Ashbourne College Football Write-up Thursday 8/5/08

Football 2pm – 4pm:

The build up to the frenzied exam period affected the turnout this week, with people deciding that studying was more important than football. How wrong they were; this was a week not to be missed. The teams lined up, with a prediction for a proposed Students Vs Old Boys match up. On one side of the pitch you witnessed the passing of time on the aged faces of the people who have passed through the doors of Ashbourne before, and on the other the sprightly fresh faced competitors of the current crop.

It is always an entertaining session of football, but this week was about more than just playing football: it was about which team played the best football. In the early stages of the heated competition, it seemed that experience triumphed over age as the Old Boys found themselves up by two goals, courtesy of calm finishing by Gino Moodley and Omar Davison (two very much veterans of these Seymour Sessions). This early lead spurred on the wily veterans, and soon their play took on Brazilian flair, and they combined quick passing and tricks far below their age to score another goal, a fierce drive by Gino into the bottom right after a cross field back-heel by Omar. This further encouraged the leaders to press forward, with normal centre back Amer Nazri vouching for a striking role as defending became somewhat mundane to him. Nazri, a proud Chelsea supporter, took on the mask of Didier Drogba as he held the ball on his own, bringing other players into the game.

However, the youngsters were yet to be upstaged and dug in deep to find their first goal. This came from Mohammed Al Nashmi, a skilful finish after being played in behind the defence by Ali Al “Fabregas” Yahya. This roused the younger squad and their fitness began to show through; composure on the ball by James Chelliah found Ali and he played a beautiful chip over the defence for Mohammed to run on to, who as calm as his first goal found the back of the net with his head (one of three ever scored in Seymour, the other honours belong to Ali and Gino). Soon, after a period of significant ball possession (thanks greatly to the movement of James, Lindsay Stanfield and Thomas Santa Cruz at the foundations of every attack), they found themselves level. It was Ali’s turn to get his name on the score sheet after creating the first two goals, as he snaked through the defence to find himself clean on goal which he converted with a well placed shot into the corner.

What followed was a period of domination by the youngsters as Lindsay, James and Thomas continued to create further chances with good use of possession. The Old Boys reverted to their natural system; employing Changwe Mutakasha in a Michael Essien role to derail these attacks, but it was too late as two quick strikes by Ali and Thomas put them behind for the first time. However they found strands of energy - mostly from Lucozade - to create attacking chances of their own, only to be denied by excellent reaction stops by Ahmed Al Hassan and the post on several occasions. They did, however, break the will of the defence, woodwork and goalkeeper to score via Elliot Ainsworth twice (not an Old Boy yet, but worthy of the title). This brought the match level and invigorated the team, as they reverted to their earlier dominance and controlled the ball well which was rewarded when Omar found Gino with a well spotted through pass over the defence. Instant control ensued, and after and quick fire step over and shimmy past the defender, he passed the ball into the back of the net.

The game then descended from a game of calmly controlled passing to one of back and forth attack, with shots flying in from all directions (yet not all on target). This played into the hands of the Old Boys, who then played Changwe in an attacking role as a focal point for numerous long balls which were then flicked into space for Gino to run into. This ploy worked for the team, as after one such flicked pass, Gino ran into space tricked a defender and played Changwe into space and his snap shot flew past Ahmed (score 7 – 5 to the Old Boys). The game continued in this vein till the final whistle, when shots flew in and tricks worthy of a Nike freestyle competition were on display (well they were attempted, in some cases more successfully than others). In the end, this was a match that gave some proof to the argument for experience over age.