Yokohama International School 3 YC&AC Over-35s 1
It is not often the Over-35s play away from home (the chance would be a fine thing), but on April 8 a squad of fifteen loyal men trudged down the hill and across the plain to Shin-Yokohama for the last fixture of the season—the inaugural Scholars Cup match against Yokohama International School (YIS).
The venue was Shin-Yoko Football Park (SYFP) adjacent to Nissan Stadium, where in 2002, to the delight of millions, Oliver Kahn undid the work of a tournament in the World Cup final. Up for grabs, a little bit of history and a rather handsome silver trophy generously donated by YIS headmaster and Over-35s regular, Neil Richards.
The Scholars Cup
They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and if they’re talking in April on the pitch at YC&AC, they’re likely to be right—even when the green stuff on the other side is not, in fact, grass. SYFP uses the latest, third-generation artificial turf—what FIFA calls football turf—and delivers what is surely the finest surface that any of us have ever played on.
Whereas on the YC&AC pitch trapping the ball requires the average player to relax his whole body into a worried sort of cushioning crouch, on the artificial turf at SYFP players found they could trust the bounce and “love” the ball, just like they did when they were children. All of a sudden, football was fun again.
Chasing the Dragons
Some three weeks have elapsed since the clash with YIS and specific memories are now (perhaps fortunately) few. But here goes anyway:
For YIS, Julian Weekes was a rock in defence, a huge great jagged rock with barnacles on it and the pointy hard thing upon which most YC&AC attacks foundered. YC&AC will need to go in much, much harder on Weekes next time.
Weekes’ fellow defenders included one Ferraile Cowan at right back, a player whose femininity at first raised “chance here” eyebrows in the YC&AC ranks, but who turned out to be just as hard and impassable as the rest of the Dragons’ frighteningly fit and powerful rearguard.
A second female YIS player, Sasha Dunlop, was the source of some beautiful football further forward, and she deservedly drew a few nasty fouls from a frustrated YC&AC.
In midfield, YIS Head of Science Simon Lorimer was up and down the pitch like a raisin in a glass of lemonade, fizzing around up top and dropping deep to help his defence. Lorimer was a class act and instrumental in the YIS victory.
Spearheading the school attack was Neil Richards, who made sure it was déjà vu all over again for YC&AC’s beleaguered defence, showing flashes of skill spookily reminiscent of his son Tom in the Hendy Cup only the day before (another defeat for the 5s).
Richards’ strike partner, Colin Campbell, jinked and shimmied and bobbed and weaved and otherwise made a constant can-opener of himself. A strong contender for man of the match, Campbell chowdered more than a few good saves out of YC&AC stopper Paul Blamire.
Damien Hart, YIS Head of PE, the YC&AC First Team’s Most Valuable Player for 2006/7 and about the only subject of conversation in the Over-35s pre-match team talk, undid all our plans by magnanimously restricting his outfield contribution to the final quarter. YC&AC were unable to test Hart’s reflexes in goal, but he looked unbeatable all the same.
Perversely, the YIS goals (each of them obviously wholly forgettable) came from three different Canadians. Scroll down for the grizzly details. (See what I did there?)
Gordon Deas ex Machina
Once we’d all stretched out the aches and strains from the previous day’s exertions in the Hendy Cup, YC&AC played some half decent football, the team even gelling in patches as we sought to string a few passes together in midfield.
What the hell is going on? Action from the Hendy Cup. (Click to enlarge.)
YIS always had a bit too much for us on the day, but we did create several chances. On one occasion, a beautifully timed pass from Anders Sjostedt slipped this writer through for a one-on-one with the keeper, but my shot was weak and wide. Chances come infrequently at this level and we simply have to be sticking these away.
Director of the Board Petr “Boz” Vyvial was his usual (understandably, of course) grumpy perfectionist self and was again probably the team’s biggest goal threat. Alan Plater foraged and probed, and late on was a split second from striking a certain goal when he was sacked by a YIS cavalry charge that seemed to come from nowhere. Kevin Carden rolled back the years with one unforgettable mazy dribble into the box that deserved an end product.
But YC&AC’s best player on the day and this writer’s man of the match was Paul Blamire, who kept the scoreline respectable with a number of fine saves, including one spectacular tip-round from a Campbell drive. Paul was always quickly off his line to sweep away danger, and the benefit of a reliable bounce was to be seen nowhere more pointedly than it was in the outgoing president’s superb performance in this match.
YC&AC’s goal was scored by Gordon Deas and it came from a corner. Quick-thinking me rolled the ball short to Boz who looked up and curled in a great ball at pace to the far post where Gordon rose like a salmon (i.e. pink [look for the pinkest head in the picture below—that's Gordon]) and POWERED a header past the floppily hatted Russell Brown in goal. Get in there!
About the only time all day our keeper got his positioning wrong. (Click to enlarge.)
Fostering Friendship
Big thanks are owed to Marcel Niederhauser for refereeing. Marcel blew for all the right fouls; he played on when there was an advantage; he was invisible but he was always there. It was perhaps not the most difficult game to referee—the match was played in an excellent spirit and Graham Morpeth was miles off the pace—but the Club’s incoming president nevertheless deserves credit for an excellent display of refereeing. Many thanks to (a sadly injured) Dennis Stanworth and Will Richards for running the line.
Kudos also to Kambayashi-san of the Yokohama Football Association for reserving the pitch (of which he is manager) and for joining us all for drinks and drumsticks in the evening. Kambayashi-san and his colleagues put in a lot of hard work on behalf of the Club and its members, and we’re lucky to have them on board.
Finally, on behalf of all the players and in particular those not physically able to attend the post-match party at ZAIM, a very special thanks to Dennis Stanworth (YIS) and Graham Morpeth (YC&AC) for establishing the Scholars Cup fixture.
The next Scholars Cup match will be a home game for the Over-35s and is scheduled to be played shortly before Christmas. Fingers crossed the new grass at YC&AC is more durable than the last batch and that it’s our players not the pitch that proves to be the ‘leveller’.
Alex Hendy
YC&AC: Paul Blamire, Glynn Brasington, Darren Buckley, Trevor Burton-Towell, Kevin Carden, Tom Chambers, Gordon Deas, Buddy Ferrie, Alex Hendy, Sadao Hosogai, Graeme Morpeth, Alan Plater, Anders Sjostedt, Thorstein Strand, Petr Vyvial.
Goals: Dan Reynolds, Dan Cowan, Mike Mural (YIS); Gordon Deas (YC&AC)
Attendance: About a dozen
Posted by Alex 