Club M 5-2 Cosmos Santos : FT Report

Five wins in a row for Club M: Ashvin bags 3 goals yet again!

Club M extended their unbeated run to 5 matches against Cosmos Santos in what proved to be a lively and heart-pulsating encounter between two strong sides. The ‘dodos’ were without their team manager, who was nursing an ankle injury and also without Kevin Chue and Jean-Philippe. The game which was supposed to start at 15:00 was delayed by more than 2hours…. Parseki nou manager preféré fine prend overdose medcine ek fine trop souler pou fer capitaine koner qui l’heure du match ine changer…. Bon, ces choses la peuvent arriver, mais esperons que c’est la première et la dernière fois.

Before the match started, we had our eyes fixed on the all-indian opposition warming up and we were all very nervous as Cosmos Santos appeared to be a tough meat to swallow. Our captain opted for a 4-5-1 formation with Ashvin as the lone striker.

The return of Ravi on the left flank provided the team with more width on that side of the pitch. Fardin also did a great job on the right. The central trio of Nicolas, Patrick T and Anwar were supreme in their tasks to close down quickly on the opponents, thereby giving them very little space and time to manoeuvre.

In the fifth minute, Club M conceded the first goal of the afternoon after the No. 10 from the opposition curled a corner kick directly into the goal, leaving the central defenders and the keeper stunned. Just like the previous match, Club M players kept their spirits up and equalized five minutes later. Nicolas played the ball to Anwar, just outside the penalty box, who instantly sent a diagonal through ball between two defenders for Ashvin to slide the ball past a despairing goalkeeper.

After Club M equalized, the game was almost a one-sided affair with the ‘dodos’ throwing in all their determination and we created numerous chances. Six minutes later, Anwar was brought down in the penalty box and the referee had no choice but to award a penalty. Our captain, Dickson struck a well-placed shot past the keeper to give the ‘dodos’ the lead.

The game started to get rough and tackles were being thrown from all directions and the battle in midfield was intense. In the 25th minute, Fardin increased Club M’s lead with an easy tap-in after a good ground cross from Ravi on the left. The built-up to that goal was superb with a good inter-play between Ravi and Ashvin on the left side.

Club M exerted constant pressure on the opposing team who did not pose any big threat on the ‘dodos’ goal after the corner kick early in the match. The back four of Dickson, Alister, Bernard and Désiré did a great job in breaking down most of the attacks from Cosmos Santos players.

Anwar missed two great chances of putting the game beyond the reach of Santosians. The first was an attempted lob, when he found himself one on one with the keeper after receiving a through ball from Patrick T, which was deflected the keeper into a corner. The second chance came minutes later, he was tackled at the last minute while diving to meet a cross from the right flank by Fardin.

But all these misses were quickly forgotten when Ashvin scored his second of the match when he escaped the offside trap to meet a cross from the left by Ravi. He gave no chance to the keeper with a shot into the right top corner.

Cosmos Santos was awarded a controversial penalty near the end of the first half in what seemed to be a well-executed dive by their No.15 after Dickson charged towards him from behind but had the slightest of contact. The ‘dodos’ keeper dived on the right side and missed the ball by a few centimeters. The score-line was reduced to 4-2 at the interval.

The second half saw a different Cosmos Santos team and they looked more dangerous than in the first half. They had a chance to score five minutes within the start of the second half. Their No.7 curled in a shot from the edge of the penalty box which was deflected into a corner by Thierry.

In the 55th minute, Patrick Choo picked out Ashvin on the edge of the penalty area and he spun away from Cosmos Santos captain and drilled a powerful shot past the keeper to complete his hat-trick. Victory was almost assured for the Mauritians.

The opposition had some attempts at goal but their shots were easily stopped by the ‘dodos’ keeper. Ashvin had a good chance to score his fourth goal when he received a square ball from Patrick Choo on the left inside the penalty box but his curling shot hit the crossbar for a goal kick.

Club M hanged on to win the match 5-2. It was a very competitive game and the opposition played hard and sometimes rough football, which saw them pick up 2 yellow cards. It was a star performance by the ‘dodos’ – the best so far. All the players threw everything into the game, especially towards the end, and the victory was well deserved!

At the end of game, our captain declared: “I think we can forgive our Manager, Marc for the 'hiccup'. At least it was worthwhile waiting for the opposition for more than 2 hours…”. But had we lost the match, it could have been an entirely different story!

Written by Thierry

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