Match Review: SCC Firsts vs Swiss FC

• MD Anthony Garreau
• MD Tim Walter
• MD Matt Zatto
• ST Liam Shotton
• -- Ross Plain
• -- Matt Hulen
• -- Andrew Hutcheon
• -- Krish Sibal
• -- Dom Lane
• -- Marcus Nagle
• -- Dominic O'Shea

• -- Kike Perconig
• -- Mike Hemmingway

Seventh heaven for SCC

SCC set out on Friday evening knowing 3 points would all but sew up another league title, leaving the Lions requiring nothing short of a miracle to overturn a 9-point lead and superior goal difference. Despite having now scored over 40 goals in 4 games against the Swiss, the men in red put up some stubborn resistance in the opening 20 minutes. If it wasn’t for some poor finishing, SCC could have been out of sight, but the Swiss did make the occasional foray forward. SCC’s slick passing combined with busy, intelligent movement soon proved too much for Swiss to handle, when O’Shea pounced on a loose ball to volley home from 12 yards. With crosses raining in from the right boot of Ross Plain, the chances were arriving thick and fast, and the floodgates started to open. A diagonal, arrowed pass from Tim Walter, a dagger to the defence of his former team, found Shotton, who rolled the ball square for O’Shea to tap home his second. Two quickly became three when O’Shea completed his hat-trick, turning from 25 yards and finding his shot deflect of a defender and wrong-foot the keeper. Shotton then got in on the goalscoring fiesta, breaking the offside trap to slot home cooly from 12 yards to take SCC into half-time 4-0 up. Swiss came out with more purpose and quality in the second half, and had a 15 minute spell of lively breaks and a couple of well-worked opportunities, and got a deserved goal when a loose ball from a corner was fired home. But SCC soon regained control of possession and territory, creating numerous opportunities to extend their lead. It was Hulen this time that did so, opening up his body just inside the area and curling a finely placed shot into the far corner. To complete the rout, Walter broke forward, evading two challenges to hit home with his left foot from just inside the area, and Shotton got his second, tapping home after Kike escaped the attentions of two defenders. Credit to the Swiss for their application throughout the game, but few sides in the league could have dealt with SCC’s passing and variety of movement in this game, and they will go into the Cosmo Cup Final brimming with confidence.

• Laurent Brutsch DF
• Nice De Mello DF
• Muhammad Fadhil DF
• Paul Le Helloco MD
• Akira Fujita --
• Heinz Braegger --
• Lennart von der Luhe --
• Herwan Nulhaqiem --
• Muhammad Emmy Bin Mahat --
• Sebastian Kendrick --
• Joe Giani --

• Takayasu Yamamoto --
• Urs Brutsch --
• Dimitri Getsios --

Young Swiss put up a good fight against old and new League Champions

When you play the old and new League Champions, you ideally have your best squad available, and you need to get the very best out of them. Well, we did not have the best squad on paper, but the attitude of all those involved was fantastic. Swiss started in a 4-4-2, but that by default more than by design became a 4-5-1 very soon. SCC putting relentless pressure on the Swiss with there one touch football and virtually all players in motion. But the first time pairing of Heinz and Hakim in central defense, ably supported by Akira in his first game for the team and Lennart held up very well. Credit must go to the hard-working midfield as well as they were able to make it really difficult for SCC. SCC did create chances, but were wasteful until the 29th minute when they finally opened the scoring. Concentration levels then dropped and SCC clinically extended the lead to 4:0 by half-time. The coach was pleased with the effort in the first half and set as a minimum target to do better in the second half than in the first half. And the reaction of the team was superb: for the next 30 minutes it was a very even game. The Swiss creating a number of good chances now. A fantastic strike from Sebastian from 20 meters out, going for the top left hand corner, was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by the equally young goalkeeper Krish. A fantastic effort by both youngsters. But Swiss did score soon after, as Nicolas pounced on a loose ball after some good work by Paul on the left. SCC then upped the tempo again and the tiring legs of the Swiss were stretched. Three late goals sealed the 7:1 win for SCC, the best of the goals coming from Matt Hulen, chipped into the far top corner. Class. Congratulations to SCC for another league title (officially only next week, but definitely a done deal). But a big round of applause for the young Swiss team for putting up a very good show. Great attitude, everybody giving all form the first to the last minute. As the coach said before the game, the result was not the important thing today, it was the attitude. And I think the team delivered on that level.