Round 16

Besiktas 2 - 1 Nitro FC
Nouma (bes) 14' pen
Nouma (bes) 58'
J_Citroen (nit) 73'

Both these teams have been going along very nicely in the second part of the season and are both in the race for a playoff spot. Nitro has though been suffering a little recently due to injuries and have really missed their excellent keeper who has been sidelined for a while now. Besiktas on the other hand has been enjoying a fairly injury free period lately and only 1 player was unavailable for this game. The game started well for Besiktas with Nouma taking advantage of a penalty opportunity to give his team the lead after just 14 minutes. Not long after the break he was at it again, this time from the field of play. Besiktas were on top and looking the goods to take it all the way. Things were not looking good for Nitro, they now had less than 20 minutes to try and save this game, they needed a miracle. With just enough time to give the fans some hope the bad boy of Division 3, (a man who has played just a handfull of games due to suspension and who seems to feel he has not contributed unless he has been given a yellow card at least once) scored. No Prizes for guessing who I am talking about. With 15 minutes to go it was vaguely possible for Nitro to get out of this yet. Unfortunately for Nitro this was not to happen and with how close the chasing pack is could be costly. As it turned out they missed a chance to jump back over Pasmaters and into outright 2nd and have in fact dropped 2 places and now are on equal terms with Besiktas who are only behind them because of goal difference.

Some better news for Nitro is the return of Sinus and Knetch from injury and will only leave Zaza out for their next game against bottom placed Barnsley and the Correct SL increase for Corn. Besiktas are in the best possible position they can be in, no injuries and Rounder back from suspension, not to mention a correct SL increase for Mehmet just in time for their tough game against Api.

Aussie Man Utd 1 - 1 Barnsley Tykes
D_Webber (amu) 26' pen
B_Bong (bar) 81'

The final score in this game is probably representative of the closeness of these two teams. AMU have some stars who are probably a bit higher skilled than Barnsley (their overworked goalkeeper comes to mind), however Barnsley have a lot of depth to their squad. However Barnsley are a massive 10 points behind AMU and already relegated. AMU on the other hand have a chance (however slim) to make the playoffs (not to mention avoid relegation). The game started quite well for AMU and in a familiar way for Barnsley when AMU went one up through a penalty that was taken easily by Webber. It looked for a long time that this was to be the final score but with less than 10 minutes to go Bong saved Barnsley more humiliation when he finally beat the skilled Steensgaard, and that's the way it stayed. The manager of AMU was probably the most upset with this draw as winning this game was a good chance to jump over the team above them and look to avoid a playoff.

While they may be going down the Barnsley manager Daniel Donovan will be happy that at least he will have a good squad available and the 2 correct increases for his defenders Moller and McKenzie will mean that they shouldn't leak goals quite the way they have this season. The return of Hendric will unfortunately be more than offset by the loss of DaSilva and Elmoor to suspension and injury. AMU on the other hand will be ruing this result but will be happy to see Keane make his return for their next game against the high scoring (but high goal conceding) Eastern.

Pasmaters 0 - 3 Apijarevoleada APR
D_Prosinecki (api) 28'
P_Smegovic (api) 63'
P_Smegovic (api) 89'

Earlier this season you never knew exactly how Api were going to go from week to week. Their form was erratic to say the least, but they have started to hit their best form of the season at just the right time and still have a slight chance of actually winning the Div 3 cup outright. Pasmaters on the other hand had been going great guns but have been a little wobbly lately and on this form this was always going to be a difficult game for them especially when you are missing 4 1st team players. There were no goals for about 30 minutes until Prosinecki started the ball rolling for Api. Smegovic got into the act in the 63rd minute and things were looking grim for Pasmaters, who couldn't find any reply. The game was all but finished when Smegovic got his 2nd with the clock saying just 1 minute to go. In the end it looked a very comfortable win for Api and ensures that they are well and truly in the hunt for a playoff spot. Pasmaters are not out of it by any means and will be looking for revenge in the playoffs.

Jesus will be more than happy with the result and also the fact that Young Bongos managed to avoid Shafty altogether. This is important because abuse the young-uns and they seem to expect it later as well. He will also be happy to see Solce back from injury but will be less excited by the news that Kersi will miss their next big game against Besiktas next week. While Cagri will be annoyed by the loss he will be happy to get a whole slew of players back. Tibi, Jensen and Revivo are all back but Molder has been suspended for 3 games and will only be available to play again this season in the 2nd promotion game, even worse news is the loss of Diehard for the season..

Houston Odyssey 2 - 1 Eastern FC
C_Yeung (eas) 38'
M_Medinna (hou) 70' pen
J_Flago (hou) 83'

As usual while the higher profile teams have been getting all the wraps, Iggy and Houston have been quietly plugging away and after this game have managed to secure 2nd place (well for this week anyway) and have lost the fewest games of any of Div 3. This is in part due to the good defensive players he has but probably more likely to be their top notch goalkeeper Grobbelaar making the difference. On the other hand, Eastern have been scoring goals like there is no tomorrow however their defence has looked… well… shaky to say the least. Well things started badly for Houston and well for Eastern when Yeung scored his 3rd goal of the season not long before the half time break. It looked as if that was going to be enough but with just 20 minutes to go Medinna evened the score when he took a penalty and it was all on again. I am not sure whether the Penalty broke Easterns spirit but with 7 minutes to go Flago applied the winning blow for Houston and it was all over.

Both teams have suspended players returning for their next games, Joaoe for Houston and Chiesa for Eastern. Houston also get Negro back from injury and Melita managed a shaft free SL increase which will please Iggy and annoy their opponents for next week Eugene and Saskatoon. Eastern unfortunately lose Ku to suspension which means he will miss their next game against AMU. In better news for Frank and his boys is the fact that Kalkanous injury was less than it seemed and he will be able to play next game.

Saskatoon Wanderers 0 - 2 Spartak Haifa
J_Hopoate (hai) 11' pen
J_Hopoate (hai) 89' pen

Well there were complaints by the manager of Spartak at the end of these 2 teams last meeting that Saskatoon (the eventual winners of that game) were very lucky to get away with their win. Well this time it was the exact opposite. Saskatoon completely dominated most aspects of this game except for the fact that they just could not score a goal. Spartak on the other hand didn't bother the Saskatoon goalkeeper in open play but were extremely lucky that 2 penalties fell their way. Interestingly enough in the previous fixture between these two clubs it was a missed penalty by Hopoate that lost the game for Spartak and this point was screamed at him from the managers dugout as he lined up to take the first penalty. He obviously either wanted revenge or wanted the shouting to stop because he made absolutely sure of it and Spartak were an unlikely 1 nil up. It continued in the same vein in the 2nd half with Saskatoon completely dominating play and Spartak desperately trying to keep them out. There was a touch of frustration by K_Do when he punched Hoppa in the Penalty box and the referee had no choice but to give Spartak and the grinning Hoppa another free shot at goal. He also carded Do who had already been cautioned and so the Red card followed and Do got off a minute early for his shower. Interestingly enough this is not the first time Do has been sent off in the 89th minute, last season when Saskatoon was playing Spartak in round 5 he also managed to earn the ire of the referee. Weird.

It was a measure of their frustration with the game that 3 Saskatoon players are going to be sitting out their next game. Thirteen, the red carded Do and Alfalfio will all be watching from the sideline when they take on Houston next week. After a bad run with injury and suspension Spartak are now getting those players back. This week defender Vandoink makes his comeback and the Management will be very relieved.

Pl   Team                   P    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
1    Saskatoon_Wanderers   16    9   3   4    25   17    8    30
2    Houston_Odyssey       16    6   7   3    24   17    7    25
3    Apijarevoleada_APR    16    7   4   5    25   22    3    25
4    Pasmaters             16    6   6   4    23   23    0    24
5    Nitro_FC              16    6   5   5    33   26    7    23
6    Besiktas              16    7   2   7    20   21   -1    23
7    Spartak_Haifa         16    5   6   5    26   22    4    21
8    Eastern_FC            16    5   4   7    33   34   -1    19
9    Aussie_Man_Utd        16    5   4   7    22   31   -9    19
10   Barnsley_Tykes        16    2   3  11    10   28  -18     9

Pos  Name                         Gm      Gls
1    J_Hopoate (hai)              18       18
2    Roy (pas)                    19       18
3    P_Vendelboe (nit)            17       16
4    P_Smegovic (api)             15       13
5    B_Bong (bar)                 18       13
6    D_Webber (amu)               18       13
7    M_Medinna (hou)              24       13
8    Alfalfio (sas)               19       12
9    WT_Wong (eas)                13       11
10   Nouma (bes)                  18       10

Pos  Name                         Gm      Ass
1    M_Saint (nit)                21       10
2    E_Chiesa (eas)               14        6
3    J_Glicic (eas)               15        6
4    S_Keane (amu)                14        5
5    Ieja (sas)                   17        5
6    Ninainaina (bar)             14        4
7    R_Elmoor (bar)               14        4
8    K_Do (sas)                   15        4
9    A_Kersi (api)                16        4
10   K_Diehard (pas)              17        4

Pos  Name                         Gm       Dp
1    J_Citroen (nit)              14       38
2    C_Jensen (pas)               14       32
3    B_Molder (pas)               17       30
4    KH_Man (eas)                 13       28
5    Mehmet (bes)                 14       26
6    M_Close (sas)                18       24
7    S_Cheung (eas)               12       22
8    Ieja (sas)                   17       22
9    E_Shivute (bar)              13       20
10   WT_Wong (eas)                13       20

Pos  Name                         Gm    P.Pts
1    J_Babor (hou)                23      350
2    R_Cheng (eas)                18      342
3    P_Corn (nit)                 22      332
4    J_Doe (nit)                  19      311
5    M_Saint (nit)                21      278
6    D_Kalkanou (eas)             17      267
7    M_Schneider (nit)            21      267
8    H_Luther (hou)               23      266
9    Q_Neville (amu)              18      257
10   A_Tanker (hou)               16      249