Games against the Goals team never seem to end well for Elite, and unfortunately this week was no exception. But, this time at least, ‘Bangers’ won fair and square.
Elite got the ball rolling with Sean Payne hitting the side netting in the opening exchanges. And it took some impressive reactive saves from the Bangers keeper to stop Elite opening the scoring.
Between the sticks for Elite was outfield powerhouse Dan Abbott, filling in for the injured Chris Podolchuk, and using his size and strength to Elite’s advantage.
As well as ‘making himself big’ Abbott marshalled the troops from the back.
But it was Payne who found the net first, beating the Bangers keeper on the five minute mark.
Elite were controlling the game, Dale Hart did well to keep his feet under provocation but couldn’t get a shot off and it only took three minutes before some lovely pieces of skill from Dave Madeley and Shakes resulted in two more goals for Elite in quick succession.
But less than a minute later, Bangers started to fight back, scoring their first of the evening on 10 minutes.
Elite weren’t quite finished and Alex Gilfoyle made scoring look easy, skipping through the Bangers defence to slot the ball home on 15 minutes.
As the clock ticked down Bangers found their stride and Elite repeatedly gave them too much time and space on the ball, resulting inevitably in three goals in five minutes, despite Abbott’s best efforts.
Half-Time: Elite FC 4 Bangers FC 4
The whistle for the second half brought further punishment for Elite as they conceded a free-kick and then a goal.
It wasn’t all one way traffic, Hart was unlucky not to score and and the Bangers keeper produced good saves to deny Gilfoyle and Dave Madeley. But Bangers pressed their advantage and blocks from Elite and saves from Abbott could only stem the tide for so long.
Bangers continued their onslaught and Elite couldn’t get a foothold back in the game. Five goals later and it was truly game over, Elite 4, Bangers 11.
Full-Time: Elite FC 4 Bangers FC 11
Man of the Match: Despite the heavy defeat Elite had some good moments, but noone was head and shoulders above the rest (apart from Dan Abbott, physically at least!) so no MotM this week.
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