Portugal Fc 1

Firsts played Portugal on a windy Saturday morning. Both teams had exited the 5-team title race over the last couple of weeks. Not on the astro this time, but on the grass pitch, showing great club spirit by giving the main pitch to the Thirds. The ref wasn’t too pleased with all this and demanded that our delegue Ricard would repaint the touchlines before the game started as it was not first division worthy.

Firsts showed great fighting spirit and adapted to the conditions much better than Portugal. An unleashed Vincent scored five goals and also managed to retire the ex-FC Twente defender Dedryck Boyata, who now is continuing his career at Portugal. After a 1-on-1 sprint with our Scottish-Dutch striker, Boyata pulled his hammy and had to come off early.

Overall, it was a great team performance, securing our biggest victory of the season, although there were a couple of silly cards along the way.

On a cold day in the sun, the Firsts took on top-of-the-league FC Portugal. James got us off to a bright start by winning the toss, forcing the Portuguese to play into the sun. A clear tactical plan was laid out for how to press, with the forwards putting in an extra shift.

The plan paid off early. We took a 0–1 lead thanks to a brilliant header from Tiago inside their six-yard box, beating two defenders to the ball. Our press continued to cause trouble, and we recovered possession several times deep on their half. Later on Tiago struck again with a composed finish into the far corner to make it 0–2.

The second half brought more of the same. Rachid curled in a superb free kick to extend the lead to 0–3. Portugal pulled one back from the penalty spot, leading to a few squeaky bum moments for Kev Flynn on the sideline. But substitute Vincent quickly restored the confidence, making it 1–4 and sealing the match.

A great all-round team performance from the Firsts!

MOTM: Tiago