Match report for Palace vs Dong Ren

Palace,

Please see below the match report for the league game we played last Saturday. We have no league game this coming weekend but we may organize some training session, so keep checking your email for details. Training session as usual this Wednesday, 8-10 pm at the Lido.
Cheers,
Patrick

Match report for Summer Palace vs Dong Ren, Saturday 24^th September 2011, Lido

Our run of good results ended on a hot afternoon, last Saturday, as we were well-beaten by Dong Ren, a Chinese team composed of semi-pros (?).

From the start, Dong Ren took control of the midfield, showing good control of the ball and neat passing, very seldom losing the ball. They also used their fast wingers well and our defense was kept under pressure. After 5 minutes played, their right winger found a post.  Not long after, the same guy made another run through our defense but this time found the target with a fierce shot from outside the box that Jason could not save.

On our side, our midfield was chasing shadows and we were having a hard time getting the ball to pass the halfway line. Our forwards could hardly touch the ball at all. With maybe 30 minutes gone, they got a second goal, as Jason could only deflect in his own nets a long range shot.  Despite good defending, Jason was kept busy, making a couple of fine saves, before getting hurt as he had to rush out from his goal to block their forward just before half-time. 2-0 for Dong Ren at halftime, and we could count ourselves lucky to be still in the game.

This did not last long however as shortly after the re-start, Aaron conceded a penalty for which he got booked. The penalty was well-taken and Stefan, who had replaced Jason in goal, had absolutely no chance to save it. 3-0 for Dong Ren and they were looking to add more. Stefan made a couple of good saved to deny them scoring more goals and we were also lucky to see their central forward hitting the cross-bar with a header from close range.  With 20 minutes left to play, as Dong Ren, lift their feet off the pedal, we finally managed to create some chances to score. Kieran, who was not even on the team-sheet at the start of the game, was giving their defense some trouble and got badly kicked for that. Then, as some handbags was going on between Kieran and some Dong Ren guys, the ref kept the play to continue and the ball run nicely for Andy Mo who scored with a cool finish.  Summer Palace 1 – Dong Ren 3, final score.

Considering the number of scoring chances they had, it was not a bad result. Well done to all 18 guys involved, who fought very hard for 90 minutes against, admittedly, stronger opposition.

After the game, most of the squad made it to Luga’s for the customary votes for Man and donkey of the match. Jason, quite unfairly, got voted Donkey with 4 votes and Andy Mo got Man-of-the-Match for scoring our only goal. Peter who received votes for both categories, drunk the B-52.