1TM-Latini delivered a birthday present to coach Tally on Friday night by collecting 3 points versus Casusals. The birthday boy made a few alterations from last week’s defeat with Jeff, Hector and Wildebeest all back and available (some labelling the trio the formidable three,) all 3 started and there was also a return for the Italian Stallion Filippo Fanin and his dolce and gabbana leggings in goal with POB on a field trip for the weekend. The game started at a menacing pace with both teams flying out the stalls. 1TM-Latini certainly had the better of the half in terms of possession and territory and were disappointed only to be 1-0 up at the break. The goal came from a loose ball on the edge of the Casuals box. Duplo swung his left foot at it fizzed into the top near corner from 20 yards. Unbelievable Jeff! HT 1-0. Casuals came out the 2nd half with the bit between their teeth and after being on the back foot for the opening 10 mins we succumbed to an equalizer. A ball in behind resulted in a collision between Pep and Filippo and the Casuals front man (Joe) made no mistake in rolling the ball into the empty net. 1-1. The equalizer was the wake-up call we needed and we muscled our way back into the game soon after. After a neat passage of slick passing down the left between Tommy and Lego, Duplo then cut inside and drilled home his 2nd wonder strike of the game into the far right this time. 2-1. Squad depth again played a pivotal role in bringing home the 3 points with the Argentine Puma slotting home the third after another team move to secure the victory. This was sandwiched between a couple of superb Filippo saves. FT 3-1. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery to Pep who suffered a couple of couple of fractured ribs and a punctured lung in the collision for the Casuals goal. Thanks to Shdog and good luck charm Rory for coming down to support. Rory only does 3-1 1TM Latini victories. Cheers to Casuals for the competitive game under the lights. MOM 1TM-Latini – Duplo. MOM Casuals – Joe Cadden . DOTD – LTG (kit wash dodger) KIT/PUMP – Lego. BALLS – Tommy.
With 6/7 regular squad members missing we knew this would be a tough game against a competitive Latini side. A flat first half from a Casuals point of view, we never really got going from an attacking sense but the defensive shape looked composed enough to deal with Latini passing across the pitch a long balls down the sides. A couple of small chances for each team in the first half an hour. Now this is the difficult part to write of which I can only be honest about. The game started to come to life after both teams began to get fired up after a few questionable and outright incorrect decisions made by the match officials that went against both teams. Offsides that weren’t, tackles that were late including one that was studs up below the knee off the ground, then the unbelievable 1st goal.Not taking anything away from the finish, it was a cracking strike into the top corner form 25 yards from the Latini striker but it should never of been allowed. How the officials missed the foul in our box when Nick was kicked through the back and bundled over. The fact that everyone can hear and see the boot on boot connection still amazes me that the ref/linesman have missed it. Extremely poor end to the first half. 2nd half Casuals came out fired up still fuming from the shocking decision that led to the goal dominated the first 15 mins which led to our equalizer. Great work from Will Patz keeping possession and playing Joe through on goal to round the keeper and score. Latini took the lead 2 mins later after another good strike from Townsend from the edge of the box. Casuals sleeping on a quick throw which was frustrating considering the way we got ourselves back into the game. The final 20mins was end to end with the Latini keeper pulling off 2 brilliant saves and having safe hands throughout the duration on the match. Latini got the 3rd after another foul on the edge of the box was missed but poor marking from Casuals not picking up players as the game continued on. Overall Latini were the better team on the day and deserved to win 2-1! Sorry to hear about your player getting injured, speedy recovery! There was many positives from Casuals performance to take into next Fridays game against SCC at UWC, let’s get back to winning ways! MOM Casuals:- Will Patz MOM Latini:- Luke Townsend/Filipo Fanin