11/08/2004
Tyneside Amateur League Cup Group B
IJLW Brazil
Wilkinson (Katirai 45), Davison, Churchley, Walker, Haigh, Paterson, Creighton (Harrison 50), Hinks, Ho, Thompson (Luper 65), Bull.
Subs not used: Kennedy, Bernstone.
With Winlaton Vulcan Inn the reigning Division 1 champions and Brazil the winners of the wooden spoon in last season’s Division 2, an away win was the expected result. The difficulty of the victory, however, was far from expected; and that is due to how well the home side performed, in what turned out to be an excellent, competitive football match.
Brazil’s defence now has a good understanding and, after a few early marking blips, they settled into a good pattern and kept Winlaton’s front men under control. Gary Davison, Dave Churchley and Bryan Walker all made a lot of timely tackles with Lee Wilkinson comfortably dealing with any high balls into the box. Matthew Creighton was asked to fill the apparently permanent hole in the centre of the midfield and his composure and confidence grew as the half went on. Neither side had any early chances although Steve Ho, making his debut on the wing, found a bit of space on the left and Matty Bull and Chris Thompson were linking up well up front, looking to feed off the intricate passes of Ewan Paterson and Jon Hinks.
Bull and his older strike partner, Thompson, both forced saves from the visiting keeper but Creighton had the best chance to break the deadlock. He ran, unmarked, onto Paterson’s low corner but completely missed the ball as he swung his foot at it. Going into the interval, Brazil, though satisfied with their performance and the scoreline, could have actually been ahead.
New goalkeeper, James Katirai was brought into the action at half time for his debut but it was not an ideal start to his Brazil career. Within five minutes, Creighton injured his shoulder and had to go off. Five minutes later, Thompson received a leg injury and also needed replacing. Before Dan Luper, also making his debut, had readied himself to come on, Ho was forced to crawl off the pitch too. This left Brazil with nine men and they began digging in with their backs to the wall. Inevitably, the defensive line dropped deeper and deeper but they managed to hold on, with Katirai making a good save diving to his left. Luper’s arrival and a formation reshuffle gave Brazil more attacking options, although they still had only ten men and no more substitutions allowed.
The breakthrough finally came in the 70th minute. A cross from Winlaton’s right wing was headed in at the back post but Brazil, to their credit, battled on and didn’t look like conceding any more (thanks, in part, to Bull’s goal line clearance from a corner). In fact, they managed to force a couple of corners but, try as they might, the equalizer wouldn’t come. Despite the first defeat of the season, Brazil were very happy with the way they played and Davison celebrated his first man of the match award with gay abandon, as he collected up the net pegs. Brazil now have a struggle to get a few men fit before their next match on Saturday.