Germans 1 (1) Club Wanderers 2 (2)
Humphreys 4 23, 24



The German�s played their first friendly of the season against Division 1 League Champions Club Wanderers. However, this was not exactly a �true game� as the game was held on the astro-turf pitch at Hong Kong Football Club, which has smaller goals and a smaller area than a normal football pitch. Rolling subs were allowed, and the game was to be 45 minutes each way, rather than the usual 35 minutes a half in regular Yau Yee games.

While this was a game with lots of players playing together for the first time and the first game since the fiasco with Haneef�s friends, it was also the first time the German�s had played a good Division 1 team, with the exception of a White Youth friendly, since they had been relegated two years ago. On top of this the games against Club teams usually have quite a bit of rivalry, so it was being taken quite seriously.

Apologies for the photo quality, hopefully it will improve as the daytime games begin.

The Players for the German�s were :

Jason Locke
Chris Park
Mark Richardson
Alan Pengelly
Bill Moitt
Nick Park
Andy Dixon
Willian Reiss De Sausa
Wayne Bradshaw
Simon Humphreys
Andy Davidson
Nick Willows
Mark Stevens
Haneef Mohamed
Steve Baldock


The German�s got off to a great start in the 4th minute when Simon Humphreys with a clear run on the right wing cut towards goal and placed the ball under the goalkeeper and into the right-hand corner of the net.

For the next quarter of an hour the German�s played some pretty good football, with solid defence from Bill Moitt, Mark Richardson and Alan Pengelly, and some good attacking from Will and Simon. The best moment coming in the 16th minute when Will led a quick break into the Wanderers box which resulted in a goal-mouth scramble, with the ball bouncing everywhere but with no takers.

However, Club were starting to impose themselves more on the match with the German�s being pinned back in their defence. Subsequently a Wanderers attack in the 20th minute which had petered out and was heading for the corner, out of harms way, saw the ball bounce of the corner post and back into play. A Wanderers player was first to react and from the resulting attack an unstoppable thunderbolt from 18 yards was buried in the top right-hand corner of the German goal. A good goal to look at admittedly, but the defence was slow to react and the shot taker should have been closed down much sooner.

The German�s were now under the cosh, and in the 22nd minute a Wanderers cross from the right found their striker in acres of space in front of goal, but he managed to sky it over the bar when it was easier to score.

Only a minute later an excellent through ball from the Wanderers central midfield split the heart of the German defence and the receiving striker neatly struck the ball into the top left-hand corner.

From a positive start the German�s were now behind and were admittedly looking ragged as Wanderers constantly pressed, while the German�s could only punt the ball up the park to the Wanderers defence to ease each attack.

In the 30th minute another through ball by Wanderers resulted in another goal, but was chalked off for off-side. A questionable decision from the linesman as even my �missus� thought it was on-side (and what she knows about football is the equivalent to what I know about football reporting). The linesman was adamant after the game claiming he had a clear view. As the German�s were getting well and truly stuffed at the time this piece of fortune was gratefully received. As was Half-time, which the German�s survived to without further mishap.

The Player Manager was clearly unhappy and so as to let everyone else share in his misery he brought himself on for the 2nd Half (only joking Mark). However, it was no different than before the break as the first 10 minutes saw Wanderers continually press on the German goal.

A Mark Richardson / Jason defensive mix-up in the 55th minute resulted in a corner from which Jason, playing in goal for the German�s for the first time, made an excellent point-blank reflex save from a Wanderers header.

It was about this time thought that the German�s were getting back into the game and in the 61st minute Wayne Bradshaw hit a 25 yard shot which just went past the post. Now there were two views on this being debated in the massed German support:

1. If it was proper size goals, it would have been 2 - 2 as the keeper would have been well beaten.

2. Wayne had two players either side of him who could have received in a better position.

As this was the German�s first shot for a LONG time view number 1 seems to have been the best option.

In the 70th minute an excellent high through ball by Nick Willows sent Simon down the left-hand side with his angled shot coming off the left-hand post. Special mention at this time for Nick�s tackle in centre mid-field which can be safely described as �The Worst Attempted Football Tackle in the History of the Universe.�

Really funny to look at though.

Wanderers were not finished themselves and in the 81st minute a Wanderer�s short corner was not picked up by German defence, allowing a shot which would have certainly been a goal had Andy Davidson not got in the way.

The game petered out to Full-time without any real further incident as the 45 minutes each way, and it being the first game of the season, took it�s toll.

A 2 - 1 defeat was not exactly terrible considering that the game was the first of the season, and was against one of the best teams the German�s will face next year.

Good points were the solid defence and good displays from the new players.

On the negative side the last 30, and first 10 minutes of the 1st and 2nd halves respectively were awful to watch, with the German�s constantly not being able to retain possession.

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