Match Day 2 – 12/04/2008

First Team

After our convincing yet frustrating victory last week, we were hopeful for a similar result against an unfancied opposition in the Southern Breakers. We had the pleasure of welcoming back club stalwart John Falidis from injury whilst losing the services of Jim Baltidis and Stevie Georgiou through injury and work commitments respectively.

We altered our formation from last week’s 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 wingback system in the hope we could dominate the centre of midfield whilst exposing our opponents out wide. The first half saw each side scoring their solitary goals in an otherwise dull affair. We hit the front first through a well earned penalty won by Captain Ange Antonis, after he latched on to a clever through ball. Vice Captain Phil Georgiou drew on all his experience to calmly convert. An early change was made as Nick Galanopoulos succumbed to an injury sustained in a hard challenge. He was replaced by Danny Demourtzidis. This coincided with the Breakers hitting back to level the scores.

The second half began brightly for the Breakers with a magnificent opportunity only to be denied by custodian Tass. But, aside from a last minute flurry which saw substitute Sharokh expelled for a last man foul, it was all the dominance the Breakers enjoyed for the entire second half. Johnny Caputo, who was judged best on field, was brilliant in midfield along with Dimi Agalidis who showed his Premier League class. A number of opportunities were created yet, as was the case last week, we could not convert in the final third. This was largely due to some great keeping from the Breakers goalie. Defenders Jimmy Nicolidis and Frank Vaka were solid and will have to be again next week as we face our toughest task yet, top side Sturt Marion.

It was a case of two points lost this week. Hopefully it does not come back to haunt as later in the season.

By Dimi Agalidis