| Han River Harriers vs.
Incheon Red Dogs FC 28th September 2003 |
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Randal Smith The lopsided results of this weekend¡¯s Super Sunday Football League games (including, believe it or not, a 14-1 score-line), highlights the gulf in quality between the weak teams and the strong this season. A 6-1 victory over the Incheon Red Dogs on Sunday leaves no doubt as to what group the Han River Harriers belong. Like the Harriers, Incheon came into the game chomping at the bit, hoping to build upon their victory over Cheongju International the week before; however, despite the bravado displayed by both teams in the lead-up to the game, play began tentatively once the whistle was blown. Towards mid-period the tempo increased noticeably as the Harrier strike force of Andy Collins and Evan Hale made their ambitions known, playing more aggressively and making direct runs at the opposition¡¯s defenders. The first goal of the game began as a long ball down the wing from Patrick Rasquinet playing central defense in his inaugural game with the Harriers. The ball landed close to Evan who, spotting the keeper off his line, let the ball bounce then ventured a long left-footed volley from about forty yards out. It was a spectacular goal and set the tone for the rest of the game. Inspired, the HRH midfield soon established full control over the pitch which they would not relinquish till the final whistle. Frustrated by the turn of events, certain Incheon players took revenge with reckless tackles which eventually led to a testy exchange between Hassan Kajee and a rather Neanderthaloid-like Red Dog midfielder. Fortunately Markus Hatzelmann was there to intervene before the two came to blows. Even so, comments by his teammates will most certainly be more discreet the next time the subject of Hassan¡¯s hairstyles comes up. Andy¡¯s solo charge on goal directly after the second period whistle sent an ominous warning to the Incheon defense of the devastation to come. With no less than six defenders in his wake, Andy made a sharp cut towards the posts and netted goal number two. It turns out that just before the half-time whistle Evan mentioned to Andy that he should attempt a run on his own as the opposition had till then been granting the younger lad far too much space. Sound advice Dr. Hale! More pressure on the Incheon goal resulted in a corner. David Shin played the ball into the box and Lawrence Heavey had a go at it but it caught the post. Evan managed to place the rebound back at the goal mouth for new-comer Brian Oestrike to poke home despite a number of legs flailing at his shins; 3-0. The Harrier¡¯s fourth goal resulted from a lovely bit of passing up the left side starting from deep in the Harrier¡¯s end of the pitch. Hassan won the ball back from the Incheon midfield and fed it to Shin on the left wing. Shin then passed to Evan who put Andy through with a delightful slide rule pass. One on one with the keeper and Andy made no mistake. This was the Harrier¡¯s best team goal. Tired legs, a four goal cushion, and thoughts of cold post game beers distracted the home team just enough to let the Red Dogs surprise them with a four on two counter-attack that caught the defense flat footed. Credit to Incheon, a well weighted through ball to one of their strikers led to a one-on-one with Walter who had replaced Trent Anderson between the posts. Their goal meant the Harriers defense would have to wait another game to get their first elusive clean sheet. By this time Trent, tired of playing Maytag Repairman in nets, had joined Evan up front. Receiving the ball from Shin (who had passed three opponents to deliver it), he ran from the left touch, all the way across to the right side of the box where he launched a shot back across the goal into the top left corner from fully twenty-five yards out, a terrific goal. The game ended as it began with a ball bouncing in Evan¡¯s vicinity – always a dangerous thing if one happens to be an opposing keeper. Sensing a defender to his left, Evan made a quick move to the right (good thinking that), accelerated, and finished comfortably. This was his second goal of the game and his fourth overall making him not only player of the game but one of the top scorers in the league. |
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