Match Review: Aioli Monkeys FC vs Hotspurs FC

• GK Daniele Pacella
• DF Jeff Suzuki
• DF Sebastien Grand
• MD Ivan Avramovic
• MD Leopoldo Garrido
• MD Rafael Pavan
• MD Juan Jose Velaz Sanchez
• MD Eneko Goya Lujambio
• ST Peter Besselink
• ST Mark Addy
• -- Matthieu Ginestet

• DF Charlie Moss
• MD Harry Shaw
• MD Thomas Vacher
• ST Marko Popovic

Mid-table Mediocrity

Aioli Monkeys rounded off a topsy turvy season with a resounding 5-0 victory over Hotspurs on Saturday afternoon to secure yet another 6th placed finish. With an unprecedented 15 confirmations by Tuesday evening, things were already looking up for this one. We started brightly, with the Chilean-Brazilian-Spanish midfield trio of Polo, Rafa and JJ involved in some nice interplay. The only thing missing was the finishing, Pete and Addy both guilty of being wasteful in front of goal. We got the breakthrough just after the water break when Rafa slipped in Addy who rounded the keeper for 1-0, and it stayed that way until half time. Our worst spell of the game came at the start of the second half as Hotspurs upped the tempo and we stopped playing football. The back four and Daniele held firm though and we made it 2-0 against the run of play. Pete with the finish after capitalising on a defensive error. Hotspurs weren’t finished and kept looking for their dangerous striker but unfortunately for him he came up against a big Basque wall in the shape of Eneko. As more gaps opened up late on the goals rained in. Harry finished well after good work from Thomas, Addy picked up a second from Harry’s inch-perfect through ball, and Marko made it 5 after Charlie unselfishly squared it / didn’t want to risk missing a one-on-one against his former club. Man of the match for us was JJ who, as always, was at the centre of everything good that we did going forward. Strong performances also came from Jeff, Rafa and Eneko. A special mention goes to Mick, whose coaching and guidance in the later part of the season have been a huge factor in our up turn in fortunes and mean that we’re already looking ahead to next season with optimism. Congrats to Rangers on a well deserved title and thanks to all teams for making this the most competitive cosmo league season I can remember.