Recap

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.