Slate Pumas 2 RW Clash 2
Hachioji Park, Saturday January 28th.

In their previous encounters, there has seldom been more than a single goal separating the Clash and the Pumas, with the Clash typically claiming a narrow victory.  When it looked like the Pumas would finally win the fixture, the last attack of the match saw Clash captain Ian Webster arrive at the back-post, his glancing header nestling into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.  To add to the drama, the linesman stood with his flag raised, only for the referee to overrule and point to the centre spot. Emotions ran high on both sides as the end-of-game handshakes took place, although any animosity appeared to subside as adrenalin wore off.

Played on a crisp and cold afternoon, the first half was hard-fought and largely, compared to the second half, uncontroversial.  The first chance was to fall to the Pumas’ Sid Lloyd.  A well struck corner from the right curled dangerously to the edge of the Clash’s six yard box, where the veteran forward retreated back to leap and direct his header low towards the bottom right-hand corner.  Unfortunately for the Pumas, the Clash mid-fielder Matt Kershaw was stationed on the post and was able to scramble the ball clear.

The game developed into a midfield battle as both sides defended high up the pitch, resulting in chances being hard to come by.  The Clash broke the deadlock when Yan Vermeulen’s freekick from midway into the Pumas’ half was met at the back post by Paul James, whose goal bound header was followed in by the Clash’s goal hungry centre-back Ian Webster.  At half-time the referee adjudicated that Ian had made contact with the ball before it crossed the line, much to Paul’s consternation.

After more stalemate in the midfield, the scores were leveled when Casey Wahl lost his marker in the Clash penalty area to head the Pumas’ first goal.  It may have been a rare defensive lapse, however it was a quality finish, Casey making no mistake powering the ball past the helpless Shohei Masuyama in the Clash goal.
With twenty minutes of the game to be played, what had been a good spirited encounter was to be laced with several incidents of controversy.  First, the goal that gave the Pumas the lead.  A fairly innocuous ball forward into the Clash penalty area appeared to be chested down by Yan, there were no shouts for handball, however the referee pointed to the spot.  Sid stepped up and coolly slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner.

 

As the Clash pushed for an equalizer, tensions came close to boiling over following a spate of ill-timed tackles.  Although, with the Clash committing numbers forward it was the Pumas who went closest to adding to the goal tally, Shohei blocking two one-on-ones that would have settled the game.

With the seconds ticking down, the referee awarded the Clash a freekick in the Pumas’ half.  The ball was sent curling towards the right-hand post by Andy Gil (who wasn’t happy when he was mis-named here before), providing the opportunity for Ian’s coup de grace.  A draw was probably the right result, although understandably the Pumas felt most aggrieved having come so close to taking all the points.

 

AW 

For more pictures from the match click here.