23/08/2003
John Hampson Memorial Trophy Group Stage

IJLW Brazil
Paterson, Davison, Churchley, Charge, Toward, Belcher, McKay, Gavan, Goodliff.

Despite having no recognised goalkeeper in their 12 man squad, Brazil were confident of getting a decent result. That was until three players failed to turn up and left the home side with just nine men. To add to the farce, Ryton turned up late and with a yellow kit. Luckily it was a duller tone than Brazil’s gold so the referee allowed the match to go ahead.

Brazil started well and took an early lead through the impressive Chris Toward. He neatly tucked away Les Goodliff’s return pass. From then on things began to get worse (especially for Toward). Ryton didn’t seem to like heading the ball and, as a result, their were a lot of free kicks given for high feet. Toward was kicked in the head twice and the chest once and Anand Charge was also kicked in the head before Toward received a third kick to the head which broke his nose. He was taken to hospital leaving Brazil to continue with just eight players.

Although Brazil continued to dominate, they did look a lot more vulnerable to the counter attack. Stand-in goalkeeper, Ewan Paterson did a superb job racing off his line to clear up any potential danger. He even came out and headed away a long ball. At the other end Brazil were creating numerous chances. Neil McKay had an excellent game in the centre of midfield and he, Goodliff and Andrew Gavan, were the recipients of most of the chances. Brazil were also looking dangerous from corners. Goodliff put in several in-swinging crosses and headers by McKay and Gavan just missed the target.

Just before the break, Paterson made a solid block form a powerful near post shot to keep Brazil ahead.

The second half followed the same pattern. Brazil created chance after chance but couldn’t find the back of the net. Goodliff, Brazil’s man of the match, was the main culprit with Gavan also missing more than his fair share. As the game progressed, Brazil’s attackers seemed to get greedier as they desperately looked for the vital second goal. The best chance of all came when Gavan beat three men and was tripped but (foolishly) didn’t go down for the penalty. He managed to stay on his feet and square the ball to Goodliff who rushed his shot and missed the target from six yards out.

Paul Belcher, playing through the pain of a knee injury, tried to fill all the holes in midfield and even at full back, when they attacked. One Counter attack saw Gary Davison clean through on goal before he was clumsily bundled over from behind. Despite the rules, the referee didn’t even talk to the defender, let alone send him off.

Dave Churchley, with his only chance of the match, came closest to extending Brazil’s lead. He met a deep corner from Charge, who had defended excellently all game, and headed it back across goal. The keeper was beaten but the defender on the post managed to scramble the ball away from goal.

Just as it looked like Paterson could keep Brazil’s first clean sheet of the season, a swift counter attack saw Ryton level the score.

With South Beach failing to fulfil their fixture at Willington Quay Saints and receiving a six point deduction as a result, Brazil have progressed to the quarter finals in second place.