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Hachioji park, Sat 3rd December 2005. An otherwise ordinary cup game was marred last Saturday in Saitama when Sala player Leonard ‘Lenny’ Tui embarked upon a foul-mouthed tirade. Gutter-mouth Tui (44) a native of the New Zealand country, audibly muttered a four letter word beginning with F (and not the place where cows and sheep live!) after he felt a pass to him could have been more thoughtfully placed.
Wing king Lenny was lucky to escape a caution as the red mist descended midway through the second half, when Clarkey set him up to shoot on his unknown right foot rather than his favoured left peg. Tui’s invective was primarily aimed at Clarkey but he kept some in store for himself as his shot from 8 yards flew over.
The vitriol spewed forth by the Kiwi has cast doubts on his chances of winning this year’s gentleman of the year award. Brown nosing rival Beddingfield, who has yet to ‘break’ under the inaccuracy of Clarkey’s passing, was reported to have found the whole episode “distasteful”
Expletives aside, it was another good result for Sala, but nobody who was at the game will be under any illusions as to the standard of the performance. The score line was flattering, though Sala probably did enough to deserve the win.
 Sala got off to the best possible start, when after only five minutes; Lenny’s shot was blocked on the line, only for the ball to ricochet off Beddingfield’s mug and into the empty net. 1v0.
Saitama obviously felt that they were unlucky to be a goal down, and swarmed up the park from the re-start. A ball in from the left found a Jets striker who was evidently invisible to the Sala defenders, but Sid bravely dived at his feet to block. The ball broke loose to another Jets forward who shot straight at Guido on the line. Guido kindly headed directly out to another blue shirt, who returned the favour by allowing his shot to be blocked by the same player. Somehow Sala survived.
The second goal came some ten minutes later, when following a scramble on the edge of the box; Guido tried one of his traditional sidefoot finishes. The ball deflected off Beddingfield, who was getting in everyone’s way for most of the game, and snuck into the bottom left corner. 2v0.
Jets were obviously incensed with the injustice of dominating possession and being two down. They carved out plenty of half chances towards the end of the period, mainly thanks to a standoffish Sala midfield.
Just before half time Sala should have had a third though, when Dhugal rounded the keeper only to have his shot blocked by the last man.
The second period also got off to a good start for Sala, when after ten minutes, Lenny played a chipped pass over the Jets back line. Charles ran on to it and cut inside a defender before lashing the ball into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box.
3v0.
The same player went close minutes later with an effort from thirty yards, but it flew just wide of the upright, and over the bar… and ended up in a tree.
The Jets keeper handed Sala another chance almost straight away, when he made a meal of sliding to collect a through pass. The ball squirmed away from him to Charles, but his shot/pass mystified most with its singular lack of power or direction.
Then came Lenny’s moment of madness, which was created by some intelligent passes around and inside the box, some of which were reputed to be under three metres in length. His eventual shot from Clarkey’s lay-off, flew over for a two point conversion.
Not long after that, a lung-bursting run by Yusuke brought him to the penalty spot, just in time to connect with a cross from Jeff, but he shot straight at the goalkeeper, missing a chance to score his first real goal for the club. Next time he promises to keep his eyes open when shooting.
Towards the end of the game, Jets punished a tired looking Sala team, and should have scored on more than one occasion. However, hesitant striking, a couple of good stops by Sid and a goal saving tackle by Doug Lee conspired to keep the sheet clean.
There were several handbag incidents to be reported with Sala and Jets picking up a few unnecessary bookings, but tempers were for the most part kept in check…There was however a nasty clash of heads in the train station after the game.
Next up, Hibs…
Report by Roddy
Photos courtesy of Nate/JETs
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