THE FIRST
HALF
This was the battle for the best Chinese team on Merseyside! Shaolin FC
were widely regarded as the best Chinese team in Liverpool so we knew
that a decent result against them would give us the title of the best
Chinese team in Merseyside.
Our mindset from the off was to make sure we kept the ball and passed
it around like we knew we were capable of. The conditions were very poor
because of the continued rain over the last few weeks but we made the
best of bad pitch conditions to take the lead after 15 minutes. A dynamic
run from Ian Chan on the right hand side after a great tackle from right
back Tim Yee ended with a pass to centre-forward Mike Scott. Then he managed
to play a great ball across the goal to the far post where captain Roger
Ho calmly headed into the net. 1-0.
After a scrappy following 10 minutes, Chris Weeze managed to feed a slide
ball through the Shaolin defence into the path of Mike Yee. Mike used
his pace to run past the back-line and slotted the ball into the left-bottom
corner from a tight angle to make it 2-0.
The pitch was getting very heavy and the ball seemed to be stuck to the
midfield area, but the Wirral Chinese dug in and made sure they had the
majority of possession to make the game easier for themselves. After another
midfield scrap, the ball made its way to the Shaolin penalty area and
found its way to the feet of Mike Yee. From 8 yards out he made no mistake
and buried the chance to make it 3-0.
By this time, manager Peter Yee realised that the conditions were tiring
and used the rolling subs rule to replace captain Roger Ho and Chris Hestletine
with Lee Tsoi and Anthony Tang. Lee and Ant immediately made their impressions
on the game with some fierce tackles and high-tempo movement to dominate
midfield with Dave Liu and Ian Chan.
And with 5 minutes to go in the 1st half, a Mike Scott cross from the
right found its way to Mike Yee, who managed to turn his body and knock
the ball wide to Anthony Tang on the left. His first touch took him away
from the defender and he calmly slotted the ball off the left post, giving
us a deserved 4-0 into half time.
THE SECOND
HALF
We started the second half with the same attitude, and made sure we kept
up the high-tempo game that served us well in the first half. After the
opening 10 minutes which found the Wirral Chinese playing more effectively
down the flanks, Mike Scott had a couple of opportunities to score with
headers. But then Lee Tsoi played a through-ball to Mike Yee and the forward
took the ball on the halfway line and managed to beat a few defenders
before slotting the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to complete
a hattrick!
After that, the Wirral Chinese were totally dominating the game and great
tackling from midfielders Dave Liu, Lee Tsoi, Ant Tang and Ian Chan helped
keep possession and feed the ball to the forwards. Also, Tim Yee, Chung,
Fozzy and Gary broke up every Shaolin attack and made sure keeper Chris
Magin had virtually nothing to do.
This meant we could concentrate on more attacking football and after Chris
Weeze replaced Mike Scott up front, he calmly beat a couple of players
and scored smartly into the bottom corner.
At this point the midfielders were also getting in on the act, with Gary
Chan and Roger Ho adding to the scoreline, as well as Lee Tsoi who emphatically
scored twice and almost picked up a second half hattrick. Timothy Yee
also burst into attack late on but his shot beat the Shaolin goalkeeper
but not the pitch as the ball stopped on the line in the heavy mud!
The game ended 10-0 to the Wirral Chinese, but with more friendlier pitch
conditions we probably would have doubled that scoreline as the team missed
a couple of sitters!
OVERALL
Although the pitch was in terrible condition, the team spirit and teamwork
was excellent and a focused performance gave us a deserved 10-0 victory.
Although Chris Magin had only a couple of routine saves to make, he was
also quick off his line to snuff out any potential Shaolin FC attacks.
The back four, Tim, Fozzy, Chung and Gary (and Ant when he slotted to
left-back) let nothing through and were strong in their tackling. The
midfield players (Lee, Dave, Chris, Roger, Ian & Ant) rotated very
well and always made sure the defence had enough cover to prevent Shaolin
from forming any dangerous attacks. And the forwards Mike Yee and Mike
Scott always troubled the Shaolin backline and managed to contribute some
significant assists as well as score a few goals.
In the end, a professional and diciplined performance with superb team
spirit.