Magical Madanes sees FC Team B to win
FC Team player-manager Mitch Young saw his side produce an opening day performance worthy of championship contenders.
MGBSFL Division Two:
FC Team B 4 L’Equipe 0
Sunday, 7 September, 2014
Young’s team are one of the favourites to land the title come May and his players did little to dissuade that notion after four second half goals saw them stroll to the points.
However, looking to play down any heightened expectations, he said: “This was a performance that reinforces our belief that we can be champions, but talk of the title will not happen until the latter part of the season.
“This is a very strong division where up to five teams can probably challenge, our ‘C’ Team, AC Mill Hill, Whetstone, Raiders & Oakwood are all capable of mounting a challenge, so there are bigger fish to fry coming up. However, if we apply ourselves correctly in every game I am confident we will be there or thereabouts.”
While the first half may have been goalless, the woodwork was struck three times. Lorian Madanes hit the bar twice for Team, the first a stunning free-kick which struck the underside of the bar and then a sumptuous lobbed effort which crashed back off the top of the bar. Richard Fogelman also struck the frame of the goal for L’Equipe with a long-range free-kick.
However, after a trio of near misses, Team did take the lead minutes after the restart when Madanes’ corner was bundled home by Adam Rones.
Madanes did get on the scoresheet soon after when his corner kick flew into the far corner, and he made it three when he deftly took the ball past the on-rushing goalkeeper. Ben Binder capped off the scoring by netting a fourth, and it was a goal Young felt was reflected a dominating win. He said: “I think 4-0 sums up the game nicely, we were in control for 90 minutes and never really looked in any danger.”
Reflecting back on his side’s performance, he said: “I’m happy with the display, the first game is always difficult no matter who you play. I thought L’Equipe defended well but were never in the game and that we looked comfortable throughout. The Team spirit was good and the football we played was excellent at times. Winning 4-0 you have to be happy!”
Despite going into the break level, he said he was always confident that his side would go on to win. “I just told the boys to be patient [at half-time]”, he said. “We knew with the attacking players we have we will always score goals. I told them we were unlucky not to be leading at half-time and that there is no reason to panic. And when you have the likes of Andy Sheena to bring off the bench you are guarantee to score.”
And promising there’s even more to come from his team’s star player on the day, Lorian Madanes, he said: “He was the best player on the pitch today, scoring two, setting up two, he also hit the bar with a brilliant free-kick and the inside of the post with a 30-yard lob. He was unplayable today and was probably only playing at 70 percent. There’s more to come from Loz this season, this is just the beginning.”
L’Equipe joint-manager Joshua Lewis said: “It was a tough first game as expected. Despite the heavy defeat I don’t think it genuinely reflects the whole game.
“FC Team B have a strong mostly premier league team, so we knew what to expect. We were on the back foot for most of the game, but created a few early chances and Richard Fogelman was unlucky to hit the bar from a free-kick early on.
“I thought we defended brilliantly from open play and it was frustrating to lose two goals from corners I think we should’ve dealt with. It’s early days and we have a few more key players to come back into the squad, so we’re taking the positives out of the game and move forward quickly.”
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