Werder Weekly 2008 - February 1

Photographs from today are in the Werder Weekly slide show

Date

February 1, 2008

Participants

Adam Carlson, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith

Report

After weeks of close games between Wayne Smith and his opponents in the Werder Weekly tonight he was playing at his best, crushing all before him in a show of Subbuteo that had not been seen before in this competition. In his first game he put in a workman-like performance to quickly overwhelm Dominic Hutchinson with four goals in the first eleven minutes, allowing his opponent to call for the “mercy” rule to stop the game.

Kevin Nieman, playing in his first Werder Weekly of the year, started with a victory over Adam Carlson. Nieman scored his first two goals early in the first half with chip shots over Carlson’s goalkeeper. Adam’s changed his goalkeeping style keeping his goalkeeper high to block any more chip shots. This allowed Kevin to score his third goal, in the second half, with a ground shot that crept under Adam’s raised keeper.

The only reason the first half of the game Simon Hutchinson and Munir Merchant ended goalless was a reflex save Simon made by snatching his goalkeeper to block a powerful strike from Merchant. The game livened up in the second half as Simon increased the speed of his attack. Munir, whose accurate defensive flicks had kept Simon at bay during the first half, could not keep up with the faster pace as his opponent kept pushing forward. Simon squandered two opportunities to increase his lead when Merchant stranded his goalkeeper, giving up possession in front of the goal the first time and missing the open goal the second. Simon scored his second goal in the last five minutes with a low drive in at the far post.

Dominic edged out Carlson by a single goal in a game that referee Nieman described as “acrimonious” and “chaotic”. “Both players played too fast and it created a lot of frustration for them both and for the referee,” was his observation after the game.

Smith played what he said was his “best game ever” as he crushed Nieman 5-0 in just 15 minutes. He scored three goals in the first five minutes, and did miss a shot on goal the entire half. The action was not all one way. Nieman did attack, but he could not find a way through Smith’s defense or past his goalkeeper. At half time the players agreed not play the second half.

In a slow paced game Merchant and Carlson struggled to keep possession and push forward for any length of time. There were just a few shots on goal by both players, only one needed to be saved by the goalkeeper. As neither player could deliver the “killer blow” of a goal the game ended without score.

Simon was apprehensive as he faced Smith. After scoring a goal at the start of the first half it looked as if Wayne would repeat his earlier results. The game was played at a fast pace as Smith was continually moving the ball rapidly from his defense up to his opponent’s shooting line in two or three flicks. After conceding the second goal Simon slowed the pace of the game by moving the ball slowly up the field, and defending in numbers when he lost possession. While this did slow the pace of the game Smith was still breaking from defense at speed. The first half ended with Wayne leading 3-0. In the second half Simon pulled his attackers back to the half way line, causing Smith to change the way he was playing the ball from his defense. This move inhibited Wayne’s previously rapid moves from defense to attack. With a concerted effort to retain possession for extended periods, rather than to break quickly and push the ball up to his opponent’s shooting line, Simon managed to disrupt Smith’s flow enough to only concede one goal in the second half.

“His defensive flicks were often wonderful,” was Nieman’s compliment about Merchant after their game. “He plays methodically and had a calm careful style that made me work hard for my only goal.”

Simon pushed forward relentlessly against Carlson, occasionally with six players in attack and only three in defense. But he could not capitalize on all this pressure as he would keep missing the ball at his opponent’s shooting line and lose possession. The pressure finally paid off at the end of the first half when Simon scored his first goal. In the second half it became evident that Simon had relaxed as his game improved and his second goal came five minutes after the restart. The third was scored with less than two minutes remaining.

“One of the best defensive games I have seen,” was how referee Smith described the tense goalless draw between Simon and Nieman. The defenses were so dominant that Kevin had only one shot that required the goalkeeper to save, and Simon missed the clearest shooting chance when the ball glanced off the wrong side of the near post.

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