 Photographs from today are in the Werder Weekly slide show |
Date
June 13, 2008
Participants
Adam Carlson, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Jason Mitchell
Report
As there were five players everyone played each other once. Simon Hutchinson finished the night undefeated beating Munir Merchant, who had been undefeated prior to their game, in the last round of games.
Simon Hutchinson dominated the opening of his game with Jason Mitchell, scoring in the fifth minute and forcing Mitchell to make several saves with his new metal goalkeeper. As the game wore on Simon seemed to relax and Jason came more into the game. In the last quarter of the game Jason threatened to equalize, first with a shot taken at speed that was narrowly wide. The second needed Simon to make a good save to keep the final score 1-0.
Adam Carlson snatched the lead in the third minute of his first game. His attack broke down when he missed a “touch up” flick on Dominic Hutchinson’s shooting zone. Dominic used is spare goalkeeper and missed the ball with his flick leaving his goal undefended. Carlson took his time and took a slow shot to score. Three minutes later Dominic equalized when Adam did same, stranding his goalkeeper in the same manner at the other end of the pitch. There were only a few more chances for both players to score, but neither could get their shots on target. Towards the end of the game it became a midfield battle as both players conceded numerous fouls and turned over possession before they could get the ball into a decent shooting position.
In the third minute Adam Carlson took the lead against Jason Mitchell. Carlson moved the ball slowly up the center of the pitch, followed by a quick shot that appeared to take his opponent by surprise. Mitchell equalized just before half time. Adam had scattered his defense leaving space for Jason attack through, and leaving no defenders for Carlson to try and block the drive into the shooting zone that lead to the goal. Early in the second half Mitchell scored with a shot where he had flicked the figure from half way between the center circle and the shooting line to strike the ball into the goal. After the goal Carlson did manage to get three shots on goal, and Mitchell saved them all with his goalkeeper.
Munir Merchant described the first half of his game with Dominic Hutchinson as scattered. While Merchant concentrated on retaining possession the younger Hutchinson gave it up too easily before he could get the ball into an attacking position. Midway through the first half Munir pushed up the field at a “medium pace”, a rare defensive error by Dominic gave him a gap through which to push the ball and shoot through. Dominic’s over exaggerated violent sweeping movement with his goalkeeper knocked the rather tame shot into the goal, and he banged his fingers hard against the back post of the goal. In the second half the game was less scattered as Dominic tried to push forward. Most of the time he would lose possession as he pushed forward with only one attacker, leaving himself with a overly long flicks to try and bring other figures up to support his attack. Merchant scored from his only good chance of the half. Again Dominic’s violent sweep across the face of his goal with the goalkeeper knocked the ball, and attacker, into his goal.
Simon Hutchinson scored soon after the start of his game with Adam Carlson, flicking a figure from distance that struck the ball into the right side of the goal, it seemed to take both players by surprise. He doubled his lead midway through the first half with a deliberately sliced shot into the far side of the goal beyond the reach of Adam’s goalkeeper. Hutchinson’s slice shots proved too hard for Carlson as Simon scored twice more with them, midway through the second half and with just three minutes left, before Adam called for the “Mercy” rule.
Munir Merchant capitalized on Jason Mitchell’s missed defensive flick in the second minute to take a shot that clipped Mitchell’s goalkeeper and deflected into the goal. From then on Jason had most of the possession and offense but struggled to get through Munir’s defensive line. He did manage one good shot which forced Merchant to save. At the other end Munir did have four shots that were all wide and, in his words, “not exactly blasts”.
When he plays his father Dominic Hutchinson plays his best, a typical “local derby” scenario. Tonight was no exception, his game against Simon was by far his best of the night. In the second minute Dominic scored a great goal from a long distance flick that made its way between two defenders to strike the ball. The ball went over the elder Hutchinson’s goalkeeper and into the roof of the goal. Simon equalized in the fourth minute from a drive down the right side ending in a chip shot. Dominic took the lead again midway through the half with another long flick to drive the ball into the goal. The equalizer was scored a short time later. Simon’s shot bounced off a defender, back onto the moving striker, struck the far post, before clipping the goalkeeper and deflecting into the goal. Simon dominated the second half, with the game being played in Dominic’s half of the pitch. The younger Hutchinson only managed to push the ball into his father’s half twice. The rest of the time he defended with all of his figures in his defensive line, frustrating his opponent with the accuracy of defensive flicks and his massed defense. After the game Simon said he wished Dominic played like this against other players as he would win a lot more games.
Munir Merchant made it three wins out of three games with a goal in either half to defeat Adam Carlson. Both players described the game as “up and down” the pitch, with Merchant having the edge with the number of shots, four, to Carlson’s two. The first goal came midway through the first half from a slow build up on the left side of the pitch. Munir pushed the ball over the line, touched up, and then made a “decently hard” shot to put the ball out of Adam’s goalkeeper’s reach. Merchant doubled his lead in the second half with a slow shot that fooled Carlson as he was expecting a harder one.
Munir Merchant massed defense and accurate defensive flicks frustrated Simon Hutchinson throughout the game. Simon pressured his opponent’s defense for the first half, pushing all but three figures into attack. With the elder Hutchinson having so few figures in defense gave Merchant the opportunity to get into his shooting zone, but only one of Munir’s shots required a save with the goalkeeper. In the second half Merchant had pushed up the right side of his defense in attack. Simon won possession, pushed the ball around the defense on the exposed right side, and shot. The shot struck a defender and the deflected off the side of the goalkeeper into the goal. For the remainder of the game Simon played more conservatively with six players in defense and only four in attack as he pressed for a second goal without wanting to give Munir the opportunity to get a shot at goal.
Neither player was able to dominate the game as possession kept changing, and the ball was pushed from “end to end”. In the first half Dominic Hutchinson had been the only one to get his shots on target. He managed two, and Jason Mitchell had saved them both. With just two minutes left in the game Mitchell made a quick pass up field from his defense pushing the ball over his opponent’s shooting line, just to the left of center, through Dominic’s defensive line. Jason’s shot was missed by Dominic’s first two over exaggerated violent sweeps with his goalkeeper across the face of his goal, and he knocked the ball into the goal with his third. For the remaining minute Dominic pressed forward and Jason put all of his figures into defense to hold on to his lead.
Results
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Jason Mitchell |
| Adam Carlson | 1 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Jason Mitchell | 2 | v | 1 | Adam Carlson |
| Munir Merchant | 2 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Simon Hutchinson | 4 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Munir Merchant | 1 | v | 0 | Jason Mitchell |
| Dominic Hutchinson | 2 | v | 2 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Munir Merchant | 2 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Munir Merchant |
| Jason Mitchell | 1 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |