Game Summary (by Dan):

  Let it sink in ... now bask in it ... revel in its wake ... ahhhhh, now that makes you feel tingly doesn't it? Ok, enough is enough, no disrespect SU, you battled in what I thought was a very good game, but it is our first victory - we must savor it in order to know what it feels like so we can hopefully get others.

  On to the game. After reeling all week by not knowing where the game was going to be played, we found a pitch in a quaint little area and it seemed up to snuff enough to play on. The first half was initially dominated by SU. They controlled the pace of the game, and they had much better ball control. However, as our captain, Christophe, told us in the pre-game huddle, "Just play defense guys, let the game come to us, we'll get our chances as well." And we did just that. The first defensive corps of Francesco, Lawrence, Kevin and Markus basically set the tone for the game about ten minutes in, and SU was hard pressed to find very many shots decent shots after that. Dean did make a great save that went off his hand before bouncing up and hitting the crossbar and harmlessly away (unless you call a corner harmless, but it wasn't capitalized upon, so no matter). With Sean making a few timely crosses, Frederic, Christophe, and Sylvain controlling the middle we mustered a few balls onto the feet of Guillaume and Georg, but we were unable to capitalize ourselves. We basically fought back in what was a very see-saw game. Very fitting then that the half ended in a 0-0 tie.

  The second half started out much like how the first half ended, but we appeared a little fresher (more subs), and thought we were going up 1-nil when Guillaume missed a golden opportunity in the 6-yard box banging a ball against the crossbar. Undaunted, Guillaume later did put us up 1-0 when Karl[season:3assists]from a kick, found none other than the Guillaume the quick[season:3goals,2assists], who slipped in unmarked behind the defense and hammered it home. It certainly did not look like it, but SU wanted an offside call. Again, this league does not have linesmen and we had a few called back on us this day that we thought we unfair as well (why does this league not have video replay again? Right, it's neither hockey nor American football ... sorry, got carried away). Thus putting us in the lead 1-0. Well, that about did it. We looked like the Harriers of days gone by. We were tenacious, aggressive, hungry, and what's more, we wanted to score again ... which is exactly what we did. With the keeper running out to play a great ball from one of the mid-fielders, Guillaume made a nifty pass to Jean[season:2goals] who scored from a bit of a tough angle, but found the back of the twine anyway for a 2-0 Harriers lead. With the game clearly advantageous for us, Karl (who wants an assist for this but I simply can't give him one since we are not playing hockey ... well, okay, let's give Karl an honorary assist - it was a well placed ball after all) found Christophe,[season:1assist] who tried to put the ball in, got a foot on it, but ran into the keeper instead. The keeper thus couldn't handle the ball, he did touch it, and the contact between the two players was incidental. The ball squirted over to Jean again for a 3-0 Harriers lead.

  Then the tide turned. SU, down 3 goals, put in a determined effort to first get a goal or two, then to try and steal away the game. They mustered some very decent shots and soon found themselves trailing by a single goal with about less than 5 minutes to play. They had far too many close throw-ins, free kicks, and corners for my liking in those crucial minutes. With about minutes to go, as Sylvain predicted on the forum, Dean made a great outstretched save from a free kick that would have tied the game. Harriers 3 - SU 2. Game, set, and match.

Notes: We have finally tasted victory, we believe in ourselves once again, now let's carry the momentum into the rest of the season. Special thanks to Sun UK, Frederic's children (was your wife there too? Sorry I was not introduced, so I don't know if she was there), Guillaume's son Yann, Karl's wife and Kevin's girlfriend (forgive me, I don't know names), Phillippe, Martin for showing up to see all of SU's goals and our very own captain - Evan for supporting the crew. Also, a shout out should go to Joel who arrived just in time to hear the congratulations all around. Nice job lads, hold your heads high ... the rest of the season awaits ...