Atlantic Star : Match Report v. Marriott International on 04 March 2009

2009-03-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Atlantic Star 5 v 2 Marriott International Wednesday 4th March

Atlantic Star 5 v 2 Marriott International (Wednesday 4^th March 9pm)

Atlantic Star lined up for this match with a somewhat depleted squad, with a number of high profile players being unavailable due to other commitments, the most creative being Chef Dave’s excuse that he had an appointment on the David Letterman’s Show in New York – I mean is that the best he can do? Surely he could have said he had a hamstring problem-what is that all about!

Star started with only two subs, excluding Teko who turned up feigning injury and saying he couldn’t play, and in addition he had no kit. Stand in manager Al twisted his arm and got him to pull on a jersey with the possibility of playing in the second half if they were struggling and needed his energy and pace.

This then made 2 and a half subs, changed circumstances from the heady days of the Old Boy’s game when there was 8 players warming the bench.

The game started off fairly evenly but Atlantic Star hit two quick goals in succession to take a 2-0 lead thanks to Kris hitting his second left foot goal in two games (normally only used for standing on) – what is that all about!- followed soon after by George ‘Toe’ Jack’s first goal of the season.

It is worth spending a few moments in describing Mr. Jack’s goal, as its execution was unboundedly a thing of great beauty.

The ‘Toe’, as he will from now on be referred, found himself in vast amounts of space right in front of Marriott’s goal, what he was doing in such an advanced position I can’t fathom. Considering that the ‘Toe’ was in such alien territory, what he produced next no one quite expected as he proceeded to throw the Marriott ‘keeper, who had denied him his first goal of the season way back in the opening game of the season, an exquisite dummy with his big toe on his right foot. He followed this up by calmly side-footing the ball into the back of the goal, much to the astonishment of everyone, not least to the ‘Toe’ himself- what is that all about!

Two up and Atlantic Star looked in easy street with Marriott’s danger man, their number 4, comfortably marshaled by their defence. But disaster was not too far away and it arrived when Marriot hit back with two quick goals to pull the scores level.

Their first was a long distant shot that took a wicked deflection off temporary gaffer Al and spun high past the helpless James in the Atlantic goals. Their second goal was equally fortuitous when a speculative shot flew wide of the Atlantic goals, only to hit the backboard and rebound onto the unaware back of Atlantic’s ‘keeper and in to the goal.

2-2.

At this stage the Star’s players looked shell-shocked, with the momentum having swung completely in Marriott’s favour. Thankfully, 'Star were able to wrestle some control of the game back and were somewhat thankful to hear the half time hooter blow with the scores still level at 2-2.

Star’s players looked around for inspiration at half-time and it appeared in the shape of Teko who was thrust into the fray for the start of the second half. It was not however the customarily figure we know of Atlantic’s star Jamaican.

Since he was not intending to play in the match Teko turned up with no kit or training shoes. A spare Atlantic Star strip was quickly sourced and he borrowed a pair of long shorts, reminiscent of the type worn by the great Stanly Matthews in his heyday. His footwear on the other hand was a sight to behold, and rather than being typical of the trainers found on a football field were more typical of those worn by 'Caybrew Pete' when he is parading himself on the Boogie Nights dance floor (He can Boogie, Boogie Woogie, All Night Long!!).

These slip on type shoes didn’t seem favorable to sexy football, nor striking the ball with any great strength, as Teko ably demonstrated everytime he shot for goal - his shoe causing the Marriot goalie much indecision as he didn’t know to dive for the ball or for Teko’s ballistic shoe as it let his foot. The referee did stop the play on a couple of occasions, one can only assume for dangerous play from Teko’s shoe as it thundered towards another Marriott defender. Having painted a picture that doesn’t seem conducive for goal scoring, it was a feat of great skill that Teko managed to turn in a virtuoso performance to bang in a second half hat-rick and earn ‘Star a valuable win.

These three points guarantees them a second place spot in the league for the regular season. If the truth be known, the second spot was tied up in the pervious game that night, when Maples beat UBS 2-0, meaning UBS could no longer mathematically pip Atlantic Star to the second spot.

A spot of bother did erupt on the field of play about 10 minutes form the end of the game, when Kris was aggrieved at an ‘over the ball’ challenge from a Marriott defender. As he proceeded to remonstrate with the ref and Marriott players he threatened to ‘loose the heid’ leaving interim manager Al no option but to substitute him off before he was shown a yellow card or even worse a red or blue card (how do these blue cards work – answers on a post card to the usual address).

And so Atlantic Star saw out the remaining minutes of the game comfortably with a three goal cushion.

This was a hard earned 5-2 victory with a limited bench with every player playing their part. The unfamiliar long ball tactic to Kris playing up front was a ploy that worked a treat in the second half, and allowed the pressure to be relieved from Atlantic’s defence and for Teko to feed off Kris’s lay-off’s.

Man of the match: Lazy Laurence did okay, but still never broke sweat (that’s us even), and in truth was no competition to Teko and his three stunning goals. The wee man swung the game when he came on, and while not quite winning the game single handedly he certainly was the difference between the two teams. How many he would have scored if he had a proper pair of trainers and was fully fit is anyone’s guess. Well done wee man.

Squad from: Jimmy, Caybrew Pete, Man City Dave, The ‘Toe’, Lazy Lazza, Craig, Al, Teko and Kris.

Match Report v Marriott International

Atlantic Star : Match Report v. Marriott International on 04 March 2009