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Fukuda Denshi, Sunday 30th November
26/11/08 04:30 Hours - Commandos arrive in Methven and airlift strike legend to Japan!
26/11/08 10:05 Hours - Gravediggers arrive in Kichijoji and exhume trusty goalkeeper!
It was these two events that led to the legendary pair, Giles Legg (one of Sala FC's founding fathers) and Andy Cross (stalwart goalkeeper of many a past and present TML team) turning out for Sala against the Lions. Good on them both!
The game got off to a flyer with both teams attacking purposefully. It was clear straight away though that the Lions were playing a shaky offside trap, and that Toby had the pace to beat their defence. With Sala's midfield getting into their stride quickly, and the Sala defence looking comfortable, the writing was on the wall for the Lions. Crisp slick passing through midfield mixed with some probing long balls from the back gave the strikers the service they needed. And sure enough, Toby banged in a quickfire hatrick near the start of the first half. All 3 goals coming in a 15 minute spell.
The first came from Take's long ball. The Lions defence was caught napping, with Toby sprinting onto the pass and slotting calmly past the keeper. Take said after the match "I wanted to kick a long pass to Toby" and that's exactly what he did.
The second was crafted in the midfield with Scotty feeding Lenny on the left, and the ever able winger picking out toby with a great (hopefully intentional) near post cross, which Toby met first time with a low left foot shot into the corner. Class finishing again from Sala's top marksman.
Toby's hatrick was completed minutes later after another long ball from Ian sent him through again. Showing strength and awareness, he held off a last gasp challenge from a defender and drilled a low shot into the Lion's goal.
Sala's fourth came after some nice build up play. After collecting the ball from the defence, Shige played a simple square ball to Scotty, who drove forward, then slipped a nice through ball to Toby. He darted into the box again but was pushed wide by the defence. Due to Koji's good support play though Toby was able to pick his strike partner out with a square ball across the box. Koji took it round the keeper with his first touch and slotted home from an angle that was tighter than Brookey's grasp on his wallet. A calm finish under pressure. 4-0 Sala.
The game was far from over though, and credit must be given to the Lions, who didn't give up and kept attacking the whole game. The Lions played a lot of nice football with flair and skill, and their tackling was fair, too. As a result, they pulled a goal back either side of halftime to set up a nervous finish to the game.
The second half was a bit slack from Sala but after such a blistering start, that was understandable. Lenny struck the post (actually it was the padding around the post that we forgot to take off after the kiddie's footy match before us. Damn those little mites!) with a ripper of a freekick, Stu came close with a shot from inside the box, Scotty amazingly got his first booking (overdue more than Brookey getting a round in), Andy Cross used his undead powers to make a few stops, and the Bear rushed out of his cave, marauded up to opponents 18 yard box to set up a 5 vs 1 attack, THEN had a rush of blood to his furry head and hit the worst through ball of all time to no one. "Back to your cave, bad Bear!" we all cried in unison.
Great stuff all round and back to winning ways for Sala. Lastly, a wee mention for Sam and Take who caused so many problems going forward, especially in the first half.
Man of the Match - Toby Long. 3 goals and 1 assist. A tremendous performance.
Report by Scott Fuggled Faculties Thomson
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