Wimbledon Trophy Quarter-Final: Kick-Off 2pm
GK: 'The' Don
RB: Nick Drzymalski
LB: James Schwier
CB: Ross Hamilton
CB: Simon Farrell
RM: Mark Bhandal
LM: 'Pretty Boy' Hugh
CM: Neil Dulake
CM: Paul Meaden
F: Saed Souissi
F: Mike Murray
Subs:
Tim Glenn
Joel Hudson
Jesse
Dulake
Murray
Souissi
Farrell
The match had become Partizan's biggest of the season and had them within two games of the Cup Final! Only FC Samba, bottom of Division 2 stood in their way of a Semi-Final against likely opponents of Union, top of the Premier League.
After one of Dulake's usual 'inspirational' teamtalks Partizan started off at an end-to-end pace. Partizan were pressuring the Samba goal and eventually got the breakthrough they deserved. A corner was swung in by Meado, for Dulake to rise like a salmon to head in from close range! 0-1.
Partizan thought there would then be a glut off goals coming their way, but were very wrong as Samba came back at them. The white haired old fool who was refereeing awarded a controversial penalty against Ross for allegedly climbing on the back of the Samba strker! They calmly slotted the penalty past Don to equalise. 1-1.
A big tackle by Ross by the side of the pitch on the Samba Frenchman brought the crowd to their feet and caused much anguish to the Frenchman as he proceeded to writh around in agony. It was then that half the Partizan team and subs noticed he wasn't wearing any shinpads and immediately brought this to the referee's attention!.....for the safety of the Frenchman of course!!
Partizan had most of the remainder of the first half's possession and got their just deserves a couple of minutes from half time when Mike headed a cross into the net as the keeper seemed to come for the cross. At first, the Partizan players thought the ref would disallow it for a foul on the keeper but he surprisingly allowed it to stand. 1-2.
H-T: 1-2.
The second half started with much the same Partizan pressure with them looking to kill off Samba for good. A through ball fell to Souissi on the bounce and from about 25 yards he volleyed it over the Samba keeper's head and into the roof of the net! 1-3.
Surely that would be the end of Samba, but suddenly straight from kick-off there was a mix up in the Partizan defence and Samba had reduced the deficit to one again! 2-3.
Substitutions were then made with Hudson and Glenn replacing Hugh and Bhandal. Partizan were now under alot of pressure and their lead was hanging on by the threads! Samba had been reduced to ten men when their Frenchman limped off injured due to an earlier tackle by Ross and with them having no subs.
Matters almost go worse for them when their Greek/Turkish number 9, who Faz had been grappling with for the whole match finally saw a free-kick go his way. His sarcastic applause wasn't to the referee's liking and he was beckoned to him for a word. This caused their number 9 to absolutely lose the plot and he almost stormed off the field in protest. After his team mates had calmed him down he only ended up with a booking.
A couple of Glenn's weaving runs on the right wing, together with him cutting back onto his favoured left peg almost increased Partizan's advantage, one shaving the outside of the post. Suddenly Partizan were on the back foot and Samba equalised when a fierce shot rocketed into the top corner of Partizan's goal with Don having no chance! 3-3.
The match was well and truely back on now and with Dulake limping off with an injury, Jesse took his place up front with Souissi dropping back. The match looked like going into extra-time even though Partizan were having most of the pressure, they seemed unable to break down Samba's stuborn defence. Then Glenn got free down the left flank and when his cross was only cleared to the edge of the area Faz came charging up from the back to thunder a strike straight into the roof of the net from 35 yards!! The ball seemed to move three different directions in the air and completely confused the Samba keeper. 3-4.
The match was now all but over, a final piece of skill from Meado to get past their number 9, only for him to be tripped up brought a second booking for him and a red card followed. Meado tried to change the referee's mind, despite earlier in the half screaming abuse at the same player for arguing with the referee, "what are you doing?!" seemed to come from Meado's direction.
F-T: 3-4.
Partizan had made tough work of the quarter-final, but were now into the Semi-Final to face either Union or Stapleton. A place in the final would be a great reward for a new Partizan squad of players.