It was a damp, cold afternoon that saw the Raiders take on the defending league champs, Sea Collection.  The Raiders showed up enthusiastic and eager only to find the game delayed some 45 minutes.

After waiting out the light rain under the shelter the Raiders took to the pitch in their classic 4-4-2 formation.  Jamie and Olly made up for two very tall center back while Vincent and Pete, slightly shorter, handled the fullback positions.  Height continued to decrease the further you looked up the pitch as Mic and Andy took control of the center of the midfield with Gary on the right wing and Sipho on the left.  In fact the midfield definitely lacked a certain height to it, more on this later.  Up top there was a little height but not too much.  Coach Colin chose Nico and Wouter to start at striker this week.

Let’s not forget about the bench as there was some height there as well.  Ohashi, Pat, Scott, Hoggy, Sean, and Daniel Vo made up the cast that kept the sideline warm and tall.  However, some were able to keep it warmer and taller than others.

The match kicked off and the opposition had nine men.  I only point this out becuas the Raiders first goal came from a sloppy run of play from the defending league champs, as Wouter latched onto a loose ball and buried it in the back of the net to put the Raiders up 1-0.  Let’s go to Wouter for a quick quote after being subbed off with the score 1-1:  “I already got my goal so this has been a successful day.”  Cheers Wouter.

As mentioned previously Sea Collection got one back.  The back four were caught a little too high and not quite tall enough as a ball over the top found the feet of a Sea Collection striker who calmly tapped it by Mirko to even the game at 1-1.

Coach Colin continued to use his substitutes well putting Scott in for Mic early on.  Scott provided the team with solid passing and strong tackles.  Next off the bench came Hoggy, but that only lasted a few minutes as he picked up a card and an ankle injury, hopefully he’s back on the pitch soon.

After Hoggy’s injury Sean came on and we saw a quick link up between two substitutes.  Scott his a gem of a corner right on to Sean’s head/shoulder and into the back of the net, 2-1 Raiders.

Another scorching run by Sipho up the wing left a group of Sea Collection players lying on the ground he whipped a ball in that made it all the way to the back post, where Scott calmly slotted it into the far corner.  3-1 Raiders.

Now came the turkey moment.  Pat came on the pitch, wound up Collection’s right back, got him a yellow card, then found himself quickly back on the bench to avoid the “flash point”.  The manager is always right.

The final goal came from Andy who broke free himself and fired a shot that took a solid deflection and found the back of the net.  He deserved one anyway so don’t look too much into that deflection.

All in all the Raiders put in a solid performance all across the pitch today.  Ohashi had some great hold up play off the bench.  Pete was calm, cool, and collected as usual.  The twin towers cleaned up the mess at the back and Vincent again made some great runs forward from right back.  Gary was strong in the tackle and Daniel Vo even more so in the air.  Nico provided his normal tricks and consistently sparked an attack for the Raiders.

Onto Hotshots.