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Fukuda Denshi, Sunday 5th April
After a good natured and fair match (excluding the copious amounts of 2nd half thumb wrestling, shirt tugging and man sandwiching) Sala ran out convincing 5-1 winners against a spirited BEFC outfit with a fine hatrick from Tobias Long, and one apiece from fellow strikers Sam Matthews and Rob Harlow. BEFC scored a consolation penalty, won and scored by their unnamed substitute.
Both BEFC and Sala danced arm in arm into this encounter singing the classic 1988 dance anthem "The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz and The Plastic Population. Well, not really, it was just a symbolic tune considering both team's positions in the league. Imagine they had though, how funny would that have been? For bottom of the league BEFC the only way was up quite literally. Whereas for Sala, that's just how they've been feeling since turning their season around following last year's disastrous start. Now, they're eying a spot in the top four. Come on Yazz, give us the power, baby!
The first 20 minutes saw Sala controlling the pace of the game and launching numerous attacks on the BEFC goal with Toby, Shige and Rob all getting in early shots. The breakthrough came after some nice build on the left got the ball to Rob who then dinked a sublime little chip into Toby. Producing a nice side foot finish the ball nestled into the corner of the goal. 1-0 Sala.
Sam and Scotty came close with shots next, before some good work on the right, by Shige, set up Sala's second. Shige did really well to keep the ball in play then looped a cross into the box. Both Sam and the keeper went for the dropping ball and with the most delicate of touches the athletic Mr Matthews managed to deliberately clip the ball behind himself and into the net from a ridonculous angle. 2-0 Sala.
At this point, Toby produced 2 quality finishes to end the game before halftime, and bag his third hatrick of the season. First, Lenny put in a quality cross, which BEFC's defender missed, allowing Toby to nod the ball low into the corner. Then, Sam turned provider with a defence-splitting pass on the halfway line. Toby's sprint and calm finish showed again what a good all round striker he is. 4-0 Sala halftime.
In the second half, Sala continued to boss the midfield and play expansive passing football. Guido, Ian and Scotty provided the running and power needed for this, whilst Shige, Ryo, Take and Koji added a little craft and skill to provide their teammates with more scoring opportunities. On the other hand, BEFC continued to struggle as a team but it was now clear their main danger was their first half substitute, who was ganglier than Yazz herself, and caused more trouble than an un-PC match report on John Day's desk. Heehee.
Pushing for a Sala fifth, Shige soon hit the post after lobbing the keeper from a tight angle, and a few shots drifted in from range, before Rob Harlow showed his teamamates how to truly thump a ball. Picking the ball up after a missed clearance he thwacked in a howitzer of a half volley from the edge of the box. Top corner as well. 5-0 Sala
BEFC's troublesome striker was beginning to cause havoc though at the other end, with Yusuke in particular seeming to focus more on the BEFC striker than the ball. This earned Yusuke a yellow card for shirt pulling, but worse was to follow for him when the striker was awarded a penalty for more of the same. The striker duly converted earning BEFC a somewhat deserved consolation. It could be argued that Sala's defence of Harlow, Watanabe, Bard, Tui and Jelly desreved a clean sheet, but for sheer persistence and annoyance the BEFC striker merited a goal. 5-1 Sala.
With ten minutes to go there was still time for Sala to rack up a few more goals. However, they decided instead to have a terrible finishing competition! Rob Harlow looked like he was going to win this coveted title hands down with a trundler of a volley (not like him), but Scotty, as always keen to get his name in a match report for anything whatsoever seeing as he never scores, weighed in with 2 shockers in the last few minutes that took footballing infamy to new heights.
Man of the Match - Tobias Long.
Sinner of the Match - Yusuke Watanabe. A yellow card and a penalty!!! Booooooo.
Report by Mr Scott David Thomson
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