Despite many absents and last-minute injuries that made the line-up a difficult exercise, The Whites came back last saturday with a good draw against Entente that allow us to stay in the race for the #playoffs.

Today is another saturday (best day of the week) and we face Gast FC. Now for those who were there for the first leg, you must remember that these players are not known for their fair play attitude nor for their intelligence. And with the help of a referee that loves to hand out yellows & reds like it's candy (note: we got 7Y and 2R in that game), we were in a difficult situation. Nevertheless, 9v11 is good enough for the Good guys to bring home the 3 points! And 3 points is exactly what the boys have in mind today.

And to give an extra motivation boost, we celebrate Sjoerd's 100th game for the club today. Impressive !

The team today is damn strong on paper.

Line up (3-5-2): Damien - Donadel, Martin, Erwan - Daniele, Diego, Loic, Takou, Sjoerd - Miguel, Charlie

Subs: Benny, Kosta aka "les cousins"

1st half

We start the game with a lot of intensity and high pressure on the pitch. All the second balls are white and the spaces are closed. Nothing is left to chance in this game. Full control.

Just before the game, we were warned about their "tall and strong" striker. Let's just say that after 2 rough contacts with Martin in the first 5min, he was not that "tall and strong" anymore and disappeared for the rest of the game. You don't mess with Martin.

Defense is well organised, Damien is fully protected. Apart from 1 or 2 aerial interventions, his job is relatively easy today (even a bit boring?).

Up front, movements are interesting. We see some great combinations between Dani and Miguel on the left side that led to dangerous chances in front of goal. On the wings, Sjoerd and dani are putting a lot of pressure on the defence and their runs lead to some good crosses in the box. One of them to Miguel that led to a shot on target, saved by the keeper. Next one.

Diego has his life mission in mind : MUST GIVE AN ASSIST TO CHARLIE. First pass to Charlie at the edge of the box, that turns around flicking the ball in the air to shoot on goal, but it ends up on the right post. Second ball again to Charlie that enters the box, dribbles one player and shoots on... yes the post again, the left one.

Takou and Diego are controlling the midfield easily, which allows Loic to wander upfront and test the opposition. He gives an amazing through ball to Charlie that cuts the whole defence line, but was called offside (but was he, though?)

First hald ends at 0-0, with a bit of frustration but also the calm feeling that it will come if we keep up like this. Gast had litterally no chances on goal yet.

2nd half

The Whites enter the second half with the same intensity and chances are multiplying rapidly. Gast is annoyed but does not reply in football terms. They start complaining a lot, making aggressive fouls and worst of all start going after the referee (note: first woman we see in ABSSA, congrats !) with many insults, most of them sexist. She remains calm and in control of the game despite the circonstances.

Kosta comes in for Diego to bring some speed up front and weigh a little bit more on the opponents. He immediately got a few chances that we were not able to concretize. But after another chance and a mix-up in the box, a handball is whistled. penalty. Charlie takes his responsibility as captain and striker, looks the keeper in the eyes and opens up his foot at the last second to put the ball in the right net, sending the keeper the opposite way. Boom. 1-0.

After the goal, Gast is nowhere to be found and we keep creating a lot of chances. But we also keep missing the target, all of us. Special mention to Loic for the "miss of the season". And this, despite the good entry from Benny (for Miguel) for the last 15 minutes, that distributed a lot of good passes to the strikers.

All those missed opportunities could almost be comical if we were winning 5-0, but we're not. And in the last 5 minutes, Gast started pushing and putting us at risk... Fortunately we can count on Donadel's screaming at everyone to "DEFEND, COME BACK, DEFEND!" to wake us up !

The score remained 1-0. A few stupid brawls with the opponents after the game that shouldn't happen. Let's not give in to provocations and focus on our game. It's a good win for the good guys and that's what we want !

RBB.... BANG BANG !!!

Your reporter and MoM : Charlie 'on fire' Deschamps