When people talk about the romance of cup competitions they are more often than not talking about the victories of the Underdog. Away from the leagues in a in a one-off game, passion can count as a twelfth man.
This game saw Div 3 BFC knock DIV 1 SALA FC flying out of the Cup 2 goals to 1. I hesitate to call it a giant killing because despite our current league position, we know that we are the true giants of the TML.
It was a game that was hard fought across the pitch starting with the conditions. A consistent smattering of rain and a ball that was pumped up so it was harder than a rock meant it could’ve been easy to get caught out by the pace of a pass or the angle of a bounce. Secondly, these guys were young and fast; it was clear they were not a Div 3 side.
They put that pace to good use as well, charging at the defence and asking questions. The midfield generally had the answers though and if they didn’t there were clean inteceptions from Romen, Tomoki and Ken at the back (and some less than clean ones from Rowan…..).
On our side, it always felt like we were one through-ball away from banging it in the back of the next but it couldn’t quite come together.
The break in the deadlock came from one of their runs. A bit of pace saw them push to the byeline on our left-hand side from where they got a sweetly angled ball across the face of goal that was tucked away by a striker charging in from the other side.
At half-time there was a lot to be positive about to the extent that we essentially had to remind ourselves that we were toe-to-toe with Div 1!
Out of the blocks for the second half saw a joke of a Goal Kick from their keeper. It landed at the feet of Taishi and ‘pop’ 1-1. They gave us the ball but Taishi dealt with it clinically.
Not long after that, a 1-2 off Daigo on the left-side saw Caspar shoot at goal only to have it blocked and land again at the feet of Taishi, ‘pop’ 2-1. This one spun, fizzed and rocketed into the right side of the net; unstoppable.
From this point on SALA seemed to go into desperation mode. They forgot the success they had with the running in the first half and started trying to hit long balls for their strikers to pounce on behind our defensive line. They never seem to get the pace right however and eventual man of the match winner Hendrik made easy work of those, leaping high to pluck the ball into a place of safety.
It was a consistently good performance from the BFC’s No.1 with SALA game-winners being flicked over the bar, touched against posts or in one case pushed out of play with an incredible diving stop low on the right-hand side.
SALA seem to run out of ideas and motivation. They’re having a tough time in Div 1 and perhaps didn’t expect a team that wanted it so much in the BFC.
It was a message to the league. It was a sign of things to come. A landmark moment in recent BFC history plus 5 wins on the trott.
Congratulations BFC.