Date
Sunday January 25, 2009
Participants
John Carroll, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, David Jensen, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith, Steve Tucker
Winners
Open
- Winner: Wayne Smith
- Runner up: David Jensen
- Third: Steve Tucker
- Fourth: John Carroll
Mary Jane
- Winner: Simon Hutchinson
- Runner up: Kevin Nieman
- Third: Dominic Hutchinson
Report
Today's Open was the first major tournament to be held in Steve Tucker's garage, with a new pitch making its debut and another being used for only the second time.
A late withdrawal due to illness reduced the number of players to seven. Therefore, Group A had three players in it while Group B had four.
At the end of the tournament we had a player in the Open final who had never been to a final before.
Group B: Steve Tucker 2 v Simon Hutchinson 1 (HT 2-1)
Steve: It was a really even game, lots of back and forth. Good shots
from both of us. The difference was I took my two chances.
Simon: A very close game. Steve scored early and I had three shots at his goal before he next had a shot. I just gave away too many free kicks on the edge of my shooting zone. Which is how he got his second [goal]. As Steve said it was a very close game.
Group A: Wayne Smith 4 v David Jensen 0 (HT 2-0)
Goals/First half
2:12 1-0 Wayne scored from a shot on the right
7:57 2-0 Wayne scored from a rolling shot flicking his figure through
David's defensive line
Goals/Second half
4:15 3-0 Wayne scored from a shot from the left into the right side of the
goal
13:30 4-0 Wayne scored from a shot from the right.
David: Went down early and I tried to press hard to catch up but I could not get the offense going. I rushed the few chances I had. I got thru his line but... [David then shrugged].
Wayne: The pitch bothered David more than it bothered me. His figures were not gliding well. My play continued from Friday. I was really pleased with my flicks and shots. My Hanover seems to glide better than any other team I have.
Group B: John Carroll 4 v Dominic Hutchinson 1 (HT 2-0)
Dominic: Every time I got to his end I could not get a shot on goal.
He would take it and the ball would be in the back of my net. My goal came
down the center. It went a little too far, I was able to turn around and
chip the ball into the upper right corner.
John: Three of my goals were against the run of play. With three touches the ball was in the back of the net due to some lucky rolls. And Dominic's goalkeeping was brilliant.
Group A: David Jensen 1 v Kevin Nieman 0 (HT 0-0)
Kevin: Fairly even first half in terms of possession but David dominate
the scoring opportunities. I kept on missing easy flicks to lose
possession. After a scoreless first half, I picked up my offense
considerably, but David had a positively prodigious effort at goalkeeping since he
saved four shots, frustrating me greatly. His only goal came with 1:43
left. He came from the left side and shot the ball landed on by keeper's
rod and rolled against the right side netting for a goal. Very
frustrating.
David: Close game. I finally got a good shot at the end. My goalie came up huge! I think I saved four or five shots.
Group B: John Carroll 0 v Simon Hutchinson 0
John: It was not a conservative game. My goalkeeper played out his
metallic skin to keep me in the game.
Simon: I had the majority of possession and shots. John is right about his goalkeeper as I had many shots throughout the game that he saved. I am disappointed that I did not score.
Group B: Steve Tucker 3 v Dominic Hutchinson 0 (HT 2-0)
Steve: Dominic is a vastly improved player. He had a couple of
shots. He gets jittery and he misses. I was going for as many goals as I
could get and that was all I could get.
Dominic: I felt I played well. I should have not let in as may goals as I did.
Group A: Wayne Smith 1 v Kevin Nieman 0 (HT 0-0)
Kevin: I tried to clog up Wayne's offense and I succeeded until the second
half when Wayne shot from his right to score underneath my keeper's rod.
Despite losing, I felt satisfied frustrating Hanover 96's onslaught of offense.
Wayne: Kevin's defense really shut me down. I only had three good chances all game. Two were shot wide and popped the ball up over a defender, right in front of the goalkeeper and under the rod for the only goal.
Group B: Simon Hutchinson 3 v Dominic Hutchinson 1 (HT 1-1)
Dominic: No comment.
Simon: After pressing on Dominic's defense for 9:30 I lost possession. Dominic played the ball from his defense into my shooting zone. With his next flick he flicked a figure from his defensive line and hit the ball into the top right corner of the goal. I wish we had it on video. It is always hard to get opportunities to get the ball through Dominic's defensive line. But I kept pressing and I eventually made him open gaps so I could play through them.
Group B: John Carroll 2 v Steve Tucker 0 (HT 2-0)
John: I took advantage of a sleeping goalkeeper [for the first goal]
otherwise I was keeping it tight to keep Steve out of my zone. The second
goal was a frantic counter attack.
Steve: I thought John's defensive flicks were outstanding, and his offensive flicks too. When I had chances on the ball he covered me. When he attacked he came down so fast I was not able to keep up. When he got the first goal my hand was not on the goalkeeper. For the second goal I gave him a free kick on the edge of shooting line. The free kick came off his guy and into a perfect place for the shot. I tried to scramble back, but it was not to be.
John Carroll's win over Steve Tucker put him top of Group B, and set what many thought would have been the final of Steve Tucker versus Wayne Smith to be a semi final in the Open.
With three players in the Mary Jane Simon Hutchinson received a bye to the final as there was no fourth person in Group A for him to play.
Mary Jane semi final: Kevin Nieman 2 v Dominic Hutchinson 0 (HT 0-0)
Goals/Second half
10:32 1-0 Kevin goal, shot from right at a tight angle
13:00 2-0 Kevin goal
Dominic: I felt I played pretty well. Kevin should not have scored those goals it was bad goalkeeping on my part.
Kevin: Very even first half. Dominic's defensive flicks frustrated me until the second half when I seemed to find my offense. Both of the goals were from freaky angles.
Open semi final: David Jensen 1 v John Carroll 0 (HT 1-0)
Goals/first half
12:29 1-0 David scored from a shot dead center to the goal that went
over the goalkeeper.
David: I played aggressively at first and got the goal, and then went totally defense to shut him down. I was under pressure the rest of the game.
John: I stuck with the game plan I was given from the scouting report, where he would score in the first 30 seconds and then hold back. It took him until the tenth minute to score. Nearly caught him out with the corner keeper trick [where the corner strikes the back of the goalkeeper and goes into the goal]. I did hit the woodwork a lot.
Open semi final: Wayne Smith 2 v Steve Tucker 1 (HT 2-0)
Goals/First half
7:07 1-0 Wayne goal, shot from left over Steve's goalkeeper
14:32 2-0 Wayne goal from a "gentle" shot
Goals/Second half
8:25 2-1 Steve goal.
Wayne: I started really tight and Steve took it to me, he just missed a flick or two and that is what kept the score at zeroes. Then I loosen up and scored two goals and thought I had it salted away. Steve in the second half played much better defense and cut the score 2-1 with about six and half minutes left. So I tried to pressure him to score again, and it nearly worked. I came close twice but did not score. With one and half minutes left he counter attacked and hit my goal post. After that I took the ball up the field and killed the clock.
Steve: I guess it was a normal game against Wayne. I always try to come out at the start, but he got two goals on me. He slowly dominated the game, in standard Hanover fashion. That gave me the chance to score a good goal on the break. I got a shot that hit the post with 30 seconds left, that could have tied it.
David Jensen's victory over John Carroll put him into his first final. This is quiet an achievement as David had only returned to playing Subbuteo five months ago. And for the second ASA Open the final was not Wayne Smith versus Steve Tucker as it had been many times before.
Open third place play off: Steve Tucker 2 v John Carroll 0 (HT 2-0)
Steve: This game I was able to get up early and convert my shots. I
defended the whole second half, I absorbed all he had. I did not want to
go out again.
John: Conspiracy. He elevated my blood sugar with cookies. He had a different tempo and came out of the gate fast, and laid back in the second.
Mary Jane final: Simon Hutchinson 1 v Kevin Nieman 0 (HT 1-0)
Kevin: Very frustrated with my offense as I felt I had none. I did
not have the intensity of play to match Simon.
Wayne (refereed the game): The first four minutes of the game was all Simon. Simon had four shots, three were on goal. Kevin's first shot at goal was not until the eleventh or twelfth minutes into the game. Simon on balance deserved the win, certainly he had more shots. As Kevin said his offense was pretty much non-existent. As an impartial referee I was rooting for Kevin as he was from Group A.
Simon: I had most of the offense, but kept either messing up or Kevin blocked my figures from the ball. A fair result, but I deserved to have score more goals.
Open final: Wayne Smith 4 v David Jensen 0 (HT 3-0)
Goals/First half
5:10 1-0 Wayne goal, shot from right side
10:19 2-0 Wayne goal, shot from right side
13:18 3-0 Wayne goal, shot from right side
Goals/Second half
1:00 4-0 Wayne goal, shot from right side
David: I had hoped to give Wayne more of a run for his money. Unfortunately, the first half went badly for me. I had trouble with my blocking flicks and my goal tending was very poor. I thought I played better in the second half. I felt I generated more offense and had some decent scoring chances but couldn't get results because I was rushing on the critical flicks.
Wayne: David had a terrible time adjusting to the pitch conditions, he missed a lot of his offensive flicks and went short too many times. That really helped me out as I am use to all kinds of pitch conditions so I could adjust. It was like a home game for me. My shooting was really good.
David: My goalkeeper woke up in the second half.
Wayne: The slower pitch was my greatest ally. I felt it forced a number of turnovers.
Group A
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 1 | Wayne Smith o | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 | David Jensen o | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | Kevin Nieman m | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
o Player advancing to the Open
m Player advancing to the Mary Jane
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | David Jensen |
| David Jensen | 1 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |
Group B
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 1 | John Carroll o | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | Steve Tucker o | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Simon Hutchinson m | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Dominic Hutchinson m | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
o Player advancing to the Open
m Player advancing to the Mary Jane
| Steve Tucker | 2 | v | 1 | Simon Hutchinson |
| John Carroll | 4 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| John Carroll | 0 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Steve Tucker | 3 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| John Carroll | 2 | v | 0 | Steve Tucker |
| Simon Hutchinson | 3 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson |
Open
Semi finals
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 1 | Steve Tucker |
| David Jensen | 1 | v | 0 | John Carroll |
Third place play off
| Steve Tucker | 2 | v | 0 | John Carroll |
Final
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | David Jensen |
Mary Jane
Semi finals
| Kevin Nieman | 1 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Simon Hutchinson | bye |
Final
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |