Match Review: Gaelic Lions FC vs Casuals FC

• DF Wilfried Lapierre
• DF Liam McGinley
• MD Jean-Baptiste Bois
• MD Petesy O'Brien
• MD Rich Sexton
• -- Krish Sibal
• -- Brett Bowman
• -- Lee Banbury
• -- Conor King
• -- Scott Hooper
• -- Allan O'Donahue

• MD Stephen Swords
• -- Matt Heslop
• -- Tadhg Lowe
• -- Matt McCole

Squeaky bum time.....

Well after last weeks' disappointment against Hibernians FC, it was important the boys bounced back and thankfully they did. We switched to a 4:4:2 formation, however, with a make-shift back four without Lloydy, Butters and Churchy, we could have been forgiven for being a bit jittery in defence but the lads performed brilliantly. Willy, Liam and JB, joined Al, who marshaled the defensive line well and for the first 70 minutes were pretty much faultless. The only lapse saw Krish Sibal make a triple save and save our blushes, but apart from picking the ball out the back of the net on two occasions he had a reasonably comfortable night. The link up play between the midfield and the front two of Petesy O'Brien and Brett Bowman was excellent and our first two goals were perfect examples. Conor King and Brett Bowman unselfishly providing assists with one another after calving the Casuals defense in half. We continued to settle well into the game but given Casuals have proved to be our bogey team in the past, we knew a third goal was needed to take full control of the game. This came courtesy of a sublime finish by Matt McCole, half way through the second half, who despite coming off the bench, proved his importance to the team by drilling the ball into the left hand corner from the edge of the box. This gave us the opportunity to kill off the game, however, we started defending deeper, losing possession in our half and making poor decisions which ultimately saw Casuals pull a goal back, demonstrating their 'never-say-die' attitude. Rather than playing out the final five minutes, with better game management, Casuals scored another goal, which resulted in a frantic last few minutes, but thankfully we held on and secured three vital points. JB Bois was my 'man-of-the-match' after an accomplished game at left-back. A position he has never played before. Despite his offensive attributes, he was disciplined and assured for 90 minutes and his link up play with Lee Banbury and Petesy O'Brien was excellent. As i often say, there are no easy games in the Cosmo League and this was no exception. If you switch off, you get punished, but overall we were worthy winners. Thanks to Casuals for another tough game and wish you well for the rest of the season.

• Sander Saurajen GK
• Mark Tey DF
• Mark Stead DF
• Andy Dyne MD
• Rob Morledge MD
• Dom Marwood MD
• Joe Cadden ST
• Kazuki Sato-Brennan ST
• Nick Verrill ST
• Andy Woodbridge ST
• Mark Sherwin --

• Frazer Young DF
• Greg Ryan DF

Hazy night and a broken squad.

Delighted to be back on a UWC pitch after playing 2 weeks on the African plains of Dempsey where we only came away with one injury, broken arm after falling on the concrete surface – where would this league be without both UWC pitches, scary to think of it. We started the game as we turned up, late, crap warm up and no structure. Gaelic played like a throwback 90s Wimbledon by pumping long ball after long ball to the big striker to lay off to his faster partner. It was like Quinn & Phillips or Carew & Gabby, it was a midfielders nightmare but it works and we struggled to cope with it. With cries from the casuals, keep the ball keep the ball, we got down to playing a little football and when we did it was relatively comfortable and we created 3 or 4 good chances however the long balls killed us and we went in to the half 1 down. Ill take a pause from this game and touch on the biggest game of the season….globally. The mighty Villa spanking the small heath scum 1-0 with the winner coming from #God2….#God1 is obviously Paul McGrath….also the greatest defender to grace football. #God2 got spanked in the face, laughed it off and scored with his left peg. #God2 dominated the game with his graceful movements, intelligence only bettered by #God1 and Einstein, his hair flowing like Ginola’s as he glides past the semi pro opp with his perfectly formed facial hair and perfectly sculpted physique. What a joy. Second half – we made the obligatory steady / greg injury combo sub which is now a weekly thing. Changed the formation and off we went. Long balls continued and we started to chase and run around like headless chickens not really knowing what we were chasing but running makes you feel better :) Their 3rd goal was well taken to be fair but could have been avoided if we had some sort of structure. By now we had 3 or 4 individuals and didn’t resemble much of a team, we are though very lucky to have Nick and Joe who asides from score goals, work incredibly hard and they get what they deserve most games. We pulled 2 back and with 5 more mins we would have got an equalizer im sure. Fair play to gaelic – not pretty but super effective, good luck and what a great pitch! Awesome stuff. MOM Gaelic: The fast striker MOM Casuals: Nick – love his workrate!