 Photographs from today are in the Werder Weekly slide show |
Date
April 18, 2008
Participants
Adam Carlson, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Wayne Smith, Steve Tucker
Report
This week’s Werder Weekly was held in Steve Tucker’s garage. As there is only room for two pitches and there were six players, two would have to referee or watch the games while the others played.
A second half goal was enough to give Steve Tucker victory over Munir Merchant. Tucker had had most of the possession, working to keep the ball in Merchant half of the pitch. Time and time again Steve would push the ball into Munir’s shooting zone only for Merchant to block the ball with a defensive flick. Munir did push forward on several occasions, but his final flick would come up short, giving up possession at the critical moment. The goal came from a slow build up on the right side of the pitch. Tucker pushed the ball into his opponent’s shooting zone and shot, over the goalkeeper, into the top of the opposite corner of the goal. After the goal Steve did strike the cross bar with two shots as he tried to increase his lead.
Wayne Smith commented after his game with Simon Hutchinson that he had to play “hard” to beat his opponent. The entire game was very even as both players had opportunities and their opponents blocked their offense with their defensive flicks. Smith scored the only goal of the first half in the eleventh minute. His shot came from the left side of the “six yard” box and chipped the goalkeeper to drop into the goal. Following the goal Simon kept pressing forward and in the fourth minute of the second half he was rewarded with an equalizing goal. The ball was in the penalty area, dead center with the goal. Simon’s long flick chipped the ball over the goalkeeper, off the underside of the crossbar and into the goal. Two minutes later Simon almost scored again with a shot from the left that required a quick save from Wayne’s goalkeeper. Smith’s winner came with just less than four minutes remaining in the game. It was almost identical to the first, another chip from near the edge of the “six yard” box. Despite applying a lot of pressure in the last few minutes Simon was unable to find a way through Wayne’s defensive line.
Despite the first half being described as “pretty even” by both players Wayne Smith still managed four shots on goal against Steve Tucker, and a goal in the eighth minute. Tucker playing with the Arsenal team and played like the real Arsenal, rather than shooting when he made his way past Smith’s defense he would try to pass or touch up for a better shot. The second half started the same way the first half had been played, but as the half wore on Steve became ascendant and for the last five minutes he was almost constantly on the attack. With just 14 seconds left Smith scored his second from a quick break from his defense, outnumbering Tucker’s defenders two to one on the shooting line. Wayne was able to shoot and score while Steve was concentrating on preparing to take a defensive flick. After the game Smith admitted he was relieved that he had managed to survive those last five minutes of pressure from Tucker.
Dominic Hutchinson dominated the first half of his game with Adam Carlson. While Dominic applied pressure for long periods of time, and Adam would break from defense with a series of long flicks as he tried to get into his opponent’s shooting zone. Dominic’s pressure paid off in the eleventh minute of the first half. His shot took Carlson by surprise as Dominic sliced the ball into the back of the goal. There were not many shots in the rest of the game. Adam’s three shots were all wide of the goal. Dominic chipped another shot over the crossbar near the start of the second half. In the fifth minute the Dominic doubled his lead. He pushed the ball into the shooting zone, Carlson had left his goalkeeper in the back of his goal from the last time he had used his spare goalkeeper. When he grabbed the rod he found that the keeper arms were tangled in the goal’s net. As Adam continued the struggle to free the goalkeeper Dominic shot into the unguarded goal. While the game was more even after the second goal Adam never looked like he was going to get passed Dominic’s massed defense and into a decent shooting position.
While he enjoyed most of the possession in the first half of his game with Munir Merchant Dominic Hutchinson only managed one shot on target as he struggled to force his way through his opponent’s defense. It came midway through the half and resulted in his only goal. Munir did get two shots in the first half but both were wide of the goal. As the second half wore on dominance changed. Munir equalized with a hard shot from the left. And with just 20 second remaining he took the lead with a goal from a long flick, and the ball rolled under Dominic’s goalkeeper.
Adam Carlson struggled to cope with Simon’s attack during the first half of their game. Adam defended with all of his players in his half of the pitch. In the fourth minute Simon scored his first goal. Within a minute he had struck the far post from a chip shot from the right side of the pitch. Two minutes later Adam managed to trap the ball between his goalkeeper and the far post, just managing to prevent the ball from completely crossing the line. Simon’s second goal came in the seventh minute with a hard shot in at the near post. Within a minute he almost had another, directly from a corner. The ball struck the back of Adam’s goalkeeper, and Adam managed to flick the ball away before it deflected into the goal with the goalkeeper’s rod. Simon took his “foot off the gas” in the second half, but he still dominated the game with the ball spending most of the time in Adam’s half of the pitch. Adam also relaxed it made a difference in his game. He made better defensive blocking flicks and made of a string of saves to deny Simon a third goal.
His nerves must have still be frayed from his previous game as Adam Carlson had to save Steve Tucker’s shot on goal within the first minute of their game. Carlson kept successfully blocking Tucker’s attempts at goal until midway through the first half. Steve scored his first with a shot from the right side, and quickly scored a second from the same side. In the second half Tucker relaxed the pressure and Carlson had more time to make his flicks. Five minutes into the second half Adam scored his only goal of the night with a chip shot over the goalkeeper. Tucker scored two more quick goals with the last one coming with three minutes remaining. The game ended on an exciting play where Adam’s shot, in the final seconds, beat Steve’s goalkeeper, struck the goal post, and came to a stop at the foot of the post as the timer went off.
After their game Wayne Smith said it had taken him five games, playing right handed, to finally beat Munir Merchant 4-0. Munir’s strong massed defense and goalkeeping abilities could not keep his opponent from scoring. Wayne took the lead in the second minute, and doubled his lead in the eleventh minute. The third came “pretty early” in the second half, and the fourth in the ninth minute. It was not all one way. Merchant did have shots on Smith’s goal, including one that needed Wayne to save.
Results
| Steve Tucker | 1 | v | 0 | Munir Merchant |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 1 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 0 | Steve Tucker |
| Dominic Hutchinson | 2 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Munir Merchant | 2 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Simon Hutchinson | 2 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Steve Tucker | 4 | v | 1 | Adam Carlson |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Munir Merchant |