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Hachioji Park, Sunday 27th January,
Oh, but we just have to make it exciting don’t we. Not enough for Sala the workman like three nil win. Not on your life. Never has the old adage of ‘Two up and praying for a draw’ been more appropriate.
Three nil up and coasting with ten minutes left, Sala handed Jets two goals and had to endure a nervy final few minutes on Sunday night in Saitama. The back line which had looked so solid for seventy minutes seemed to be struck down with Alzheimer’s or something similar and doddered around helplessly as Nate Gildart smashed an unstoppable shot past Sid and then Yukihiro Sasaki rounded the beleaguered Sala keeper to bring them back into the game. When Pietro finally put the game out of its misery there were a few sighs of relief from the white shirts, sighs which would have been unimaginable merely ten minutes beforehand.
Considering that the Jets were at home and that they usually have enough players at every game to fill a refugee truck, they were surprisingly shorthanded at kick off and managed with a bare eleven until almost half-time. Sala smelt blood and with Hibs drawing earlier in the day, the game was afoot.
The first half was highlighted with some of the worst finishing in living memory as Sala dominated but hit the target barely twice, in a chance filled half. Lenny and Dan got forward regularly enough to allow Masa and Brookey to get into the box and they caused Jets the most problems. Young Samwise Gamgee of the Shire was in fine fettle on his debut up front but had clearly left his shooting boots at home, skewing a couple of half chances wide. Even when he did get it on target, he was cruelly denied by a pivoting pair of Jets buttocks. Scotty had apparently also left his shiny ones in the locker, as he somehow contrived to miss from a few yards after Dhugal’s clever knockdown. Brookey and Lenny cracked a couple of free-kicks, but nothing was going in for Sala and the deadlock looked unlikely to be broken until after the interval, until a misunderstanding between the Jets keeper and centre half allowed Masa to knock home his first ever goal for the Chiba men. Well done Sir.
Jets could and probably should have been down to nine men before half time due to two almost identical fouls on Dhugal and Sam as they went clean through on goal. One resulted in a booking and the other was left unpunished.
The second half was a much more open affair as both sides tired.
Dhugal put Sala two up with a typically clever finish from Brookey’s cross and should have had two more but for a couple of flaky offside calls (one being a quite outrageous Pietro decision from thirty yards away with the Jets own linesman keeping his flag down…) that denied him a spot on top of the goal scorers chart. Sala moved up a gear as Pete and Scotty dominated in the middle of the pitch and Lenny was a constant threat getting forward from left back.
Charles’s cameo-like appearance saw him allowed to take a free kick after much muttering into Brookey’s ear a la Beckham and Sheringham in the game against Greece. Not quite the same result, but the keeper did well to claw the ball out of the top corner.
Ian put the supposed icing on the cake with a superb third, playing a one two with Peter at pace and sidefooting calmly past the onrushing keeper. Just as well he did too, as it made up for his earlier shot which went out for a throw in.
To be fair, Sala played the more consistent football on show and were deserved winners at the end of the day, though the manner of it was a little disappointing. Heads were in clouds and legs were leaden. And so it was that the Jets came marching back into it and full credit to them, it’s easy to give up when you’re three nil down with ten minutes to go and it’s cold and dark.
Or, apparently, when your three nil up…
Report by Lethargio
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