Match Review: SCC Firsts vs Aioli Monkeys FC

• GK Ronnie Smollett
• DF Jahan Rezai
• MD Ethan Pizano
• MD Sam Balls
• MD Anthony Garreau
• ST Aleksandar Duric
• -- Ben King
• -- Owen Monaghan
• -- Adam Bowden
• -- Mike Hemmingway
• -- Sawyer Masuoka

• -- Andrew Hutcheon
• -- Colin Gunn

Another Tough Result for the SCC

After drawing to a strong Lions team in the previous week, SCC was fired up to get three points against a strong Aioli team. Unfortunately, even after a wealth of chances, we only scraped one point from the match. Both sides put in a committed performance, making the game contentious from start to finish. From the first whistle, the game was competitive. Starting off strong, SCC slotted a couple balls over the top and had some early opportunities to score. With a multitude of spectacular stops from the Aioli keeper, the scoreline was kept level. The first half pressed on and Aioli showed some danger in attack and had some good runs forward. Finally, SCC was caught on the back foot with a dangerous through ball. SCC defenders slowed down, thinking the runner was offside. However, the linesman showed no flag as the opposition crossed the ball into the back post for an easy tap-in. The whistle blew soon after and SCC trailed by one at the half. Anxious to equalize, the second half kicked off by SCC forcing the play too quickly. Too eager to go forward, our level dropped and we coughed up the ball too many times. Aioli capitalized on our mistakes by testing our keeper on multiple occasions. Ronnie made some incredible stops as well as some superb goal-line clearances from some hardworking SCC defenders. After five minutes of numerous near heart attacks, SCC caught a break. Hutch raced down the line and whipped in a deadly ball into a dangerous zone. Thanks to the help of an Aioli defender, the ball just narrowly crossed the goal line and the scoreline was equal. Following the own goal, both teams eagerly pushed forward but nothing materialized. After a hard fought 90 minutes, the match ended in a stalemate. Both teams showed positive glimpses of play and should be satisfied with the result. Though it was SCC’s second draw in two weeks, there were many promising moments that we will look to take into the next match. The undoubted MoM for SCC was Mikey Hemmingway for some rock solid, stellar defending. Though CB is not his primary position, the gaffer will face a hard decision to move him from his seemingly natural position.

• Daniele Pacella GK
• Sam Thorley DF
• Harry Shaw MD
• Alexander Hoskinson MD
• Ivan Avramovic MD
• Leopoldo Garrido MD
• Shotaro Ichikawa ST
• Mark Addy ST
• Michele Valente --
• Benjamin Darde --
• Matthieu Ginestet --

• Attilio Ferrari MD
• Joel Terrades MD
• Sergio Lopes ST
• Adrien Dambre --

Monkeys make it interesting

Strong contender for Cosmo game of the season on Saturday, as Aioli Monkeys put in a superb performance at Dempsey for the third week in a row, this time coming away with a bitter-sweet point against SCC. The pitch was in surprisingly good nick, unlike for the previous 2 games, as young captain Harry marched us over to take our seats on the far side, much to the disgust of a few SCC players… advantage Monkeys. SCC got off to the faster start, nearly breaking in behind early, however once we settled we really began to find our feet, holding solid at the back and always looking dangerous on the counter. After some absolutely superb offside calls against their frontline, SCC began to get frustrated, and following a few Daniele saves, we got in behind ourselves. Ichi picked up to ball along the right touchline, before floating across the most delightful of crosses to Mark, who scored a screamer of a 2-yard tap in. Sherry-esque. 1-0. We knew this was only where the hard work began however, and much of the rest of the half saw a lot of SCC possession, but not many clear chances for either side. Half-time came, and there was still no sign of the fat controller, as Andy & Fraser stepped in to dish out the most inspiring of team talks. We knew we had to try and get a second to kill off the game, and we had our chances. Their keeper made a couple of great saves, and their CB made one of the best goal line clearances you’re ever likely to see. SCC again managed to keep a lot of possession, but again the back line held up superbly, despite Matthieu’s occasional tendencies to try and make it through the entire SCC midfield on his own. To our credit we kept looking to try and get a 2nd every time we got possession, and unfortunately this turned out to be our downfall, as an SCC counter attack saw Matthieu in avertedly smash the ball into the back of his own net via the crossbar from a low cross into the box. Kamel would’ve been so proud. We bounced back well however, actually having the better chances in the last 10 minutes, with their other CB making an incredible goal saving tackle, while Joel blazed over with the last kick of the game. The draw was a fair result that makes things very interesting at the top, although a game we feel we probably should have edged. Onwards to another big game vs Vikings next week, finally back at Turf City, as we continue the fight for 3rd place. Few contenders for MoTM, with skipper Harry and debutant Thorley both having stormers, but Daniele edged it thanks to some superb saves.