Result Firsts 11/4/07

Barnstonworth Rovers F.C. 1 Central Park Rangers 2

Pretty to watch, not much venom is the Rovers summary yesterday. The Rovers dropped the local derby even though CPR were reduced to 10 men in the 20^th minute for violent conduct when their forward puched Wiggi in the back of the head, still with the score at nil-nil. CPR scored on both of their shots on goal in the first half, the first on a direct free kick, the second on a misplayed counter. The latter came right after Andy should have tied the score one on one vs the keeper from the right side inside the box.

The Rovers have nobody but themselves to blame. Added to Pugli and Jordan suspensions (scorers 11 of 14 league goals) there were, again, several absences most notably Tamu and Broach. With Broach at the Bills game and Romain out with a back injury, it was left to Zawada to play both matches in the net. Commitment is a recurring problem having already cost the Bulgaria match earlier this season.

The Rovers had possession and looked the part for much of the game but lacked the finishing and quickness of execution in the final third.

In the 42^nd they were awarded a penalty and a lifeline to halftime but Colin’s effort was saved.

Einar clever chip inside the box landed on the top of the netting instead of dipping in.

Tellingly, it was left to 39 year old Baskin to finally put the ball in the net a trademark outside of the foot strike with 25 mins to play and revive Rover hope. He could have tied it minutes later but his next effort, from a similar position was wide of the mark. Vidar, Colin and Einar combined, several times, brilliantly outside the box, but Vidar’s effort was right at the keeper. Similarly Einar’s finish moments later. And in the next foray, Andy cut in at the box but his finish was also at the keeper’s hands. Levine’s slicing header was well parried and his effort from the 18tn just wide. The chances were there, but unfortunately not the result.

Team: Mike Zawada, Mark Kushemba, Jon Nessa, Sam Wiggin, Dixon Hayes, Ron Baskin, Vidar Ekehaug, Einar Benediktsson, Andy Abramovits, Colin Marshall, Mat Levine. Sub: (played) Andrew George

Astoria Gaels 0 - BRFC Thirds 1, 10/28/07

With 2 central defenders missing, the Thirds had to put together a make-shift backline to face the so-far undefeated Gaels. And to add to that, one unnamed member of the team showed up with the remains of an undead Guido halloween makeup on his face. None of the rest of us looked much better.

Under these circumstances we would have hoped the Gaels would take it easy on us. We found out that that was not to be in the opening minute of the game. A long ball from their defense sent their baldy striker onto the chase but the Thirds goalie Zac was first to it. However, rather than pulling out, the Gaels striker went straight into Zac with his elbow in his face. Zac was spitting blood, and abuse, the way of the striker and that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Nearly every tackle they put in was a foul and I don't think a single one of us went through the game without getting some petty kick after the ball had gone. Things were getting heated but the game was tight until the last few minutes of the half. Okey ran onto a through ball at the edge of the area and crossed it to the crowd of players in the middle. Step up Bernfeld who, after watching a Swan Lake performance last night, pirouetted the ball into the net. It wasn't pretty but they all count and the Thirds went into half time a goal up.

If the first half was ill tempered the second descended into absolute Bedlam. The Gaels' number 15, one Derek McKenna, had been mouthing and fouling all game. It was he who went through Wine in the first half making him sit out the rest of the game and it was the same player again who tried to throw a fist at Zac after a corner but missed contact. The ref was out of his depth and didn't know how to handle things. Then, off the ball and with the ref looking the other way, the 15 landed an upper cut on the jaw of Bobby and walked straight off the field knowing the red card was sure to follow. To his credit, Bobby took it well and got on with the game. Luckily for us Pek was absent so the all out brawl didn't materialise as it so easily could have.

A man up, the Thirds played out the rest of the game and took a well-deserved victory. We're all looking forward to meeting these psycho Irishmen again in the return fixture...

Thirds: Rubin; Hamm, Wine, Crane and Bryans, Billiard, Brown, Krianganan and Robertson; McLaughlin and Obudulu.
Subs (all played): Bernfeld, Sangsong and González Casares.
M.I.A.: Moore, Subchart-Anan and González.

Result: D'Alpino Cup Rd1 10/28/07

Barnstonworth Rovers Res 7 Locust Valley (LISFL) 3

A match not worth commentary, but for the goal scorers and the fact that the Rovers did this without a goalkeeper. Austin got his first hat-trick for the club, Alfonzo got t 2, Zach and Cardozo round up the scoring. Andrew George and Zach did the goalkeeping.

Team: Zach Chandis, Vilhelm Klariskov, Brian Schmidt, Mike Alexander, Mahesh Subramanian, Anders Johnson, Hirofumi Takeuchi, Stavros Zomopoulos, Andrew George, Alfonzo Nanclares, Austin Harris. Subs (all played): Alex Carabano, Daniel Cardozo

Result Dr Manning Cup Rd 1

Integral Kings (LISFL) 1 Barnstonworth Rovers F.C. 5

Match not worth commentary. A depleted Rovers’side demolished inept Kings. Mat got a hat-trick in his first appearance, Andy should have had one, but had to settle for 2 in the end. Pitty for the lost clean sheet in the end, but at least it was beautiful day.

Team: Dave Borchard, Bobby Hanifin, Jon Nessa, Mark Kushemba, Vidar Ekehaug, Colin Marshall, Einar Benediktsson, Dixon Hayes, Yuri Krym, Andy Abramovits, Mat Levine. Sub (played): Stash Rutkowski

Result Reserves 10/21/07

Barnstonworth Rovers Res 4 Central Park Rangers Res 4

A tale of 2 halves. The first on a rocky pitch reminiscent of the old McCarren Park but the Rovers adapted better than their opponents and tactically outplayed them. They raised to a 2-nil lead on two Alfonzo strikes. The first a brilliant run and finish, the second after latching on to the rebound from Austin’s strike. The Rovers should have had a third but squandered the opportunity to kill CPR off. Typically, CPR nicked one when they finally figured out they had the downhill.

The second half played back at Ichan was a different affair. The Rovers made substitutions to preserves several players required for the Firsts, and then saw Anders depart with a toe problem. It unsettled the workings of the back four an allowed CPR to run at them. CPR capitalized on a goal mouth scramble to equalize.

Paul Steill run into a scintillating Alfonzo through ball to restore the Rover lead, only to see CPR score within 5 minutes when they run trough the center of the pitch.

CPR seemed to have stolen the points in the 90^th minute when Zawada misplayed a ball to the far post and the CPR forward pounce on the rebound. But the Reserves rescued a point deep in injury time when Alexander’s header from a free kick though saved fell for a perfect Yuri strike to the upper 90.

Team: Mike Zawada, Daniel Cardozo, Brian Schmidt, Mike Alexander, Mahesh Subramanian, Andrew George, Stavros Zomopoulos, Yuri Krym, Alex Carabano, Alfonzo Nanclares, Austin Harris. Subs (all played) Anders Johnson, Paul Steil, Hirofumi Takeuchi

Result Firsts 10/21/07

F.C. Bulgaria 4 Barnstonworth Rovers F.C. 3

What can you say when a team finds themselves down 3-0 against a bottom dweller and relegation favorite, to turn the match, come back to 3-3 only to see their 2 top goal scorers get ejected ridiculously and conceding a last minute penalty to lose 4-3. The Rovers played havoc with their entire season.

The Firsts should have finished the match in the first 15 minutes. With all the possession the let 2 breakaways, a close range volley and countless chances in the box go begging. Even with the depleted line-up, it all seemed a matter of time for another Rover 5 goal rout. It all changed in 15 minutes. Randi limped off with a recurrence of his injury forcing a Bobby to double duty, having played most of the Reserve match. Then, three strikes in a raw saw Bulgaria net 3 goals, all when the Rover defenders got caught isolated on the counter.

A Chiroco penalty conversion cut the deficit to 3-1 just before the break. The Rovers pushed and had many chances, Puglie uncharacteristically missed from 3 yards out. Still unable to push the ball past the goal line, the Rovers took another blow when Wiggi had to be substituted as a Bulgaria forward fell awkwardly on him hurting his back.

In the 70 min the Rovers were a awarded a second penalty on a handball/save in the box, and Jordan again slotted it. Rovers 2-3

And 6 minutes later, Vidi chipped the keeper to bring the Rovers all the way back. Rovers 3-3.

With 12 minutes to play, it seemed the Rovers were going to still get the 3 points. Pugli has other ideas. Getting into another argument with the instigating linesman landed him a 2^nd yellow reducing the Rovers to 10 (with 3 Reserves on the pitch already). Still the Rovers pushed for the winner. A corner was headed just wide, and Jordan’s effort was parried for a corner. But when Bulgaria cleared it, a tired Alexander committed without getting the ball, the Bulgaria forward was caught and tackled by Yuri on the 18tn, but the recovering Jordan was judged to have kicked him as he tried to get the ball from under Yuri !! Penalty and red card. After a retake the ball ended in the net. Rovers 3-4.

Definitely the ref feared for his safety when the angry Bulgarians started to boil at him for awarding 2 penalties to the Rovers and clearly acted with his safety in mind rather than any football rules.

Team: Dave Borchard, Ranid Lee, Jon Nessa, Mike Alexander, Vidar Ekehaug, Sam Wiggin, Einar Beniditktsson, Jordan Chirico, Andy Abramovits, Ron Baskin, Stephen Pugliese Subs (all played): Bobby Hanifin, Stavros Zomopoulos, Alfonzo Nanclares, Yuri Krym.

Result Reserves 10/14/07

F.C. Bulgaria Res 0 Barnstonworth Rovers Res 4

A match not worth commentary, except for the club milestone reached by Baskin: in his 10^th season, he netted twice to reach 50 ! Only the second Rover in history. He now trails infamous Jerome by 4.

The other goals were by Zach and Austin

Team: Mike Zawada, Vilhelm Klariskov, Bobby Hanifin, Brian Schmidt, Mike Alexander, Hirofumi Takeuchi, Stavros Zomopoulos, Alex Carabano, Zach Chandis, Ron Baskin, Austin Harris. Subs (all played): Anders Johnson, Daniel Cardozo, Yuri Krym.

Result: Firsts 9/30: Pancyprian Freedoms 2 Barnstonworth Rovers F.C. 1

The Rovers dropped the points at St Johns Sunday night but definitely gained a fan – the Pancyprian’s coach who came out of his way to congratulate them and state that Rovers deserved the result. But in football the points go to the team that puts the ball in the net more often – well, the Rovers did that enough for a result too. Actually the points went to the team whose goals’ the ref did not disallow.

In an extremely high quality match, all the goals came in the first 10 minutes. In the 2^nd minute the Pancyprians exploited their super-fast left midfielder and Do Santos feed him brilliantly after drawing the Rover central back duo very high to get behind Vidar. He finished to the far post where Wiggi unfortunately deflected the ball past Broach. Rovers 0-1.

Rover replied immediately. First Andy slotted just wide, then Puglie challenged the first ball from the restart, won the ball, beat the keeper and Rovers 1-1.

The Pancyprians directly regained the lead on a carbon copy build up, and this time their speedster finished. Rovers 1-2.

The Firsts took control of the tempo, Kush switched sides to block the Pancyprian’s attack, and momentum swung. Jordan had a shot over the bar. Andy got to a cross but headed wide under pressure inside the area. Wiggi had a powerful shot blocked. Then Andy fed Puglie who slipped free inside the Cypriot area. The keeper came out to block him, Puglie avoided him and slid the ball goal bound to a streaking Tamu. Rovers 2-2. Not quite. The linesmen flagged Tamu offside as only 1 defender was between him and the goal. The goalkeeper had progressed past where Tamu was standing when the ball was played. Technically a correct call, but…..

Still the Rovers had several chances to tally. Especially in the second half, they made all the running, created all the chances. At times they played beautiful football forcing even the 100 or so Pancyprian supporter to start murmuring. BRFC showed a little of the Arsenal syndrome where the play became over-complicated around the area, passing maybe one too many times, and too often passing up a shooting opportunity, of just finishing too meekely especially important as the Pancyprians were forced to change keepers.

On another day the Rovers could have been celebrating another 5-haul, Sunday was just one of those days it was not meant to be.

Team: Dave Brochard, Mark Kushemba, Jon Nessa, Sam Wiggin, Vidar Ekehaug, Andy Abramovits, Tamu Bowen, Einar Benediktsson, Jordan Chirico, Colin Marshall, Stephen Pugliese.

Sub (played): Giancarlo Cavallo.

Result: Reserves 9/30: Pancyprian Freedoms Res 2 Barnstonworth Rovers Res 2

The Reserves’ late rally at least rescued a point in a match where arguably deserved more. The Freedoms scored 2 goals in 2 chances, none of which they really created. First after an errant goal kick gifted their forward the opener (Reserves 0-1), then in the beginning of the 2^nd half a Rover failed to continue after he was passed on the far wing allowing the Pancyprian player to close in the goal, cut in the middle leaving Romain no chance. Reserves 0-2.

On the other hand until the 80^th minute the Rovers created and wasted numerous opportunities. Alex was put clean through tet-a-tec with the goalkeeper 15 mins in, but finished at the goalkeeper denying his first of the year. Moments later Alex had a chance inside the area finished wide. Baskin strike was blocked when it was heading to the far post. Yuri found himself to the left of the Cypriot defense only to be blocked as he took one too many touches. Randi hits a goal-bound thunder that is blocked by a sprawling body.

And for most of the 2^nd half the scenario stayed the same. Rovers possession, but no Rover goals, and Romain making two great diving safes to keep the status quo. It all changed in the 80^th. The Rovers scored twice from the same free-kick (!). After Bobby won the ball in the back, the Rovers worked the ball from the left, through the middle and to Zach attacking the box. He was fouled 22 out. The quickly taken free kick ended on the far side netting but the ref called it back because he was “booking” the defender and needed to whistle before the restart. Baskin lines up and with the outside of his left foot hits a magnificent (lucky lottery ticket type of thing) shot over the wall curling in the left top corner. Reserves 1-2.

Not to be denied their deserved, the Reserves pushed on and another foray, sprung Stavros in the area when he got clobbered by the keeper as he was about to chip the ball over him, Yuri followed up and blasted it to the far side netting. Reserves 2-2.

Less than the Rovers should have had, more than they could have had, overall a gutsy performance.

Team: Romain Couture, Randi Lee, Mike Alexander, Vilhelm Klareskov, Bobby Hanifin, Stavros Zomopoulos, Zach Chandis, Alex Carabano, Giancarlo Cavallo, Ron Baskin, Yuri Krym. Subs (played): Brian Schmid, Stash Rutkowski, Dan Cardozo, Hiro Takeuchi, Milo Krastev

Result: Firsts 9/23: Barnstonworth Rovers F.C. 5 N.Y. Albanians 1

The Rovers galloped to a 2-0 start thrashing the Albanians 5-1. Pugliese became the 2^nd Rover in as many weeks to tally 4 goals in a match, including a natural 2^nd half hattric. The Rovers took the lead in the first 15 mins when Colin found Puglie in the penalty area where he made no mistake. Rovers 1-0.

It soon became 2-0 after Jordan placed a perfect cross for Colin to finish with a powerful header. Rover 2-0.

Albanians had no answer, no quality and no game plan. They resorted to their only sure tactic: berate the ref, stop the game for a few minutes at a time, kill the rhythm and hope to get the opposition caught up in all that while the sneak a long ball or two. And in the first half the Rovers obliged and the Albanians got one back. Rovers 2-1

After the break the Firsts concentrated on playing football instead. And by the 70^th minute the had strolled to a 5-1 lead.

Puglie got 2 carbon copies sliding to slot home from close range both from Jordan feeds. And when Vidar put him marginally through and was allowed to score by the ref, the Albanians simply had enough. One of their players got sent-off for a second bookable offense – guess what – and then they simply asked the ref to stop the match.

He obliged, Rovers got home safely. But we still have – Kicker’s Revenge - the away fixture at Gun Hill.

Team: Dave Brochard, Randi Lee, Mark Kushemba, Jon Nessa, Sam Wiggin, Vidar Ekehaug, Einar Benediktsson, Colin Marshall, Andy Abramovits, Jordan Chirico, Stephen Pugliese. Subs (played) Dixon Hayes, Mike Alexander

Results: Reserves 9/23: Barnstonworth Rovers Res 3 N.Y. Albanian Res 0

The Albanians forfeited even thought they had 9 players there !

Hopefully they will pay our field fees.