Perfect evening at Penn Park for a match. The reigning champions had no reason to not feel confident in this match seeing as they won their first game 7-2 while New Wave lost 3-1. Maybe they had the closing of their title sponsor on their mind as The Irish Times sadly closed its doors earlier in the week. When the whistle sound and play commenced both sides were feeling each other out early on. NWC maintained much of the possession early with many dangerous looks in the box. A few corners in the IT half put pressure on throughout the first quarter an hour of play. IT settled in, as expected, and launched counter attack after counter attack with the pace of Koffi and Mark up top (sorry James, not included on that note) 😊. Newlywed James Holt did get a hard-driven shot through the legs of a New Wave defender only to have Meeker in goal get a touch on it and exhaled as it went around, and not inside, of the post.

The New Wave defense lost its starting left back, Simon, early on to injury and Nick Kirn had the pleasure of chasing Koffi all game. 0-0 was the score at half.

Both teams made a few tactical changes to open play in the second 45’. The pace of Lenny Hayes up top had the IT defense playing a game of cat and mouse when the ball got deep into the half. Lenny capitalized on a beautiful ball and found the back of the net early in the half, making it 1-0 New Wave Café at the 50’ mark. Playing with a bit of confidence, they continued to seek a second goal. Great saves by Kevin Vogt kept it at 1-0 while his defense absorbed the pressure.

Jake Graff and Andreas Chabur found some holes in the New Wave midfield in the final 20 minutes of the match and often the passing lanes were cut down by KC, Chin and Pat List in the back for NWC. The pressure continued and New Wave launched the ball deep hoping Mustafa, Silas or Lenny could hold up play and have the clock count down. Finally the whistle sounded and New Wave Café had its first victory for the new sponsor. Beers (and kick-ass chicken strips) at The Wave soon followed to celebrate the win.

Great game by both side and thanks to Mike Dalton and Ricky John for refereeing the match.

D&A and Stadium Pizza met at 4pm on Saturday for the second game of both teams’ seasons.

The first half saw the bulk of the possession in D&A’s half, as Stadium Pizza kept the ball in the attacking third for good spells.  The first goal came on a though-ball counter attack from the right side.  Dan Starr played the ball through to M. Dalton, who cut back from the end line and struck the ball to the left of the Stadium keeper.  1-0 D&A.  The first half ended 1-0 with more chances falling to D&A towards the end of the first half.

The second half started with more sustained possession in Stadium’s defensive third.  The second goal for D&A came with a skirmish in the Stadium 18-yard box after a thwarted counter attack.  The ball founds its way to Nicolas Hidalgo for D&A around the penalty spot, who struck it in the corner of the goal, to the right of the Stadium keeper.  2-0 D&A.

Against the run of play, Stadium countered and scored with a darting run from Winston from the right side of the D&A 18-yard box.  He put the ball inside the opposite post, to the right of the on-rushing D&A keeper.  2-1.  The game was still up for grabs with 20 minutes to play.

However, D&A hit back for two goals to seal the win.  The third goal for D&A came from a long, bouncing through ball over the Stadium offside trap, leading to a half-volleyed goal from M. Dalton just inside the 18-yard box and over the head of the Stadium keeper.  3-1.  The final goal came in a true team effort: the ball was played wide to the left corner for Everett, who cut it back for Steve W. at the edge of the 18-yard box.  Steve played to Ali K. at the penalty spot, who dropped it off to the top of the box for Dan Starr to pass it in the far post for the fourth and final goal.  4-1 it ended.

Thanks to Ricky and Aaron for refereeing a card-less and clean game.