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Oi Futo Dai Ichi, Saturday 7th March
Vags hauled themselves out of the quicksand of successive defeats with a gritty if monochrome performance against Jetro to draw 0-0.
Picture a futsal pitch superimposed in the middle of the futo dirt. A pitch without any goals, the only aim for each team to make it to the far side with the ball in their possession, and then hand it over to the opposition to try their luck. The final result of THAT game – a sort of dominant subplot to the larger game – was 59-41. Vagabonds won.
There was one chance for Jetro to score in the first half when Taylor made a mad run to the corner flag for a ball that was slipped inside to a striker before he could race back again. The shot was luckily skied. A kick in the head in the second half pissed off the poet but throughout the game he hollered his lungs out, distributed the ball well and was very, very safe.
A tour de force, though, by the back line, did put everyone`s mind at ease. The only worry was how the nelly we were going to score a goal.
New striker Tim looked promising although he only played half the game. In the first half he came close to scoring with a lunging jab on a crossed ball that beat the goalie but shaved the outside of the post.
After a feast of breadfruit and Jamaican rum at halftime, during which not a word of strategy was uttered, the Vagabonds were forced at gunpoint to go back out and finish the game.
In the second half Vags won back to back corners and an inspired Nao grabbed a loose ball out wide twisted and turned the defender and crossed to Muzzy at the near post whose intelligent back flick came off the upright, the keeper beaten.
It is hard to understand why Jetro are bottom of the table. A possible case of Vagabonditis in the scoring department, perhaps. There was a lot of work to do for the Vags midfielders in this game- a thankless job, in fact - just to match Jetro whose passing in midfield was better than ours and they were fitter. But today we tackled better, moved the ball to the forwards better, and overall were really, well, better. But, alas, no goals.
As a solution to our goal drought, I suggest banning all futsal and 7 a side activity immediately. I have other suggestions too but they could be controversial.
Report by Gary Quinn
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