Match Review: Aioli Monkeys FC vs 1TM Latini FC

• GK Daniele Pacella
• DF Alex Stathopoulos
• DF Sebastien Grand
• MD Leopoldo Garrido
• MD Ivan Avramovic
• MD Jamie Thuillier
• MD Harry Shaw
• MD Juan Jose Velaz Sanchez
• MD Joel Terrades
• ST Mark Addy
• -- Matthieu Ginestet

• ST James Goodwin
• ST Sergio Lopes
• ST Peter Besselink

Happy Holidays

It was the last game of the first half of our season on Saturday and we managed to come away with an excellent 2-1 win over our good friends 1TM Latini. A few changes to our line up this week with Matt completing his transition from centre back to centre mid to striker within the space of 2 weeks, Harry slotting into centre back, and Polo and Jamie returning from injury and suspension respectively to strengthen our midfield. Despite looking fairly solid in the first half it was 1TM Latini who got their noses in front when, after a communication breakdown at the back, the dangerous Ethan broke clear and finished well to make it 1-0. It wasn’t long before we were level. After some nice passing on our left, JJ picked it up in the middle and played a perfectly weighted through ball for Jamie who rounded the keeper for 1-1. And that’s how it stayed until half time. With Latini’s wide men looking increasingly dangerous and JJ wreaking havoc for us at number 10, it was set up for an intriguing second half. We got ourselves in front shortly after the break after a delightful 3 pass move starting with a Daniele goal kick. He picked out Addy on the left in space, who ran inside before giving it back out to the left to JJ. The little magician then played a sublime ball behind the Latini backline and Addy made it 2-1 from just inside the box. With some tiring legs, we rang the changes after the goal. Sippy, Peter and Sergio all joining the action to freshen things up a bit. Sippy in particular added a calming influence to our back four. Latini pressed forward for the equaliser and had their chances but some wayward finishing and a handball appeal in our box being waved away helped us preserve our lead. Luckily there’s no VAR in the Cosmo League... We looked like we might nick another on the counter late on as gaps opened up. It wasn’t to be but we saw out the game well in the end for an important win, helping us to salvage something from what’s been a very inconsistent first half of the season. Thanks to Latini for a fair and competitive match. Always a pleasure (sorry we didn’t make it back for beers - we’ll put that right next time). MOM for you was Ethan, great player and a threat whenever he got the ball. MOM for us was JJ. 2 superb assists for our goals and brilliant all round play.

• Thomas Sumantri DF
• Andrew Mollitt DF
• Ben Tomlinson DF
• Jamie Townsend MD
• Jamie Roberts MD
• Ethan Pizano MD
• Luke Townsend ST
• Daniel Gregson --
• Mathieu Harding --
• Lewis Wood --
• Mohamad Azher --

• Abdul Miah --
• Hugo Guinguand --
• Takuro Isikura --
• Mark Raven --
• Nicolas Deriquehem --

1TM-Latini slipped to a disappointing 2-1 defeat at the hands of Aioli Monkeys after returning from a 4 week absence from League football. After an initial rusty start (which I guess was to be expected) 1TM-Latini took control of the game through a fine lobbed finish from Screech after out muscling the AM centre. Lego had put through a nice dinked through ball. 1-0. we really should have been out of sight by the half as had 3-4 great chances to extend the lead but some good keeping and wasteful finishing meant we went in at 1-1 after the Monkeys nicked a well taken equalizer literally on the HT whistle. HT 1-1. Monkeys took the lead early in the 2nd half after an exquisite ball from JJ, it was a sucker blow to find ourselves behind. We huffed and puffed to get back on level terms and certainly had enough chances. Ultimately we only have ourselves to blame for the loss after a display which lacked composure in front of goal. FT 1-2. Congrats to Aioli Monkeys on the clinical display and the 3 points. Look forward to meeting again in the QFs of the cup early next year. Big thanks to Screech Snr for coming down to support MOM 1TM-Latini – Screech, impossible to tackle. MOM SCC – JJ, impossible to tackle. KIT – Duplo BALLS – Lozza