FC77 Rangers 4, Blue Monk 1

Scorers:  (Foubister 10', McConnachie 44', Ntini 65', Muralt 78')

Rangers got back to their winning ways on Match Day Seven of the GPSD O-30 Third Division season with an impressive 4-1 victory in the 'Gers-Blue Monk derby. After two consecutive 2-2 draws, the squad was hoping to put together a total match and ensure maximum points in order to stay ahead of Controlled Chaos and Petro Kickers in the table...which is just what they did.  Solid defensive play, four sexy goals, and a midfield that was up and back for ninety minutes ensured the Yellow and Black would not lose ground in the hunt for the Rose City championship.  It was one of those matches that, if we did determine Man of the Match honors, would have been equally split between all fourteen 'Gers players who suited up...

Comfortable fall temperatures encouraged a healthy complement of approximately twenty spectators at the Montessori Earth School.  Monk had a full roster of 12-13 players, ensuring both sides would be at full strength.  As the 4:00 p.m. kick-off neared, all that was missing was...a goalkeeper.  With Dan Calkins out of town and Brett Baumgarte's whereabouts unknown, FC77 Newcastle keeper Bruce Barclay graciously accepted Ingersoll's offer to fill in and the starting XI was complete. Playing his second match in three hours, Barclay managed the sticks while ably defended by Jim Seaton, Jim Snyder, Mike Pullen, and Brian "Big Cajones" Bauman; the midfield was comprised of Ron Burden on the left wing, Thom Fahrbach on the right wing, and the familiar duo of Aaron Radigan and Matt Muralt in the middle; and up front the strikers were Gary Foubister and James "I'm Not a Winger" McConnachie.  Sean-Scott Ingersoll--happily recovered from his hamstring pull--and Mark Vogel were the reserves as of kick-off, with Malvern Ntini arriving around the 30th minute to play the role of "super sub."  Due to local media blackout restrictions, photos and video were not available for press release.

The match started promptly with 'Gers defending the Powell Street End, absorbing an early Monk foray into our half before eventually breaking out and opening the scoring around the tenth minute.  Forsaking the direct route long ball as we have played in the past, the home side unleashed a silky smooth run down the far side that saw the ball go forward to McConnachie, who took it close to the end line before back heeling it to Burden.  Burden in turn dropped a trademark sexy cross into the middle and onto the feet of Foubister, who was rushing forward on a delayed run.  The Scotsman deftly took it onto his left foot and, in the immortal (grossly overused) words of ESPN soccer commentator Tommy Smyth, "put it into the old onion bag!" with a strike to the back corner.  It was a passing sequence worthy of a certain north London Premiership club whose name I will not mention [hint:  the first four letters are "Arse!"] and it deservedly put the home side up 1-0.

Blue Monk rallied with a quick response of their own about five minutes later.  I honestly don't remember the details of their score, but I seem to recall it was a decent goal and not a lame deflection, so in the spirit of good sportsmanship, "well done."  I also know that Bob Switzer from Blue Monk will be reading this match report and because I really like the guy and his squad, I won't trash them like I do other squads in our division [hint: one team rhymes with "A flurry!"]  Why do I know Bob will be reading this?  Because he plays on my indoor team and, around the thirtieth minute of the derby, he took a smashing rocket shot on our goal that was bravely defended and blocked...by Bauman's junk.  A veritable "three man wall" if you will took the full force of the shot and kept Barclay from having to dive left for a save.  Before collapsing to the pitch in agony, Bauman did kick the ball out of bounds as the entire collection of male spectators all grimaced in unison and moaned, "Ohhh!"  In an exclusive interview with FC77rangers.blogspot.com, Switzer confessed why he didn't score later on:  "Frankly, after hitting Bauman in the crotch, a goal would have been a let down by comparison."  

Ntini came on in the fourtieth minute as a sub and immediately stirred things up on the front line with his characteristic dribbling.  Four minutes later, McConnachie scored a sublime goal--oh yes, I did use the word "sublime"--when he took a feed from the midfield just outside the top of the box and lofted a beauty of a shot over the keeper.  It dropped just under the crossbar and put 'Gers up 2-1 at the half.

Full of confidence, Rangers pressed the match in search of a third and kept the lion's share of possession and play in the attacking half.  The back line did a masterful job of making sure Barclay was bored and, more importantly, keeping the attacking threat of Monk's Lonnie in check.  Ntini scored the third Ranger goal in the 65th minute when he took a thundering header from Radigan (I believe) and ran through the Monk back line, isolating the keeper and slamming home the shot from almost the six yard line.  The last goal, about twelve minutes from time, saw Muralt and Foubister rush a ball through the center and past the goalkeeper.  Muralt got credit for the strike, but Foubister followed it in to make sure there was no doubt.

All in all, it was a comfortable team performance and gave us our first double over our derby opponents in team history.  Without any new injuries to worry about, the squad is full of confidence as they go into the much anticipated replay against the Azzurri next week.  Speaking of which...

Next match:

FC77 Rangers vs. Azzurri

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

Montessori Earth School

12:00 Noon KO - Important!  Note the new time!