Ugly Ducklig, Beautiful Swan!

They say the sign of champions is the ability to win ugly. While Style over Substance may not be champions this was certainly ugly!!! On a night ducks get a bad name for, this was a hard earned come from behind victory over a decent Boca Seniors side.

The Bosman ruling was again used to the full extent as Style over Substance again fielded without some of their regulars, this was evident early on as their play was disjointed and scrappy resulting in Boca Seniors seizing the initiative and taking the lead through a combination of decent build up play and poor defending, an attack down the right wasn’t dealt with and when the ball was squared across the Boca Senior striker had the simple task side footing past Tim in goal who had little chance.

Tim making his long awaiting come back from “key hole surgery” went on to have a fine outing between the sticks over the course of the evening despite the slippery conditions.

The trend of the game continued with Boca Seniors on top and Style over Substance surprisingly subdued. The changes to the side resulted in a lack of cohesion in defence with opposition runs not being tracked, it seems only a matter of time before before Boca extended their lead and they did so on 15 minutes, again good work in midfield laid the foundations and with an overlap on the left Boca pounced for their second of the night, almost from the kick off the lead grew, a turn over of possession in midfield allowed Boca Seniors to break and they played in their striker who smashed past Tim, 3-0 and things were not looking good.

Eventually Style over Substance started to settle, good work in midfield by Podge and Neil created an opening for Alan but his well struck shot was well saved by the Boca keeper, Style over Substance now started to dominate possession, their shape now much better with everyone working hard to retain and win back possession, building from the back Style over Substance caught Boca napping, a well struck shot from Stuart from pretty much on the half way line flew past the keeper, 3-1 and Style over Substance were now finding their rhythm, A flowing move involving, Alan, Neil and Ed resulted in Podge picking up possession on the edge of the box, he  skillfully lifted the ball over the onrushing defender and volleyed left footed across the keeper into the bottom corner for one of Style over Substance goals of the season.

Almost immediately Style over Substance were back on level terms, Podge won possession in midfield and fed Alan out wide, he ghosted past the left back and pulled back to Darragh who rifled past the keeper. Style over Substance were now in control winning most of the possession and looking dangerous, however against the run of play Boca Seniors regained the lead, again some sloppy defending allowed Boca Seniors a free shot from the edge of the area, 4-3 with 5 minutes remaining until half time.

On the stroke of half time it was 5-3, Style over Substance caught on the break while attempting to find an equalizer, Ed had a good shot parried by the keeper, the resulting clearance fell nicely for the attacker on the half way line and he ran through on goal to restore a two goal advantage.

On the restart Style over Substance upped the ante and played their best football of the night, Good work by Tomas down the left where he went past his marker and delivered a pin point pass into Alan’s path who side footed into the top corner.

Darragh, Tomas and Alan now dominated the midfield area and good work by the trio resulted in Ed picking up possession well outside the area, this mattered little however as he delightfully curled his shot into the top corner to level the game at 5-5. Boca Senior however rose to this challenge and with their best passing move of the game cut open Style over Substance’s rearguard leaving a two on one against Stuart who couldn’t prevent Boca Seniors making it 6-5. Back came Style over Substance excellent running and ball control by Tomas and Ed drew defenders away from goal and when Ed picked out Podge he again drew another defender to release Alan who shifted the ball onto his right and drilled it beyond the keeper into the corner. 6-6 and 9 minutes to play!

From this point Style over Substance’s greater fitness told as they ran a ragged Boca Seniors to a standstill, Alan and Stuart combined well and when Podge then fed Neil we feared a skyward shot but he neatly steered his shot into the corner and Style over Substance were ahead for the first time, Style over Substance were now defending much better, keeping their shape and tracking well, the equalizer  from Boca Seniors was the result of luck more than anything else with a speculative shot which was going wide catching a deflection and finding it’s way into the corner. This set back only fueled Style over Substance’s desire to find the winner and they gleefully pounced on some suspect defending with Stuart hammering past the keeper, almost from the restart they made the game safe, Alan robbed the defender of possession feeding Tomas who cut insdeonto his right and fired into the corner, 9-7 and time almost up. Style over Substance comfortably saw out the remaining time defending well, the victory takes Style over Substance into third position in the table on their own and with the top two playing each other in the next round they will hope to make inroads on the lead.

Scorers:

Alan [2] Stuart [2] Podge [1] Darragh [1] Neil [1] Ed [1] Tomas [1]