MATCH REPORT Dutch Lions 3-1 B’way Celtic A

Broadway Celtic A’s (Second Division) were the guests today as the Dutch Lions continue their preseason warm ups before next weeks Season opener in the FA Junior Cup. B’Way Celtic specifically requested a friendly with lower opposition on the league website but didn’t bargain on us. Perhaps their team needed a comfortable victory to boost confidence whilst testing out new potential but we arrived with own agenda and we don’t do charity (With the exception of Noel of course).

In total we had 18 players to view today. All 7 subs seeing second half action. This game was our first ever home match and the pitch was in fine condition.

The game started tight but within 5 minutes Macca and Jabba where finding areas wide right that could exploit B’ways defence. Hamza, playing left wing , started out of the traps quickly and was industrious.

Hamza’s hard work paid off big style with him working the ball towards the oppo’s corner flag, his persistence and work on the ball caused a desperate punt from defence only landing on the D. With the ball still bouncing around it was nudged back to Hamza who from 9 yards sweetly struck a half volley into the opposite corner of the goal. From his celebrations we all knew he enjoyed that. With the possession we had Hamza’s opener was well deserved. Broadway won several free kicks in the first half but only once did they look like taking advantage with their tall Central midfielder heading the ball just over the bar. Broadways number 10 found space on a number of occasions down our right but after getting into such positive positions was closed down by our covering centre back Grant Bates.

Hamza managed to carve out an almost identical effort to his first 10 minutes after his opener but the Broadway keeper reacted superbly to tip his effort over the bar. From the resulting corner we witnessed something one young man will never forget. Macca whipped in a pacy corner kick which was only half cleared by Broadway. The ball ran low out of the D with Ahmed running towards his own goal to collect. From nowhere came the colossus that is Grant Bates, Ahmed sensed that Grant’s positioning was made for an effort and swerved out of the centre backs path only for Grant to release an effort from a full 27 yards . At that moment we realised that this effort was special and we simply froze (all of us, even the pigeons above). My thoughts as it left his right boot was of concern, not concern over the pigeons but a concern for the Broadway keeper, he had work to do. The laser guided strike flew towards the top right hand corner, the keeper could only tip it with his fingers but failed to alter the cannons path into the back of the net. The pace of the effort was simply too much. Grant celebrated like it was 1999, he had waited sometime for that and for me, only Liverpools Centre back Agger has replicated this fantastic drive this season.

The second half saw Broadway enjoy better interchanges between them particularly on their right. The key chance during this pressure falling to a Broadway forward who failed to hit the target from a tight angle. Broadway worked hard to carve out shots from outside the D but never made the keeper work with efforts going to the keepers right and wide.

Peter Clark and Barbak both made their debut early in the second half and were inventive and solid.
A good passage of play by Broadway aided by a rare absence of our midfield pushed their team into our penalty box. Some desperate challenges by our defenders culminated in Peter bringing down a Broadway player. We had no issue when the referee awarded a penalty. Broadway stepped up calmly and hit it to the keepers right, Taela went the correct way but could do nothing to stop the resulting goal.

The game was sealed as B’way pushed for an equaliser A potential two on two situation was materialising bang on the centre circle on the 75 minute after Broadways attack broke down. Noel Jones spotted this advantage early and released the ball to Timid inside his own centre circle. Paulo did extremely well to pull one of the two defenders wide which allowed Timid to run at the one and only defender left. With his direct run from just inside his half he slotted home the 3rd of the game from 7 yards.

Special mention to all the Debutant’s today which included Oli, Peter and Taela who all had impressive starts. Oliver proved versatile when moved to right back after Grant was replaced with a slight injury and later was moved back into the centre to be joined by Macca. In the last 20 minutes we were able to change virtually our entire forward line with some of the new prospects and had Derek, Paulo, Anthony, Shane and Dups all getting in on the action.
This result was a great one today, much was said about Broadways recent triumphs and many players who had done their homework on Broadway had cause for concern before this match. We gave their keeper so much to do whilst minimising their efforts to shots outside the box. In what was a hard fought victory we also managed to see all players in action and keep our preseason unbeaten record intact.

A very good days work by all.