Date
Saturday August 16, 2008
Participants
Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Jason Mitchell, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith, Greg WilleyReport
This round saw the return of Greg Willey. Willey, as he prefers to be known, was a regular player in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The club lost touch with him after the end of Season 4 and start of Season 5 in 2006. The experienced players who had played him before all looked forward to tackling the Willey defense and the Willey rules (“play on!”).
It was a day when the newer players did very well. Wayne Smith went undefeated (again). Munir Merchant finished in second place and Jason Mitchell in third. Both players only lost one game, to Wayne Smith.
Simon Hutchinson 1 Greg Willey 0 (HT 1-0)
Simon started fast and drove up the right side of the pitch to score in the first three minutes. As Willey was playing using the Maricopa Vase rules when Simon had possession he had to wait after every attacking flick to allow Willey to make a defensive flick. By the end of the game Simon had struck goal post once and had four other shots that Willey had saved.
After the game Willey was happy he had only lost 0-1. “I did not have a shot,” he said commenting on his own play, “but I had lots practice building up to it.”
Munir Merchant 1 Kevin Nieman 0 (HT 1-0)
The game was a battle in midfield. “A tight game” was how Munir described it, “mistakes were forced.” His defensive flicks were described as “phenomenal” by his opponent, who went on to describe it as “very frustrating.” Munir tried a different tactic, speeding up from his normal pace when he had the ball close to Kevin’s shooting line. The change was so effective he had three times as many shots as Kevin did. The only goal came early in the first half from a shot from the left of center that ramped off one of Kevin’s defenders and over the goalkeeper. Kevin did get one shot on target, but it was saved by Munir’s goalkeeper.
“I felt I was on my heels,” Kevin reported at the end of the game. “I tried to speed up and was able to get a few chances. Munir’s offense was consistent. After the goal he was pressing so hard I had no chance.”
Munir Merchant 1 Greg Willey 0 (HT 0-0)
Willey’s defensive flicks and blocking made it hard for Munir to get around his opponent’s defense. In the first half Willey had blocked Munir’s shot with his goalkeeper and the ball came to rest on the goal line. Another time Munir’s chip had struck the near goal post and bounced away from the goal.
With about four minutes left in the second half Munir methodically worked the ball up the right side trying to make sure that Willey could not block his figures from the ball. He pushed the ball over the Willey’s shooting line and it came to rest in front of one of his figures in the perfect spot to shoot. When he did he drove the ball into the left side of the goal.
“Pretty good, but not fluent” was Munir description of his play.
“I still have not had a shot on goal,” was Willey’s only comment.
Wayne Smith 1 Kevin Nieman (HT 1-0)
Kevin described the game as “All Wayne most of the time”. Within the first four minutes Wayne had forced two corners and Kevin had made three saves. The inevitable happened in the fifth minute as Wayne scored. Wayne took a throw-in in his has half, which he played about twenty inches before the ball struck one of his figures and rolled into the shooting zone. He touched up with the figure and shot the ball into the top right of the goal. Just a minute later he almost doubled his lead when his shot bounced off one of Kevin’s defenders, struck the near post, struck the goalkeeper’s rod, and stopped with just a “millimeter” of the ball left on the line. Later in the same half Kevin did get around Wayne’s defense to make a shot on goal, but Wayne saved it with his goalkeeper.
In the second half Wayne ramped a shot off one of Kevin defenders, the ball struck the under side of the cross bar, and came to rest an inch in front of the goal. By the end of the game Kevin had made eight saves to keep Wayne from scoring more goals.
Simon Hutchinson 1 Jason Mitchell 1 (HT 1-1)
“I felt it was very even,” was Jason’s description of the game, “there were not many shots by either of us.” Simon took the lead in the ninth minute from a quick break and shot on the right. With two minutes left in the first half Jason equalized from a quick flick over the shooting line and a shot with the same figure while the ball was still rolling, this is becoming his signature move.
Simon had most of the possession in the second half but became increasing frustrated as he kept missing the final touch up when in Jason’s shooting zone.
Jason Mitchell 1 Greg Willey 0 (HT 0-0)
Despite the first half being described as “quiet even” Willey came closest to scoring when one of his three shots on goal struck the post.
In the second half Jason was the one to have three shots on goal. The first struck the cross bar, the second was just over the cross bar, and he scored with the third in the twelfth minute.
“My guys got tired,” Willey joked. “Overall the defenses got discombobulated and we were both lucky [not to concede more goals].”
Wayne Smith 3 Munir Merchant 0 (HT 2-0)
Munir had long periods of possession but was unable to capitalize upon them. Wayne missed his second flick after the game starting kick off to give up possession. Munir kept possession for at least five minutes, mostly on the right side outside of Wayne’s shooting zone. Munir pushed up more and more players in his efforts to try and push the ball into the shooting zone, and he eventually won a corner. The corner struck one of Wayne’s figures and he “blasted” the ball up field with a couple of quick long flicks. With Munir’s defense in disarray he pushed into the shooting zone on the right side and scored. Three minutes later Wayne scored his second from the right side of the “D”, with a chip shot that struck the right goal post and bounced into the left side of the goal.
In the second half Munir kept the ball for five to six minutes at a time but could not get a shot on Wayne’s goal. Wayne was forced to make quick breaks from his defense. He scored his third goal in the fifth minute.
“Munir showed incredible touch and patience,” was how Wayne described his opponent’s play.
Kevin Nieman 2 Simon Hutchinson 1 (HT 1-1)
Simon scored straight from the kick off at the start of the game, driving the ball into the goal with a powerful shot from the right in just 45 seconds. In the sixth minute Kevin broke from the left. Simon had conceded a moving back leaving Kevin with a straight on shot at the goal, the powerful shot flew over the goalkeeper and into the goal.
In the second half Simon’s offense fell apart. He could not string more than two flicks together in any possession, rarely getting the ball out of his half. As a result Kevin had plenty of offense and Simon struggled to keep him out of the shooting zone. The second goal came from a long flick, through a narrow gap in the defensive line, striking the ball with such force that it flew over Simon’s goalkeeper.
“The look on Simon’s face was unbelievable,” Kevin reported at the end of the game. “My first words were ‘I am sorry’.”
Jason Mitchell 1 Kevin Nieman 0 (HT 0-0)
Jason described the first half as “very tightly played.” Neither goalkeeper had to make a save, and Jason won the only corner of the half.
Early in the second half Jason attacked down the left side, he missed his flick with the ball in the shooting zone. Kevin took his spare goalkeeper and, “like an idiot”, he went to flick the figure at the ball hard to clear the ball into the other half of the pitch. He flicked with such force that the spare goalkeeper flew over the ball and ended up behind the goal line at the other end of the pitch. Jason took one touch up and carefully shot the ball towards the unguarded goal. The ball did not cross the goal line, it was left “hugging” the right goal post. Jason had a figure in the perfect position to tap the ball into the goal.
“I deserved it,” Kevin lamented after the game. “For the rest of the match I was trying to make up for that one mistake.”
The players did not realize until after the game that this was the first time they had played each other.
Wayne Smith 4 Greg Willey 0 Mercy rule (HT 2-0)
“Wayne made me suffer through 22 minutes before he got his four,” Willey said after the game, “he could not finish me off in the first half.”
Wayne scored the fast goal of the day in the 25th second. Willey managed to get the ball into Wayne’s shooting zone, and made a couple of shots, which were wide of the goal. The second goal came in the seventh minute of the first half. After the second goal Willey started playing a lot better. In one move he pushed the ball into the middle of Wayne’s shooting zone. Wayne defensive flick made sure that none of Willey’s close by figures could get to the ball. Willey made a long flick from his defensive line to touch up on the ball and then using a couple of figures positioned the ball in line with the goal. But his shot was directly at Wayne’s goalkeeper.
Two goals in the second half, the first in the fifth and the second in the seventh, caused the Mercy rule to come into effect and end the game.
Munir Merchant 1 Simon Hutchinson (HT 1-0)
Munir scored the goal in the fourth minute of the first half. He broke quickly from his defense, rolled the ball over the shooting line and shot the ball into the goal at the near post.
Simon kept missing the ball with many of his flicks making it hard for him to mount a decent offense. He did manage to get a couple of shots at goal, which Munir had to save with goalkeeper. At the other end Munir had another shot that Simon was forced to a saved with his goalkeeper. “That was only my second save of the night,” Simon reported glumly.
“The game was pretty even,” was how the victor described the game. “Simon kept missing making it easy for me. It felt like a hollow victory.”
Wayne Smith 4 Simon Hutchinson 0 Mercy rule (HT 2-0)
Wayne scored his fourth goal with 7:53 left in the second half to claim his second Mercy rule victory of the round. The first goal was scored in the fourth minute. The second was scored midway through the first half. Wayne was particularly proud of the two goals in the second half. The third was a chip shot. The fourth came just 30 seconds later. Wayne made a 16 inch flick to touch up on the ball just before Simon’s shooting line. A second figure pushed the ball over the line, and drove into the goal with a powerful shot.
Munir Merchant 1 Jason Mitchell 1 (HT 1-0)
Jason described the first half as “one way”. Munir enjoyed long periods of possession and had three shots at goal. Near the end of the first half Munir managed to get free of Jason’s defense on the right side to score.
In the second half was more even than the first. Jason equalized after Munir’s defender committed a moving back. Jason had the space to make three flicks to position the ball and then popped the ball up against the crossbar. The ball dropped down, striking the back of Munir goalkeeper and bouncing into the goal.
Kevin Nieman 4 Greg Willey 1 (HT 3-1)
Willey described the first half as “The best shooting exhibition I have seen from Kevin.” Kevin quickly took a two goal lead, with goals in the second and fifth minutes. Midway through the half Willey scored his only goal of the tournament. “It was one of those shots that if I made 50% of them I would be as good as Wayne,” was how he described it. He had flicked a figure from his end of the table, through a narrow gap between two of Kevin’s defenders, and hit it hard enough for the ball to be driven into the goal. “I was not holding my goalkeeper,” Kevin responded, “I thought he was going to hit a guy.” Kevin scored a third with five minutes left.
Kevin scored a fourth goal in the seventh minute of the second half. Thereafter he tried for the Mercy rule win but was frustrated by a spectacular save by Willey’s goalkeeper, and a shot that went just wide of the goal post.
Wayne Smith 3 v Jason Mitchell 0
Jason had arrived late to the round, therefore, the last game of the day was played when all the other players had finished. If Jason could hold Wayne to a tie, as he had done the last time they played (Werder Weekly on Wednesday August 13), he would finish in second place.
Alas, he was unable to stop Wayne from scoring three goals. Therefore, Jason finished in a respectable third place, just a point behind second place Munir.
Final table
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Wayne Smith | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 15 |
| 2 | Munir Merchant | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 3 | Jason Mitchell | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 11 |
| 4 | Kevin Nieman | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 5 | Simon Hutchinson | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 8 |
| 6 | Greg Willey | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 11 | -10 | 5 |
Results
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Greg Willey V |
| Munir Merchant | 1 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |
| Munir Merchant | 1 | v | 0 | Greg Willey V |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 1 | Jason Mitchell |
| Jason Mitchell | 1 | v | 0 | Greg Willey V |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | Munir Merchant |
| Kevin Nieman | 2 | v | 1 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Jason Mitchell | 1 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Greg Willey V MR |
| Munir Merchant | 1 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson MR |
| Munir Merchant | 1 | v | 1 | Jason Mitchell |
| Kevin Nieman | 4 | v | 1 | Greg Willey V |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | Jason Mitchell |
| V indicates that player used Maricopa Vase rules MR indicates a Mercy rule win |
||||