Astaka 1 - 1 Asterix Reds (SSLKL Cup)

In the second of our 5 SSLKL Cup qualifying group matches, we 
travelled up to Saujana to take on Astaka on the large expanses of 
the Japanese School football pitch. We were perhaps not at our best, 
but to their credit, a much improved Astaka battled well for a 1-1 draw.

We were fielding a strong outfit. Your scribe successfully managed 
to wangle his way back into the starting eleven, even if it was only 
for his ability to lose the other 2 central midfielders en route to 
the ground. We departed Esso at Maarof sharply at 3:50pm leaving Ian 
Quirk (who still contends he arrived at 3:47pm) somewhat stranded and 
out of the starting line up. One down. Next was Dave Jones who I 
managed to lose on the second toll on the NKVE. With the centre 
midfield wide open I was more than happy to step back into the team! 
I love it when a plan comes together.

Both teams started brightly, with Astaka showing a great deal of 
endeavour. They were sharp, committed, held the ball well and closed 
us down quickly when we had the ball. We created some chances early 
on and Stuart Cavens came closest with a futsal styled toe poke that 
went just wide of the far post. Astaka turned our defence once or 
twice with well placed balls from deep. And it was a long ball from 
the left flank which put their striker through on goal. He beat our 
defence and netted a superb volley for the opener. In response, Ian 
Quirk came with a coat of paint of leveling with a nice volley of his 
own which hit the underside of the bar. And despite continued 
pressure from Asterix, we didn't force the equaliser and went in at 
half time a goal to the bad.

We talked at half time about remaining patient and duly dominated the 
game after the restart. We kept the ball well and used the full 
width of the park. Mark Jones came close to scoring with a header 
from a corner. Being camped in the Astaka half, a good opening was 
inevitable and it eventually fell to Terry Harris who produced an 
assured finish to level the match. We felt we could go on to win and 
continued to play the game in the Astaka half. But despite our 
pressure we didn't create any great opportunities to win it. Astaka 
showed some endeavour and also came close to scoring after a couple 
of breaks down the right. (For the record, your scribe was by now 
playing at right back. Ahem.) But one each is how it ended; a 
result neither team can reasonably complain about.

Drinks were poorly attended; only four people showed up. We were 
however, duly entertained by Tom Sarginson's claims that a lacrosse 
is the only sport where the playing field has no touchlines (a loose 
comparison to the pitch at the Japanese School). Honestly, it was 
worth the trip to JnR just to hear that little pearl! Special credit 
goes to Andy. Despite having his girlfriend in town from Australia 
for a short visit, he still made the trip to JnR and enjoyed a few 
beers with Stu, Tom and me. It puts to shame those lads that don't 
show up for post-match drinks citing the woes of wives and 
girlfiends! At the end of the day we all play football for the 
social scene, hence I'd like to ask for a greater effort in attending 
the post-match drinks. Having a few beers, sharing a few stories and 
partaking in some banter with your team mates is what football - dare 
I say it, sport - is all about!

Next week we travel to Linatex to play BMFC in the league. The match 
takes place on Saturday and I have been informed by our newly elected 
social secretary that the match will be followed by our proven method 
of social entertainment: an Asterix Reds Big Night Out. Look for 
emails from Stuart with the details. I'll send the evites for 
training and next week match tonight. Please - as you did last week 
- reply promptly.

Wolves 0 - 3 Asterix Reds (SSLKL Cup)

The game was a cup match where unusually both sides would get more 
than the proverbial "one bite at the cherry" as the format is a 
league round robin stage with the top two teams qualifying for the 
knockout phase of the comp. Asterix had to deal with a combination 
of injuries and non availability to field a team. This necessitated 
a few changes, including a debut in net for Lucky Harris. And as 
luck would have it, Wolves came for a draw, and played with only one 
forward for all of the first half, which meant limited action for 
Harris. Much to the relief of the team as in a moment of indecison, 
during Wolves only foray into the Asterix final third, Harris ran out 
of box in sweeper mode only for the ball to be put through his legs. 
Fortunately, cover was onhand to clear the danger.

Asterix played all of the football in the first half, and just about 
all of it in the Wolves half. There were a number of good crosses 
whipped across the goal mouth, from Grimmy, Quirky and a vicious 
inswinging corner from Stu, which we failed to get in on the end 
of. Halftime 0 - 0.

Second half began in much the same way as the first, and it took some 
patience and discipline to continue the passing game that was 
encouraged by all. Finally, breakthrough! A curled ball down the 
inside left channel by Kish, was misjudged by Wolves centre half and 
Adam out muscled the remaining defender to poke the ball by past the 
keeper. Once the seal was broken more was to follow.

A second goal duly arrived after a lovely flowing move, a cross by 
Stu and a good finish by Tom Sarginson. Stu promptly left the pitch 
to drop off folks at the airport, and missed the best goal of the 
game. Grimmy picked the ball up 20 odd yards from goal on the left. 
The obvious pass was five yards inside, but Grimmy with a fair bit of 
disguise, clipped a shot into the roof of the net.

All win's are good wins. So let's go forward into the next game, a 
league game on Sat.

Asterix Reds 7 - 1 Conn F.C. (Friendly)

Asterix Reds began 2008 with a comfortable 7-1 victory over a 
battling Conn F.C. in a friendly played at The Petronas Stadium in 
Bangi.

Before the game we talked about working on our basics; keeping 
possession of the ball; maintaining our shape as a team; and ensuring 
we maintain a positive atmosphere on the pitch. We started well 
enough and were two goals up within ten minutes: Aidil Sulaiman and 
Simon Grimshaw opening their accounts for 2008. We lost our way a 
tad just after that and Conn F.C. made it 2-1 after we failed to 
clear our lines. They then scored another goal which was 
mysteriously disallowed by the linesman; he must have seen something 
no-one else did because it looked pretty good to the rest of us. We 
then steadied ourselves and began communicating better, making better
decisions on the ball and working hard off the ball to get into 
space. A further strike from Aidil and another from young Ryan Boden 
made it 4-1 at half time.

To their credit Conn F.C. came out battling in the second half and at 
times played some attractive football. They never really made much 
progress up the field however, and we played most of the second half 
in Conn's half of the pitch. Strikes from Anil Padmanabhan, Andy 
Johnston and Ian Johnston made it 7-1 at the end.

Overall this was a satisfactory run out after a break for Chirstmas. 
We did OK on all the things we discussed that we'd focus on which is 
all I can ask for after a layoff. Most important was the physical 
workout; we worked our socks off as a team and this will help us be 
match ready for the weekend. It was good to see Steve Wilkinson and 
Simon Grimshaw complete the full 90 minutes; we look forward to their 
continued availability. It was also a pleasure to welcome back three 
former players for this match: Ryan Boden and Ian and Andy Johnson 
all had very good games, got their name of the score sheet and played 
with vigour and intelligence. The only area that we did not do well 
at was our finishing. We created enough chances to comfortably 
double the score line but missed the target much more often than we 
hit it. This is an area for focus in our next game.

On the weekend, we face Wolves in the first of our group matches in 
the cup. We'll be looking to build on the positives from today's 
game and put in an improved performance to get ourselves off to a 
winning start in the Cup. Please also get yourselves along to 
training on Thursday night to work off those Christmas excesses. I 
look forward to seeing you there.