Asterix Reds F.C. 5 - 3 Red Star (Expat Cup)

We beat Red Star 5-3 in an eagerly contested encounter, our third game
in the Expat Cup. Even though we led from the start, Red Star had
plenty of the ball and, at times, put us under some pressure. Some
good work in front of goal by our strikers ensured we snapped up all 3
points to make it three wins out of three in the Expat Cup. Stevie
Whitson bagged a brace, Terry got one from the penalty spot with the
others coming from Andy and Bunmi.

Red Star started the stronger team, dominating the midfield. And,
whilst they didn't create any clear cut chances, our back four had to
work hard to keep it that way. We held firm and our break came after
around 20 minutes when we got the opener against the run of play.
Terry Harris did well down the left and floated a delightful ball into
the box. Stevie Whitson, our Georgie Best look-a-like and play-a-
like, guided the ball into the corner for a one nil lead. Our second
came shortly after.

A quickly taken free kick allowed Andy to pick out Bunmi on the back
stick. The leggy Nigerian tucked it away nicely to give us a 2-goal
cushion. We had a chance for a third shortly after. After some great
interchange from the middle to the left, Stevie Whitson's cross picked
out Andy Johnston about 10 yards out. Andy rose like the proverbial
salmon but his powerful header struck the bar and bounced to safety.

We then let Red Star back in the game with a soft goal before half-
time. Both our central defenders failed to connect with a routine
cross which their striker slotted home unmarked at the back post. 2-1
at half time.

We made some changes to strengthen the midfield in the second half and
immediately got a stronger grip on the game. We were fortunate to get
our third after the ref gave us a soft pen, Terry Harris making no
mistake from the spot.

We added a fourth after Paul Williams made a good run down the right
and put a ball into the corridor of uncertainty. The 'keeper could
only parry the ball on to the right breast of Andy Johnson which made
no mistake.

The ref then evened out the soft pen score by giving Red Star one of
their own. 4-2. This was followed by a minor altercation that had
threatened throughout the game. One of their strikers had barged Mark
Williams into the drain behind the goal line as he shepherded the ball
out for a goal kick. It was a gutless act that only a complete coward
would do and a shame to see such behavior between two SSLKL teams. Later, one of the Red Star players took exception to a
hard challenge and threatened to hit one of our players. Fortunately,
we all kept our cool and avoided any problems. I would have liked to
have seen the ref take some firmer action, but it was not to be.

Good football soon prevailed as Stevie Whitson, got his second with
some silky skill. He was released down the inside left channel from
the midfield. He ran at the defender, and as he stepped inside the
box, faked one way dragged the ball behind his other foot.
This gave him the space he needed to fashion a curling right foot shot
which found its way neatly into the bottom of the far corner. A
lovely bit of skill and a great way to complete our scoring.

Red Star got one back after our defence went to sleep. We missed a
few very good chances to add to account later in the game and 5-3 is
how it ended.

Red Star gave us the best game we've had for a few weeks and credit
for the team for getting the three points. The strikers did well
throughout, taking the chances that mattered. Terry Harris helped to
provide some steel in the midfield in the second half which allowed us
to play some better football. Commitment was high throughout the team
and Red Star made us work hard for the win.  We were not as solid at
the back as we have been in recent weeks. Albeit we were missing a few
of our regular defenders but we did give them two soft goals and a
pen. Let's get our defence back to higher standards we've played at for the next game. Again,
credit to the strikers for getting 5 at the other end which provided
us with the cushion we needed.

My picks for Man of the Match were Stevie Whitson - who was a handful
throughout and scored a cracking second goal - and Terry Harris for
doing a great job in shoring up the centre of midfield in the second half. I
can't separate them so this week it goes to them both. Mug of the
Day? Well, I'll leave that to the readers comment!

That gives us three wins out of three out of three in the Expat Cup.
One more versus Vikings will see us bag the Expat Cup. Let's make
sure we're up for it.