Olive (5)
Clark (2)
O.G.
The boys got off to a confident start, dominating possesion throughout the first period and they went in a quarter time with a well deserved 2-0 lead. This continued John Olive's golden run infront of goal in recent weeks, although this week he forever endeared himself to the rest of the team by not reciting stories about each and every goal. Interestingly Mat Bonython accused John of "f**king around" with the ball and trying to do too much "tricky shit". Obviously this sort of selfish play is something Mat would never consider doing himself, even from left back.
A key aspect in the development of the team in recent weeks has been in their mental interpretation and analysis of the opposition. Last week James Clark was quick to identify a weakness in the technique of many of the Fungool (which no doubt means something very intimidating and clever in Greek, and anyone who gives a shit might care to let us know exactly what) Utd players in the form of their unhealthily co-ordinated Manchester United shirts (which resulted in Fungool Utd now being appointed the arch enemies of the IEA boys). This week it was John who noticed that the latest in a long line of midfielders to run rings around Ruy and Suriya was strongly left footed. John is not one to keep this important information to himself (that treatment is reserved for the ball) and he quickly shared this information with his teammates from the sidelines. This professionalism allowed the team to enforce strategies such as mistimed tackles and accidental stampings upon the player in questions left foot, and hence maximise our chances for success. Psychologically the player was also targeted, with John yelling out to everyone on the field to "HIT HIM, HIT HIM!!!" this combination of both physical and verbal sledging may well account for the player leaving the ground with a hint of a tear in his eye.
The rout continued in the second period with goals coming from Clark and Olive. The first involving some skillful interplay with Elias Koukos, who had been dominant in midfield. The second resulting from a beautifully worked indirect free kick on the edge of the penalty arch, further emphasising the understanding between Clark and Olive. One lowlight was the initial failure of Ruy to remember the rules in his first game of the season. When Shepherd saved a low shot and the ball was rolling slowly across the arch Ruy strolled into the arch to collect the ball and continue on his way. This of course is not allowed and the resulting penalty left Ruy with a rather confused look on his face, but we must emphasise he is Swiss.
With the score at 4-1 IEA hammered in three unanswered goals. Clark and Olive once again scoring. Though Olive's second of the quarter was a fortunate deflection of a Zebra defender who would have looked out of his depth in a kindergarten class. The period also saw problems emerge in defense as every IEA player pushed forward to score. However despite missing numerous chances Liascos was not demoralised and produced many strong tackles. However special mention must go to Suriya, the "man of steel" (not the quotation marks to invoke sarcasm and avoid the use of such words as "piss weak" and "pussy" on such a high quality web site) struggled with 50-50 balls. But to throw things into perspective Suriya was up against a menacing looking 11 year old who was close to half his height but double his weight.
In the fourth period, Mat Bonython surged on and raced around for the first thirty seconds like a man on speed. He pounced upon a loose touch by his opposing pre-teen forward and came close to creating another goal. A penalty was also rewarded in the fourth quarter which Olive MISSED, just incase you are still recovering from falling off your seats in surprise I will reiterate OLIVE MISSED A PENALTY. This seemed to trigger mini collapse by the IEA defense with two goals being conceeded in quick succession, however the fight back by the Zebra's ended as quickly as it had begun, most likely due to it being 7pm and past the bed time of several Zebra players. A comical own goal by the Zebra keeper tightened the IEA boys grip on the game, after an Olive shot rebounded off the bar before hitting the keeper in the back and flying into the net. Clark quickly shouted down Olive's attempts to claim the goal. The match finished on a spectacular note with Koukos running rings around the opposition midfield before back heeling the ball into the path of Olive who struck a left foot shot first time into the net.
This sets up an appealing contest in two weeks time when IEA meets Fungool Utd, (here on referred to as "the show off wankers"). Their captain - #4 - presents Clark with the chance to continue on his search for the perfect insult, one that discrimnates equally against appearance, sexuality, personality and ability (it won't be that hard, after all the guy is a Man U supporter).
Finally we would like to see a few more people pitch side, currently opposition support has outnumbered IEA support, however noone can shout down Suriya in full voice. And at the time of writing this the web site has close to 400 hits, and contrary to the popular myth not all of these can be attributed to Mario, can they? So come along next week and see the IEA boys in full flight. For the uninitiated look for the bloke in a blue singlet and cigarette (top scorer) or the man of steel in his shiny white prefects blazer (Suriya).