|
Hachioji Park Tues, 3rd November.
The pre-game build up consisted of two messages from the Jets’ Man City supporting captain. One: any team with the word “Utd” in it deserves a good kicking, and two: we will definitely concede goals today. But don’t worry; we usually do anyway.
It was always going to be a high-scoring game. Two teams with great attacks, one with a weak defence and one with a dodgy defence. Is there a difference you ask? Yes. Sun have a weak defence - it always looks vulnerable and gives the opposition too much space. The Jets have a dodgy defence - like Titus Bramble and Richard Dunne, the defenders look generally solid for most of the game, but are prone to catastrophe at the most inopportune moments. Like right after one of our strikers has missed an open goal.
The game was a case in point. Sun Utd gave up chances and space all game and conceded 4, The Jets restricted Sun to maybe one chance of their own creation, and gifted them 3 goals. Testify!!
Play by play: The first 30 minutes was totally dominated by the Jets, with Gary Garner laying on some peaches-and-cream-laden passes to Gildart , Piper et al, with no-one able to gobble them up. Sometimes the keeper made a good save, sometimes the angle was acute, and sometimes the shooting was just plain hopeless. Still, at least the Jets’ defence was looking solid…
…cue commentators curse and one of those dodgy mistakes. An innocuous looking through ball turned into a defensive howler as Masato and Sean left it to each other to deal with. Masato’s eventual “clearance” (across his own box) appeared to hit a Sun player on the arm, but he dispatched the ball into the empty net without being pulled up by the ref. 1-0 to Sun Utd.
Sun’s second followed swiftly. The Jets gave away possession on the right hand side, and another innocuous looking through ball was dispatched into the net, with vain calls for offside being ignored by the Sun linesman. Two nil at half time and the question on everyone’s lips was how Sun, who started with no linesman, had come to line the Jets defense. And of course, how we were contriving to lose again in a game we should have scored 5 in the first 30 minutes.
The Jets switched from 4-5-1 to 3-5-2 in the 2nd period and the shift in formation worked perfectly, as Chris and Nate were able to keep Sun hemmed in at the back, while John, Eisuke, Gary and Denis dominated the central midfield duels. Still, the Jets were firing blanks, as two more good chances were scuffed wide at the start of the half.
10 minutes in, though and John Rayner picked up the ball in midfield before slotting it through for Nate Gildart. One-on-one with the keeper, he could miss, as demonstrated in the first half, but this time slotted home with his usual aplomb - a low shot under the keeper and into the far corner. The Jets now had a lock-on their target.
Goal 2 arrived shortly after, John winning a header in midfield, and Chris Piper playing in Nate Gildart to score his second with a sweet left-foot shot, back across the keeper and into the roof of the net. Boom! The blue-men had their tails up and were firing on all cylinders. Surely now the Jets would get the next goal and finish the game off.
No. No, no, no. That’s not the way football works, especially at this level, and especially when a team has an inherent weakness - opposition corners. The Jets only have one or two players who can actually head the ball. Yasu is one of many who can’t, and apparently aware of his own weakness, decided not to bother and miss it completely. One of the few who can, Gary Garner, was left red-faced as the ball struck him blind on the top of his head and flew into the back of the net. 3-2 to Sun Utd.
Time for another comeback - afterall Jets came back from 5-2 down last season against Sun. The Jets continued to dominate the proceedings, and the pressure soon told. John took a throw-in, which Gary inadvertently dummied, allowing Chris to get to the byline. He looked up and, pleasantly surprised to see a squadron of Jets midfielders arriving, pulled the ball back to Isaac who hit a nice shot into the bottom left corner, with one of the Sun defenders getting his feet in a twist and hopping over the ball as it went in. 3-3!
Sun tried to get back in the game, bringing on star man Konuma, but at the back, Tomo and Justin continuously broke up the Sun attacks before they got too dangerous, and from one of these, John stormed upfield unopposed. Looking up to see Piper in space, he tried a long range through pass. The pass wasn’t the best, but bizarrely the defender let it go through, and Chris pounced to nick in front of the keeper and slot the ball home. 4-3! Cue crazy celebrations and general relief.
Once the Jets had gone 4-3 up the game calmed down as Jets shut up shop. That was until the shopkeeper decided to unlock the front door and leave the store unmanned. Justin, playing centre back in the 3-5-2, mistakenly believed the game was 4-3 to Sun and took it upon himself to “win” the game solo, moving himself to centre forward for the last 5 minutes, and looking mystified as to why everyone was screaming at him! Fortunately the two remaining defenders held out and no harm was done, although he didn’t actually come close to getting his “equalizer” either!
Overall a great game of football, and another spirited comeback from the Jets. Ref Rouven did pretty well, keeping the game flowing and getting all but a couple of unsighted decisions correct. Two more goals puts Nate back on top of the scoring charts, while Chris Piper deserved to be the winning goal-scorer as his determined running in the second half really impacted the game. And the Jets remain unbeaten so far, one-third of the way through the season!.
Report by John Rayner
|
