THE FIRST
HALF
The game was pretty even for around 20 minutes, with some good movement
and passing by both teams. But conceding a corner proved to be very costly
and a free header at the near post broke the deadlock for the Wirral Nomads.
As usual though, we only started playing after conceding the first goal,
and we stepped up a gear in our attacking play. Good distribution of the
ball by the defence to the midfield came together and some good passes
by Dave Liu, Chris Hesletine and Wah put pressure on the Nomads backline.
Ian was a threat down the left, taking on the right-back when he could
and helping out well in defence. But a great ball through by Chris had
Mike Yee one-and-one with the Nomad keeper and he touched the ball passed
for a simple tap in. But Mike was taken down by the goalie and awarded
a penalty.
Mike Yee stepped up and sent the Nomad keeper the wrong way for a deserved
equaliser. 1-1.
The team pulled together really well at this stage and had the Wirral
Nomads on the back-foot, and another great through ball found Mike Yee
on the left side. Mike took on a defender and was brought down again in
the penalty! Surely another penalty! But the referee waved play on and
the Wirral Chinese were robbed of a legitimate penalty kick!
We kept the attacking movement going and some good midfield possession
resulted in Dave Liu releasing the ball to Roger Ho on the edge of the
area. He let the ball run through his legs and it ran on to Mike Yee.
He took the ball in his stride and was one-on-one with the keeper again.
He played the ball across for a tap in for Ian Chan but the ball ran too
quick and the opportunity was missed. The Wirral Nomads got a second goal
against the run of play and nicked a 2-1 lead going into half time.
THE SECOND
HALF
The effects of playing two demanding matches in 5 days began to show and
the Wirral Chinese started to look slightly tired in the second period,
with passes going astray and possession given away easily. We managed
to make a good account of ourselves however and only conceded one more
goal in the second half. We defended well but our killer instinct was
lacking and we only make one or two decent openings. The pick of the bunch
was our second goal scored by Wah. Some great skill and attacking play
by Captain Roger Ho on the left wing was completed with an accurate cross
into the middle of the box. Wah's positioning was spot on and he managed
to emphatically head the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal!
A great finish!
The game ended 3-2 to the Wirral Nomads, the exact same score the last
time we met them about 3 weeks ago!
OVERALL
Some good play was complemented with solid performances by the back four
and midfield, as well as hard work from Captain Roger Ho and Mike Yee
up front. There were a few dodgy decisions by the referee against us today
which could (and should) have tipped the game in our favour, especially
in the first half. Richard Armitage in goal had another decent performance,
coming quick off his line and making a couple of vital saves.