Werder Weekly 2008 - February 8

Date

February 8, 2008

Participants

Simon Hutchinson, Munir Merchant, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith

Report

What a difference a week makes. Last week Wayne Smith was rampant crushing all of his opponents. This week it was a return to “normal service”.

For his first game of the night Smith faced Kevin Nieman, who he had crushed 5-0 in just one half of play last week. The first two chances fell to Nieman, who was unable capitalize upon them, in the goalless first half. Smith took the lead early in the second half with a chip shot over Kevin’s goalkeeper that grazed the underside of the crossbar and dropped into the goal. Neither player could recall the details Wayne’s second goal. With just seconds remaining Nieman made a reflex save with his goalkeeper with the barest flick of his wrist to push Smith’s shot away and cause his opponent to call out in surprise.

On the other pitch Simon Hutchinson beat Munir Merchant with a goal in either half. Hutchinson’s fast pace kept Merchant “out of sorts” as he pressed forward in numbers. But Munir’s accurate defensive flicks were enough frustrate and keep his opponent at bay as Simon tried to find a way through the packed defense. As Hutchinson was pressing forward with such numbers in the second half Merchant was able to break forward with long flicks to touch up on the ball. The game ended with Munir’s shot on goal being saved by Simon’s goalkeeper.

Hutchinson’s first half goal was enough to consign Nieman to his second defeat of the night. The shot was from a tight angle on the right wing that bounced off the far post and into the goal. From that point Simon worked to retain possession, slowly building his attacks from his defensive line. This allowed Kevin to reorganize his defensive line and keep his opponent wide on the wing or blocked him from getting into the shooting zone. “I did not have a lot offense,” Nieman lamented after the game as he had only made two shots that required Hutchinson to save with his goalkeeper.

“Simon’s goalkeeper was man of the match,” was Smith’s comment after his next game. Hutchinson conceded a goal in the first half as Smith shot before Simon could get his hand on his goalkeeper’s handle. For the rest of the game Hutchinson made a string of string of saves as Smith kept streaming forward. In the last two minutes of the game Simon made four parries with his goalkeeper frustrating Smith before Wayne finally scored with just 25 seconds remaining. The action was not all one way. Earlier in the second half as Wayne had to make two saves to stop Simon from equalizing.

Merchant’s accurate defensive flicks were enough for him to frustrate and play out a goalless tie with Nieman. Kevin failed to capitalize on the few times he managed to force his way through opponent’s defense only to see Munir save the three goal bound shots.

In their second game of the night Nieman gifted Smith a goal in the first minute. Kevin missed the ball with his spare goalkeeper leaving Smith to score into an unprotected goal. In the fifth minute of the second half Nieman equalized pushing the ball up over Smith’s shooting line and scoring with a shot into the far side of the goal. Kevin stunned Wayne in the tenth minute with a shot that ricocheted off the far post and the crossbar into the goal to take the lead. Smith started to scramble, pushing forward in search of a second goal. A string of saves by Nieman kept Smith at bay until the final minute. Smith equalizer came from a shot on the left wing that cleared Nieman’s goalkeeper’s rod and through the space between the near post and the goalkeeper’s body. Kevin held his own for the remaining 50 seconds for the game to end 2-2.

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