Almaty earned their much desired three points to keep them within touching distances of the league leaders, FC Miracle, in a bizarre game.
With "Safehands" Sweetnam absent for the game Gaffer Spratt volunteered to go in goals. Alex "will we ever see you again?" O'Donovan suffered a set-back at the weekend when he managed to strain his calf whilst attempting to tie his shoelace! With the return of Marco "De Gama" Machado Almaty had a host of attacking options. It was this that forced Almaty's Gaffer to make the brave decision to revert from their much tried and tested 3-1-1 formation to a more bold 2-1-2 set-up.
The Almaty fans were left questioning the tactical change after 10 mins when for the second time in a row Almaty found themselves 3 goals to the worse with no reply. The signs were there from the start when 2 Touch hit the post with an early shot. They then took the lead due to some slack defending from a corner. Their lead was doubled minutes later when they broke on a counter-attack. Worse was to follow when "Sweeper/Keeper" Spratt raced to the edge of his box to gather a through ball but somehow managed to let it slip beneath his hands and legs only for the 2 Touch striker to tap-in! "Safehands, Safehands... all is forgiven" roared the Almaty faithful!
The Gaffer however did not panic and despite being 3-0 down the team were creating chances. Gav "If Lamps can score from impossible angles then so can I" Jeffers tried to score from an impossible angle and managed to banish the ball into the trees! The first goal came after Marco "Magician" Machado nutmegged a player just inside his own half. He then broke feat beat another player and passed it by the keeper. With a goal back Almaty's confidence grew and they began to find their rhythm. Two further goals were scored before half-time by Marco and Almaty were buzzing.
The half-time instruction was to keep pressing and the goals would come and boy did they come. 2 Touch were unable to contain Almaty's Portuguese whizkid and a killer touch saw him put Almaty into the lead for the first time in the game. A superb ball by Dr Phil to Not to be outdone by Marco Gav "Legs 11" Jeffers killed a superb ball by Dr Phil on the left hand side and slotted home to make it 5. Two more goals were scored in quick succession to kill the game of as a contest. 2 Touch were taught their own lesson of 2 touch football. Almaty's faithful began the chant of "Ole, Ole!" with every touch of the ball. Whilst Almaty's attacking force was getting the limelight it was the solid defence of Mark "The Rash" Dawson and Dave "The Rave" Smith that snuffed out any counter-attack 2 Touch tried to mount.
The icing on the cake arrived when another Gav "Top league scorer" Jeffers bagged his fourth to make it 8-4. However, 2 Touch did get a consolation goal with 10 mins to go when their striker beat "Southall" Spratt at the near post (he did enough to ensure he wouldn't have to go between the posts again next week!).
Thumbs up from Almaty's biggest fan!
Almaty play Banaskins (next week) and FC Miracle in the last two games of the first half of the season. Wins in both games will see Almaty top of the league at the mid-way point.
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