An Important Win

The Starry Plough beat Pixar today 3-0 and it was an important win in securing a top spot - potentially as number one. Mark made sure to get the whole squad (or at least most of them) there today because he expected a tough game and the result was indeed that. There was lots of yelling on the sideline, a yellow card for Julio and Willy, lots of fouls and aggressive language, Tunde worked on his Spanish obscenities, but on the positive side, ball possession was great throughout the game. Tons of passing and combinations as well as excellent work from the defense in shutting down their forwards and through balls made for a great game, and a couple great stops from Ricky prevented retaliation from Pixar. Julio started the game off great with a quick, as he describes, easy, goal and the pressure stayed high for a while after that. Later in the half a foul gave us a free kick right outside the box on the right side and Mo took an incredible shot over their wall of defenders that struck the top post and bounced almost straight down. While the free kick didn't go in, the ball bounced around a bit and a minute later Mo got a second chance and scored the second goal of the game.

With a few changes up top, the second half was played well too with more great passing, plenty more fouls, trash talking, slide tackles, and great teamwork. While the Plough was ahead in goals almost all ninety minutes, the game was obviously a very physical one and in times like those it's important that a team stick together and support and encourage each other. It was great to see a lot of that on the field from and between defenders, midfielders, and the forwards as well. Mo got another goal in the second half from a hard kick that deflected off Pixar's defender and went over the keeper's head (the keeper was standing very far out). As the 90th minute approached the game got increasingly physical and the banter continued. Finally the whistle was blown, the game ended, and the Plough took one more step in securing their spot as number one.