13/06/2022
Greetings Vincent from South Africa
ETS SUBBUTEO CLUB The Bacon Roll Open
12 JUNE 2022 @ ETS
Our planned tournament went ahead as scheduled, even though we did not have a very good turnout due to players having prior commitments and arrangements.
You only need 3 Players, so we pushed on through a chilly Winter morning over in South Africa.
The games played were of a very high standard with the players on the day all showing some serious Goalkeeping skills to boot.
The first game saw Liam outwit Gary after an error from Gary's kicking keeper left Liam with a tap in open goal chance, which literally trickled over the line for the only goal of the first game.
Liam carried on with his good form in match 2 and after another fine display of goalkeeping by both sets of keepers, a low driven shot to the bottom right was saved onto the right-hand post, but sadly the ball had too much spin and back spun into the bottom right-hand corner. A second victory for Liam and a rather uphill battle for Gary and Jason remained.
Game 3 and Gary and Jason showed some very good combination plays with at least 5 chances each created. Once again both players had their A Game on from a goalkeeping point of view and this one ended in a stalemate after Jason chipped over in the dying seconds of the match.
Game 4 saw Gary continue to dominate with the Goalkeeper and he managed to hold Liam at bay, as did Liam down the other end to force a very entertaining 0 – 0 draw.
The 5th game of the day saw Jason manage to make up for all his earlier misses and grab a 1 0 lead from a well worked corner, with a top corner “HOLLYWOOD” finish. With the clock winding down, a second goal was managed, low and from the right-hand side of the box, beating the keeper low down leaving the ball nestled in the keepers bottom right hand corner.
Game 6 required Gary to win by 2 clear goals to have a second spot finish, however once more the two players showed some ridiculous goalkeeper saves and the game ended 0 – 0 with both players having plenty of chances to finish the tie.
Group Stage
Liam 1 Gary 0
Liam 1 Jason 0
Gary 0 Jason 0
Gary 0 Liam 0
Jason 2 Liam 0
Jason 0 Gary 0
TABLE PLAYED WON DREW LOST FOR AGAINST PTS
Liam 4 2 1 1 2 2 7
Jason 4 1 2 0 2 1 5
Gary 4 0 3 1 0 1 3
THE FINAL OF SAVES
In a very fast paced and entertaining match, both players were out the blocks early on and each had early chances in quick succession with the goalkeepers called into action once more. A few posts and crossbars were smashed, before Jason managed to open up the scoring and hold a lead for all of 3 minutes. Liam created a good flowing move down the right-hand side and Jason played a poo block flick and Liam did not hesitate to smash the ball into the keepers bottom right hand corner.
All square as the full-time whistle blew from Mr. Downs.
Penalty flicks ensued and with neither player happy about the flicks, as both do not like them at all.
• Both of the first flicks were saved
• Jason managed to finish his second flick low and hard to the keepers right and saved the second one from Liam – Advantage Jason
• The rest of the flicks were all miraculously saved by both parties and it left Jason as the Winner on the Day with a full-time score of 1-1 followed by a 1-0 Penalty Flick win.
THE FINAL
Liam 1 v Jason 1 (Jason win 1-0 on penalty flicks)
A brilliant time was had by all and we had a very good turnout of spectators who came along and supported us on the day. Thanks to Lloyd and Annette, our hosts from ETS who once again went the extra mile to make sure all players and spectators were fed and received lots of liquid refreshment.
Thank you for the laughs, Gentlemen and Ladies… ETS SUBBUTEO CLUB
