Reds on the up and up
Arup 4 PFFC 5
Yesterday’s match was both Philosophy’s third consecutive victory and the completion of the league double against Arup. Rather extraordinarily, Arup started the match top of the table and Philosophy bottom, which really goes to show: a) the closeness of the league teams to one another in terms of quality, b) the improvements we've made recently, c) the fact that the league table needs updating more frequently as we should have really been higher than that after our recent performances.
We had a strong team but only one substitute, who wouldn’t even arrive until midway through the first half, so we had to construct a relatively makeshift defensive line with Ally, Will and Ewan, pending Andrea's arrival from international scouting duties. Having realised we had only used 30+ players this season, Andrea had clearly decided this would not be enough to see us through our remaining four fixtures!
We had the best of the first half by far and led 3-1 with goals from Colm, James and a cracking Scottish blast from Ewan who can seemingly keep the ball out of our net as well as put it in at the other end. We knew we could play better but a 3-1 lead against Arup at half time was a success; however, the next goal would be vital. Ally delivered the fourth direct from a corner and the tie was seemingly won. Arup scored again however and began to show the quality that put them at the top of the league and that won them the league two seasons ago: 4-2. The Reds' final goal was a route-one affair with Kadeem punting the ball long and straight finding Colm outside the area, who volleyed beautifully over the keeper. Again that should have sealed the victory but again Arup replied almost instantly to make it 5-3 and then 5-4 with ten minutes still to go.
There were a few raw Red nerves at this point but we finished the game magnificently with a strong defensive display to close the match and give us the win.
Perhaps not as 'famous' a victory as our previous two wins because we didn't play to our full potential, but a very encouraging display of character to grind out the result after losing our focus for a short period of the second half. There was also great ruthlessness shown in front of goal by James and Colm combined with the Celtic connection of Ewan and Ally. If we can continue this run of wins, we can continue to shoot up the table, but our four league wins this season have only came against two teams: Deportivo and Arup. We need to find out how to win against our remaining opponents Londrina, Falcons and Grafton.
PFFC (3-4-1-2): Kadeem; Ally (1), Will, Ewan (1); Adam (James 70), Simon, Rob, Joeslyn (Andrea 20); Matt; James (Joeslyn 45), Colm 2
Sub: Andrea