enthusiasm)
deafened Mossavati's ears to
the ref's authoritative whistle, as Ruzbeh
demonstrated his surprising
speed down the right wing followed with
a goal despite the fact play had
been stopped some minutes ago. At opposite
ends, Wilson and Larkin
provided problems for the forwards, but
at last Toumi began to utilise the
skill which he had, as yet, failed to
demonstrate. A corner ball provided
the closure for the game, some anxious
defending gave a blocked shot with
Toumi waiting to head the ball firmly
home. This proved to be the last
chance of the game as Harries, later praised
for his fairness, brought the
match to a close for another year.
3-2 Atmos, final score.
Report by Justin &
Rich