Week 12: Game of the Week

Corton Wanderers v Ditton Shooters (Division Two)

After their win last week, Ditton Shooters travelled to the Mills Recreational Ground hoping to continue their revival against a struggling Corton Wanderers side who had lost their two league games. Nikki Wigg gave defensive debuts to new signings Jaden Caldicott and Cromwell Denny as Wanderers beefed up their side, while Korey Weissmeyer and Stig Zettesberg moved up to the starting Shooters eleven from the bench last week.

After a slow start with both sides miss placing passes and wild long balls, the game burst into life when Zane Rivers picked up a loose pass from Korey Weissmeyer. The Aussie international played the ball sharply to Maurice Hooqadew who controlled the bouncing pass quickly before playing a neat ball between two defenders for Rivers to run on and coolly slot the ball past a stationary Alvares Adriano. The goal was a real shock for the visitors who struggled to come to terms with the home sides new found confidence. Adriano in goal, made a couple of smart saves from the lively Rivers as the Australian could have had a hat-trick inside the first fifteen minutes with a bit more composure in front of goal.

Finally Shooters started to make headway and secured their first corner when Noble Yanti did well to block a dipping 25 year effort from Boris Gnaehrich. Looking to level the scores, the defenders pushed forward for the corner. Zeljko Trebarjevo’s dead ball was well directed, but as Finn Rosenzweig jumped, he looked to be blocked off by Shensuke Miura. The ball skimmed off the tall defender’s forehead and all the attacking players appealed as one for a penalty. Malaysian official Oei Poh Hwa waved away their claims and play continued. Adriano threw the ball long to the waiting Rivers, who sped off down the left wing. He cut inside Baltazar Fyodorov and as everyone expected him to shott he cleverly squared the ball for Lodewijk Bartholomeus who had sprinted the length of the field to tap the ball home and double the lead.

A furious Mr Price was warned to calm down by the ref and the taunting of Rivers to the travelling fans did not help his mood one bit. Soon after the restart Rivers got himself needlessly booked as he clipped Rosenzweig’s with a stray arm as he tried to shake off the defender’s attentions. The away fans were screaming for a red card, but again the officials did not heed to their calls.

With a two goal deficit, Gnaehrich was pushed forward and started to find space behind the strikers. His mere presence seemed to ruffle the home side’s defensive plans and on 27 minutes a pull back to the edge of the box was smashed home by the German midfielder with a shot so hard the net nearly burst. The celebrations were prolonged and Baltazar Fyodorov was cautioned for taking them just a bit too far as he leapt into the travelling supporters section.

Things were getting heated now as both sides seemed more intent on embarrassing each other than securing victory. Jaden Caldicott and Bartholomeus were both booked for wild tackles before the interval. However, between the two cautions was another goal for Rivers, his jinking run finished with a shot curled low past Adriano.

Half Time: 3-1

The second half needed a big improvement from Ditton Shooters and whatever Mr Price said in the dressing room worked wonders. Right from the kick-off, they looked to reduce the deficit and after hitting the bar on 47 minutes, Jerrell Kubasch struck a goal of typical quality. The young Australian sensation somehow managing to curl the ball in from a tight angle when it looked impossible to score.

Little did we know that this would be the end of the scoring for the day. Ditton had some very good chances to get the equaliser and a share of the spoils, but either shot wide, high or straight at keeper Yanti. Altough the scoring was over we were treated to a virtuoso performance from the little Malaysian in black. A fifteen minute period after the second Shooters goal saw some of the most mysterious decisions made on a football pitch in a short time. Weissmeyer was booked for a trip on Bartholomeus when the Dutch striker clearly dived. Zettesberg then saw the yellow card for a wild lunge that could well have been red on another day. His victim Cuthbeorht Hansard also booked for his reaction as he left the field for treatment. Finally in this spell of madness, Mohinder Jalion was cautioned for the third time this season presumably for something he said, but no one was quite sure.

The last highlight of the game… is highlight the right word?… came in the 77th minute. Baltazar Fyodorov went up for a corner as Shooters looked to level things up. The usual jostling in the area got more heated than usual and the Russian’s attempts to get some space were thwarted by Bartholomeus. The referee whistled and gave both players a lecture before trying to take the corner again. A repeat of the pushing and pulling between the two quickly re-started and a shrill blast on the whistle, saw both cautioned for a second time. Comically the referee dealt with each player separately, Fyodorov dismissed to the delight of the home crowd only to be followed by his “shadow” once he was clear of the pitch. Another strange performance and inconsistent by Oei Poh Hwa, who continues to be the referee all managers dread seeing in charge of their match.

Full Time 3-2

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 7:48 pm and is filed under Game of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.