11/10/2003
Tyneside Amateur League Division 2

IJLW Brazil
Andrew, Davison, Churchley, Kennedy, Haigh, Toward (Slack 70), Belcher, McGowan, Hinks, Paterson, Bull.

Brazil went into the game confident of recording their first league win of the season against a side that had never won a Tyneside Amateur League match. The visitors started well with a lot of early possession. Paul Belcher was trying to pull the strings in midfield and he made some exciting runs with the ball. Matty Bull and Ewan Paterson worked hard up front and showed some good touches, but they never received the support the needed to make the break though and the final ball was never quite there.

After about 20 minutes, P&G started to get into the game. After last year’s 6-0 thrashing in this fixture, it appeared that some of the Brazil players were taking the result for granted and not putting in the work required for such a victory. Mark Kennedy and Dave Churchley, at the heart of the Brazil defence, were kept busy but both players had excellent games and didn’t allow the P&G strikers any chances. Kennedy was strong and enjoyed carrying the ball out from the back whilst Churchley was quick, both with the feet and in the mind, as he covered behind his partner. The biggest threat to the Brazil goal came from P&G’s midfield runners who kept pouring forward unmarked. It was one of these runners who came closest to opening the scoring with a 20 yard effort. Al Andrew, who sometimes has an unfortunate tendency to get lobbed, pulled off a stunning one handed save as he leapt upwards and backwards at the same time. He was quickly back to his feet to parry the follow up shot, too. The half-time score was a fair nil – nil, although Brazil had been slightly the better side.

In the second half, P&G were more dominant. Brazil’s back line was kept busy throughout the half but they were always up to the task. The only goal of the game came about ten minutes into the half. A clean tackle was adjudged to have been a foul by the referee, who was about 60 yards away, and the resulting free kick found its way into the net. This should have been just a minor set back as Brazil still had plenty of time to win the game but they didn’t respond in the required manner. Belcher tried to lead the recovery but he was not getting a lot of help. Jon Hinks made a couple of excellent blocks at corners but lost a lot of his effectiveness after going over on his ankle in the first period.

Brazil did have two good chances to deny the home side victory but they were snatched at and ended up off target. Both came from good passing moves and fell to firstly Jonny McGowan and then Bull. Going into the last ten minutes, it didn’t look as though Brazil would score and several players were just going through the motions. Churchley, who was man of the match on the weekend he celebrated his birthday, tried to get some urgency into Brazil’s game but the last seven minutes disappeared to leave a very frustrated Brazil at the bottom of the league.