Date
November 23, 2007
Participants
Adam Carlson, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Wayne Smith
Report
As it was the day after Thanksgiving, or Turkey day as it is sometimes known, this tournament was named Cold Turkey in honor of the leftovers from yesterday’s dinners.
After the Round Robin phase the top two players would play in the Cold Turkey final and the other two would play in the Giblets final.
Dominic Hutchinson started with a win over Adam Carlson. Dominic scored with his first shot on goal only to have it disallowed for offside. What followed was a string of goal kicks as both players struggled to keep possession for more than just a few flicks. With one and half minutes remaining in the first half Dominic scored the only goal of the game. The second half continued in the same vein as play surged from one end of the pitch to the other. Both players had shots at goal that were either wide or high of the target. At the end of the game neither player could remember having to save the ball in the second half with their goalkeeper.
“I had shots,” Carlson said after the game. “But they were a little over the goal, only by an inch or so.”
Wayne Smith scored two quick goals in his opening game with Simon Hutchinson. While the others thought that this game would be over soon due to the ‘mercy’ rule Simon’s defense tightened up and his midfield came into the game as he pushed forward in his attempts to pull a goal back. These combined to frustrate his opponent and keep the score at 2-0.
“My offensive flurry came almost entirely in the first seven minutes,” Smith reported after the game. “After that it was a tough match. This fast pitch does not seem suit Simon.”
Simon’s next game was his 200th with the SCSC. For this momentous event he faced his son, Dominic, who was using the Maricopa Vase rules. The younger Hutchinson played a strong defense, constantly rebuilding his defensive line. When combined with the pauses in play as the elder had to wait for the younger to take his defensive flicks it constantly disrupted Simon’s game. It was not until the last two minutes of the game that Simon scored the only goal.
“I am relieved to have got that goal,” Simon remarked. “He (Dominic) did well to frustrate me and stop me from having any really fluid attacking moves.”
“I frustrated Simon terribly,” Dominic exclaimed gleefully.
Dominic was not as fortunate in his next game as he was ‘mercy’ ruled by Smith, 4-0.
“I scored two goals and three shots on goal from figures I flicked from my own shooting line,” Smith commented. “Dominic marked my players in the offensive half so well I had to resort to long flicks. He even saved one of them.”
“Adam’s played all out defense with all of his players in his half,” Simon commented after beating Carlson 2-0 in the last game of the Round Robin stage. “It was another frustrating game of trying to squeeze through a packed defensive line. These (Maricopa) Vase rules are very frustrating as Dominic and Adam are getting so much better.”
After a break to go out and eat the players returned for the finals.
First up was the Giblets final that match Dominic with Carlson. Carlson surprised Dominic by scoring early in the first half. Dominic equalized a few minutes later from a penalty flick. During the second half possession changed frequently as the two players flicked the ball from one defensive line to the other. Carlson pushed his defensive line forward of his shooting line which allowed Dominic to get behind it and score two more goals to win 3-1.
“I played a lot better this time because I was warmed up,” the victorious Dominic declared.
Having refereed the game Smith opined “With four goals scored there was clearly some good shooting.”
Smith took an early lead in the Cold Turkey final against Simon. For the remainder of the first half Simon kept pushing forward trying to score. He finally did, to Smith’s surprise, in the last minute of the first half.
“Simon put on a lot of pressure with his goal. I had to stop and refocus three minutes into the second half,” explained Smith. “The refocusing got my offense rolling again.”
Smith scored his second two minutes after his refocusing and a third in the last minute.
Simon was magnanimous in defeat, “By all means Wayne should have won. But the game was a closer than the score line suggests. I think I held my own and kept him under pressure when I attacked.”
“It was another tough game,” were the victor’s last words.
Round Robin
A four goal mercy rule was used in all games| Dominic Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson v |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson v |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson v |
| Simon Hutchinson | 2 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson v |
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Wayne Smith C | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| 2 | Simon Hutchinson C | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Dominic Hutchinson G | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 3 |
| 4 | Adam Carlson G | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -6 | 0 |
GGiblets finalist
Finals
Cold Turkey final | ||||
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 1 | Simon Hutchinson |
Giblets final | ||||
| Dominic Hutchinson | 3 | v | 1 | Adam Carlson |