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Misato, Saturday 17th November,
Spotlight on the vagabonds young talent. The season is still young, about a quarter way along, but there has been some evolution with the Saharas. Alex has expanded his game noticeably with providing the ball as well as going it alone. Francis, an all round type of player, last season virtually undetected, has become a key player this season – he can tackle defend and attack and score!
A customary word on the pitch conditions: wadi. Mudskippers and lungfish flapped around the six yard box at both ends and the center circle.
The geckoes are probably the toughest team, physically, we have faced this season and they set about mauling us from the first whistle. They have a direct style, a steely back line, a couple of deadly midfielders, but luckily for us no outright striker. As their manager Rob said after the game “they gave us respect”. It was probably earned during the first half when we rebuffed numerous Geckoes attacks. Not without some harsh words between ourselves though showing it wasn't easy – but we did a good job and Brian Malone was very important, playing well with Ged. Chris did well in defense after a few games absence.
That we didn't melt before the Geckoes blast of furnace heat in that first half, slowly tamed the wild ball that was fizzing around, and began building our own attacks – with Kev and Lyndsey first then Alex and A-chan - was a key factor in explaining our second half performance and the “respect” we finally garnered.
Under these conditions, a slippy surface, tackling is hit or miss and passing and shooting can go awry anytime. It seems to favor dribblers and to an extent, pacy players. So Paul Wadsworth was in his element and he looked like getting on the score sheet a number of times. But he loves the ball too much to let it go, even if it is to put it in the net. We wouldn't have him any other way though. In the second have A-chan and Alex ghosted around from end to end, side to side of the pitch, picking up balls and running at the goal, Muzzy knocking the ball on well. When Paul joined in the threesome the Geckoes started hoofing the ball away, flagging a degree of desperation – and we felt we had the upper hand.
Geckoes had nearly 10 corners and as many dangerous free kicks. We had no corners and 1 free kick that ended harmlessly. The Referee took his job seriously today and kept control well, though a few unnecessary yellow cards and free kicks snagged the flow at times.
I find myself devoting whole sentences and sometimes short paragraphs to Nao after each game. Does anybody else notice how important a player he is? He always comes up with the goods in defense and more often that not sets up attacking moves.
0-0 sounds like a boring game, but it was on the way to exhilarating – to play in and to watch. Even the referee enjoyed it. Simon propped us up in midfield and absorbed a lot of shock from the geckoes, and as he tired (only very slightly) John Nakamura came on and shared the load in midfield looking solid and “kept our shape”.
This was arguably Vagabonds most complete performance this season. Any momentary loss of concentration would have certainly let the geckoes score. At the same time any sitting back to aim for a draw and they would have overwhelmed us – we had to attack to the end. The vagabonds are maturing into a tasty, though somewhat smelly dutch cheese.
Finally a word on our stand-in goalie, Graham – man of the match.
Report by Gary Quinn
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