Match : Belenses vs LC VETS

Warm up : Belem arrived early, quite as a surprise, they seemed determined not to lose again to LC. A bit stronger, they were lacking 3 players to make the 11 so LC loaned them 3 Top players, Joe Kodde, Cat Ward and Pedro Berga … 3 young and great players, that would make all the difference. Adding to that Belem also benefited from the presence of Rui Lopes Junior, who currently plays for Casa Pia Seniors.

LC had a moderate team, the usual vets, experienced but where was this game to go? There were no real expectations, just a feeling that LC were not the favorites.

Game : Belem started off brilliantly, in the 5th minute Pedro Batista scored a well placed goal, and it seemed that Belem would walk over LC… Far superior to LC they were in total dominance. Six minutes later came a surprise equalizer by LC’s Zorro, catching everyone by surprise. But in just 7 mins, Belem were 2-1 up, with a poorly given away goal by LC defense. But LC were not to give up.. after a penalty flick well placed by Rui Figueiredo, and a well placed goal by James Harrison out of the blue, LC walked away from the first half leading 3-2.

The second half was a different story. Around 15 mins into the game , Belem scored 3 goals, 2 of which cooly netted by Paulo Lima, who moved from center back to center forward. LC had 5 major chances, which unfortunately were all missed by Zorro, who seemed to be off target… what was his excuse? Guess he didn’t really have one, seemed to be totally unfocused, ran like the wind, was danger man, but poor finalizing. LC saw Jerry Harris come on, who scored and made a difference. But the best goal for LC was the equalizer by Alexa Kodde, who gracefully swooped the ball on the boards, after a great pass from Andy.

Result : 5 – 5

Man of the match : Andrew Baird, who had to leave in the 2nd half.
Worst performer : Zorro, missed 5 clear goals, and who has to go into repentance and further endurance training.

– Steve “Zorro” Fernandes