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YC&AC, Sunday 2nd December,
Two salient points were made before kick-off: 1) No short corners and 2) No dribbling out of defence. Row Z will do. Within three minutes a short corner ballsed-up almost presents YCAC a breakaway goal and the dribbling out of defence, well, that went on for the full 80 minutes. Tragic.
How BFC were 1-0 up at halftime was a mystery, although there was no argument about the penalty, awarded after Shosuke had been brought down by the YCAC keeper. A red card would have been slightly harsh, even if he was the last man, but there was not even a yellow.
What followed was pure comedy from the referee, Shosuke being shoved to the ground by Neil Shonhard. Straight red anywhere. Not here. Now Neil's a top man, well liked and respected by rival teams and he will probably admit he was in the wrong. He was.
But only the referee knows why he deemed yellow punishment enough. A fine example that set to all the kids watching at YCAC. Carlos Aranda belted home the peno but YCAC had been let off the hook.
BFC somehow hung on until halftime despite allowing YCAC to ping in crosses at will and being caught in possession more times than Pete Doherty. The principal offenders astonishingly played the full 80 minutes when a juggling of the line-up was needed to stop the rot.
It was little surprise therefore when YCAC equalised within three minutes of the restart, Tom Taw pouncing on another piece of slack play and finishing in style. Something little short of a miracle happened 10 minutes later, however. A cross from the BFC. Result: goal for Evans.
Watching Liverpool destroy Bolton later that night I lost count at 30 -- Kewell, Riise, Gerrard, even Arbeloa -- they were all at it. With BFC either unable or unwilling to cross the ball they needed more guile through the middle. Which they didn't possess.
Joe Takeda, the second smallest man on the field, won 90 percent of headers, which tells a story. Evans's cheeky header provided false hope for BFC as Geoff Cook restored parity with a glancing header after more panic defending from a Takeda corner.
Possession coughed up again and a breakaway goal, finished clinically by Hide Yoshioka put YCAC ahead again and, when Evans (who was otherwise one of the few bright spots for BFC) decided not track his runner, a pull-back from the right gifted Tyson Masar a simple fourth for the home side.
How Garry Robertson and James Mulligan were missed and the sooner the other Taka comes back to give the midfield some composure and ball-retaining skills the better. The Vagabonds beat YCAC, no disrespect. BFC remain top but not for long if they continue like this.
Report by Al Himmer
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