Alliance League - Match 17

Top of table before match;

1 - Real Mabridge 32pts
2 - Zypro 28pts
3 - Phat Dogs 27pts
4 - Khazboss 27pts

Khazboss FC 8 – 4 Phat Dogs


A great win for Khazboss, partly helped by a dreadful performance by promotion rivals Phat Dogs. Phat Dogs came out looking more like they wanted to win but Khazboss defended well, not allowing their opponents any shooting opportunities. Khazboss also looked dangerous and very soon were two goals to the good with some excellent play. However, a simple mistake by Ste Murphy allowed Phat Dogs to pull one back. Unfortunately for Phat Dogs, although they appeared at times to threaten, the rest of their goals all came through mistakes or lapses of concentration by Charnock. Khazboss never looked like losing even though they played their usual frantic game. There was always Heron, Gregory or Ste Murphy putting a body in front of the ball and whenever a shot did get through, Charnock was at his usual shot stopping best. Cheverton, Evans, Scott Murphy all looked like scoring every time they were through on goal, as did Gregory when he ventured forward. Phat Dogs were lax at the back and their frustration began to manifest into a physical game. Khazboss generally kept their cool although at one point the referee asked Evans and a Phat Dogs player to be substituted to cool down. With the final whistle, Khazboss have put their promotion fate in their own hands.

Verdict: Not the best performance from Khazboss, fortunately it was more than enough. This win should give them the momentum to clinch promotion with next week’s final game.


Ratings:
Charnock 5: Good shot stopping when called upon, but poor distribution. Lacked concentration for two of the goals.
Ste Murphy 7: Apart from the howler to give away the first goal, a pretty solid game. Weighed in with a couple of goals
Heron 7: Good solid game. Reliable. Just edges it as Star Man.
Gregory 6: Worked hard but still prone to try the difficult when easier options on.
Evans 6: Worked hard again and provided goals. Lost his head a bit when the game got physical
Scott Murphy 6: All over the pitch defending and providing. Very passionate at times.
Cheverton 6: Played in a similar way to Sc. Murphy but not quite as apt when defending. Provided plenty shooting opportunities.

Alliance League - Match 16

(Position before match - 5th)


Khazboss FC 5-3 Real Mabridge

An end to end game with plenty of tackles, goalmouth action and a little bit of controversy thrown in just for fun saw 5th placed Khazboss beat top of the table Mabridge with a confident display. From the off the tempo was high but unlike previous weeks, Khazboss seemed to want to win this one. A goal early on by Evans halted any thoughts of the teams canceling each other out with some good football and tough battles in the middle of the park. Charnock was on top form in goal making it almost impossible for Mabridge to score while up front, Evans was causing trouble every time he was on the ball, Heron & Ste Murphy were solid at the back with important blocks and tackles and both sides had major help from the post early on.
With Mabridge unable to score and Khazboss looking more likely to increase their lead they started to get frustrated with a few mistimed challenges. This firstly lead to a penalty for Khazboss with Scott Murphy cooly placing the ball in the corner before a harsh tackle lead to a Mabridge player being sinbinned for 5 mins. At first this seemed to inspire Mabridge but gradually the numbers advantage began to show and Khazboss managed two more goals from Evans & one from Gregory to give them a 5-0 lead by the time Mabridge got a player back.
An unlikely clean sheet looked very possible at this point, however, a simple mistake by Cheverton allowed Mabridge to score with a brilliant second coming soon after. Khazboss looked disorganised and all over the place and a third Mabridge goal was inevitable. With only 5 minutes remaining a possible clean sheet had turned into what looked like one of Khazboss' famous collapses. But Evans returned to the field to inspire the team and Khazboss nearly scored again with Ste Murphy and Evans hitting just wide and Cheverton with a cracker against the bar.
When the final whistle went though the better team had won.


Ratings
Charnock 8 (out of 10): Did all that was asked. Good saves, no fault for any of the goals
Ste Murphy 8 : A solid game defensively, weighed in with some great shots
Heron 7 : Fitness still an issue but played solidly when on the pitch
Scott Murphy 6 : Not his best game but still enough to cause trouble. Good defensively. Cool on the penalty
Evans 9 : An inspired performance. Wanted the win so much and worked hard for it
Gregory 7 : Played better than in the last few games. Good work on the ball, occasionally lax passing close to own goal
Cheverton 5 : Some wayward passing and looked out of position at first. Soon settled