After a troublesome threadbare spring it looked like the Legends would finally have a comfortable sized squad against traditionally hospitable opponents Banatul. However a robust 16 somehow ended up as 13 by game time. Fortunately it was a robust 13, except for the odd exception whose robust Saturday night had bled into an alarm missing scramble to get to the game on time, replete with roster and kit. With 2 substitutes the team picked itself, and with erstwhile Banatul player Moore providing an optimistic scouting report the Legends started with purpose. Unfortunately they had difficultly converting their purpose into production. With the defence looking rarely troubled, CPR poured up front but were unable to make a dent. Finally, as had happened many times it was upto to D’Andrea to make the difference. Gifted a free kick in a dangerous area, D’Andrea struck it calmly into the side netting to enable the Legends to take the lead.
At half time the Legends focused on what they needed to do in order to take advantage of a rapidly tiring Banatul team. Soon enough they were able to do so, with numbers charging forward looking to get on the score sheet. Stower to Sawyer gave the Legends some breathing room, with Frazier exhibiting his full goalie repertoire by launching a ball that Sawyer latched on to and converted. With everyone greedily hunting for scores a quick turnover enabled Banatul to convert, with only Venkataraman doing his defensive duty against 2 attackers. Order was soon restored as D’Andrea scored again and then ended the game with one more as the referee took pity on tired Banatul.
These are the events as vaguely remembered. The Legends next game against SC Eintracht should hopefully be similarly prolific, although the game against Barnstonworth after that is straight after the notorious Brooklyn Derby.
Competition: Banatul SC, League Opposition
Location: Randall’s Island #74, Randall’s Island
Conditions: Nice spring morning
Fans: 0
Result: 5:1 HT: 1-0
Goals: 1-0: D’Andrea Assist Sawyer
2-0: Sawyer Assist Stower
3-0: Sawyer Assist Frazier
4-1: D’Andrea
5-1: D’Andrea Assist Sawyer
Yellow Cards: With Frazier safely ensconced in goal, there were none
Red Cards: None
Mike D’s aka No Shows: At one point the Legends had 16, but that evaporated into a mere 13 with some late scratches
Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: None, with most players in decent shape and a couple of subs making a big difference
Old Man of the Match: For the first time in memory, we had a dual OMoM. With their impacts on the game it was impossible to separate D’Andrea (hattrick) from Sawyer (2 goals, 2 assists). D’Andrea’s calmness in the center of the pitch was matched with Sawyer’s menace up front.
Old Man of the Bar: The Return of Paul Vale was only matched with Tier 1 Venkataraman. A true case of Mutually Assured Destruction.
El Presidente (Old Men who don’t make it to game but come to the bar): None
Statistic of the week: Sawyer elbowed his way into the Top 20 points scorers all time for the Legends from only 10 games, a hair behind Rich Enticott who scored 9 goals and 5 assists from his 10 games vs 5 goals and 4 assists.
Team Bar Showing: 5 out of 13 (38%)
Team Bar Night: 4 out of 5. A little confusion at the beginning over early bar entry, but soon enough 5 made it in. After the Liverpool Chelsea game, two stayed. And stayed. And stayed.
Team (No new profiles this week): Tim Frazier (GK), Manohar Venkataraman, Neil Stower (DF), Andy Jones (DF), Gavin Moore (DF), Eduardo Mazzi (DF), Mark Edmunds (DF), Danny Azzo, Franco Denari, Scott Brindley, Paul Vale, Willian D’Andrea, David Sawyer
