Legends could not hold on their lead

Last Sunday was perfect day on a perfect pitch at the Wellington School. Our legends were motivated to have a good start and lead the game in this first game of SPL V second round. Players arrived early to warm up and to enjoy the perfect pitch.

Wellington is a good team with a classic counter strategy play as they have a good striker and fast forwards. We opted to play compact and move as one block in defending and attacking leaving less chance to counter. We started strong getting most ball back quicky after we lost possession… but our build up was a bit too fast looking for the decisive pass right away instead of holding possession. However, we did score a super nice goal with multiple combinations finished off with a great strike by Fred giving us 1-0 lead.

In the second 20 minutes, we played our best football and had several opportunities to score. It was a bit frustrating we couldn’t finish the great opportunities we created by ourselves but Fred again helped out to score his and our second. However, when we got a corner Wellington intercepted and before we knew it they scored. Classic case of a quick counter.

In the third 20 minutes, the space was more open and we could create again very good scoring opportunities. Pierre with a one on one and Fred one meter before the goal line… but somehow we missed a bit of luck to score. We had a great counter ourselves and from the left wing we found Fred who relayed the ball to the upcoming William who finished to make it 3-1.

With the last 20 minutes to go, we all agreed to BE SMART and play the game out focus on defense first and even opt to kick the ball in the river in case of need. Well, our intentions were good but the execution was different when our defender under pressure of a Wellington forward had the option to give the ball back to David or kick the ball out he opted to clear the ball forward right in the feet of a Wellington player. They score with only three passes and our lead was now only 3-2.

Things got worse for us as David made a professional foul when we lost the ball upfront resulting in one of the Wellington midfielder to get a free pass through our midfield. We expected yellow but we saw red! We tried to keep our composure but again we gave the ball to Wellington… It looked they scored the 3-3 but a super safe of Paul kept the ball out but the follow through sealed our fate.

This final score 3-3 tasted as a defeat for our legends and as a victory for Wellington.

[ SPL V ] Shanghai Lions FC 3-3 Wellington Champs

We did have a couple of ice cold beers at Blue Frog to ease our sorrow. In the end, we had smiles back on our faces and enjoyed the rest of the Sunday.

Cheers

Freek