The gods seemed to be conspiring against Phoenix, who were dealt a few blows before even a ball was kicked. Yet far from being a cursed team, Phoenix showed great spirit to come back from behind to win their fourth consecutive game. After some very unfortunate pull outs prior to kick off, Phoenix looked likely to be starting with ten men, but after some speculative recruitment, aided by the ref’s poor tardiness , we managed to scrape eleven players together thanks to Mike. Mike joined Jules upfront, and Toby dropped into centre midfield alongside ‘The Babymaker’, who were flanked by Pete on the right and Dens on the left.
With a wet surface the ball was skidding quickly of the grass, and the opening ten minutes were a scrappy affair, with both teams sloppily giving the ball away. The deadlock was broken just after the ten minute mark, a Harpo hoof managed to evade the back four, allowing the Harpo striker to run into the box and finish well into the corner. Harpo certainly looked the hungrier of the sides, and literally in the keeper’s case, as Harpo appeared to persuade a local vagrant to play between the sticks.
The chance of a comeback was given a massive blow when, following an elbow to the side of the head, Bradley was forced to go off with a suspected concussion. Again lady luck was not on our side. With only ten men on the pitch, Toby swapped with Jules and Dens dropped to left back, allowing pat to push forward on the left. However, Phoenix are no strangers to chasing a game, having conceded early goals in their last two matches, and within fifteen minutes we were 2:1 up. The first goal came courtesy of a quality header from Pete, who rose above the Harpo defence to power home a Jules corner. Two minutes later Jules unleashed a powerful free-kick from 25 yards out, which the keeper could only fumble out to Mike who finished with a typical poachers goal.
Against all odds, Phoenix found themselves in the lead going into the second half, and were granted a gift from the gods in the guise of Leo, who slotted into a Nani like role almost instantaneously. With eleven men on the pitch, Phoenix started to play some football, and despite Harpo attempts to get another goal, Phoenix looked dangerous on the attack, with Pete, Toby and Leo all coming close. In some great flowing counter-attacking football, Pheonix grabbed a third late on to settle the match once and for all. Leo sprinting down the left found Fernando Denselow in the box who finished first time into the top left-hand corner, his sixth goal in four games! In the dying minutes of the game, Phoenix managed to grab a forth, with the impressive Mike lofting the ball into the far corner of the net from outside the box.
An excellent display from Phoenix puts them in line for the championship, and next week sees a must win against TPR. Man of the Match award goes to Jules, who had an absolute blinder, providing two assists whilst bossing the midfield with some mazy runs and generally being nice and vocal. Which we like! Hasta la victoria siempre!!!!!!!!
