18/01/2003
Tyneside Amateur League Division 2

IJLW Brazil
Andrew, Toms, Churchley, Kennedy, Davison, Paterson, M McClure, P Clark, Belcher, Haigh, Gavan.

The match started slowly as both sides looked rusty after the winter break. Brazil were dominating possession though and it came as no surprise when they opened the scoring. A strong run by Steve Toms was ended by a push, just inside the penalty area. Mike McClure calmly dispatched the spot kick to put the home side ahead after 10 minutes. Having taken the lead, Brazil never looked like giving it up. Brazil were improving and starting to create chances. Debutant striker, Andy Gavan was making some excellent runs to lose the defenders, but was unfortunately being caught offside quite often. After 20 minutes he smashed the ball past the P&G keeper but was ruled offside again.

P&G had no width to their formation so Gary Davison, Brazil’s left back, was pushing over towards the middle, which allowed Toms, the right back, to get forward more. Shaun Haigh, on Brazil’s left flank, had acres of space which he was using well. At the mid-point of the first half, P&G’s keeper failed to hold onto Haigh’s cross and Gavan reacted quicker than the two defenders around him to give Brazil a 2-0 lead. Whenever P&G did get forward, Brazil were defending well. Toms and Dave Churchley won a lot of headers and Churchley was comfortably sweeping up the balls played over the top. It was looking as though Brazil would go on to record a good victory when a freak occurrence let P&G back into the game. A 25 yard free kick was sent towards P&G’s big men at the back post but, as Al Andrew came out flapping, it curled into the top corner. This boosted P&G into raising their game and the match became a lot tighter.

The second half began with Brazil as the dominant side, though P&G were more competitive than they had been earlier in the match. The major incident of the game occurred after 55 minutes. Brazil felt they should have had a second penalty when Toms was chopped down from behind in the box. Paul Belcher retained possession, however, and took a dive to try to convince the referee. Nothing was given so P&G broke with Toms and Belcher both lying on the ground. As Belcher got back to his feet P&G’s left back punched him in the back of the head. The referee blew the whistle immediately and wanted to talk to both players. P&G’s left back was sent off and Belcher, who was expecting to be booked for the dive, was dismissed for spitting. Belcher denies it and no one on either side appeared to see it either. A referee assessor from the FA was at the game and he suggested to Belcher that an appeal would be a good idea.

Brazil made good use of the extra space and started to create chances immediately. Haigh’s left footed cross was neatly tucked away by Gavan, after an excellent run across the front of the defence, to restore Brazil’s two goal advantage. Moments later Haigh let fly a powerful, curling, right footed effort that was only inches wide. Gavan could (and probably should) have completed his hat trick when he had just the keeper to beat from inside the box. The ball took a nasty bobble though, just as he was about to hit it, and the shot just cleared the bar. As Brazil looked for more goals, the midfield were pushing forward but finding it harder to get back as the heavy ground was taking its toll on their weary legs. This gave P&G more hope of a consolation goal. It came from a good finish, following a very good through ball. The scoreline was flattering to P&G so Brazil were still looking to add to their tally, rather than sit on their lead. Gavan set up McClure but his chip hit the bar with the keeper stranded. As P&G advanced in search of an unlikely point, Ewan Paterson stopped to help a P&G player with his cramp. After a berating from Brazil’s skipper, Paterson continued with the game. Although Brazil are a friendly, sporting club, this should have waited until the ball was dead. Paterson made amends moments later with an excellent clean tackle inside the Brazil penalty area to deny P&G a last chance of equalising. He even managed to retain possession and dribble away with the ball. He was duly praised by Brazil’s skipper and has learnt his lesson.