Club M 2-1 West King: FT Report

 

 

Depleted dodos scrape narrow win

Clementi – Ashvin and Nicolas scored a goal apiece as Club M overcame a struggling West King side in the dodos' sixth league game. The dodos maintained their undefeated record in the league with a 2-1 win, with Nicolas getting the winner just five minutes from time.

Club M was a ravaged side following the absence of seven of their regular players namely Ravi, Fardin, Goolaup, Djamil, Patrick, Alister and Christopher. The dodos were forced to dig deep in order to engineer this invaluable victory. They started the game brightly with Charles twice escaping the attentions of the West King markers in the first 10 minutes but his first attempt was cleverly saved on the line by the keeper and his attempted lob in the second flew just wide of the keeper's near post.

The dodos had the upper hand from the start and had a tight grip on the game. However, the numerous chances created were not being translated into goals until the 15th minute when Alwyn managed to beat his marker on the right and unleashed a ground shot goal bound. The shot was too hot to handle and the keeper could only deflect the ball in Ashvin's path who quickly pounced on the loose ball to open the score. Club M toiled away in search of more goals but they lacked the cutting edge in the remaining first half with Charles, Nicolas and Alwyn spurning good opportunities and the West King keeper making some excellent saves.

West King's only attempts on goal were a weak shot from outside the penalty area, which posed little worries to the dodo's keeper, and a misguided cross which almost took the dodo's keeper by surprise but in the end was safely blocked. Towards the end of the first half, the dodos inherited an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area after the keeper handled a back pass from his central defender. The dodo's captain took charge and blazed his shot directly at the keeper and the ball went out for a corner.

At the start of the second half, the dodos had to maintain an unaltered side with Nicolas L as the only substitute. They were again on the offensive trying to kill the game off as early as possible. However, the tide quickly turned as the West King midfielders turned on a good show, displaying their ability to use the wings effectively. The dodo midfielders and attackers were obviously suffering from their tireless and imposing first-half display, finding it very hard to keep up with the opponents. As a result, the opposition found a lot of space to manoeuvre across the middle of the park.

The opposition clearly showed their attacking intent, pushing forward more confidently and taking advantage of the tired dodo players. With sheer determination and perseverance, West King finally got their equalising goal mid-way through the half. A cross from the right wing was mis-read by Dickson and Brian and the ball somehow eluded both of them to fall in the feet of an attacker inside the penalty box. With a clear shot on goal, he rifled home a low shot past the despairing dodo's keeper to level up the game to 1-1.

A dejected dodo side was suddenly faced with a mountain to climb and found a new source of life in the final 10 minutes of the game. Nicolas L was introduced shortly after Club M conceded the goal following a hamstring injury sustained by Desire a challenge on the left-winger to dispossess him of the ball. It was a severe blow to the dodos. The new kid on-the-block had a great chance to make his mark on this game after he was picked up, unmarked in the penalty box, by a superb cross from Charles from the right. He tried to head the ball beyond the keeper but missed the header.

The match turned into a closely contested encounter in the final minutes, with West King earning a dangerous free-kick just outside the penalty box. But their free-kick specialist blazed his shot over the bar. After missing a golden scoring chance in the first half, Nicolas did finally register when he blasted home a low shot, inside the penalty area, five minutes before the final whistle after he was put through the defence by a pass from Alwyn. His goal was enough to secure victory for the dodos.

A last-minute goal scored by Alwyn was unduly disallowed by the referee as player was judged to be in an offside position when he collected a square ball from Charles for an easy tap-in goal. The new referee's performance was far from being satisfactory and once again, it was clear which team was the ref's favourite on the pitch. With 3 more games left, the championship is still status quo at the top with DHL and Club M leading the ranks.

 

Thierry

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