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Friday, October 22, 2010

Match 5: Marinthians vs Starcom


It pains me when I can't make a Marinthians game. Admittedly, the last few weeks have been akin to following Newcastle. One week there are intense highs after a memorable victory, followed by serious lows after having lost games we really felt we should have won. I had no idea what would come of the game against Starcom, but I had previous commitments which meant I left the reporting duties to Karen and converted Marinthians fan, Barbara.

So, it turns out like I missed a corker. Starcom pulled up with a full five in their ranks, but unfortunately they couldn’t keep up with the sheer power of the Marinthians. The four game practice advantage clearly showed on the pitch, with the Marinthians running absolutely rampant. The gaffer, with his laser precision boot, smashed home 2 goals in the first two minutes, and once Razor added to his ever burgeoning tally and Willie finally finding his scoring boots with a five minute hat trick, Starcom never really had a chance of fighting back. By half time, the Marinthians had stormed into an 11 nil advantage, with their goal remaining unsullied.


Shortly after half time, I think Starcoms lack of fitness was showing and Wicka swapped sides to give them a little bit of relief. It definitely seemed to help as Starcom scored their first goal shortly after and clawed themselves onto the scoreboard. It couldn’t stop Marinthians hot scoring streak, however, as each member notched one in the “Goals scored” column, with the gaffer upto 9 goals at this stage (he was to end the day into double figures, taking home a tally of ten).

Willie consequently swapped sides with one of their players and the game became more even, with Starcom starting to hit their stride late into the game. A few more goals from either side (one with Wicka scoring for Starcom) and the game ended a rather one sided victory for the Marinthians. A relatively easy game for the Marinthians but a good run out nonetheless. Gaffer scored a hatful and Grizzlee even made a save, check out the vid below!



MARINTHIANS 22 – 5 Starcom

• Gaffer x 10 (1,2,13,14,16,19,30,36,37,52)
• Razor x 3 (4,40,45)
• Willie x 5 (6,7,10,24,43)
• Wicka x 1 (15)
• Whitestick x 1 (28)
• Grizzlee x 1 (31)
• “Frank” x 1 (39)

Starcom goals on 26, 38, 41, 43, 48 (last one by the turncoat Wicka!)

(times of goal in brackets. 52 minutes played)

*All documentation of goals and pictures are courtesy of Karen and the video was kindly supplied by Barbara*

Monday, October 11, 2010

Match 4: Marinthians vs TradeDoubler



Another day and another game, this time matching up the might of the Marinthians against TradeDoubler, a company with strong online history, but a totally unknown quantity on the pitch. Gentle goading between the two parties pre-match led to intense speculation amongst the Marinthians. Claims of a Gordon Banks-esque goalie and a backline of Adams and Dixon were thrown around at the height of the smack talk, leading the team to debate whether the TD squad live upto such grand claims.

With the Gaffer out and Whitestick maintaining his perfect non-scoring record by staying in the office, the squad comprised of the ever present Two, Razor, Plop and Willie, with Wicka making up the starting five. Grizzlee arrived with bibs and gloves, and Karen’s husband (“Frank” to his mates) started as subs. The TD team were a mixed bunch. Some who had claimed to have not played for a few years, whilst others played at least twice a week. Their “Gordon Banks” had never actually played in goal before, but felt that his blatant disregard for his own safety made him an ideal goalie. This was definitely going to be an interesting line up, with fitness bound to be a deciding factor.

In the immortal words of John Anderson, contenders, READY! Marinthians, READY! 3...2....1....And we were off!

Well, that was the theory. The Marinthians looked liked it had been beer o’clock before they had left the office, with TD running rings around them. Two was helpless in goal with 1-0 swiftly becoming 2-0 inside the first minute. Their number 9 was running rings around our defence, with a deft touch belying his size. Five minutes later and TradeDoubler were 4-0 up. I held my head in my hands, this was looking like a bad day to be a Marinthians fan.

Thankfully, the worse of it was over. Two came out of goal, Wicka went in and the Marinthians immediately looked more comfortable as they reverted to probably their strongest formation. With Two barking orders at people to mark “P.E. KIT” and “Red Stripe” (probably more confusing than helpful), the Marinthians began to look more composed and started to claw themselves back into the game. Two seized on a sloppy backpass to notch our first, with Razor adding shortly after. “Frank” joined the party and lo and behold, Plop started to hit the target. From 4-0 down, the Marinthians had edged ahead to 5-4 within the first 20 minutes.

At 6 goals a piece, the game looked finely balanced, with TD’s big number 9 still a strong physical presence and Jeff in goal throwing himself about like a madman. However, from this point onwards, Marinthians regained total control. With the backline marking their big number 9 out of the game, and lack of match fitness from the TD boys clearly playing a major role, the Marinthians began to mop up. In 22 unanswered minutes, we saw Razor and Plop both complete their hattricks, with Wicka adding another. Plop had clearly had his weetabix that morning as he just couldn’t stop scoring, wrapping up his double hattrick in 40 minutes. With the score at 13-7, it looked like the Marinthians had run away with it.

The last 5 minutes were Marinthians downfall as usual. 5 minutes played, 5 goals conceded. Thankfully Plop kept on scoring or it could have really got a bit hairy towards the end, but even so, Marinthians emerge victorious, finishing up at 15-12. The star for the Marinthians was definitely Le Plop this week, with every shot seemingly goal bound. It’s not often I say this, but well played. Willies lack of goals in this match saw him drop behind Plop and Razor in the scoring charts, but you really can’t fault his commitment. Full of running, he chased down every ball like a kitten with a ball of yarn, and never gave up. Plops 8 goals has certainly ignited the goal scoring charts, leading up to a few interesting upcoming matches.

Next week, another new opponent in Starcom. Come down and support your Marinthians!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Match 3: Marinthians vs OMD UK (well, sort of)

A pretty short round up this one, mainly as I was not in attendance. Yes, yes, I know, what kind of fan am I etc.....

Well, to be fair, when I heard that OMD UK could only put out a team of 3 guys (as they had taken part in the Yahoo cup the night before) I was pretty disappointed. We were quite excited to face off against the league hotshots, and for them to face up with just three players...well, it was a let down. It led to Le Plop frantically ringing around and we managed to enlist Karen's husband and one of Plops mates to play for OMD.

As it turns out, it sounded like a pretty decent game and went down to the wire, with the OMD-a-likes coming out as 10-9 winners. It turns out that Karen's husband and Plops mate were actually pretty decent and were able to hold their own alongside the OMD hotshots. Razor had a great game from defense/midfield rampaging forward to score a total of 5 goals, shooting him to the top of the scoring charts. The rest of the team (bar Wicka) managed to nick one, with the Gaffer notching his first on his debut.

This weeks game against TradeDoubler should be another interesting proposition, with plenty of smack talk already being thrown around. Same time, same place. See you there.