City Get the Last Laugh
Time: 5.30pm, February 8th, 2010
Venue: Bai Ling Bridge Riverside Park
By Michael Christie
Agreeing to put the start of the match back to 5.30, the match referee wasn’t very sympathetic to the eight City players kitted up at 5.25 when asked to delay it further. Still, within seconds of a 4-3-0 formation taking the field, Dawda, Tim, Mamadi, Ebou and Yunusa arrived. Niklas also showed up, but he’d lost the keys to his rooms so he didn’t have a kit and had to watch from the sidelines.
The starting line-up was Matt Wharton in goal; John Phillips, Tim Murphy, Mamadi Colley, and Yunusa Njie at the back; Spencer Pangborn, Oliver Harley, Ebrima Njie, and Ed Cartee in midfield; and, Stevey Reymond and Dawda Fatty up front. The Lions started the game with hard running. City kept the ball a lot but the passing was slow and often predictable, so the game was even for the first twenty minutes. Worryingly, Onur Dogan was in good form and looked threatening every time he had the ball. He was an effective outlet for the Lions, carrying the ball into the penalty box. One time he outpaced everybody and only a memorable tackle from Murphy stopped him.
The City attack created some openings in the first twenty minutes but rarely tested the Lions keeper. The wide players were not used enough, and the Lions were content to soak up pressure through the centre. With about twenty-five minutes gone, Onur Durgan was through again and this time he got a hard shot off which Wharton palmed away. The ball bounced back to the Lions ten yards from the box, where City conceded a free-kick. Driving hard and low, the ball took a deflection off the wall and Volker Nagel was in the right place to poke it home past Wharton. This was a lucky goal for the Lions, but no more than they deserved.
City came back with conviction but made no new inroads after the goal. City kept the ball well, but were restricted to long shots and corners. Shortly before the half-time whistle, Dan Calvert came on for Spencer Pangborn.
Begining the second half, Michael Christie replaced Oliver Harley. There didn’t seem to be much happening when, without any great effort, the Lions threaded the ball through to Onur Durgan at the edge of the penalty box. His curling shot took a slight deflection off Murphy before it found the net. (Whether or not his shot would have beaten Dale Neal or Alex Moga is a moot point. Matt Wharton did everybody a favour by volunteering to keep goal in the absence of a regular keeper.) About five minutes later, Wharton’s goal-kick was uncharacteristically short and, unluckily, came straight to Onur Durgan who controlled and shot quickly. 0-3! With the game seemingly beyond City’s reach the Lions begin to defend and soak up the pressure and see the match out. A moment of madness from Jan Meidinger cost the Lions a defender. Swearing aggressively at the referee for a questionable decision over a corner kick, there was no question of a card. Was it going to be yellow or red? When the referee was finally given enough room by Lions players to take out a card, sure enough it was red. At this juncture City saw fit to switch to an attacking 3-5-2 formation with Alex Ramirez replacing Mamadi Colley.
City refusing to accept defeat began to apply the pressure. The Lions obviously thought differently, though, because they took off their best player and concentrated on defence. As a result, City soon had the Lions on the back foot.
Still, the Lions didn’t look like conceding. The Lions keeper, Rob Fowler, held on to most of the City shots on target, and the Lions defenders put enough pressure on the City forwards to make shooting difficult. There was plenty of pressure but nothing to show for it until Alex Ramirez tried to cross the ball on the volley, but hit it higher and closer towards the goal than intended. The ball took one bounce in the no man’s land between the defenders and the keeper and then bounced higher than Fowler, expected – over his head and into the net. Now it was 1-3.
A quick check with the linesman confirmed there was twenty minutes remaining. Clearly unnerved, the Lions decided to camp in their own half. Newly encouraged, City pressed forward. With attacks down the flanks, City looked to get the ball behind the Lions defence. (Some of the central City players were even complaining they were not getting enough of the ball at this point.) Finally, a move involving Yunusa, Ebrima and Reymond finished with Dawda in space just inside the box. Dawda swung his right foot in a smooth arc to bend the ball past the flailing arms of Fowler, the Lions keeper, into the bottom-left corner of the net. 2-3.
There were only about fifteen minutes of the game remaining now, so how would the teams play out the game? The Lions had dug in their heels and now they had no choice, really, but to try and weather the pressure. But how much did City have left? Too much, in the end. Yunusa and Reymond were now running the show on the right flank, and Phillips and Cartee were almost equally superior on the left. A driving run down the right beating three players and a perfect pass from Reymond made it easy for Christie to finish from six yards. 3-3!
“How long?” was the question. “Eight minutes,” was the answer. Now feeling utterly deflated, the Lions did not know how to respond. With just a few minutes left, a quick pass from Cartee gave Ramirez the chance to flight a lovely cross to Calvert, who calmly swiveled and flicked the ball home. It happened so quickly nobody had time to enjoy it. 4-3. And, after a couple of minutes of keep ball, that was that. City Get the Last Laugh.
Taipei City 4, The Red Lions 3
City Take the Points in Weekend Double Header
Taipei City took six of a possible six points over the weekend with two wins in well-contested battles. Saturday saw the team face an old enemy, The Red Lions. The Lions, reinvigorated by the offseason’s most controversial signing Onur Dogan, looked lively up front and gave the City defence plenty to think about. The Turk scored two goals on the night, the second a fine finish on the turn and volley. However, his efforts alone weren’t enough to give this City side too much trouble, and they always managed to keep their noses in front of an otherwise ageing Lions’ side, running out eventual winners with a 4-2 scoreline with goals from Tim Murphy, Alex Ramirez, Niklas Denser and Ebrima Njie.
Sunday’s game was a much cagier affair with Southeasterly content to sit back and try to catch Taipei City on the break. This tactic nullified City’s pace, and they were restricted to trying to thread short passes between Southeasterly’s tightly-meshed defensive unit. City failed to adjust their game sufficiently, and their final ball let them down time and time again. In the end, Southeasterly’s negativity became their own undoing as City eventually managed to put a couple of goals from Michael Christie and Danny Weir past the tiring opposition. With the score at 2-0, Southeasterly pulled a goal back, scoring from a penalty awarded for a dive in the box so obvious that even their players could see the funny side of it. 
City added a third with the formidable Dan Calvert making sure of the win and securing the six points they set out for over the weekend. Final score 3-1. The game was also a final farewell to Danny who was glad to get one final goal before he’s return to his native England, he’s exploits on both wings will be thoroughly missed.
City claim revenge on Red Lions
Match Report by Michael Christie
Location: Bai Ling B (the crappy pitch)
Conditions: Fair to firm
Referee: Wearing sunglasses before the game
Report: Starting in a 3-5-2 formation, Taipei City took the game to the Red Lions from the whistle. Most importantly, every forward and midfielder pushed up and put pressure on the opponent. On an uneven surface, the Lions were always on the back foot. It wasn’t easy for City to play good football either, but City succeeded in passing the ball and keeping possession. The breakthrough came from a Tim free-kick flicked on by Dan and Sean in quick succession to Paco. The pressure continued, with the ball often in the Lions’ box, although it took a special volley on the turn from Sean to put the scoreline at 2-0. There was no let up for the Lions this Sunday. The City defensive line marshalled by Tim was rock-solid, with particularly brilliant cover from Chris. Spencer in goal was authoritative when needed but that wasn’t too often. John and Matt were rocks, too. Alex and Steve both defended and attacked well on the left and right, so vindicating the 3-5-2. Taipei scored a third goal before the break through Paco, or was it Dan?
Heedful of the wise words of Dan and John, those wise old owls, at half-time, City started the second half at the same high tempo they’d left off the first. Steve was a constant thorn in the Lions defence. Early on he won a free-kick in ideal Beckham territory. Tim ran over to confer on how best to convert it. Tim: “Just tap it to me here.” Steve: “OK. Just here?” Tim: “Yeah, that’s right. Let me just take a few steps back first. OK, now.” (Steve tapped the ball a few inches. Tim looked at Steve.) Tim: “What’s this?” Steve: “Sorry, you’ve touched it now, shall I take it?” Tim: “No, that’s OK, I’ll take it.” (Tim now side-stepped two or three Lions before teeing up the ball to his satisfaction and steering it with his right. The ball flew like a plane at take-off, above the outstretched fingers of Rob, into the roof of the net.)
By now Matt was in goal an(?), Dan (or Paco) and Ricky when he came on. The Lions clawed back two goals mostly due to defensive mistakes from a clueless Christie in defence, but otherwise they had nothing. Taipei City walked off the pitch with heads held high knowing they’d done a good job.
Final score, Taipei City 7, Lions 2
Ricky helps take team photo
Early in the game with the score at 1-0
Red Lions defeat Taipei City FC
In a repeat of last year’s 1st leg of the BML, the Red Lions served up a healthy dish of revenge pie beating the reigning BML champions 2-1.
The boys in blue were up 1-0 at halftime but the Red Lions fought back hard in the 2nd half to score 2 goals and take home the win.
Taipei City did manage to score a goal, M. Christie in the 2nd half.
Photo courtesy of taiwanfootball.tv
Taipei City FC Defeat Red Lions to go top of the BML Standings
Taipei City’s 6th consecutive victory, a 5-0 beating of the Red Lions, came as no surprise as the team has played steady throughout the year.
The score came in quite handy, because Taipei City are now sitting on top of the league table, just ahead of Fritz on goal difference.
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