Strikers Vs Panthers

The Swalings Panthers lose the toss but the Swalings Strikers decided to let them start the kick off.   Kara passes the ball to Destinee to start the show.

The ball is passed back and forth with both teams trying to keep possession and get comfortable in the game more then attacking the opponent’s box.  A lose ball is picked up wide by Kathy Davis who tries to bury her way through the Swalings Panthers.  She is tackled by Timmy Gillespie, but the tackle falls fortunately to Kathy’s team mate Nick Fuller who wastes no time in crashing the ball into the back of the Panthers net. 1-0 To the Swalings Strikers. That was the first of many goals to come.

Gary Davis is now on the pitch and is making himself a menace to the Strikers defence, but is being kept at bay by some fine tackling from Donte Trimingham. The game starts to open up now with the ball going from end to end with Ronde Davis of the Panthers having to make some fine saves as well as Xavier Spencer of the Swalings Strikers.  But it is the Strikers who get the goal.  The ball is kicked out wide to Kathy who is cut off by Timmy but it rolls out for a Strikers throw in. Kathy throws it on to Eric Yang, who passes the ball infield to Michael Josiah who sees Nick Fuller further up field and quickly lays the ball off.  Nick charges into the Swalings Panthers box and rifles the ball with such voracity that Ronde stood no chance of saving. 2-0 Swalings Strikers.

The Strikers start the second half the same way they finished the first, raining shots after shots onto the Panthers goal, but were being denied by Destinee, now the  or the goal post. However the Panthers luck would finally run out when Eric Yang collects the ball out wide, and sets his sights on goal.  Destinee lost her bearings and thought she was at the near post but was in the centre so in the end Eric just had to tap the ball in.  3-0 Swalings Strikers.

This could have been breaking point for the Panthers, but credit to them they poured forward in numbers.  Ronde, now an outfield player came the closet to scoring next with a darting run down the middle of the pitch but Xavier Spencer, was great full to see the ball creep past his post.  The Panthers having thrown so many players forward were gambling, and unfortunately the gamble didn’t pay off.  Julian Laville put an end to a free flowing Panther move with a beautifully time tackle on Kara Walwyn. This set the Strikers on a counter attack and with in 3 passes Destinee was picking the ball out of her net with Eric Yang being the goal scorer. 4-0 Swalings Strikers.

The Panthers now really playing for pride, still take the game to the Strikers. Brent Edwards, 10 years of age, trying to hustle his way through the defence but is stopped always by the last man, the young 5 year old Donte Trimingham, proving why we moved him up a year early, with tackle after tackle being an enforcer at the back.

After soaking up so much pressure, it was again the Strikers who struck again through Michael Josiah.  The ball was in kicked up field by Eric Yang in a hope to clear the lines; it was chased down by Michael who had no other option but to bear in on goal.  Like a man possessed Michael cannoned the shot goal wards it smashed the back of the net via the inside of the goal post. 5-0 to the Swalings Strikers.

The game was drawing to an end and just to rub more salt into the Panthers open wounds Nick Fuller grabbed his third of the game.  With nothing but open pitch in front of him he tore the pitch up behind him before crunching the ball of his right foot into the top corner of the Panthers goal. 6-0 Strikers.

The final whistle blows.  The score doesn’t justify how well the Swalings Panthers played, with Gary Davis never giving up and making himself a constant nuisance, however due to solid defending from Julian and Donte and the Strikers taking their chances when they came they turned out to be rightful winners.

Superstars Vs Titans

The Swalings Titans go into this game as league leadears with one win.  The Superstars who drew their last game are eager to get their first win to topple the current league toppers.

The Swalings Titans started the game with Justin Hadeed and Kiante Anthony.  Shemire Samuels of the Swalings superstars waste no time in introducing himself to Kiante with a bone crunching tackle.  He plays the ball to Nadeem Doumith, Nadeem with a side splitting pass to Sean Janosek, Sean miss times his kick unfortunately slices the ball wide of the post.  Titans are dumbstruck with what just happened and didn’t even have time to react.  The Super stars must have been watching Arsenal vs Totenham Hotspur the weekend before because it was as fast as Cesc Fabragas goal against Tottenham Hotspur after snatching the ball after a Tottenham kick off and scoring a goal running half the length of the pitch.

Sean Janosek of the Superstars is splitting the Titans defence with crisp through balls but the shot are being blocked or going wide. Kofi looks dangerous with penetrating crosses, so dangerous that Matthew Mansoor illegally stops the ball with his hand is shown yellow.

The Titans first shot at goal leads to them finally conceding at the back.  Nadeem Doumith gives a massive goal kick up field to Shemire in acres of space; Shemire turns on a 6 pence and fires the ball so fast past the Titans goalie I think it leaves a trail of smoke. 1-0 Swalings Superstars.

Kiante Anthony of the Swalings Titans skips past the challenge of Sean and sends a dangerous and meaningful cross to team mate Tony Hourani whose shot rattles the side netting.

As the teams leave the pitch for half time the Swalings Titans are trailing by one goal.

Michael Santos, the Titans goalie rolls the ball out to Kiante, who is reintroduced to Shemire with another solid tackle.  He collects the ball dribbles for a little bit and this time instead of going for power like his last goal slots it neatly past the diving arms of Michael Santos.  2-0 Swalings Superstars.

Tony Hourani collects the ball in the centre of the park and plays a very neat 1 2 with Justin Hadeed.  Tony then played a pin point pass to Nolan Bird, who was screaming for the ball, and without breaking his stride rockets the ball past Ritchie Coghlan to make it 2-1.

The Titans tried to build on their goal but were stopped repetitively in their tracks by fantastic defending form Kenford James and Nadeem.

The referee blows his whistle to signal the end of the game.  The Swalings Superstars are now joint top of the table with the Swalings Strikers but behind on goal difference.

Tune in next week for when the League leaders the Swalings Strikers battle it out with the bottom of the league Swalings Titans while Swalings Panthers host the Swalings Superstars.

The new season for the Swalings Cup has started.  With rain delaying the opening games last week, we were set for a double header as both teams need to catch up on the games missed.

For these two teams, it was like a warm up game for the next game, but before we get onto their next game lets talk about this one.

Superstars’ vs Strikers

It started with the Strikers winning the toss and allowing the Superstars to take the centre kick.  Nadeem Doumith passed the ball to Sean Janosek who passed the ball back to Cup debutant Shemire Samuel, who was chased down by another Cup debutant Nick Fuller who looked eager to impress, but luckily the ball was cleared.

The game was being played at a slow pace, but you could understand why, as 9 of the 13 players were Cup debutants.  As soon as they were reminded of what was at stake at the end of the season the players picked the game speed up.  There was some good linkage play between Nadeem Doumith and Sean Janosek of the Superstars but it kept breaking down on the final ball by Julian Laville, who would go on to make a string of fine last minute tackles.

The goal finally came through some hard work by Nick Fuller who pushed the ball through to the on rushing Michael Josiah, who vowed to his coach to be top goal scorer this season.  He took the ball cleverly around the last defender and squeezed it past Richard Coghlan.

1-0  To the Strikers.

Nadeem Doumith, last seasons player of the season didn’t let this affect him, he got the ball out of the back of the net and said “we are still in this, come on,” which would go to prove vital in the next couple of minutes of play. After taking the lead the Strikers sat back, which proved to be a costly mistake. Sean Janosek picked up a lose ball in his half and sprinted up towards the Strikers goal he could of gone all the way, but unselfishly decided to pass the ball across to Nadeem, but had the ball taken of his feet by Julian.  Later on Kofi Newton, the second youngest player on the pitch took the ball right out from Eric Yang, the tallest player on the pitch.  The tackle proved to be important, it didn’t only stop Eric in his tracks but it broke free to Kofis fellow Superstars team mate Kenford James.  Kenford went for a little run before passing it to the on rushing Nadeem, who took the ball into his stride and fired goal wards. The ball went in.  Xavier Spencer, the Strikers goalkeeper, was rooted to the spot and couldn’t do anything to help.

1-1.

The game went into a slump again with both teams struggling to find rhythm in their passing.  Michael Josiah looked dangerous when he got the ball, cuting and pulling the ball back and forth but was unlucky not to break the dead lock, but that was due to some fine saves from Richie Coghlan the young Superstars keeper, one particular save when Donte Trimingham, the youngest player on the pitch had a rare shot, Richie came out to save it, fumbled and was outside the goal keeping box, managed to take it around Eric Yang went another 3 metres and then remembered he was the goal keeper so kicked it clear. The game was drawing to half time when Nick Fuller burst through the Superstars defence and sent a rocket of a shot into the bottom of the Superstars next.

Half time came and the score was 2-1 to the Swalings Superstars.

The second half wouldn’t be as eventful as the first, as both sides were still getting used to playing with their new team mates.  Nadeem and Sean were linking up well for the Superstars with Kenford James making some fine tackles on Michael Josiah and Eric Yang to win the ball back whenever the Superstars lost it.

Xavier Spencer would come to the rescue for the Strikers, although he wouldn’t know much about it. The ball was crossed in by Shemire Samuel to Nadeem Doumith, who pulled the trigger on a half volley and sent the ball whistling into Xavier Spencer’s chest, the ball bounced down and was kicked clear.

Half way through the second half, Nadeem got an opening just outside the Swalings Strikers box and pushed the ball passed the goalie.

2-2.

The game drew out with both sides having some half chances. The whistle blew and the game finished as a draw.  Strikers 2 Superstars 2.

Titans vs. Panthers.

The game kicks off with Cup debutants Kara Walwyn and Brent Edwards of the Swalings Panthers.  The ball is knocked about back and forth when Brent passes it wide to another Cup debutant Gary Davis who slips and the ball is snatched away by yet another debutant Nolan Bird, of the Swalings Titans, who capitalizes on the mistake and skips gleefully around Ronde Davis and sends a blistering shot into the bottom left corner of the net with only 3 minutes 21 seconds on the clock.

Gary Davis starts to make amends for the mistakes and gets the ball from a goal kick, he puts the ball through Justin Hadeeds legs and keeps going, without breaking his stride sends the ball across to Kara Walwyn, whose shot bounced of the Titans keepers chest, Michael Santos, who the pounced onto it before Kara could get another shot in.

The Titans maybe in the lead but the Panthers are playing the better football with crisp sharp passing around the Titans, with good play between the two Panthers defenders Timmy Gillespie and Ronde Davis.

With one minute left of the first half, Gary Davis, who has been up and down, running around like a Duracell bunny, collects the ball and gives an instant snap shot towards the Titans goal but is denied by Michael Santos, Michael hurls the ball up field to Justin Hadeed, who knocks it passed Ronde and shots, the ball is deflected of Destinee Doumith and into the Panthers goal.

The whistle blows and its 2-0 to the Swalings Titans at half time.  Titans lucky to be in the lead, even luckier to be 2 goals up with the way the Panthers are playing.

Titans start the second half and are up for taking their lead further, Tony Hourani, chips the ball up field to Nolan Bird, Nolan gets a bit carried away with wanting to get the ball sticks out his hand to stop it.  The referee has no other option but to book him.  From the resulting free kick, the Panthers punt the ball up field, where for some bizarre reason Kiante Anthony, who just saw his fellow Swalings Titan team mate get booked for hand ball, sticks out his hand to stop the ball.  The referee again has no choice but to book him.  This time though the ball is in a much more dangerous position.  Destinee Doumith, now an outfield player, passes the ball to Gary, who shots but is denied by a fantastic save from Michael Santos to put it wide for a corner.

The ball is passed back and forth between both teams with the Titans set on staying in front and with the Swalings Panthers looking to find that last killer ball.  But it is the Panthers who come closest to scoring next with as Ronde Davis decides that passing the ball isn’t going to work, so shoots goal wards but is denied again by fine saves from Michael Santos.  With minutes on the clock Justin Hadeed makes a break down the left.  He shimmies the ball past Kara and shoots, but is denied by Brent Edwards who is know between the Panthers sticks.  He throws the ball up field to Timmy who sends a looping head over Michaels head, but is denied by the cross bar.

The referee blows the final whistle.  The Swalings Panthers are unlucky not to take anything from this game, but the Swalings Titans erupt into a frenzy with the first win of the season.

Swalings Titans vs. Swalings Panthers

Swalings Panthers went into this game 5 points clear of the Swalings Titans, leading spectators to think this would be a walk in the park for the Panthers. However, the Titans would not lay down and die in the first half, with some brilliant goalkeeping by new boy, Michael Santos, and some good defending by Jonathan Coghlan, who looked unbeatable.

It was also the Titans who came closet to taking the league through Michael Josiah. Jonathan Coghlan laid the ball off to Jacob Knoll, who put a cross field pass into the path of Michael Josiah. Michael, under pressure from Justin Hadeed, fired a snapshot at the Panthers’ goal, but was denied by the side netting. The alarm bells went ringing inside the head of the Panthers that this wasn’t going to be a Sunday morning stroll, and went to raid the Titans goal. Wave after wave of attacks from the Panthers on the Titans goal, but they were being denied by excellent defending from Jonathan Coghlan, Jacob Knoll and Amer Hourani, with superb saves from Michael Santos putting shots around the goal post and over the bar.

Again, it was the Titans that came closest, with Jacob Knoll. A long ball from an than Bento clearance over the top of the Panthers defence, with Jacob tearing after it like a bat out of hell; he held the ball up brilliantly and was then tackled by Matthew Massiah. However, the ball broke loose and Jacob pounced on it like a tiger and fired a shot goal-bound — Richard Coghlan threw out an arm to deny the goal. Nothing came from the resulting corner.

Richard must have left his kicking boots at home that day, because he was struggling to clear the front line with his kicks, with the ball landing at the feet of Michael Josiah, who also must have left his shooting boots at home, because his shots were going wide.

The Panthers couldn’t find the key to break down the Titans defence, but luckily they were handed the key when Jonathan Coghlan and Jacob Knoll were substituted. With them off the pitch, the Panthers found their goal, and what a goal it was.  Matthew Massiah went on a break down the right, with what seemed the speed of Usain Bolt, he tore down the wing; Ethan Bento came running across to intercept, but Matthew stopped and turned around and then knocked it back past and carried on running. He took one look up and saw Nadeem Doumith waving his hand high in the sky calling for the ball, Matthew then chipped the ball to the centre of the park with the ball at knee height. He knocked it down in front of him and then half-volleyed the ball towards goal. The ball  raced through the open legs of the Titans’ keeper and into the back of the net, which I thought might have bust with the speed the ball was going.

Half time came with the Panthers narrowly in the lead with one goal.

The second half started and with the Titans only trailing by one you would have thought they would come out all guns blazing; however, with only three minutes gone into the second half, the Panthers doubled their lead through Matthew Massiah.

Matthew collected the ball on the left from a long kick down field by Nadeem Doumith after a good interception from Jesse Franker. Matthew collected the ball, tore infield, and wrapped his foot around the ball to send it into the back of the Titans’ net. 2-0 Panthers.

This was the killer sting for the Titans, and their heads dropped. The Panthers now had the keys to the city and were running ragged. The balls were being pinged from the right of the pitch to the left of the pitch, back and forth, one-twos, long balls, short balls, running the Titans’ defense ragged, and it didn’t take much longer for the third goal to come. The ball was being played from the back of the pitch to the right back again to the left and then into the centre, for Andre Amour to send the ball like a rocket into the back of the Titans goal.

The heads of the Titans fell even lower — however, not all did, with special mention going to Amer Hourani, who made several crunching tackles to break up the Panthers play; also to Michael Santos who had to make some last minute body-on-the-line blocks; and to Jacob Knoll, who was like a Duracell battery, running up and down the field chasing every ball he could, to try and win it back, almost coming close to scoring twice, but being rejected by some good goalkeeping from Justin Hadeed to decline his efforts.

With minutes left on the clock, the Panthers score the final goal. The ball bounces loosely around the Titans box, and Matthew flicks his foot out just before the ball goes into the keeper’s area, and puts it past the oncharging Michael Josiah to make it 4-0.

The whistle blows and the Panthers are ecstatic; they look now to be league favourites. Titans’ first half was let down by their second half performance, but will hopefully bounce back for their end of season game against the Superstars.

Swalings Super Stars vs. Swalings Strikers

With the Strikers fired up and looking to build on their first league win last week and push for the second spot, they were raring to go.  The Swalings Superstars were looking to leapfrog the league leaders and put themselves in pole position.  This game looked like it was going to be a cracker, and what a cracker it was!

The Strikers took the kick off with Jerry Aska and Sean Janosek, and were put under immediate pressure by the Superstars, with Sergei laying down the law and letting the Strikers know he was the top dog by putting a tackle in on Tony Hourani that the old England left back, Stuart “Psycho” Pearce, would have been proud of.

The ball is played from deep by Sergei Cheremeteff up to Bashire Joseph, who holds the ball up beautifully to see Sergei steamrolling down the centre of the park. Bashire passes the ball back to Sergei, who takes the ball in his stride and then sends it screaming into the back of the Strikers’ net. Alex Bento, the smallest player on the pitch, was going to be well known by the biggest player on the pitch, Bashire, for the remainder of the game, because whenever Bashire got the ball, Alex would pop up to deny him from being able to do anything.

The Superstars seem to have this one-two down to a fine art, when their second goal comes from one. Bashire knocks the ball forward to Justin Bento, who lays it down the pitch for Bashire to chase; at the corner flag, Bashire tears towards the goal and, like last week, was at such an acute angle fired goal-wards with the outside of his foot to try and curl it in. Chris Khouly got down well and looked like he had it covered, however the ball hit a tuff of grass and took a horrible bounce over Chris and into the Strikers goal. 2-0 Superstars.

The Superstars turned up the heat and were putting pressure on and trying to squeeze the ball through the Strikers defense. However, their wall of defense didn’t show any cracks, thanks to superb defending from Jaiden Wulliez, Alex Bento and Sean Janosek. When the rain of attacks stopped on the Strikers goal, they managed to get the ball upfield and get a shot away that scored their first goal. Alex Bento was the goal scorer, coming in off the left to fire the shot towards Tonaj Francis, who was unable to keep hold of the ball and it rolled into the Superstars goal. 2-1.

Now with a spring in the Strikers step, they win the ball back almost immediately after kick off and bare down on the Superstars goal.  Tony Hourani lays the ball to Jerry Aska, who shimmies past Justin Bento, and kicks the ball quickly into the bottom right of the goal, leaving Tonaj rooted to the spot.

So the ties are even at the break, with two apiece.

The Strikers come out in the second half with all cylinders firing and with a winner’s mentality looking to see the Superstars off. After a strong challenge on Bashire by Alex Bento, and some clever passing by Sean Janosek, Jerry Aska, and Tony, who sends the ball up to  Jairo Bailey, who, with his first touch, sends the ball flying into the back of the Superstars net for his first goal in the cup. Strikers lead 3-2.

Swalings Strikers are stopping everything the Superstars are throwing at them, with Chris Khouly making fine saves, one after the other.  He clears the ball up field to Jairo, but unluckily miscontrols the ball, and it falls to the feet of Sergei. Sergei — in acres of space — goes on a dribble that ends up with him scoring a goal by putting it into the bottom of the left corner to tie the game 3-3.

The Strikers are making leeway up the pitch, but are denied by Nashaun Matthews with a brilliant tackle. Tony Hourani wins it back and, in the process, knocks Nashaun over. Nashaun then cheekily tries to pretend his hand falls on the ball and scoops it away; the referee isn’t having any of it and blows up for a free kick and a yellow card. Tony quickly lays the ball off to Alex Bento, whose shot is cleared off the line by Justin Bento, the Superstars goalie. The second yellow card for the Superstars is given against Jay Boswell, who put his hands up in the air and handles the ball. The Strikers — so keen for the victory — are throwing everyone forward, however Justin Bento throws the ball out to Sahyen Smith, who plays it on to Tonaj Francis, who then passes to Bashire, who is looping on the outside — his shot is pushed around the post by Chris.

Sergei takes the free kick. With two minutes left on the clock, everyone is in a mad rush, except for Bashire, who takes the ball under control and sends it sailing  into the back of the Strikers net. 4-3 Superstars. The Strikers cant believe it — with only 90 seconds left on the clock, they had almost drawn the game. But the Swalings Superstars wanted to rub some salt into the wounds of the Strikers and went on to score a fifth.

The ball is lost in the Strikers half and, as the whistle is going up to the ref’s mouth, Bashire hits a wild shot, and it bounces into the back of the Strikers net as the whistle blows.

The Superstars go wild and the Strikers heads slump; they are in utter disbelief, after playing thirty minutes with such great passion and heart, to be stripped of at least a draw at the death of the game. However, Bashire shows great sportsmanship by going up to Alex Bento and patting him on the back and thanking him for a great game.

I’m sure they would have swapped shirts if they didn’t need them for next week… and if Bashire wasn’t over a foot taller then Alex. Parents in the crowd said it was the most exciting game so far, real end-to-end stuff!

This week was the start of the second matches against the teams who had already played each other, so all teams were out to better the first round’s scores.

Swalings Super Stars vs. Swalings Panthers

This match would prove to be an important game.  If Panthers won, they would go 5 points clear at the top of the table and leave everyone chasing them; if the Superstars won, they would be league leaders by one point with two games left. GAME ON!

Swalings Superstars took the kick off. The ball was being passed around rather carelessly as both teams just wanted to get the ball into the back of the net. However, after about 3 minutes, both teams settled down and the passes started to make their targets.  The Superstars started building pressure on the Panthers’ goal but were unable to find the killer pass, due to some good defending by the Panthers which, in the end, lead to the Panthers’ goal.  The Superstars were pinging the ball around the box, trying to find the opening to shoot, when Jesse Franker got his foot in the way and the ball fell to fellow team mate Andre Amour.  Andre looked up and saw Luciano Anacreonte screaming for the ball — he received the ball facing goal, checked inside of the onrushing Superstars defender, and thumped the ball with his left foot into the top left of the goal, way beyond the reach of the Superstars goalie. 1-0 Panthers.

Later, the ball was thrown in by Brandon Hadeed to Sergei, who played an inch perfect pass to Bashire on the right hand side of the pitch. Bashire went screaming down the right with the pace and skill of Theirry Henry. You would have thought that he had overran his run, when he looked up and fired in a shot from the most acute angle — in fact, if he had been any more acute, he would have been off the pitch — and the ball zipped in through the open legs of Justin Hadeed, the Panthers goalie. 1-1.

The rest of the half went by in a flash, with both teams attacking each other’s goal like lions attacking their prey.

Half time score: 1-1

The second half started in the same fashion as the first half, with both teams being sloppy in their passing, both looking for a goal. The second half went by just as fast as the first half, once the passing got under control and both teams were kept to long shots, with particularly good defending by Tonaj Francis and Justin Bento of the Superstars and by Jesse Franker and Tnoiy Charles of the Panthers.

Luciano, who took a leaf out of Andre Amour’s book, was taking shots from within his own half trying to look for the winning goal. However, it was the Superstars that came closest, with a break down the middle of the park and a shot fired in by Sergei Chermeteff, denied by a quick reaction save by Panthers goalie Nashaun Matthews, who directed the ball onto the post with his foot then dived on it to smother the ball and make sure it didn’t get back out.

The final whistle went, with both teams being tired from giving their all to win the match; however, it ended in a fair result of 1-1, which kept the title race open for any team to take top spot.

Swalings Strikers vs. Swalings Titans

With the Swalings Titans having won the first game, they were looking to make it 2-2. However, the Swalings Strikers — coming off their 5-1 hammering last week — were looking to make amends and get their first win of the season.

The Titans took the kick off with Michael Josiah and Jacob Knoll. After some good passing between the Titans, Ethan Bento fired in a quick shot from close range only to be denied by Chris “Safe Hands” Khouly.

The ball was being passed around with both teams stepping up their game with some good exchanges at either end, but the next chance that came close to taking the lead fell to the Strikers. Jerry Aska collected the ball in the Strikers’ half, and laid the ball up field to Tony Hourani who “salad” Tyler Neal and smashed the ball into the Titans’ post, leaving the goals shaking.

From the resulting goal kick, Jonathan Coghlan sent the ball sailing upfield to Michael Josiah, who cut it across goal to Jacob Knoll, who must have lost his bearings and managed to hit the corner flag with his shot.

Some good saves by Jonathan Coghlan and Chris “Safe Hands” Khouly kept the sides at bay. Alex Bento was the next one to go forwards trying to break the deadlock; he went on a dazzling run down the pitch, and when he came up against his big brother, Ethan Bento, he poked the ball one way and ran around the other leaving his brother rooted to the spot like a statue. However, his shot let down his amazing run and was easily snuffed out by Jonathan.

Tony Hourani charges down on Michael Josiah. Michael stayed so calm that you would have thought he was taking a Sunday walk, and performed a drag back Cruyff pass to Amer Hourani, whose sizzling shot fires just over the bar.

The score at half time was 0-0, which was a fair result as both teams showed solid defending and some flair going forwards, but lacked the killer instinct to get the goal.

The second half started poorly for the Swalings Titans, as Michael Josiah made a silly tackle from behind, which resulted in his second yellow card of the season.  The ball went off the pitch for a Strikers corner. Jaiden Wulliez sent in a teasing cross to Jerry Aska, whose shot was fumbled by Jonathan Coughlan and came out to Tony, who fired in a shot whichbounced of Jonathan’s chest and bounced up for Sean Janosek. His volley went as fast as a firework, and exploded into the back of the Swalings Titans net. 1-0 to the Strikers.

After the restart between Tyler Neal and Ethan Bento, Jerry wasted no time in winning it back, with his massive tackle on Ethan, to go on a dribble. Jerry unselfishly passed the ball across goal to Jairo Bailey, whose shot whizzes over the crossbar.  Jonathan sends up a long field goal kick to Amer Hourani, who performs his famous backheel to set Tyler Neal free, who skillfully put the ball into the path of Michael Josiah, whose shot skidded along the ground. But Chris once again lives up to his name of “Safe Hands”, and smothers the ball like a mother smothering their baby with love.

With one minute left on the clock, Ethan Bento collected the ball out wide with his back faced away from the goal, when — for some reason — Jairo Bailey must have thought Ethan Bento was wearing red, because he charged at him like a bull at a red flag and slid in from behind leaving Ethan on the floor in a heap. The red that Jiaro saw in his eyes could have been that of a card from the referee; however, the ref, standing at a good angle, must have seen that he got the ball and only produced a yellow.

With seconds on the clock and Titans in range to let in a dangerous free kick, Michael Josiah lofted the ball infield for Jacob Knoll to try to pitch in a last minute equalizer. However, it was denied by Chris Khouly once again.

The full time whistle, and Strikers had managed to seek revenge from the last time these two sides met. People might say a draw would have been fair, but I’m sure Chris “Safe Hands” Khouly would disagree.

Swalings Titans vs. Swalings Superstars

This game didn’t take long for Bashire to get his first goal, with only two minutes on the clock. Bashire Joseph and Sergie Cheremeteff  playing a well worked a one two, Bashire hit the ball first time, like a rocket on a mission to break the speed barrier, straight into the top left corner.

The second goal didn’t take long to follow — only another minute had passed when Brandon Hadeed chased the ball to stop it going out on the left, turned and passed the ball forward to Bashire who cut infield and shot the ball low between the keeper’s legs.  The frustration was showing on the old league leaders’ faces, the Swalings Titans.

It didn’t take long for the frustration to boil over. Michael Josiah stuck out a leg and helped guide Bashire Joseph over it with a shoulder — the referee could do nothing but show him the yellow card for misconduct. The free kick resulted in a corner which led to a penalty from an infringement inside the box. Bashire Joseph, who could have taken the penalty, let Jay Boswell step up to take it.  Jay unfortunately did not connect with it cleanly and hit it straight at Jacob.  This started a period in which Jacob made 4 top saves, but first he threw the ball upfield to Michael Josiah who turned inwards after controlling the ball well. He shot at goal, however it hit the inside of the post and came back out for him to tap in — however, because he had entered the box, it was not allowed.

The ball was played wide to Tonaj Francis who played the ball to Bashire, whose shot was denied by Jacob as he threw himself to the ground to get to the low shot. The ball came out of his hands to fall at the feet of Jay Boswell, whose shot was tipped over the bar as Jacob was getting back onto his feet.  The corner was then taken short by Sergie passing to Bashire, who put in a floating cross to the back post. However, it was cleared after the shot was fired into Ethan Bento.

The hat trick was coming and it finally came. Bashire took the ball on the right of the pitch and cut infield towards the centre spot. He skipped passed Jonathan Coghlan gracefully, then poked the ball past Jacob into the far corner. The hat trick was complete and history was made.

Michael Josiah almost pulled one back before half time when a close range volley was saved by Justin Bento with his head, although I think Justin didn’t have much say in the matter!

So at half time, the score was 3-0 to the Superstars.

After the half time talk, the Titans grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and got stuck in. They started playing the ball out wide and made the Superstars work for the ball. Although they had a lot of possession in the first 5 minutes, they weren’t do much with it and the Superstars keeper, Brandon Hadeed, only had to deal with a few deflected shots.

However, with 7 minutes gone, the Titans managed to get their goal, through Jacob Knoll. The ball was played long up field to Jacob, who flicked on to Tyler Neal, who passed to Jonathan, who has the knack for long field passes. He heard Jacob screaming for the ball and lofted the ball with precision for Jacob to control and shoot across the goal past Brandon Hadeed.

The game was now much more open, with the ball being pinned around by some fantastic passing and with lives being thrown on the line to stop any more goals, especially by Amer Hourani of the Titans, who was diving left, right and centre to break up the Superstars play.  However, the game only offered a couple more shots at either goal with both teams trying to pass and move at pace, but superb defending from both sides when the ball got into a dangerous position snuffed out any problem with well-timed tackles.

So the ending result, 3-1, was a well deserved victory for the Swalings Superstars, yet with the Titans making sure that they had to defend well to keep that win.

Swalings Panthers vs. Swalings Strikers

Another game of firsts, with Swalings Panthers scoring 5 goals (3 of them being ‘unstoppable shots’), the first international transfer, and also for the hand ball incident which saw another yellow card.

Panthers started the game with Jesse Frankel passing to Matthew Massiah. The game didn’t take long for the Panthers to start to dominate and get on top of some poor defending by the Strikers, however Alex Bento was keeping the Strikers in the game with some firm saves getting his body behind the ball.

However the goal eventually came with 6 minutes gone on the clock. Andre Amour picked the ball up and squeezed the ball through the Strikers defence, with the ball going just wide, diverted by a full stretching Matthew Massiah who managed to poke the ball with his toe past the clutches of the Swalings Strikers’ goalie.

Now the Panthers really turned up the heat, with wave after wave of attack. The next goal came shortly after with Luciano Anacreonte, on loan from Arsenal Youth Squad. The ball rebounded from the save and Luciano took the ball under control, skipped passed the oncoming Jerry Aska with the skill of the Dutch Master, Dennis Bergkamp, and placed the ball past Alex into the far corner.

With the only real attack of the first half, The Swalings Strikers were denied, however the referee saw an infringement in the box by a Panther player, so the referee points to the penalty spot. Jerry Aska steps up, and his shot is hit so furiously that on its way in off the post, it snapped the post in half — literally. Thank goodness Cool and Smooth have sponsored new goals for next season.

However, the Panthers didn’t let this affect them and kept the pressure on. Andre Amour collected the ball in the centre of the park, saw the opening and blasted the ball into the top right of the Strikers’ goal. This goal  will be on most people’s minds when selecting for goal of the season. Richard Coghlan, the Panthers goalie, hasn’t had any pressure on his goal since the penalty, and takes this opportunity to sit down and examine his nails to the astonishment of his coaches and team mates!

So as the first half comes to an end the Panthers are in the lead 3-1.

Only a minute of after the restart, the Panthers steal the ball from the Strikers and play the ball through to Matthew Massiah, who skillfully slots the ball past Tony Hourani. The Panthers started the game where they left off.  Matthew, now on route for his hat trick, is about to shoot when Jerry Aska slides into deny him with a beautifully timed challenge. Andre Amour, now knowing the distance it takes to score, winds up another power house shot past the clutches of Tony to get his second for the game.

With a comfortable lead, you would think that The Panthers would take their foot off the gas — however, with both Matthew and Andre looking for hat tricks, it was not to be the case, mounting attack after attack on the Strikers goal. However, Tony Hourani had had enough and was doing a fine job of denying them any more chances by making fine saves in both corners. Without these, the game could have easily reached double figures.

With minutes left on the clock, Tnoiy Charles had a moment of madness when he must of thought he had the goal keeping gloves on — the ball was lobbed up the pitch by Sean Janosek, looking to set Alex Bento free; however, Tnoiy stuck up his arms, grabbed the ball and threw it up the field to Jesse Frankel.  The referee had no choice but to book Tnoiy for the mindless error.

So the game came to an end with the Panthers having been a whirlwind of terror for the Strikers, with the game finishing 5-1.

Swalings Titans Vs Swalings Panthers

What would start to be a slow first half would ignite into a fire cracker! The league leaders, Swalings Titans, went into this game 2 points clear of the Swalings Panthers, looking to extend their winning start to 2 out of 2 wins, and it didn’t take them long to get that lead.

After the Panthers having the best chances early on to go ahead, the ball went down to the far corner of the Panthers half for a Titan throw.  Then what would seem a bizarre event of 5 foul throws, three from the Titans and two from the Panthers, the Swalings Panthers threw it long to Jesse Frankel, who looked infield to Matthew Massiah, who had left the Titans defence in his wake, he continued to tear down on goal and made a delicate pass that seeked out Andre Amour who fired a snap shot at the Titans goal. Unfortunately the shot only managed to go down the throat of Michael Josiah.

Michael, always quick to get the ball rolling took one look up, and threw the ball to Jonathan Coghlan, who without controlling the ball, hooked it up field, to his fellow team mate and Swalings Intertops Cup debutant, Jacob Knoll.  Jacob took the ball down well at knee height, then having to spin on a six pence, let loose a ferocious half volley, that Steven Gerard would have been proud of, into the top right corner of the goal.  Richard Coghlan could do nothing but turn and collect the ball out of his net. Both teams were left stunned, Panthers for having such an amazing goal scored against them and the Titans for taking the lead, in what they thought would be a 3-0 slaughter to the Panthers.

The rest of the half ticked by with both teams struggling to keep possession long enough to do anything dangerous with. The whistle went with the Titans going into the second half with a 1-0 advantage.

The Swalings Panthers seemed to shake of the hangover of the 1st half and came out with all guns blazing.  Matthew Massiah decided enough was enough and collected the ball deep inside his own half, turned and saw Ethan Bento stampeding towards him, Matthew cool as a cucumber, tucks the ball back inside to go around Ethan, and goes of on a run, beating defenders along the way to place the ball in for Andre Amour who again was denied by Michael Josiah resulting in a Panthers corner. The Panthers who whip in a cross, the first shot by Kenford James is denied by the Titans goalie, Michael, but bounces back and both teams fight for the ball on the edge of the box, it rolls out to Jesse Frankel, who can only slash the ball wide.

Michael plays it out to Amer Hourani, Titans goal scorer from their last game, who plays his famous back heel to set Destinee Doumith on a run. Destinee is about to pass the ball but first performs a ballet type jump over some pasta that’s on the pitch which looks a like a lasagna, with the ball at her feet she looks up and plays in Tyler Neal, who miss controls it but manages to regain possession and lets of a shot straight at Justin Hadeed between the sticks.

With all of the Titans having charged forward for the attack, Nadeem Doumith was left up field by himself, Justin rolls the ball out to Tnoiy Charles, who doesn’t need a second invitation, gives a cross field kick up to Nadeem, Nadeem with only the goalie to beat turns and shoots into the goal. 1-1.

The Swalings Titans, if not feeling devastated from conceding a goal didn’t have to wait long till they would. The re-start is taken and Jacob Knoll tries to set Tyler Neal free down the middle but is denied by Jesse Frankel. The ball is played out to Matthew who with a quick one two with Tnoiy Charles, looks up and sends the ball through a sea of Titan players to Nadeem.  Nadeem keeps his cool to shoot first time just past the clutches of Michael Josiah.  The Panthers go ballistic running around and cheering.

However the Titans weren’t going to roll over and die, and the Panthers weren’t going to sit and defend, the game now turning into a more of a table tennis game, with the ball pinging from end to end, the keepers being kept busy, from close range shots to far range shots.  Michael Josiah, being the busier of the two has to stay on his toes, and does so by making a fine save denying young Richard Coghlan his first goal tipping his shot onto the cross bar back into his hands.  With seconds remaining, Michael passes left to Ethan Bento, who plays a long ball down to Amer Hourani.  Amer on the bounce looks up and hooks the ball towards the Panthers goal, the shot dipping in to the far right corner, is denied by the big flat palm of Justin Hadeed, if it had not been for that moment of brilliance the Game would surely have finished 2-2!

The final whistle goes, Panthers ecstatic with the win start celebrating knowing they are league leaders and the unfortunate Titans can do nothing but look forward to next week to get back into the title race!

Swalings Strikers vs. Swalings Superstars

This game didn’t take long to get into action, with the Strikers looking for their first points and the Superstars looking to get to the top of the table.

With only 60 seconds on the clock the Superstars are awarded a penalty for an infringement by the Strikers. Sergei Chermeteff steps up to the spot, only to be denied by Chris Khouly, who gets his full frame behind the ball.

The game goes on with both goalies being worked hard.  Brandon Hadeed, goalkeeping for the Superstars, kicks the ball up to Bashire Joseph, who is eager to take the lead for his team and the running of the Swalings Golden boot, turns and lets of a stinging shot, that Chris Khouly can only parry to take the venom out of it, Chris then has to scramble to dive on the ball before Tonaj Francis can have a shot.  Chris then gets up, kicks the ball through to Tony Hourani, who skilfully “salads” (nutmeg, puts the ball through the legs and run around to collect it) Justin Bento, then with what seems to be the speed of Usain Bolt, runs towards the Superstars goal and skillfully without pausing rifles the shot past Brandon Hadeed who is left rooted to the spot.

The Superstars take a quick kick off, with Justin Bento and Tonaj Francis who pass back to Sergei and onto Bashrie only to be denied by a solid tackle by the youngest player in the cup, Alex Bento, Alex who retained possession from the Souness like tackle passes up field for Jaiden Wulliez to collect cleanly and cross the ball to the unmarked Jerry Aska who is denied by a super save at the hands of Brandon Hadeed.

Half time comes and goes with both teams looking to win.

The restart is taken by Sean Janosek and Alex Bento, they pass the ball back to Jerry Aska who finds out the hard way that Brandon Hadeed is now an outfield player when Brandon wins the ball cleanly but the tackle is so strong that it sends Jerry into the middle of next week, the ref waves play on, Brandon playing to the whistle lays off to Sergei Cheremeteff whose shot is caught by Chris Khouly. Chris quickly gets the ball going again, by rolling it out to Sean Janosek, who works the ball forward to Tony Hourani who has done a looping run around the inside of him, but is stopped dead in his tracks by a last ditch tackle by Tonaj Francis, the tackle rolls out to her team mate, Jay Boswell, who has just made the step up from the U6’s. Jay, looks up only to find Jerry Aska steaming towards him.  The ball goes out from the tackle.

Jay quick to react throws the ball into Bashire Joseph, who turns skillfully only to be denied by Jerry Aska.  Jerry quickly ships the ball up field to Jaden Wuilliez who fires a quick shot at goal that needs the reactions of a cat from Superstars goalie Justin Bento to deny Jaden his first Swalings Cup goal.

Bashire, who has been marked so tightly by the Strikers, after hearing how dangerous he was in the 1st game, is denied by a superb save by Chris Khouly, then another save by him from Brandon Hadeed, and another by Tonaj Francis, and another shot by Jay Boswell being rejected by Chris Khouly, at this rate, Chris is going to get the nickname Safe hands, pulling saves off like this, he reminds me of the great England and Arsenal goalkeeper David “safe hands” Seaman.

With only 1 minute left on the clock Bashire breaks free from a loose ball on the left, he storms on the Strikers goal like a man possessed and manages to poke the ball towards the goal before Alex Bento can tackle him, the ball goal bound, is deflected by the outstretched foot of Chris Khouly onto the post, the ball takes a nasty bounce for ‘Safe Hands’ it bounces off the post and into the back of the goal. 1-1, the game is tied with 45 seconds left.

The Strikers take a quick kick off before the Superstars can get back into place quickly the ball is passed long to Tony Hourani who has made a darting run through the Superstars defence firing a shot at Justin Bento, who stays strong and brings the ball well into his chest. Quickly he rolls the ball out to Jay Boswell, who passes through the on charging Sean Janosek, to Tonaj Francis, Tonaj tries to pass the ball on but it is intercepted by Alex Bento who kicks the ball long up the pitch to the sound of the final whistle.

An exciting game finishes 1-1, some may see it as a lucky draw for the Superstars some might see it as the fitting way for the game to end.

Swalings Soccer training session starts off with the players doing their warm up, drills and exercises, to better their football skills.

After training it’s Game On! The Teams have been chosen, the children now know who they are to do battle with and against for the remainder of the season.

16:59:55… 16:59:56… 16:59:57… 16:59:58… 16:59:59… 17:00:00. The whistle blows and Swalings Cup is under way.

Swalings Strikers vs. Swalings Titans

Swalings Strikers take the kick of with Sean Janosek and Jerry Aska getting the game started.

The first 5 minutes of the game is brilliant – passing and crunching tackles coming in from both teams to stop any real first shot on goal, 7 minutes into the game the ball is played through to Jonathan Coghlan who takes a big swing at the ball only for it to go inches past the ’Strikers’ post.  Unlucky for the ‘Titans’ not to go 1-0 up.  But that didn’t hold the ‘Strikers’ back from going straight up to the other end with Jerry Aska putting in a diving volley only for it to be put wide by Michael Josiah at the bottom right of the goal.  With minutes remaining of the 1st half Ethan Bento is set loose with a long throw by Michael Josiah, Ethan tearing down on goal with only the ‘Strikers’ keeper to beat, Ethan’s brother Alex Bento, lets lose a cannon of a shot straight at Alex. The ball bounces back towards Ethan who lets loose another shot, only to be denied again by Alex. Again the ball bounces back out to Ethan who is about to shoot, only to be denied by a last ditch tackle by Jaden Wuilliez.

Half time comes and the game is tied at 0-0.

2nd half is under way.  The game could swing either way with both teams giving it their all from the go.  Alex Bento who has swapped his gloves with Jaden Wuilliez in goal almost takes the lead for the ‘Strikers’ only to be denied by a fine leg save by Chris Khouly who has swapped with Michael Josiah.

With half of the 2nd half gone, Amer Hourani gets the ball on the far right, bringing the ball down under control, turns and lets loose with his left foot, GOAL! The ball is struck to hard for Jaden to react in time and of goes Amer, tearing it down the pitch in wild celebration.  With the minutes ticking away and nothing left to lose the ‘Strikers’ are running wild, with the ball pinging from one end of the pitch to the next.

The next chance comes through Destinee Doumith who passes down to Michael Josiah, Michael who cuts inside only to see his shot go over the bar. Jaden thanking his lucky stars that the ball went over his cross bar (and inches over his head).  The ball is then played short to Alex Bento who has been in battle with his brother Ethan throughout the whole game, clears the ball up field, and from out of no where you see Jairo Bailey, who hasn’t stopped being a nuisance for the ‘Titans’ defenders all game, charging down every ball they try to clear, tears it across the pitch onto Alex’s clearance only to see his shot go wide of the far post.

With seconds remaining, Jonathan Coghlan throws the ball into Destinee who controls the ball brilliantly, looks up and plays a defence splitting pass to Michael Josiah, Michael with what seems all the time in the world is about to let lose a shot when you see Jerry Aska throwing in a last second effort sliding tackle to knock the ball out.

The final whistle blows.  Swalings Titans win 1-0, but it was a great game of football with all the children giving their all for the entire 30 minutes.

Swalings Super Stars vs. Swalings Panthers.

With Panthers winning the toss, they choose for kick off with Matthew Massiah and Nadeem Doumith taking it.

What is to be an action packed game gets going almost immediately — only 4 minutes into the game a goal is scored. Sahyen Smith of the ‘Super Stars’ turns to see fellow team mate Bashire Joesph screaming for the ball in open space, collects it and fires in a close range shot to beat the ‘Panthers’ goalie.  First blood has been drawn in the Swalings Cup and it goes to the ‘Super Stars’.

The ‘Panthers’ however don’t let this take the wind out of their sails — with only a further 3 minutes gone Swalings Panthers pull a goal back.  A brilliant through ball from Justin Hadeed for the speedy Matthew Massiah to chase with only 3 touches, one to control one to knock on and another to rocket it high into the net of the of the Swalings Super Stars goal.  What a game this is turning out to be.

The ‘Panthers’ aren’t looking for a draw today though and press forward through Nadeem who is stopped in his tracks by a super tackle from Sahyen Smith.  GOAL!

The ball is thrown in by Sergei Chermeteff to be controlled on the knee of Bashire Joesph to then quickly turn and half Volley the ball across the ‘Panthers’ goal.  ‘Super Stars’ have taken the lead again to make it 2-1.

The ‘Panthers’ don’t give up though with seconds ticking on the clock Justin Hadeed winds up to strike only to be denied by a superb timed tackle of Nashon Matthews.

Half Time

Second half kicks off and the ‘Super Stars’ waste no time in wanting to extend their lead, with Justin Bento having the ball bounce to him from a tackle made by team mate Brandon Hadeed, fires of a quick shot only to be denied by a brilliant diving save from ‘Panthers’ goalie Richard Coghlan.

With about 8 minutes remaining the Panthers instead of going into defensive mode, have nothing to lose and give it their all.  ’Panthers’ charge down on the ‘Super stars’ goal to be denied again by a last minute tackle from the only girl on the pitch Tonaj Francis.  The ’Panthers’ still on the attack, turning up the pressure are denied again when Matthew Massiah shoots only to be blocked by the ‘Super Stars’ rock of a defender Sergei Chermeteff. However the ball rolls into the path of the advancing Nadeem Doumith who is about to pull the trigger only to be stopped in his tracks again by Sergei Chermeteff.

Minutes now remaining and Panthers give one last assault on the Super Stars goal, Matthew Massiah goes on a dazzling dribble fending of ‘Super stars’ defenders left right and centre, now one on one with the goalie pokes it to the left and… GOAL! The ‘Panthers’ have equalised with 2 minutes remaining on the clock.

However this doesn’t stop the Swalings Super Stars who take a quick kick off. The ‘Panthers’ who are still in joy over equalising don’t see the ball played through to Bashire Joseph, who lets off a curling shot form the left to be denied by the towering Toniy Charles who puts it over the crossbar.

The final whistle goes and the score finishes 2-2 which is a fair result as both teams went head to head in a smashing game.

Tune in next week for the results! Match commentary for the League Leaders Swalings Titans who take on The Swalings Panthers and The Swalings Super Stars go up against the Swalings Strikers.