Match Day 3 – 17/05/2008 – C’s

MAY

19

After a cold & stormy build up, the skies cleared nicely as FC Adelaide hosted Stirling at the Western Youth Centre. It was a welcome change to have a near full strength squad to choose from, with a few lads unlucky not to make the team this week.

Stirling made a very strong start, with good possession early. They were knocking it around confidently, making our boys look second best for long periods in what was a very high standard C’s game. FC Adelaide were made to pay early as the defense once again got caught trying to hold on to possession instead of making a routing clearance. Benny “Baby Bird” Ward was dispossessed outside the box and stand-in keeper Mark “Rumble Fish” Sarcina could do nothing to stop the Stirling no. 7’s unstoppable shot into the bottom left corner. 1-0 to Stirling.

The period of Stirling dominance lasted for another 15 minutes, Stirling could have scored again if it wasn’t for the nose of Sarcina blocking a shot from point blank range. I’m sure the Rumble Fish was regretting his brave choice to stand in goals at this point, even though he was doing quite well.

As the half wore on though, FC Adelaide got more and more into the game. Stirling didn’t really have any clear cut chances from this point on with FC Adelaide recruit Joe “Country Boy” Murphy slotting in perfectly at left back with “Baby Bird”, Petros “The Enforcer” and “Lethal” Leigh Cosma. The equalizer came unexpectedly from John “The Great Wall” Zhenya, who made a sensational mazy run through the Stirling defence, skinning 4 defenders, before slotting home from around the penalty spot to make it 1-1.

The goal gave the whole team a lift, with Adelaide going into half time carrying some momentum.

The second half began with a change; Lingam finally woke from his slumber to join Adam up front as Adelaide looked to attack. Fernando “Pipa” Murray and Jorge “el Jefe” Calderon began to take control in midfield as Adelaide mounted a good period of sustained pressure. And it was “The Great Wall” again who broke the deadlock, showing great composure in the box as he paused looking for a passing option. When no options presented themselves he prodded a deft chip into the far top corner. You would have thought we had just won the Champions League with his emotional celebration, it was a cracking goal. 2-1 to Adelaide.

Things were looking comfortable for Adelaide, with the defense looking solid and Stirling beginning to tire it seemed like we were heading for a good win. A spanner was thrown into the works when “el Jefe” gave away an un-necessary free kick on the edge of the area. Rookie keeper Sarcina was unable to stop the ensuing free kick as the game was again tied up. With the score 2-2, the game was heading for a tense ending.

Mohammad (RM) and Lethal Leigh (RB) made way for Aklil “The Flash” (RM) and Michael Evangelou (RB) as the right hand side got a shake-up. Crowd favorite “The Flash” made an instant impact, with several impressive runs down the right midfield, while being cheered on by the growing local crowd. His raw pace gave Stirling some real headaches, as Adelaide pressed for the winner.

With less than 10 minutes to go, the gods once again chose the smallest man on the pitch to make the biggest impact, as “The Great Wall” Zhenya managed to bag a very classy hat-trick, chipping it over the keeper and having it drop in off the cross bar for his third of the day. That proved to be the winner, with the boys managing to run down the clock to seal an impressive 3-2 win.

It was the first zigga-zagga for some of the lads (we forgot to do it last week!), Hopefully there will be plenty more this season. It was a great effort.

By Leigh McGillick