Match Day 4 – 24/05/2008 – C’s

MAY

27

It was another beautiful autumn day for football as FC Adelaide welcomed the Monarchs back to the Western Youth Centre, this time for points. There was no shortage of motivation for our boys with the Monarch’s being the only team to have beaten the FC Adelaide C’s this year, in one of the pre-season trials.

The squad was looking healthy, with John Samaras making his debut as sweeper and no less than 5 subs on the bench. Choosing the team and managing the substitutions presented a bit of a challenge, with Lingam, Adam and Baby Bird all notable absentees this week.

The game got off to a shaky start, with both sides feeling each other out early. Foul throws were being committed by both teams, as neither side really took control. FC Adelaide responded well to it’s changed line up, with “el Jefe” running late, Joe “Country Boy” Murphy was temporarily put into the defensive midfield spot. He wasted no time adapting to the position and after 10 minutes he opened the scoring with a speculative effort which caught the keeper by surprise. It seemed like slow motion as it passed the keeper on its way into the bottom corner. 1-0 to Adelaide.

El Jefe was brought on to fill the defensive midfield role and Country Boy was shifted out to the right as FC Adelaide began to boss the game. El Jefe and Fernando “Pipa” Murray produced arguably their best combined effort of the season so far, combining superbly with Country Boy and John “The Great Wall” Zhenya on the right and left respectively. As FC Adelaide began to dominate, our new forward combination of Barry “The Bull” and Aklil “The Flash” began to get more and more involved in the game. After a good build-up through the midfield, The Bull played The Flash on with a great through ball. The Flash showed us all exactly why he IS The Flash, showing 2 Monarchs defenders a clean pair of heels as he raced on to the through ball. His first shot at goal didn’t manage to beat the keeper but the rebound fell kindly and he didn’t waste his second effort. 2-0 to Adelaide.

The bench began to see some action with The Bull being replaced by Evan “The Veteran” for a run either side of half time. Mohammad replaced team captain “The Godfather” at left back, and Zach replaced Lethal Leigh Cosma as the squad saw some rotation. John Samaras marshaled the troops at the back superbly considering all of the changes, with The Enforcer again providing his consistently high level support.

Half time was blown and a happy FC Adelaide sat down for a breather 2 goals to the good.

The second half began where the first left off. The Monarchs started to lose their shape as Adelaide began a period of good possession football. Country Boy Murphy was having a great game on the right as it seemed like a 3rd goal had to be coming. The Veteran made way for The Bull as our boys enjoyed a sustained period of pressure.

A defensive mistake almost gifted us with a 3rd. A Monarchs defender, attempting a back header, was horrified to see it clear his keeper and head towards the goal. With the keeper well beaten the ball clattered into the upright but was cleared by the Monarchs defense.

The local crowd was tasting blood as wave after wave of Adelaide attack’s kept on finding ways through the Monarchs defense. With all of the substitutions taking place our boys looked the fresher team as the game wore on. The Flash was replaced by The Great Wall midway through the second half after producing his best game for the season. His harassing up front typified the teams display with all players displaying a great fighting attitude. Despite creating a host of good chances, the 3rd goal never came as The Pimp blew full time to seal a solid 2-0 win for FC Adelaide.

This win put us top of the division table and was by far the best the team has played so far this season. Keep it up lads!!

Leigh McGillick