Angels v/s Silent Valley
There was a lot of speculation regarding this match as Silent Valley was the only unbeaten team in the league after Deccan 'C'. The latter exited in the first round losing to Scorpions. Silent Valley seemed like a disciplined and organised team much to our surprise as we thought those attributes were not a feature of any other P.D.F.A team other than the Angels. As usual the Angels were on time and on high adrenalin. The boys were, surprisingly, very relaxed. Maybe they were very confident or they did not realise how important the match really was.
Team talk was short and gossip was excessive. Not surprisingly we found it hard to find the rythm that was the undoing of all our opponents in the league phases. The result of no regular practice had taken its toll on the co-ordination between the players. But 15 minutes into the first half.....Surprise Surprise. The attacking players suddenly found their groove and chances were flying in from all sides. Rahul pace down the right flank made it seem like he was playing with kids half his age. With umesh, Tong and Amal adding to the brigade on the right the opponents were clueless about everything they did. The left hand side was equally menacing; with Akil, Ajinkya fooling around with defenders and Nitin and Bakhang assisting in making a complete mockery of their attempts to win the ball. It was only a matterof when would we initiate the scoring.
Silent Valley did get a couple of breaks but unfortunately for them, Rohan was on fire. I doubt if Rohan had to even use his complete pace in the match. And if Rohan was gotten over they were gunned down by Bakhang. Siddharth hardly had to flex his muscles. Second half was the same story. Akil was squandering chances after chances and ajinkya was trying to outdo him. Then Umesh joined in the 'miss brigade' lobbing the ball inches away from the goal, in what could have been the goal of the season. In the end it came down to the dreaded PENALTY SHOOT OUTS. ..... Brrrrrrr.
The Angles line up.
Umesh, Tong, Akil, Nitin, Amal
The Silent valley line up.
Dumd Head, Dumb Ass, Frankenstein, Brainless, Ogre
Final Score 3-2 to the Angels.
Umesh Amal and Akil converting. But Akil only just &
Nitin And Tong Unlucky. But Tong only just.
Angles v/s Range Hills Milan
Semi Finals
The Angels were more focussed for this fixture. finally the importance of the match had finally sunk in. Every player was ready to push his limit and had only one thing on their mind. VICTORY.
The match started with all the Angels tuned into one frequency and passing the ball around, poking the opposition for openings. Rohan and Bakhang again doing what they do best. Set up a force field around our goal. It was up to the attackers now to end the deadlock. This happened in the 20th minute via an extremely fast counter-attack. Rohan intercepted the ball, played it to Amal who slipped it through to AKil. Akil jabbed the ball square to Hanuman who took his time and placed the ball sweetly into the right bottom corner of the net. The Monkey God scores!!
Thereafter, to put it with out causing much disrespect to our opponents, would be to say they were mere spectators to the Angels domination. Passing got more and more fluid with every touch and the ball was won back with effortless ease, if lost. First half ended with Range hills wanting go back home real soon.
Much to the ordeal of Range Hills the second half did start. BUt soon the Angels began taking matters for granted and harldy had possession or control over the second half. After lousily play for 10 minutes, The Angels woke up and my goodness.... there were tackles flying in everywhere. Signs of an Angels domination were looming overthe second half too when....
One of the Range hills villagers realised its getting dark fast and appeals for bad light. The ref comfirms less than a minute of play left. but the team decide to walk out with the Ref pleading to continue play for remaing seconds. The Angles were flabblergasted at this display of outmost sportsmanship and at the ref for his outstanding control over the matter. (i'm being sarcastic if u haven't realised yet.)
Angels have lodged a protest letter and will pursue the issue till the doors of WIFA(Western Indian Football Association) if a fair and just call isn't made.
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