Ucl Paft

Last up date: 06th March 2007

This week the crunch game, the most anticipated cup draw for years;
There is a game against Computer Science in the League Cup this Wednesday.
Normal meet at pitches at 2pm ready to play or meet outside the Massey at 1pm.
Please bring your kit and a white top so we can see teams more clearly.
Can you please email or tell me if you plan not to attend games or trainings just so I know how many people should be turning up.
This is a biggie we need to win, not only as it would mean going out of the cup but they won the league as well and that should have been ours the cheating scum,
Dave...

Next week
Who knows possibly another cup game, or training

Info
Can everyone who now has a kit please wear it. I have three spare shirts for people who have not bought one but that does not mean you can forget yours.
Also you may have noticed the stupidly large number of people in the squad (now up to 21). Unsurprisingly I am not accepting any new players for matches however friends are welcome to come along to trainings. I will also be enforcing a slightly stricter line on people who fail to tell me whether or not they will turn up for matches. I will assume everyone will turn up for a match unless they tell me. If you don't tell me expect to play less when we next have a match. It is only fair for everyone to do the same and at the moment some people are not even being courteous enough to let me know if they are not turning up.
As always if you do turn up you will get a part of the game, as this is how Paft was started but don't take me for a ride.

League

The dates of the matches, information on the league along with fixtures can be found at www.uclgrl.tk.
This website gets updated as often as this one when the season if being played. Please take note of the extensive rules of the league.

Match Reports
28th February 2007
Paft vs. Comp Sci
P - P
Postponed due to more waterlogged pitches, nice drainage really.
~ ~ ~
21st February 2007
Paft vs. Islam
7 - 0
Creamed them, even if they did only have 10 men for half of the game. Due to Abacus not winning or drawing against Comp Sci meant we lost the league. Secured second place however.
~ ~ ~
14th February 2007
Reading week
~ ~ ~
07th February 2007
Paft vs. Civil
4 - 2
nice win
~ ~ ~
31st January 2007
Paft vs. Abacus
2 -3
Unlucky to go 3 down in the first half, and dominated in the second but couldn't find the net more than twice. We would have to get some help from other teams to over take Comp Sci for the title.
~ ~ ~
24th January 2007
Paft vs. Comp Sci
P - P
Postponed due to snow on pitches (yer I know)
~ ~ ~
17th January 2007
Paft vs. Islam
P - P
Postponed due to waterlogged pitches
~ ~ ~
6th December 2006
Paft vs. Korea
3 or more – 1
[[I can’t quite remember the score they definitely scored 1 and were defiantly scored 3 or more goals]]
This is a fairly detailed account of the final game before the Christmas break, well half of it. Unfortunately I have no real idea what happened in the second half. I took an educated guess at most of it from vague memories.

If in fact I have got this all horribly wrong can you please let me know. Importantly I need to know the goal scorers for the league and Paft’s own golden boot award.

The second to last week most people were feeling the pressure of labs. More to the point Marco, so much in fact he had to back out on Wednesday to finish of taking results. After a bit of persuasion we roped in Prash to fill in for the absent big man.

Thanks to Charlie the match for the first half was to the minute and follows;

1: At the start of play both teams came quickly out of the blocks. A ball was passed early to Phil who uncharacteristically popped it over the bar from surging deep run.

3: Paft with the early pressure snatched the ball in Korea’s half then earning a free kick towards the middle. The ball bounced out of the box landing to Pat. The shot was blocked and the play broke down.

Charging down Korea once more Moussa strode into the box on the left hand side. Tucking the ball past the keeper where Kish was there to put Paft in a commanding position and one - nil up.

5: Play restarted and Korea unimpressed with their early efforts started to play some football. Charging down the middle Korea then took to the wing where Adrian and Dave linked in the defence, covering the overlapping ball and settling for a throw in.

6: After diffusing the thrown in the ball was pumped up field where it was slipped to Pat who struck it from 25m just wide of the upright.

7: Straight from the goal kick the ball was returned upfront for Paft. Ermal was caught up in an offside decision from link up play from Callum and Kish. Play resumed and nothing was made of the free kick.

10: Once again Paft didn’t have too much trouble in stopping Korea’s attack and on the break Moussa was found on the right flank from a lofted ball. Cutting inside his path was blocked and was unable to get away a shot.

16: Things calmed down a little and midfield took it in turns to run at each other. In a moment of madness Korea’s keeper tries to do an Italian turn round Kish. Pulling it off he was tackled straight away. Ermal then lofted ball into box where Moussa and Phil were both eying up the gaping goal. Moussa in the better position puts wide and over. It should have been.

17: Picking up the ball in midfield Kish shoots from 35 yards in an attempt lob the forward keeper. It was powerfully punched by away and Korea were struggling to get out of their own half.

As soon as the ball was in the midfield again Korea lost out, Phil collecting the ball chipped from inside 18 yard box but was denied by the keeper tipped over.

The resulting corner and Paft’s eagerness to score led to over crowing on the six yard box. The keeper obstructed by player could only see the ball sweep by him and the header by Ermal fortunately striking the stranded keeper to deny Paft once more.

18: The ball was cleared out and came straight back at Korea, Ermal shot saved, Phil’s effort from the rebound somehow saved too meant Korea were still in the game.

20: Unsurprisingly Korea’s keeper fluffed a throw and it dropped again for Ermal. Heading it from 18 yards keeper picked it up and made sure the same mistake was not repeated.

22: Phil surged from the edge of centre circle beating the defence to the ball. Running forward he passed the keeper but with the tight angle passed to the supporting Kish who miss hit the ball and scuffed it wide.

25: Apparently there was lots of talking from Dave. (Or a couple of quite minutes where Korea started to get hold of the ball more often and Charlie got bored?)

26: Matt covered the play from a cutting ball, the first real attack Korea had managed putting the ball safely out of play.

29: Things went a bit odd Korea now on their second attack of the game passed it wide to the winger. Taking little time to size up the shot stuck it towards goal. The 25 yard screamer went between the bewildered Prash and the scores were level.

32: Slightly dishearten by the equaliser Paft tried to over come the Korean midfield which had been fruitfully giving Paft opportunities to score. Pat in the holding midfield position, tackled and oncoming Korean player and passed it to Moussa. The ball was returned in a nice passage of play but the final ball wasn’t good enough and it drifted out. It was all happening in middle of the park

35: Another fast surging run from deep on right hand side towards Korean keeper saw the ball collected and played back at Paft.

36: The Koreans came down the left hand side. Adrian putting the ball out from a good ball down the flank by Korea. The ball was whipped into Paft’s box and was head wide.

Ermal handballed on the edge of Korea’s box, passing to Pat who hits and it drifts wide of the mark. The ball was then brought back for the free kick. The ball placed into the middle was blasted over Paft’s goal from 40 yards away.

38: Almost immediately afterwards Kish on the edge of centre circle passed to Ermal on the right hand side. Picking the ball up about 10 yards short of Korea’s box being chased by defenders, the keeper comes out and a delicate lob from 30 yards gives Paft the lead. The half finished shortly afterwards Paft 2 – 1 up at the break.

A couple of changes made as always saw a completely different front two and centre of the midfield. When play resumed Korea seemed more in the game. After changing their keeper they hoped for a little more control over possession.

I’m pretty sure some one else scored but I really can’t remember if it was in the first or second half. An email would be appreciated, if not can some one please tell me the next time you see me.

It didn’t go well for them not too far into the half Paft got a corner. The ball being targeted for Steve L the big head came and the score was 3 – 1.

Korea came back and shot from just outside the box and required a good tip over the bar from Prash.

Then things seemed to click, Paft kept the play and dominated. Guy picked up the ball from the defence and passed it to Steve who lofted the ball with the outside of his foot to a perfect run by Pat. He got the shot away and crashed into the post, nothing seemed to be going his way.

I once again Dave came off due to more cramp and jarred knee, fun. Kish and Guy then took a more defensive stance as Korea tried their best to get back into it. However Paft over whelmed Korea until their heads dropped and recorded the convincing win.
If anyone can remember man of the match that would help too.
~ ~ ~
29th November 2006
Paft vs. Civil Engineers
8 - 3
After the emphatic win and performance against Islam last week, Paft looked to build momentum with another win. The team was reasonably familiar, Dave making his comeback at centre back after over 6 weeks out.

The game started badly for Paft, every ricochet seemed to fall to a Civil player and their defence stood up to everything our attack could throw. Before too long, they had the advantage. Ten minutes in, the ball was played down their right wing and a cross whipped in. One of their midfielders rose above our centre backs and headed in.

After the restart nothing much changed, nothing seemed to go right for us. Six minutes later, Kieran was taken down by the keeper, but they ignored claims of a foul and play continued. A minute later, Civil ran down their right wing again and lifted another cross into the box. This one dropped just under the bar and in for Civil’s second. Heads went down, but realistically there is nothing you can do against that kind of cross/shot. At 2-0, the next goal was always going to be crucial and luckily for us, it went our way. Half an hour in Kieran was through on goal when he was taken out by one of the Civil defenders. Advantage was played as the ball fell kindly for Kish who put Ermal through and it was a simple finish. With a goal back we were on the rise and felt back in the game.
The half wore on and no one could forge another chance, until the last eight minutes. Civil had a throw in and soon one of their strikers were put through on goal. Some confusion was had when offside was called and Marco stopped, but one of our defenders was playing the attacker onside and the goal stood. Two goals down again, but this time we believed we could pull it back, and almost from the kick off we pulled another back. Kish broke away after a Civil attack and played a ball through to Ermal, who again scored, this time lobbing the onrushing keeper.

We went into the break 3-2 down but definitely feeling on the rise, and with fresh legs to come on it was looking good for Paft. As usual there was a massive switch around at half time, including Steve L coming onto the centre and Phil up front.

The second half started in a completely different vein to the previous one. Every ball fell to a Paft player and every attempted move came off. Barely three minutes after coming on to the pitch, Steve L struck with his first goal of the season, a thunderbolt from 35 yards that Super Frankie Lampard himself would have been proud of. We had drawn level and looked hungry and ready for a fourth. Before long it came, Steve L now turning supplier as he directed a header from the midfield up to Phil, who battled past the defenders and slotted it past the keeper with a cool finish. Those players taken off at half time began to feel unlucky, the Civil team looked a pale shadow of the first half team and the luck seemed to be going Paft’s way.

Before long another goal came and it was a bit special. Dave won a header in the midfield and it flew up towards Phil, who flicked it mid-air with the inside of his right heel out towards Kass on the left. Kass whips in a cross/shot which rebounded off the post and fell for Jaf who shot. It looked to have beaten the keeper but he clawed it off the line, where it fell to another Paft player (sorry guys, can’t remember who) who hit another shot. This one did beat the keeper but was cleared off the line by a Civil defender. Phil, not content to give up, stopped it on the sideline and hit a low shot. As he was on the line, he curled it around the near post to rebound in off the far post. Two outrageous pieces of skill from Phil and another goal for Paft.

Another goal was always going to come and Steve L was again supplier. Dave was tackled by a Civil midfielder, fairly at first, but once he realised the ball had fallen to Dave he hooked his foot around his feet and took him down. Dave was ready to start yet another Paft mid game scrap but this was prevented. Steve L took the resulting free kick and hammered it up front. Phil decided to show his full repertoire of skills and lobbed the keeper for his hat trick.

By this stage the score didn’t quite fully represent the fact that Civil were overrun and another goal soon came to remedy this. This time Moussa got the assist, putting the ball forward for Kish to chase. He held off the defenders and hit a shot. Unfortunately for him he sliced it. Unfortunately for the keeper this threw him and it trickled over the line.

A rare Civil attack came immediately after, but the defence were awake and they were caught offside. From the free kick Steve L again smacked it up field for Phil to chase and this time he powered through and inevitably put it past the keeper with a good finish for his fourth of the game.

At this stage Dave had to come off due to cramp, but it was an admirable reappearance after his long ‘injury’.

With not long left on the clock Paft were happy to see the final few minutes out at a comfortable 8-3 up.

Another win, another good performance, another glut of goals. Paft are back on form and quickly making up both points and goal difference. With a game in hand we are in a strong position to go top or close to. Korea next week for the final game of this term, hopefully we can keep up the momentum for the next game and over the Christmas break.

Man Of The Match went to Phil, for a masterclass in finishing. Didn’t manage a header this time though, maybe next.
~ ~ ~
22nd November 2006
Paft vs. Islam
5 - 1
After our weak start to the season and Islam’s strong one, this was a must win game for Paft. We had a slight change of tactics, switching to a 4-5-1 to try and pack the midfield. Chris Howard made a rare appearance for Paft, coming in at centre mid.

The game started well for Paft, we looked up for it and pressed them at every opportunity. They were given little time or space on the ball and before long our pressure started to tell, with a few shots on target. When the first corner was won, Dave yelled from the sidelines for Adrian to get up and put pressure on the keeper. It proved effective as he looked uncomfortable before the corner was taken and then went on to spill the ball when he tried to catch it. Adrian found himself with little space and his back to goal so tried to hit with his left foot between keeper and post but unfortunately it went wide. The Paft substitutes at the side all thought it had gone in, but they were soon corrected. The disbelief that Adrian had scored was gone…for now. The pressure was kept up and around the half hour mark Kass broke down the left wing again and carved himself some space for a shot. The shot stayed low but was relatively weak, so everyone was surprised when the keeper let it slip under him into the goal. Still, if you don’t shoot you don’t score.

Paft could sense another goal and kept pressing to maximise the advantage before the break. After some more sustained pressure, Guy laid the ball off to Kieran, who worked some space just inside the box and slotted a low shot home, in off the bottom of the left post. With two goals before half time and a few minutes to go, we were reasonably satisfied. However, the shout from Dave on the touchline of ‘Let’s get another before half time!’ spurred us on.

Paft broke again and Adrian ran into some space on the left wing as the ball was played through. His pace let him down, but he kept pressure on the defender until it went out for a goal kick. Kass was doing a great job covering at left back so Adrian decided to stroll back to his position, nothing to do with lack of fitness. Suddenly Paft had the ball again and Adrian found some more energy to make a run into the left side of the box. Guy spotted the run and with a perfectly weighted pass found Adrian’s run. One touch to control and then another to slip it between the keeper’s legs for the third goal and Guy’s second assist of the game. Thanks to Pat, a Klinsmann celebratory dive followed.

Half time was called and we were 3 goals up and all over them. The defence looked comfortable with good support from both the midfield and Marco in goal. Massive changes at half time as always saw the majority of the attack changed and half the defence. Always challenging convention, all three goal scorers were substituted.

The second half began much as the first ended, with sustained periods of Paft pressure and good solid defending by the defence and midfield. The next goal came when an Islam defender confused everyone by trying to beat all the Paft attackers whilst still in his own penalty area. Jaf and Chris weren’t going to let that happen and kept pressuring him until eventually Jaf had the space to poke home the fourth. A note for the future Islam: If in doubt, put it out.

Islam then struck back with a slightly contentious penalty. Kish (playing as well as always, this time as a defensive midfielder) slid in inside the penalty area. He missed the ball and just caught the player, but not enough to bring him down. The player, still in possession and in a good position, stopped play and demanded a penalty. Technically it was a foul but any referee would have played advantage so Paft were not impressed. Marco tried to put off the penalty taker with a couple of pull ups on the crossbar as he was placing the ball, then got ready for his first real challenge of the game. It was hit towards the right side of the goal, with Marco doing well in getting his hands to it, but just not enough to stop it going in.

Islam had pulled one back, but at 4-1 Paft were still feeling comfortable and the goal didn’t seem to have lifted Islam’s spirits enough for a proper fight back. After the goal the game continued in the same vein with all areas of the pitch playing well and linking up.

A fifth was coming for a while before Phil broke down the right wing and found himself some space in the box for a shot. He hammered it past the keeper and the subdued celebrations of the Paft players led those of us on the sidelines to believe he had missed. Mutterings of being greedy were heard before we realised he had scored and immediately praised his finishing and decision. Chance after chance came and went without Paft being able to capitalise on them. Islam looked a beaten team and Paft had lost any urgency, so the remaining minutes were played out without any more goals.

A good performance all round, the win important for morale and to close the points gap on Islam. They are still top of the league but Paft are back playing like last year. Bring on Civil next week.

Man Of The Match went to Adrian for his first goal at the right end.
~ ~ ~
1st November 2006
Paft vs. Abacus
0 - 3
Abacus are a familiar opponent for Paft now, we seem to play them more often than any other team. A new year means new players, so we went into the game unsure what to expect, but wary after their convincing win last week. We were also missing several of our normal players, both Dave and Steve H missing at centre back and Steve L missing in centre mid. This led to a couple of enforced changes at the back with Adrian moving in to centre back and Prash making his debut at left back.

During the first half, Paft piled on the pressure but it just wasn’t clicking up front. We had lots of possession, but not too many chances to show for it and no goals. At the end of the half, Abacus broke, Marco rushed out but the striker beat him and it bobbled over the line.

Half time came, heads were down. After a half of solid pressure, we somehow went into the break a goal down. The usual switch around was made with half our team changing as usual.

The second half began evenly, but before long Abacus beat the offside trap, and slotted it in. Another goal down, heads started to droop further but we kept on going. At two-nil down Adrian started to attack down the left side. The whole team had a more attacking outlook to try and pull back the goals, but before long Abacus had beaten the offside trap again and we were down by 3. The team started pushing up even more, looking for a consolation goal but it just wouldn’t come. A few good chances came our way, but none could be converted. Abacus themselves had a few more chances, but couldn’t finish them either.

Man Of The Match was again given to Kass, for his dogged performance.
~ ~ ~
25th October 2006

Paft vs. Tech Soc

2 - 2

After last season’s two games against the Tech Society both ended in convincing wins for Paft, we went into this game feeling reasonably confident. The team for the first half had a relatively familiar feel, but with a new player, Andres, making his first appearance for the team playing at left back.

The first half started evenly, both sides having their chances, but neither side carving a real advantage for themselves. Towards the end of the half, the Tech Society converted a chance. One of their strikers was in possession on the edge of the area and spotted Marco off his line. He did well with a difficult chance and it looped in over the stranded keeper. Before long, Paft had struck back. After a short spell of pressure, Pat, Kass, Kieran and Phil all ran forward and over ran their defence. The ball was then turned into the Tech Society net by one of their own defenders. Not much time was left before the end of the half and we went into the break even.

At half time the usual switch around, with Adrian coming on for Andres and Steve L entering the fray at centre back for Steve H.

The second half started with a period of pressure for Tech Society, but no major chances or goals would come of it. Paft started to get into the game, and Kass went off on a great run down the left. He was caught late by a Tech Society defender and let his temper get the better of it. Steve L immediately fulfilled his duties as captain and went to calm things down. However, Tech Society showed their class by playing on despite the fight that had broken out on the pitch and some desperate covering defending saw the ball (eventually) put out of play by Charlie. The whole event took some time to calm down; some of the uninvolved players took the opportunity to take on water.

Play continued once this was all sorted, but further controversy was not far away. Matt came across to cover and slid in late on one of the Tech Society’s strikers. A foul was immediately called by the striker, most of the Tech Society team and most of Paft. However, some of the Tech Society players again showed their class once more by playing on and going on to score, despite the vast majority of both teams having stopped for the free kick. Further arguments ensued, and eventually it was decided to just give them the goal and carry on playing.

The half wore on and Paft could not fashion a goal. Deep into the added time that came from the two incidents, Paft won a corner. Everyone pushed up, with just Marco staying back. Charlie ‘cunningly’ spotted Pat waiting outside the box and scooped the corner over to him. Anyone who has ever seen Pat in training knew what was coming and he hit a left foot volley with perfect form. The ball flew towards the Tech Society goal, where their goalkeeper got fingertips to it and touched it onto the underside of the bar but couldn’t prevent the goal. Pat had his first goal for Paft and Paft had our equaliser. There was very little time left on the clock but we quickly got the celebrations over with and got back to position. The game kicked off but there were no further chances by either team and it all ended in a draw.

Man Of The Match went to Kass for his great runs down both wings and his tackling back.
~ ~ ~
18th October 2006

Paft vs. Civil [Friendly]

6 - 6

It has become almost a tradition that the preseason game is against Civil (one of the advantages of organising the league). It is not the friendliest of fixtures - namely as Dave normally shouts, “get the bastards” at the start of the game but today it wasn’t too bad.

It was a lift to hear that the top league goal scorer last season and main man of civil wasn’t available, and for a newly formed back four this was always good news. Civil had massive changes all over the pitch that forced Civil into changing their match saving keeper from last year.

This was the first time Steve and Adrian would be linking up with a long term prospect with the more familiar Dave, Matt and Tom in one way or another (as Matt is finishing fairly soon). The midfield and attack had many of the faces from last year and only the introductions were from of Callum and Phil as their first game for Paft. The first game back most people tend to be a little unfit after living it up on holidays. Paft had been “training” for a few weeks and were expecting to carry the sort of form which had been a given in the previous season.

A few people had left Paft during the ending of last season to do real things with their lives. Dodgy pictures and bits can be seen in the leavers page in the archive section for the old boys.

With Captain Steve still nursing sugary to his ankle and Dave complaining about injuries things were pretty much the same as always. (Details of this match maybe a little sketchy as I didn’t bother to do this match report until Christmas)
Kieran start off the scoring from a cross by Kish on the left hand side. He took the ball down on the six-yard box and kicked it past the keeper. Chasing after the ball it was an easy tap in to get Paft on their way.

After noticing the willingness of Civil’s shiny new keeper come out at any chance everyone seemed to perk up in attack. The mad crazy hair he was sporting did little to distract that he wasn’t the most reliable of keepers. With a bit more determination to get behind Civil’s defence the Paft’s strikers could sniff goals and plenty of them.

With Paft’s attention on attack Civil reminded everyone they weren’t there to complete the numbers bursting through just inside the box, cutting across a defender and with a good shot levelled the score to one a piece.

There was hardly time to reflect before Phil latched onto the end of a ball and beat the keeper with ease, slotting in his first goal for Paft on his debut.

Things settled down and play got stuck in a midfield battle, finally the ball was placed to the wing where Kish running down the line saw an open Phil and an erratic keeper screaming towards him. Composed cross saw a header from Phil into the middle of the goal and Paft increased their lead to 3 – 1.

Just as things were going Pafts way Civil brought it back with a long shot going into the corner. The difference reduced to one once more.

Things turned from bad to worse. Feeling hard done by Civil’s second goal Paft conceded a corner kick. You know things aren’t going your way when; strong wind towards the goal sends the ball curling into the top corner at the front post. Honours were even as we went to the half time break.

Play resumed and it was a stalemate. Then Kass took hold of the ball from a throw in midway inside Civil’s half, evading one tackle he was through on goal, the keeper was more than eager to jump off his line and run towards Kass. As the keeper passed the point of no return Kass side footed it past him to restore the lead.
On the attack once more things were going well as Phil on the far right kicked the ball across the face of goal. The ball hit the keeper on the leg and kindly bounced passed Moussa to Jaf who tapped it in.

To seemly finish of Civil Phil popped in another to make his hat trick and to send Paft three goals to the good.

Civil fought back obviously not content with losing their first match, running down their right side passing Paft’s left back and slotting it past the on rushing Marco. From the restart Paft couldn’t keep hold of the ball and Civil were on the break down the middle. The defence moved to get the striker offside but a poor line ensured the fifth goal for civil and their deficit to only a single goal.

With only minutes left Paft were desperate not to concede, but it happened. Another swarm of civil players over run the tiring defence to finish the game an even six goals to each side.

Man of the match goes to Phil who impressed with a hat trick on his début.

Last years match reports and results are on the archive section.