Match Report Rebel 4- 2 Xplode
With our resident pundit probably airborne while still digesting enough kebabs to feed the entire population of a small African nation our match report is brought to you with a hint of personal bias, with particular reference to the delightful goal scored from a free kick. I had three goals go past me, two of them there was little I could do but I like to think that I stopped a number of goal-bound balls in the second half. The one goal that Rebel put past Alex was pretty much unstoppable from that range and we had chances galore that we didn't finish.
(The actual order of the first three Rebel goals may be open to question - the fact that they scored them is not)
Another game of two distinct halves for Xplode but this time Xplode did make an impression in both.
The first half started with almost all the pressure on the Rebel goalmouth, but as we have become accustomed to; Xplode failed to take advantage of the chances in front of goal. Rebel, on the other hand, made the most of what chances they engineered. A long ball to the forward was taken beautifully on the chest and he turned and volleyed goalwards despite being pressured heavily by the defence, a bit of luck saw the volley slip between the Xplode keepers legs to open Rebel's account early on; 1-0.
Xplode continued pressing into the Rebel half but without anything to show for it, save a free kick from 20 yards which was placed over the bar. Jimmy will be happy to show you the bruise from the collision that won the free kick which I think he'll have for at least a week, it was quite a coming together. Xplode continued playing good football but were unable to capitalise on their moves.
Rebel won a corner and sloppy marking saw their defender run in for a simple side-footed goal to the far post unchallenged. 2-0.
More casual defending from Xplode allowed a Rebel forward to skip past his man and find the back of the net yet again. 3-0.
Rebel continued pushing forward and only a superb diving save from the Xplode keeper to the near post prevented the fourth from going in from a very well placed shot from Rebel's number 9.
Heading to half-time at 3-0 reflected neither the possession nor the chances Xplode had.
On the restart, an at the time questionable managerial decision, was made to bring the substitute goalkeeper on, freeing the first half keeper to play in the centre back position. While eyebrows may have been somewhat raised on the bench, within a matter of minutes a free kick deep in the Xplode half was deftly dropped over the Rebel keeper by the Xplode number 13 and brought some succor to the Xplode team. 3-1.
Bouyed with renewed enthusiasm Xplode attacked with venom, eventually winning a corner that the Xplode number 6 (Dave) would claim as his own and directed the ball net-bound with some force. 3-2.
Xplode were in the ascendency, defending everything Rebel had to throw at them, shots were blocked repeatedly, attackers tackled forcefully, accurate balls distributed to the forwards and the wingers and it looked like it was only a matter of time before the equaliser was scored. Another free kick about the half way line was the closest chance to even the score, the ball hit over the wall directly onto Sergey's head was goal bound but the Rebel keeper managed to get his fingers on it denying Xplode the equaliser they had worked so hard for.
As is the way in so many games, against the run of play Rebel had sent players forward in one final push, the Xplode centre back being overrun with three attackers and the Rebel player put the ball into the top of the net from around the penalty spot, no keeper could have stopped such a shot from such close range and with that Rebel consolidated their lead to 4-2 and took the three points; they deserved it - they took the chances they had made for themselves. There were no mistakes, gifts or flukey goals tonight against us; Rebel just finished their chances better.
Everybody worked hard tonight, from the defence through the midfield to the forwards everyone gave one-hundred percent, we played well enough to deserve a point from the game but the game was lost early on, we fought hard to get back into it but it wasn't enough. I can't say anyone played badly at all, in the same way I can't say anyone played a blinder. We played robust football, we attacked more than I've seen for a good few weeks but as always our lack of ability to not only hit, but hit the back of, the net was our downfall; the chances were there, we failed to take them when the opportunity arose while our opponents made the most of the few opportunities they had.
Next week will be a whole different ball game when we meet Varaporn.