Farangutans fail to make pressure pay

Game three in the Chiang Mai Seniors League, and the Farangutans were all present for their “sedate” encounter with San Patong. It is true that the game was set for an 11 am kick-off, the trouble was that the pitch was fifteen kilometers out of town on the Mae Jo Road, much to the chagrin of Warren and Ross who carried the kit there on an aging motorbike kindly donated by the UN Irish Pub. The temperature was a balmy thirty-six degrees. Temperatures were raised further when the pair was questioned as to whether they had also brought water! As is customary, the Farangutans were punctual and kick-off was delayed for forty-five minutes.

The boys started well having the better of possession in the early stages and could well have been a goal up in five minutes had it not been for some poor finishing. With ten minutes gone the opposition had their first real chance on goal snubbed out by a resolute defence. This foray was followed by a brief conversation between Ross and Masao on the finer points of defending. The situation thus resolved, the team continued to put pressure on the San Patong goal. Shawn and Rick dominated midfield with a combination of sharp passing and hard tackling. Adam on the left continued where he left off last week, constantly finding space and driving at the defense. The problem was they couldn’t find the back of the net!

The Farangutans were made to pay on twenty-five minutes. Against the run of play San Patong found themselves in space on the right, a skillful mazy run resulted in a clinical cross into the danger area. In the pinball lottery of tackles the Patong striker found himself with time to stroke the ball past a blameless Markie Flowers in goal. So it was that the Western Warriors found themselves with the task of having to dig out a result from one nil down. The boys continued to press with some fine play down the flanks by Ross and Tim resulting in a couple of clear cut chances going astray. Ten minutes later, despite their continuing dominance, their problems were compounded by an uncharacteristic defensive error. 2-0 to San Patong at half time.

Changes were made at the interval in an effort to turn things around in the second half. Masao up front and Adam falling back to left midfield. Indeed, the second half started brightly with the midfield continuing to dominate and push forward. On sixty minutes the boys were rewarded with a goal from Adam. After a fine run and pass into the box from Rick, the Grimsby goal-grabber coolly slotted for his third of the season. At this point the opposition seemed to become unnerved and began to resemble the team from the previous week. Tackles became accompanied with raised elbows, and after a series of robust encounters Rick found himself booked for no apparent reason. Soon after, Shawn was sent arse over tit in his own penalty area by a scything lunge from Goldfinger’s very own Odd Job but with a slightly thicker neck. This assault resulted in the need for retribution and Warren found himself in the book yet again.

With time running out the boys valiantly battled to get the draw they more than deserved. On a pitch that resembled the beachhead at Omaha, wave after wave of sustained pressure was repelled. However, unlike that fateful summer day in 1944, our boys failed to make the breakthrough. Final score 2-1 to San Patong.

Next week sees our gallant heroes take on the might of the German All-Stars and her allies in South East Asia.

 

Men of the match: Lee, Rick, Adam, Shawn