Date
April 11, 2008
Participants
Adam Carlson, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith
Report
It was the first of two days of Werder Weekly to be held in Northridge.
Having repeatedly hurt his hand with his wild goalkeeping antics Dominic Hutchinson was wearing a protective (boxing) glove to protect his hand. Everyone else was interested to see how it would restrict his ability to flick.
The first half of the game between Kevin Nieman and Dominic Hutchinson was pretty tense and a lot of back forth action as neither players could dominate possession. Kevin had the only shot the first half, but it was over the crossbar. Dominic “gifted” Nieman the first goal in the second half. With the ball just outside the “six yard” box Dominic missed the chance to clear the ball with his spare goalkeeper, leaving Nieman with a shot into an open goal with a figure about an inch behind the ball. The second goal came from another defensive error. Kevin had pushed the ball into the penalty area and then missed the ball with his next flick, the figure stopping right next to the ball. Dominic, now with possession, missed the ball. Nieman was left with his figure in perfect place to chip the ball over Dominic goalkeeper and into the goal.
In the first game of the night Simon Hutchinson defeated Munir Merchant with a goal in the sixth minute of the first half, which was his only shot on target the whole game. Simon pushed the ball around his opponent’s defense on the right wing and shot into the goal by the far post beyond the reach of the goalkeeper. Before the goal it had been all Simon as he applied pressure trying to force his way through Munir’s packed defense. After the goal Merchant pushed forward looking for an equalizing goal, forcing Simon to defend in numbers. Munir managed four shots on goal; one of them had to be saved by the goalkeeper. In the second half Simon pushed forward trying to increase his slender lead, Merchant defended in numbers and attacked on fast breaks from defense.
It took Wayne Smith 11 minutes to score his first goal against Adam Carlson. The game was pretty even for the first eight to ten minutes as Wayne missed a lot of long flicks as Adam defensive flicks had repeatedly blocked all the short ones. All changed in the second half when the amount of light over the pitch was increased, and Smith dominated the rest of the game with his attack. Carlson made a string of saves including five that Wayne described as “truly outstanding”. It was not long before Smith scored his second, shooting from an “impossible” angle as the ball bounced off Carlson’s goalkeeper and into the goal. The third goal came from a shot that bounced off a defender, the ball then struck Adam’s goalkeeper’s rod as he tried to move it out of the way and the ball was deflected into the goal. The fourth and final goal came with just one minute and 47 seconds remaining. Wayne was had been forced to play the ball back and forth along the shooting line as Carlson kept him at bay with his defensive flicks. A mistaken defensive flick opened up a gap that gave Smith the space to push the ball over the shooting line and he shot into the goal at the far post. Adam then called for the ‘mercy rule’ and the game was stopped.
Dominic and Carlson’s game was not the same as their last few games. Rather than rushed flicks and disputed calls both players showed they can play a good game. Dominic slowed down the speed he had previously played these games at and it helped him gain most of the offense, although the effectiveness of his shots on goal was limited by the glove he was wearing. Adam kept breaking apart his defensive line in his attempts to challenge his opponent in midfield. This allowed Dominic to capitalize upon these gaps to shoot at goal. In the first half it was through one of these gaps that Dominic pushed the ball through into Carlson’s penalty box. The following shot chipped the ball over the goalkeeper and into the left side of the goal for the only goal of the game. Dominic managed three more shots during the game, one missed the goal, one was saved by the goalkeeper, and the other took Adam by surprise as the ball struck the unmanned goalkeeper and stopped just before it crossed the line into the goal. Carlson made two shots, one was wide, and the other was called back for offside.
It is no longer a surprise when Munir Merchant wins a game. At the start of the first half of his game against Kevin Nieman, Merchant enjoyed most of the possession but struggled to push the ball into his opponent’s half. Nieman’s possession was in his opponent’s half but he either could not push the ball through Munir’s massed defense or his final flick was just “off”. Merchant struck at near the end of the first half with a shot that went under Kevin’s goalkeeper. He doubled his lead midway through the second half. A “route one” pass from his defense to a solitary striker on Kevin’s shooting line stopped in the perfect spot for Munir to take a shot into the lower right of Kevin’s goal.
The humidity made the Mawra pitch stickier that usual and this caused Simon Hutchinson’s figures to stick more than usual, preventing him from getting to the ball from flicks. His strong defense did frustrate Wayne Smith and kept the game scoreless for the first 20 minutes of the game. That goal came from a chip shot taken just left of center. The second goal came from a rolling shot that Smith realized he had to make before the ball would strike one of Simon’s defenders. The shot and goal took Simon so much by surprised he did not even move his goalkeeper to try and save the shot. Despite the goals the second half was pretty even as Simon kept pushing forward trying to break through Smith’s eight man defense.
Wayne Smith scored early in his game with Munir Merchant from a rolling shot, but he disallowed it when he realized he had hit the ball before it had crossed the shooting line. Wayne was 2-0 up at half time with two goals from chip shots, one of which had grazed the underside of the crossbar and then dropped down into the goal. Many of Smith’s shots on goal were from rolling shots. Early in the second half he shot just over the goal with a shot similar to his disallowed goal. The final goal came in the ninth minute of the second half. Merchant’s defensive flick opened up a gap for Smith to push the ball through and strike before it had stopped moving, driving it into passed the side of the goalkeeper. Despite all of Smith’s pressure Munir did get one shot on goal that forced Wayne to save.
Both Kevin Nieman and Adam Carlson described their game as “wide open”. Both players had opportunities to score, and both players’ final touch would fail them in the shooting zone. Nieman scored the only goal of the game mid way through the first half from a shot on the left side of the pitch that was taken quickly, taking Carlson by surprise. Adam did have three shots on goal, one of them beat Kevin’s goalkeeper and struck the goalpost.
For the first time in a month the two Hutchinsons played a game. Simon pressed Dominic’s packed defense in the first half. The elder Hutchinson forced his way through his son’s defense in the fifth minute and scored from a chip shot from wide on the left, level with the top of the penalty area. With just three minutes remaining in the first half Dominic “gifted” his father a goal stranding his spare goalkeeper, leaving Simon with a gentle shot into an empty goal. While Simon still had most of the possession in the second half Dominic did manage to push forward and take four shots on goal, one of which had to be saved by the goalkeeper.
Results
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Munir Merchant |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson (mercy rule) |
| Kevin Nieman | 2 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Dominic Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Munir Merchant | 2 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | Munir Merchant |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Kevin Nieman | 1 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Simon Hutchinson | 2 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |