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Rovers II Match Report
| League match |
| Sunday | 2009-05-03 | 12:45 |
| Rovers II | 4 (1) - 4 (2) | FC Wacker München II | | Manager: Roderick Bracken |
 Re: Rovers I v Herakles II, Rovers II v FC Wacker II
May 04, 2009, 09:14:57 AM by Richie J
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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Pena
Patton Geller Proudfoot Stevenson
Jarvis Singh Mcloughlin Kraus
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Vidal Wood
Rovers lined up with new boy John McCloffhlin (nobodies ever gonna be able to learn to spell that name), who slotted back into midfield like he'd never been away. Fit again Proudfoot into defence, due to age defying Meehan going AWOL again. Vidal upfront with Wood, hoping to emulate his previous good performance in attack against the Bosnians last year. Dave 'Carpet burns' Akin, was suspended for this game but came down to show his support from the side line anyway. Even Herr Aherne was down for the game, obviously signing up to the wrong team on the Forum (make sure u are in the AH thread next time?  ).
I especially was looking forward to playing on grass for the first time in ages and the beautifull sunny weather was going to make it all the more enjoyable. Rovers started well, as passes? (yes passes, not insults) were exchanged between midfielders and midfielders,? attackers and attackers and even between the midfielder and attack. Quite amazing.
Various shots were unleashed by Wood, Patton, Mcloughlin and Singh who hit the bar from inside the box. Finally Manager Bracken was getting the shots on goal that he wanted from his team.
Pena making his B-Team debut in goal after what I heard was an excellent performance in training, made an outstanding save when one of the Wackers was through on goal.
The break through came, as Patton pushed up on the right and a nice interchange of passes with Vidal allowed Patton to get the the by-line, cross to the back post for Wood to head in from close range.
Unfortunately Mcloughlin (replaced by Aherne, who went into defence and Patton went into midfield) got injured with 15 mins of the half to go, and while we were down to 10 men, a ball wasnt cleared on the edge of the box, exactly where im sure Mcloughlin would have been and a tame shot beat Pena in goal.
A few mins later, a break down the right by Wacker, enabled their number 9 to get a shot off at the near post to score their 2nd.
Patton had a couple of distance efforts on the dodgy looking keeper, but the keeper did well each time, tipping the ball past the goal.
Half time and I think the team were pretty happy and surprised about how well we had played, even though we were now losing. Manager Bracken anyway gave us a "motivational" talk for the 2nd half, demanding more of the same.
The B-team started where they had finished and continued with their much improved football. Box-to-box midfielder Singh getting involved in midfield along side an even more vocal Patton.
The equaliser from the Rovers came when ...?
The 3rd goal was created by yours truly, when a long ball from the back (probably from Proudfoot) was layed off by Vidal into the path of Jarvis just over the halfway line, who drove a side-foot-half-volley curling pass into the path of Wood on the shoulder of the last defender. He rounded the keeper and the Rovers took a well earnt lead. I am sure there was a compliment from Proudfoot hidden among the cheers, but he wont admit to it.
Wacker earnt a controversal penalty when the Rovers were clearing their lines and pushing out for the offside, the ball unexpectedly came back over the top, to 2 offside Wacker attackers, with only Proudfoot anywhere near them. The "highly mobile" defender slid in, toe ended the ball, but unfortunately a C-Klasse referree is not going to see that and gave a penalty. Luckily enough, Proudfoot only recieved a yellow for the tackle but the Rovers felt hard done by, as we believed the strikers were offside anyway.
The Rovers 4th came when one of the Wacker defenders quite bizzarely tried to back heel the ball to his goal keep when facing his own goal, near the byline. Predator Wood, pounced upon this loose ball and smacked it past 2 guys on the line.
"Ohh Basti, Basti", subbed himself off with obvious Swine Flu symptoms late into the 2nd half. Replaced by Steven. Aherne also had to come off shortly after after pulling his thigh, replaced by De Cinque.
Wacker earnt another penalty to equalise again, when (the way I saw it)?De Cinque went with his foot to a high ball, the opponent beat him to the ball with his head, but the Italien substitute caught him across his body and he went down like a sack of spuds. The penalty had to be taken twice for strafraum infringement, but both times, its was side footed in easily.
Last chance of the game came, as De Cinque? thundered down the right wing, riding a few challenges, the ball broke to Jarvis on the edge of the box, who passed to Vidal, when he should have shot and the chance was gone.
The ref blew his whistle suspiciously early, with no "Fergie Time" at all and the game finished 4-4.
Conclusion:
Wow, faith in B-Team football restored just in the nick of time, as the team puts in the best performance since... since... a long time. Players were linking up with each other and the ball being distributed well. Legs of the team Singh and Patton doing the hardwork and letting the flair of Kraus and Jarvis shine? 
4 Goals Wood (speaks for itself) was supported well by the versatile Vidal upfront, who along with Jarvis need to shoot the bloody ball at the goal. Solid performance by Pena in goal, who handled himself well.
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