DEA Bedford Masters 2

So, on to the game report.

The theme to our scheme is clog the middle and run the fast break away.  We did just that, controlling the field well and when Derek put the ball through for Jimmy he was off to the races for the first goal.  Derry came back quickly with a cross from the wing to a very nice header that went off the crossbar and in.  This has always been the weak point in our defense, with the combined vertical leap of the defense being less than a foot, we don't do well with the air ball (to be fair, when Rick plays on D the average leap goes up by 6 inches, but then again, the average height reached goes down (<: ).  We saw a little more team effort on the next two goals, a cross by Jeff to Jimmy for the finish and a nice cross by German that dropped right in front of the goal, hit a defender, maybe brushed Steve M's jersey, hit another defender and went in.  The last goal of the first half was another through ball for Jimmy, who stopped at the top of the box, waited for the keeper to make a move towards him, then lofted is up and over him for a beautifully executed chip shot.  The D stayed solid and the middies owned the middle so it was rare that Derry had any threat on Joe.

For the second half we had the Jeff Guild show.  He took a nice run in for the first goal, sorry if I forget who fed him that one, but they were starting to blur together by then.  Next he lofted a well placed corner to John V. at the top of the box, who hit it with a textbook left footed volley into the upper right corner of the goal.   A clear winner for best shot of the season so far.   Then a solo breakaway for Jeff, slowing just long enough for the keeper to swear at him before he put it past him, then a final shot through several defenders and into the left edge of the net after some guy in black shorts (yes Mo, you), made a nice pass back across the middle after being contained by the end line on the right side of the goal.

All in all, a very good performance, solid domination, good passing, nice finishing.  That side, time for a brief reality check.  This was the second of the two teams that came up from division 6 last season and can reasonably be assumed to be the weakest team in the division.  Good teams dominate poor teams and we did that, but don't expect them all to be this easy.  When we run into a team with some speedy defenders who can keep up with Jeff and Jimmy, or just a well disciplined defense, we are going to need to work the ball into the goal.  We showed some good work on that a couple of times, and passed well at the end when we were just running out the clock.  If we keep our heads in the game as well as we have so far, there's no reason we shouldn't be back up in Division 4 for the spring.
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GM Note

When you put 8 goals in the net, there is not much I can say except, EXCELLENT WORK BOYS !!!!

Godfather