Sunday League CS Rovers B Teamtalks
20 April 2008: CS Rovers B 3 Azzurri 2
Wooo - what a hard fought game. I said to the team before kickoff that we had played well so far this season but we should not be over confident, the first two teams we played may have taken the newly promoted team lightly. After Sunday we definitely knew we were in Division 1.
Again we had no referee supplied by CSSL and both teams took up task of refereeing a half, with Azzurri refereeing the 1st half.
CSRB were slow to start and Azzurri, with crisp passing, took the earlier advantage.
After 5-10 mins, CSRB started to get into the game, using both wings' pace by exploiting the average paced left and right backs for Azzurri. Pete Evans, striker, started to get the better of the central defenders taking them on every chance he got. It was not long before he was 1 on 1 with the keeper only for his shot to glide past the wrong side of the post.
A few minutes later Pete was at it again, beating one defender in the area, only to be fouled. But he kept his feet and went around the second defender only for that defender to trip him to the ground. Penalty.
Yabin Bai, striker, calmly placed the ball on the spot and waited for the referee's whistle. Up he ran, picking his spot and hitting the back of the net. 1-0 CSRB.
CSRB grew in confidence from the goal and started to control the game. The referee had been excellent for the first 20 minutes, but it pains me to say from the 21st minute onwards he became extremely biased.
Azzurri won a free kick on the edge of the area. Lined up for a shot, but passed it right where their striker powered his shot goalwards. Thankfully our keeper, Shane Nash, was equal to the challenge and tipped the ball over the crossbar.
The corner was taken and headed out to the edge of the area where an Azzurri player smashed the ball which hit the CSRB centre back. Referee blows up. Penalty!!
The Azzurri striker sends the keeper the wrong way and scores. 1-1.
Half time.
The players were feeling a bit down at half time, believing they were the better team and that there was an injustice with the Azzurri penalty.
One half time sub for CSRB, Yabin made way for Alex up front. CSRB battled hard but the 2nd half was even.
After 55 minutes the ball was in the CSRB keeper's hands and he kicked the ball from the edge of the penalty box to the left winger. The ball bounced into the middle, where the Azzurri midfielder smacked the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net. It was a beautiful goal and worthy of being CSRB's 1st goal conceded in open play. 2-1 Azzurri.
On many occasions last season CSRB showed character, but in a higher division it would be a real test to see if we could get anything from here.
CSRB heads never went down; from striker to keeper they fought for the ball. After about 70 minutes, CSRB central midfielder, Cory Bennett ran on to a through ball and dribbled into the box weaving through defenders. He was kicked a few times and the ref blew up for a penalty.
With all the pressure on Alan Evens to score, he strolled up and smashed it into the top right corner. 2-2.
Azzurri felt aggrieved by this penalty and had plenty of fight left in them; the game became open in the middle and went from end to end, with CSRB defence looking the stronger.
With 5 minutes left another substitution for CSRB, Stuart Oldham on for Alex. Stuart went on the right wing, Jason Allan up front; Richard G and Sven Textor swapped, Sven moving from right back to left wing.
With only 2 minutes left on the clock, Jason ran to the wing, collecting the ball and drawing 3 defenders towards him, he managed to pass the ball to Stuart who picked out Alan on the edge of the 6 yard box. Alan drove the ball across goal towards Sven (MOM) who steered the ball into the back of the net. 3-2 CSRB.
30 seconds later the games was over.
CSRB showed what spirit they have to win from 2-1 down, every player playing for themselves and the team for the full 90 minutes. Well done boys.
We look forward to playing Avonhead next week.
Comment on team talks at the Coastal Spirit Forum
13 April 2008: Prebbleton 1 CS Rovers B 5
by Stu Oldham
Well after everyone has been encouraged to look at the Coastal Spirit webpage I thought I'd best give Coastal Spirit Rovers B (CSRB) a match report - sorry for missing last week.
What a glorious day for a game of football, and what a perfect ground Lincoln University has. This was a game CSRB were keen to make an impression in, both teams having good wins in the first rounds, Prebbleton requested CSRB to ref the match as they only had the bare eleven.
The game stared well with Prebbleton controlling the early tempo and playing some solid 2 touch football, but for all the good work in the middle they found it difficult to break through the CSRB back four. After 15 mins, Prebbleton went on another attack and unfortunately a defender's hand made contact with the ball in the area. The Prebbleton Captain took on the responsibility of taking the penalty and calmly slotted the ball past the CSRB's diving goalkeeper. 1-0 Prebbleton.
Although CSRB had played some good passing football they had not really tested the Prebbleton keeper, but after conceding CSRB got more urgency about their play and started moving the ball around the park well, after 20 mins CSRB played a ball from the middle splitting the defence for the young striker, Pete Evans to control and calmly place past the keeper in the bottom corner. 1 - 1.
Getting the game back to a draw seemed to give the players even more of a lift. Prebbleton attacked down our left only for the left back (Javier) to intercept and play a simple ball to the winger, the ball was worked down to the other end of the pitch with delightful 1- 2s only for the striker's shot to go inches wide (these words do not do the pass and movement justice, but it was a delight to watch and was worthy of a goal).
About 30 minutes had passed and CSRB went on another attack and the ball ended up bouncing around the area, it fell to the other striker, Yabin, who (after 3 attempts) got his shot to hit the back of the net. 2-1 CSRB.
Confidence was now high and every player wanted the ball, moving it from left to right with Alan Evens controlling the tempo from centre midfield. Another CSRB attack from the left saw Stephen Laver cross the ball in towards goal, but he hit it too well and it curled over the keeper and into the back of the net. 3-1 CSRB. It was only 10 mins left to half time and CSRB were looking comfortable.
Half time saw one change - Jason Allan on for Yabin Bai.
CSRBs picked up where they left off and kept passing the ball well, and using the wings, any time Prebbleton tried to attack one of the fantastic (back) four were there to stop them in their tracks. CSRB won a corner in the 55th minute which was driven in low, Stephen Laver did a deft flick in the 6 yard box which Alan Evans (Man of the Match) ran on to and fired home from close range. 4-1 CSRB.
It was obvious that Prebbleton were getting tired therefore CSRB put on some fresh legs to keep up the pressure. Richard Garcia on for Brent Westhead, Stuart Oldham for Cory Bennet and Sven Textor for Javier Ortega. The new players settled into the game quickly all getting earlier touches.
70 mins and Prebbleton got a breakthrough and ran into the penalty area, the CSRB defender slightly mis-timed his challenge and gave away a penalty. This time CSRB keeper (Shane Nash) stood his ground as the ball was struck down the centre, he parried the ball over the cross bar to keep the score at 4-1, a great save.
CSRB played the ball from left to right through the middle and the left winger picked out Jason Allen who used his skill to bring the ball down and away from the defender, he was one-on-one with the keeper and drilled the ball into the bottom right corner. 5-1 CSRB. With 5 minutes left the last CSRB sub was made, Jamie Murrary on for Pete Evens. This was Jamie's first game for some 18 months after having several knee operations, it was nearly a dream return when his 1st shot looked to be going in, but he was denied by the wood work. CSRB had one or two more chances but could not put them away. The game finished 5-1 and CSRB showed glimpses of real class that we hope to see more and more of as the season progresses.
We hope to build on this result and are looking forward to playing Azzurri next week.