Juicy comeback with hatrick-hero Stan

The boys pulled it together after a terrible start by the Ody keeper brought it to 2-0. Hat Trick from Stan, a goal from Johan and one from Sandy gave Ody the W. I suggest reading the whole document, I don't know what to say here. 

The weather on this Saturday was warm, a little too warm by Irish standards. All the boys arrived on time, and the last into the changing room was Sandy who had to wait 30 minutes for a pretty disgusting looking toasty sandwich, the perfect pre-match meal. We were only 13 men, with a friend of Sandys, Milan, to ease the fatigue of most of the lads. The warm up was decent and normal, running through the usual antics and passing for the outfielders and shots on goal for the keeper. It wasn’t long before Sandy and Joris noticed a group of women sitting behind the goal, and they then decided to practice their shots on the keeper (very few made their way into the net). Perfectly on time, the match on the single pitch before us blew full time, and we made our way onto the grounds. 

I'm not sure who made this decision (whether it was the home or visiting team), but the sides were switched. This caused a bit of disruption for the keeper of Ody (me) since I was comfortable with the space on the first side, knowing the placing of the goal. Nonetheless, the sides were switched, and I began giving words of encouragement to the defenders, standing at the corner of the box, when the referee just blew the beginning of the first half. Did not ask either goalkeeper were they ready, just blew the goddam whistle. Now what happened next was bizarre, and I'm not sure if it was due to the heat exhaustion, the lack of confirmation by the ref that the game was about to begin, or the distraction caused by the pretty gross black and green jerseys worn by Voorwarts, but they shot on target with the second touch of the ball. And it went in. Not my proudest moment. The next ten minutes were equally poor, and the home team were then up 2-0 after 11 minutes. 

This all changed. The keeper (myself) pulled himself together, and Ody played impeccably. Sandy received the ball numerous times out on the left wing, and Big Man Stan came through with two glorious goals to bring it to 2-2 in the first half. Unfortunately, we lost our other big man that half, Martijn, with an ankle injury. At half time, spirits were high, and a win for the Purple Boyz was anticipated and in reach. 

The second half was just as good as the first. A goal from Johan off a free kick delivered by Sandy brought the score to 2-3, and excitement was felt by all (except for Voorwaart). Passing was good, defending was good, long balls were good, everything was pretty good. The home team, for some bizarre reason, left their wings wide open for Ody players to abuse. This was at their demise. The Ody team took full advantage, and Chris was running up and down the line like a yoyo. No one was surprised when BMS (Big Man Stan) scored his third of the match, a stunning header right over the keeper's head, too powerful for him to reach. And if he had gotten a hand to it, I'm sure it would have come straight off by the sheer power the ball had behind it. 

Voorwaart did score a third. A relatively weak goal. A striker was left unmarked at the left hand side of the box. It was quite a nice goal, I will admit. But this was the only real opportunity they had for the rest of the game. Sandy had about 3 great opportunities (all missed, however, after his claim that “he taught Cristiano Ronaldo how to shoot”). But it wasn't until the 4th opportunity where the ball ended up at the back of Voorwarts net. Also a nice goal from a left hand angle. 

We knew we were gonna win, and when the ref blew the full-time whistle, the Ody Boyz were delighted with their first win in the league. 

A great performance by all (except for the first 10 mins by the keeper), and by far the best game we have played thus far. Exciting stuff to move forward with. 

Player of the Match Award: Stan with a Hattrick.  

YAYUPS