May 4, 2014

Hi Guys,

Today's match was quite enjoyable, and not just because we won. Compass played some very attractive football that was fun to watch with a lot of great passing, tons of possession and some impressive defensive and offensive action. Scunners also fought very hard, had some good opportunities to score on us, but were put to the sword by our team.

The scoring started in spectacular fashion just three minutes in when we were awarded a kick just outside the left corner of the Scunners' box. I was a bit surprised when Cesar stepped up to take it, being more used to seeing Arnaud and Robert handle these. However, Cesar stepped up calmly and took a beautiful shot that sailed over the Scunners' wall and into the upper left corner, past keeper Jon (on loan from the Tubbies).

Four minutes later, Robert followed up with what appeared to a hard half volley into the net. At the 16-minute mark, Nicky got another nice goal off of a diagonal pass. At 27 minutes, Rob got his second goal off an assist by Artem, followed by Cesar's second four minutes later. Finally, Artem himself got a goal three minutes from the half, leaving Compass ahead 6-0.

During the halftime break, it was obvious that Scunners needed some additional reinforcements, so Artem and David agreed to switch sides. This injection of fresh energy seemed to have an effect in third quarter of the game, as the play ranged back and forth without any fresh goals for either side. However, at the 20-minute mark, Jose blasted down the left wing and into the box, where he met up with Jon, got around him and scored. Sixteen minutes later, Nicky showed the same kind of aggression when he muscled his way past Jon and scored his second goal.

The final two goals came from our Paraguayan teammates--Ivan put one in in the 40th minute and Cesar got his hat trick two minutes later when he slammed in a diagonal chip from Nicky. Final score: 10-0.

As noted above, Scunners actually played pretty well and had some good opportunities to score. Our defensive line held tough, though, with Travis doing a solid job in the net to ensure a clean sheet and Compass starting--for the first time in its history--with three English defenders (Chris, Paul and Dave), joined by Eugene and David. This group did great and had some excellent saves. One that stands out was a shot that was certainly heading in but was headed by Chris up and over our crossbar.

I also want to tip my hat to the impressive display today by our trio of Paraguayans who have developed into a potent striking force equipped with not only skill by extreme speed.

I'm still not sure about next Sunday because of Mother's Day. If you are available and willing to play then, please reply and let me know. If I hear from enough of you within the next two days, I'll see if any other teams are available.

Once again, a job well-done today, men!

Doug