Round 13
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| Nitro V Houston | Table Moves |
| Pasmaters V Saskatoon | Table |
| AMU V Spartak | Scorers /Assists |
| Besiktas V Eastern | DPS /Performers |
| Barnsley V Api |
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Well there was 22 goals scored this week and almost all of them came from 1 game. A record number of injuries this week too with 11 players carted off the pitch during the games. |
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After watching most of these teams play for 4 or so seasons there are a few things that you don't expect to happen. One of them is to see Houston in a 10 goal thriller… away from home… and all this against Nitro. Who would have believed the divisions most miserly defence would let 5 goals go against them in 1 game… not only that but somehow manage to score 5 in return. I remind everyone that before this game Houston had only managed to score 13 goals, the only team to have scored less was the goal shy Barnsley who took 8 rounds to score their 1st goal. The crowd went totally berserk during the goal fest and there were fears of some crowd violence in the latter part of the game when Houston clawed 2 goals back in the last 30 minutes to score an unlikely draw. A strong police presence however, made sure that any violence that happened was meted out in an even and fair manner. When we look at the injuries for the game we perhaps get an idea of what actually happened. Both goal keepers were injured in the game, and Nitro were left goalkeeperless because of other injuries to their replacement goalies. Houstons old warhorse Grobbelaar (who is a good part of the reason for their impregnable defence) was also injured and will be out for the rest of the season… However both teams get players next week with Houston getting Melita and Lihhma back while the injury ravaged Nitro have Knecht, Doe and Fence all back. Oh and in minor news O'Connell avoided Shafty. |
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Pasmaters 0 - 1 Saskatoon Wanderers Alfalfio (sas) 37' |
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The 2nd game of the round was always going to be a bit of a let down in comparison to the action at the Nitro Dome but it did see Saskatoon all but wrap up the Championship with a 1-0 win over Pasmaters. Alfalfio did the job in the 37th minute and ensured that his team move a further 2 points ahead of the 2nd placed Nitro who are going to be in a world of hurt next week. Pasmaters after a brilliant start to the season are still in with a chance to make the playoffs but the initial dream of being champions is getting harder each week. Saskatoons Ieja continues their shaftless run of good fortune, but Houston will be happiest with the return of Molder, Bollokov and Gualle. Cagri will be disappointed with Jensens 3 week suspension for being a thuggy wanker and the loss of Diehard makes Pasmaters Midfield look very thin indeed. |
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Aussie Man Utd 2 - 2 Spartak Haifa J_Hopoate (hai) 3' D_Webber (amu) 62' pen M_Chadwick (amu) 75' J_Hopoate (hai) 77' pen |
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Another game Spartak would probably like to forget about (there has been a few of those this season). They started well with a goal to Hoppa in just the 3rd minute. Injuries then hit but the visitors were able to keep the pressure up and only had their goal line breached when in the 62nd minute Spartak Goalkeeper Grois managed to foul an AMU player in the box. Webber stepped up and made the offender pay with a clinical strike and suddenly the game was all square. AMU must have thought they were going to get away with the game when in the 75th minute Chadwick put the ball past the outstretched hands of Grois to take AMU to the lead for the 1st time of the match with only 15 to go. All their good defensive work came to naught just 2 minute later when another penalty was awarded this time to Spartak and great goalkeeper or not, Steensgaard was going to find it tough to stop the big Tongan/Aussie from making it an even game again. Ian will probably be the happier of the 2 managers, his team did well to hold out some quite heavy pressure, also The fact that Silvestre managed also to avoid old shafty will also make the manager smile. On the other hand the Spartak manager will be annoyed that he now has 6 players sitting on the bench due to injury or suspension and that his forwards are not taking the chances that they make and are wasting opportunities. |
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Besiktas 1 - 3 Eastern FC WT_Wong (eas) 9' C_Yeung (eas) 70' A_Eltawil (bes) 71' R_Cheng (eas) 85' pen |
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Besiktas have had a very good start to the 2nd part of the season and went into this game just 3 points adrift of 2nd place. However it was this time in the 1st half of the season that the wheels started to fall off and a run of bad form saw them drop to 9th place. Funnily enough it was about this time in the earlier rounds that Eastern started a better run of form. With that bit of history out of the way, Eastern definitely started the stronger of the two teams and went 1 up in the 9th minute when Wong scored his 9th of the season. It stayed at that score line for a further hour until Yeung made it 2-0 when he beat the Besiktas goalkeeper to pretty much wrap up the game. This however stung Besikats into some sort of action and an amazing shot from the kickoff saw Eltawil catch the Eastern keeper way off his line taunting the home team crowd, who then erupted when the ball went into the net. The Eastern midfield colossus Cheng then restored the Eastern 2 goal advantage when he converted an 85th minute penalty to finish the game on a high for Eastern. While it was a good game for eastern in many respects (they have had some shockers this season), Frank will not be jumping for joy at the loss of Wai for a week and Radgavaro for the rest of the season unless they make the playoffs. |
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Barnsley Tykes 1 - 2 Apijarevoleada APR B_Bong (bar) 4' Y_Harps (api) 63' D_Prosinecki (api) 79' |
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Barnsley bought ex Saskatoon striker (the venerable) Bong to (one would imagine) score a lot more goals to hep Barnsley avoid the dreaded drop. Well he only took 4 minutes to get Barnsley off the mark and was starting to look a good buy. Unfortunately for the Barnsley faithful yet another game goes by with disappointment the only outcome. Harps and Prosinecki were the 2 Api players who helped Barnsley to their 10th loss of the season and they did the damage in the 63rd and 79th minutes. There is a slight chance that Barnsley can avoid the drop but they will pretty much have to win all their remaining games to have a chance. Having a fit team will also help so the return of Agberto and Mlekuz from suspension will help. The loss of Angus will not help matters though. Api on the other hand have been handed a double blow in the loss of PR Vem and probably more importantly have lost Smegovic for 2 weeks. |
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| Only 3 teams make any moves this week. Api jump 2 places because of their win but both Spartak and Besiktas drop a place. |
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Pl Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Saskatoon_Wanderers 13 9 2 2 24 12 12 29 2 Nitro_FC 13 6 4 3 30 21 9 22 3 Pasmaters 13 5 5 3 22 20 2 20 4 Houston_Odyssey 13 4 7 2 18 14 4 19 5 Apijarevoleada_APR 13 5 3 5 18 20 -2 18 6 Besiktas 13 6 0 7 17 19 -2 18 7 Spartak_Haifa 13 4 5 4 22 19 3 17 8 Eastern_FC 13 5 2 6 28 28 0 17 9 Aussie_Man_Utd 13 4 2 7 18 28 -10 14 10 Barnsley_Tykes 13 1 2 10 7 23 -16 5 |
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| Well it would be harder for Saskatoon to lose it from here than it will be for them to march on. The Playoff spots are still up for grabs with only 5 points between 8th and 2nd. |
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Pos Name Gm Gls 1 Roy (pas) 16 18 2 P_Vendelboe (nit) 14 15 3 J_Hopoate (hai) 15 15 4 D_Webber (amu) 15 12 5 P_Smegovic (api) 14 11 6 B_Bong (bar) 15 11 7 Alfalfio (sas) 16 11 8 M_Medinna (hou) 20 10 9 WT_Wong (eas) 11 9 10 Nouma (bes) 15 8 |
Pos Name Gm Ass 1 M_Saint (nit) 18 10 2 J_Glicic (eas) 13 6 3 S_Keane (amu) 12 5 4 E_Chiesa (eas) 13 5 5 Ieja (sas) 14 5 6 R_Elmoor (bar) 11 4 7 K_Do (sas) 12 4 8 R_Cheng (eas) 15 4 9 J_Doe (nit) 15 4 10 K_Diehard (pas) 16 4 |
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| The 2 chasers Vendelboe and Hopoate both get doubles this weekend while Roy was absent. | Saint seems to have this one in the bag. It would take a special effort for the chasers to catch him. |
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Pos Name Gm Dp 1 J_Citroen (nit) 12 34 2 C_Jensen (pas) 14 32 3 Mehmet (bes) 11 26 4 S_Cheung (eas) 10 22 5 G_RasZobbi (bar) 13 22 6 Ieja (sas) 14 22 7 B_Molder (pas) 14 22 8 E_Shivute (bar) 10 20 9 M_Roon (bes) 11 18 10 KH_Man (eas) 11 18 |
Pos Name Gm P.Pts 1 J_Babor (hou) 19 280 2 R_Cheng (eas) 15 277 3 P_Corn (nit) 18 256 4 D_Kalkanou (eas) 14 254 5 J_Doe (nit) 15 243 6 M_Schneider (nit) 17 240 7 M_Saint (nit) 18 234 8 P_Vendelboe (nit) 14 230 9 Roy (pas) 16 226 10 KH_Man (eas) 11 220 |
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| Citroen and Jensen are flying high here but since they are both still out for a couple of weeks some of the others can catch them. | This season a bit different to last year where it was a 2 horse race between Jones and Leo, there are quite a few players who could take the prize. |
