After last week’s heartwarming draw against the Cozmoz juggernaut the Legends knew they couldn’t afford to let their momentum drop.  Apparently the message got through as they had their largest attendance of the season so far at 16.  On arriving at the field it was clear that it was more like 15 as Ollie Roberts looked like someone who had hosted a holiday party the night before.  For once the Legends didn’t have to stress as their opponents looked in even worse shape, with only 9 players available and hints suggesting that that would be the sum total for the whole game.  Having stretched themselves well after the arduous trek to Union New Jersey the Legends were up and eager to get at it, immediately putting pressure on the opponents.  Quickly CPR stormed in the lead, the massed numbers too many for Hoboken to handle as the wide open Rosenbloom crashed the ball against the bar with Venkataraman available to clean up the mess.  The referee appeared to take pity on Hoboken by giving them the benefit of the doubt on a few offside decisions including a sumptuous volley from an irate Mckeown.  Not to be denied he soon notched up his first followed by Venkataraman’s speculative long shot taking a deflection.  The surprise was that the Legends weren’t able to score more, but Hoboken as usual kept battling and working hard against the odds.

Despite the large numbers of substitutes the Legends continued to efficiently self manage their playing time and the pressure continued to pile on.  Mckeown scored again and was denied by the crossbar.  Venkataraman shot straight at the keeper and headed wide from a promising position.  El Presidente got into the act, scoring to atone for his miss in the first half before missing an even more promising header.  The goals and chances started to flow, and for the most part the Legends eschewed selfishness to keep the ball flowing and set people up in good positions in the penalty area.  Mckeown completed his hat-trick with a gorgeous shot from outside the box that was almost matched by a long run from Hahn followed by a powerful low drive.  Hoboken gamely tried to keep up and indeed ruined the Legends chances for their 3 shut out in 4 games with a good corner and great header.  By the time Casanova scored and inappropriately celebrated the 9^th goal it was clear that the referee would mercifully end the game early for Hoboken.

The Fall part of the season was challenging from a numbers perspective for the Legends, making their second place playoff position feel all the more satisfying.  With 6 games to go and a 3 point lead they will need to make sure they recruit well and hopefully have players returning from injury to help cement their playoff position.

Competition: Hoboken FC 1912 Legends, League Opposition

Location: Phil Rizzuto Park, Union NJ

Conditions: Chilly December morning

Fans: 2 (Doug and Owen Faherty).

Result: 9-1

Goals: 1:0 Venkataraman assist Rosenbloom

2:0 Mckeown assist Hahn

3:0 Venkataraman

4:0 Mckeown

5:0 Faherty Assist Conboy

6:0 Mckeown

7:0 Hahn

8:0 Conboy Assist Mckeown

9:1 Casanova Assist Belizan

Yellow Cards: None

Red Cards: None

Mike D’s aka No Shows: None, although Ollie probably wishes he was one

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None

”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: Although hangovers shouldn’t count, Ollie’s was the most spectacular since Resnik at Red Hook post St. Patrick’s day 3 years ago (still being drunk doesn’t count).  Too many subs rolling in and off to have anyone in any danger of getting hurt.

Old Man of the Match:  Plenty of candidates but the tight race came down to Conboy narrowly edging out Mckeown.  Mckeown had the statistics with 3 goals and an assist (and unfairly denied a goal for “offside”) while Conboy had the tireless field length running both offensively and defensively.  Hopefully they will both have plenty more chances to vie for the award in the spring.

Old Man of the Bar: None.

El Presidente (Old Men who don’t make it to game but come to the bar): Honorary mentions to Meridyth, Kaitlin and Doug.

Statistic of the week:  Venkataraman was a couple of glorious chances away from tying D’Andrea for the all time goal lead, his 2 goals now leaving him one behind at 18 and with 50 goals all time for CPR.  With Faherty rotating up top Resnik was able to gain full custody of the all time Defensive assist lead.  The Legends also set a new record with 6 goals in a half, beating 3 previous occasions when they had scored 5.  The 9 goals in the game also tied their previous high against Banatul in 2012, and but for a good Hoboken header would have tied that game’s all time biggest victory.

Team Bar Showing: 7 out of 16 (44%)

Team Bar Night: 4 out of 5. Almost half the team showed up for at least awhile, while Tier 1 stayed for all of the first NFL games with Tier 2 putting in a shift.

Team (No new profiles this week): Telly Vamvouris (GK), Mark Resnik (DF), Steve Teesdale, Ollie Roberts (DF), Luciano Belizan (DF), Pete Hahn (DF), Eduardo Mazzi (DF), Tony Vamvouris, Mark Dean, Bevan Rosenbloom, Manohar Venkataraman, John Hodges, Drew Faherty, Mike Conboy, Simon Mckeown, Manuel Casanova

Although the Old Boyz were off it was still a major struggle to get enough players to make it to Sunday’s game.  The four reinforcements did provide flexibility positionally but the last minute Mike D of Hodges meant there would be a scant 2 substitutes to help on the large field against the Cozmoz juggernaut.  A record of never having been tied let alone beaten in the league (26 consecutive wins over 1.5 seasons) would indicate that the Legends had no chance, but they knew differently.  In the Cup game the previous year they narrowly lost 2-1, and there was another 2-1 loss in the last minute also last season.  However, CPR was under no illusion of the monumental effort that would be required.

The game settled into the same pattern early on, Cozmos grabbing and keeping possession with good technical ability and movement.  Whenever the Legends were able to get the ball they could barely string a couple of passes together before they were back against the ropes.  There were glimpses of daylight on the wings, with Faulhaber and Teesdale making inroads but unable to get the killer ball in.  The fight of the Legends was not to be questioned, running and harassing as much as they could.  Against Cozmoz the battle was always physical but fair, but increasingly it was the Legends who suffered against their stronger opponents.  Against the run of play the Legends struck gold as a goalbound shot was adjudged to have been handled, presenting the Legends with a priceless penalty.  Although management was inclined to have ze German Faulhaber take it the Englishman Mckeown was insistent, with predictable dire results.

Fortunately the Legends were able to shrug off the disappointment of the penalty miss to continue harassing the opposition.  At half time the weary Legends knew they were going to have to use every trick in the book to keep the Cozmos at bay.  The second half saw a one way siege with the occasional counterattack tending to fizz out quickly.  Block after block stopped the majority of shots, with anything that slipped through being capably handled by Telly Vamvouris.  The toll was increasingly being taken as Legends were being carried off the pitch and muscles were cramping, but for all their possession the Cozmos had few direct shots within the penalty area.  Indeed, almost at the death the Legends had a chance to steal an undeserved win but the cross to a wide open Faulhaber was a little too far.  As it was the Legends were delighted to take the first ever point off Cozmos, a deserved point for a hard effort and one that prove very valuable in the playoff race.

Competition: Cozmos, League Opposition

Location: Bush Terminal Park, Brooklyn

Conditions: Brisk afternoon

Fans: 2 (Ms. Morse and Mrs. Telly Vamvouris along with 2 dogs.  Hakan showed up a little late).

Result: 0-0

Goals: N/A

Yellow Cards: Mckeown took out some of his post penalty miss frustration on a run of the mill bad call forcing the referee to reassert himself.  Telly Vamvouris was very vocal in his demand that time be called, much to the amusement of everyone around.

Red Cards: None

Mike D’s aka No Shows: Hodges was a late scratch, and given the number of exhausted players it was fortunate that the Legends were able to hold on.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None

”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: Edmunds with the hamstring forcing him off, Teesdale had major cramps, Telly Vamvouris post collision.  It was harder to find someone who wasn’t hurting given the siege the Legends were under.

Old Man of the Match:  The rarity of nobody going to the bar meant this wasn’t discussed, but there were many worthy candidates.  Telly pulled off some great saves and the defense in all threw themselves in front of the ball and blocked many shots.

Old Man of the Bar: None.

El Presidente (Old Men who don’t make it to game but come to the bar): None

Statistic of the week:  Given some of the shenanigans this season we’ve had to expand our “Own Goal” category to include Penalty misses and Penalty saves (fortunately for some this statistic only starts this season).  Telly Vamvouris is helped and Simon Mckeown is penalized.  After a rocky defensive start the Legends now have 3 shutouts in their last 4 games.  However their goal scoring is at a record low and goal concessions are at a record high this season, so far producing the only negative differential in their history.  Given that it is remarkable that they are still in a good playoff position.

Team Bar Showing: 0 out of 13 (0%)

Team Bar Night: 0 out of 5. Bill Rigby’s goodbye shenanigans negatively affected Tier 1.  Hopefully they can make it up after next week’s final game of the Fall Semester.

Team (No new profiles this week): Telly Vamvouris (GK), Mark Resnik (DF), Mark Edmunds (DF), Steve Morse, Jens Faulhaber, Neil Stower, Steve Teesdale, Ollie Roberts (DF), Tony Vamvouris (DF), Manohar Venkataraman, Drew Faherty, Mike Conboy, Simon Mckeown