With injuries and holidays affecting the regular squad, 1TM’s lineup was looking thin, but Tactical Tally managed to rally some Legends to the cause. Veteran Hiro San, Jad, and Pughy stepped up to answer the call, adding some much-needed depth to the team. 1TM started the match strongly, controlling possession and pressing the Gaelic Lions early on. The breakthrough came when Sharples had a effort saved by the Lions’ keeper, but Cow reacted quickest to the rebound, heading home to give 1TM the lead. Building on this momentum, 1TM continued to look increasingly dangerous with every attack. The pressure paid off when Mo played a perfectly timed pass to Sharples, who calmly slotted it home to double the advantage, making it 2-0 It was all going well until a defensive lapse allowed Gaelic Lions back into the game. A mistimed challenge in the box resulted in a penalty, which the Lions converted to pull one back. Just two minutes later, the Gaelic Lions equalized with a swift counterattack. Their winger delivered a dangerous cross that was expertly finished in the air, leveling the score at 2-2. Both teams had chances to snatch a winner in the dying moments of the game. In the final minute, POB sent a long punt into the box, with Sharples agonizingly close to grabbing a late winner. However, it wasn’t to be, and the match ended in a hard-fought 2-2 draw. A big thanks to the Gaelic Lions for a competitive game, Urs and the officials for their part in the game, and Boggy / Mrs Raffick for the support from the sidelines. Balls - Racky DOD - Dev for ridiculous dive Kit - Mo 1TM MOM - Mo GL - MOM - Ronan O'Boyle
Fair to say we have probably come away happier of the two teams this afternoon. Another absolutely stinking hot 4pm kick off at SAS - it was all Latini first 45 and they went into half time 2-0 up, and deservedly so. We felt (and looked) flat, we couldn’t get any sort of rhythm going and the half time whistle could not come soon enough. We shuffled a few things around at half time and we did look slightly more solid in our defensive shape, whilst offering Ronan more support upfront. However we were still not able to create many clear-cut chances and most of our opportunities were long range efforts. It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes did we come alive and really start to test Latini. We won a penalty with Ronan finishing nicely, and then we very quickly switched to a back three. Josh producing several nice balls into the box after moving up to right wing and Paddy stepping into the midfield adding much needed numbers in the middle. it was Paddy who put in a beautiful ball to Ronan, who made no mistake, heading home and sparking jubilant scenes! Although not one of our better performances, it was pleasing to see the boys knuckle down in the last twenty and really put a shift in to grind out a result. A huge thanks to Urs and his team for officiating and to Tally and the 1TM Latini boys for another great battle.