Evan-McKenzie

Greenwich Avenge J.Bell defeat in Champions Cup KO

Dubbed the revenge match , the two KSAFA Confederation representatives had earlier played a very hectic game when Cavalier came out the winner with a 1-0 score line in the Jackie Bell KO, now the boys from the south sought revenge as they say that faulty shooting let them down on the first occasion . This time in the JFF Champions Cup KO, Greenwich were not about to let it happen again and that they did as Ricardo Munroe's 41st minute strike from a rebound put them ahead and they were able to hold off the more confident Duncan Destroyers who could not find their shooting boots on the day.

The Setting

Round #1: JFF/Flow Champions Cup Match - Cavalier FC Vs Greenwich Town FC Thursday February 18- 2010 3.00pm;
Venue: Constant Spring Complex. Weather: Sunny hot, windy and dry;
Field: Grass - with small patches of bare areas in both penalty and goal areas, uneven bounce expected due to present surface condition.
Coaches: Lamar Morgan- Cavalier ; Stephen Taylor- Greenwich Town FC.
Formation: Cavalier' - 4 - 1 -4 1 - Greenwich Town - 5 3 2
Result : Cavaliers 0 Greenwich Town 1 (Ricardo Munroe 41 min) The surprise of the day was the fact that the referees were all dressed in gears clearly displaying the logo of a competitors brand and were allowed to officiate in this attire.

Pre- match comments

JFF/Flow Champions Cup Match - Cavalier FC Vs Greenwich Town FC

Coach Lamar Morgan said that "We knew that Greenwich Town is a good team because, we played them in the Jackie Bell Knock Out so we know what we have to do, we are prepared to keep possession as much as possible and take our chances whenever they come; we want to win this game as we did in our earlier encounter".

On the other hand. while the boys from the south were not very organized, coming in as late as they did, coach Stephen Taylor felt that they had the team to beat Cavalier and his team believed that they can do it today, "We know the team very well, we let them off the hook in the last match and we feel we should win that game by at least a 2-1 goal margin but our shooting let us down and we are not about to let that happen to us today- we come here to win" he said .

The Warm Up Cavalier was the only team to do the usual pre match conditioning. In fact they were looking very confident as they moved through the exercise with some dynamic movement and jogging at the kind of pace that satisfied the very sunny condition. All the starting players went through about 18 minutes of moderate stretching movements with the occasional quick burst to be ready when the referee called the teams to the line. It was however very noticeable that some of the more seasoned Cavalier players did not participate in the warm up either because they arrived later or were being held back or injured. On the other hand, Greenwich Town took to the field late and this showed up as they were apparently not well conditioned for the start. They took some time to settle down and were therefore pushed on the defensive by Cavalier in the early round of the encounter as they struggle to get a feel of the ball and the field.

The revenge The game started with a buzz  the Greenwich Town supporters were very active in support of their team, while the players used the early minutes to get warm and feel out the more confident Super League opponent. Both teams were putting a few passes together and looked to penetrate the other defense any minute. However it was the Greenwich Town captain and man of the match David Stultz who made the first real move with a powerful right footer from 35 yards which went wide of the left upright, Teams putting passes together While in the early minutes both teams were matching pass for pass as well as possession, the more vaunted Cavalier began to take full control of the game and mounted several attacks on the Greenwich Town penalty area. The over confident black and white clad Cavalier who despite territorial advantage could not put the ball into the opponent?s goal. This happens quite often in football where one team seemed to be more purposeful and confident but unable to nullify the resistance of a more spirited youthful force who were energized by their supporters who came from the south to see nothing but a win.

Lack of compactness In general both teams were not playing very compact as the gap between the midfield and attackers as well as between the defenders and the midfield were far too wide. This gave rise to some of the individualism displayed in the game, combined with limited use of the peripheral vision. Stultz- Munroe combination When Cavalier gave up a free kick some 15 yards outside their penalty area, stepping up was the captain and Greenwich Towns #7 David Stultz who struck a very hard low drive which the Cavalier custodian could not handle and Ricardo Munroe came poaching and tapping home the only goal of the game in the 41st minute. This gave the visitors the necessary fuel they needed to contain the homesters for the rest of the first half.

Expecting a Cavalier rebound in second the half

The second half started Town with Cavalier launching attack after attack and tons of chances a begging. Things seemed to even out in the middle of the second half when the more knowledgeable and skillful Cavalier could not break the will and spirit of their more youthful rival who were leading and seemed to be very comfortable at that stage of the game to defend with everything and everyone they could find. The workman like approach and the occasional ill directed powerhouse shots on goal by man of the match David Shultz secured the victory for the boys from South West St. Andrew. A welcomed revenge for the Jackie Bell K O defeat they suffered earlier.

The truth of the matter is that goals win matches, so Cavalier only have themselves to blame for not converting at least two of the many chances they had, Greenwich did put away one of theirs and as a result will move on to the next round of the competition, Like the coach said "we come here to win and we did just that". Good luck in the next round.