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Todoroki, Sat 18th Nov. At a charming Todoroki park (sans penalty boxes and symmetrical goalposts) on Saturday night, Sala came up against a team named after a theoretical pre-historic super-continent for the first time in club history.
On the day, captain Guido chose to spectate rather than play, mainly due to the grotesque swelling in his lower legs which has caused his shin pads to stretch so much, that they have become virtually unusable.
Pangea Utd. were an unknown quantity coming into this one, but it was no great surprise to see them take the lead in bizarre fashion after only two minutes, it being something of a Sala specialty.
Earmarked before the game as an ex-J2 player, the most dangerous of Pangea’s forwards barreled through several challenges, including keeper Sid’s, and walked the ball into the net. Seasoned Sala fans (i.e. the substitutes) merely shrugged and looked a little relieved to have got the weekly gift out of the way so early on.
Toby hit back almost immediately though, latching onto Shigeru’s through ball and slotting home. Minutes later Dhugal added a second from Toby’s pass to settle the nerves.
Shigeru’s shooting boots have been missing since Nagano and the drastic effect this is having on his long distance target practice was on display again on Saturday. Luckily he brought his tackling boots as Andres, Brian and himself kept the Pangea midfield locked down for most of the game.
Brookey added a trademark free kick while the keeper wasn’t looking to widen the margin before halftime, but not before Pangea had hit the bar, and caused unseemly panic and alarm in a makeshift Sala back four on a few occasions. Three-one at halftime was perhaps flattering for the boys in white.
The second half was much more one sided though as the Pangea defence (which clearly stopped reading their defensive manuals before the section on ‘offside traps’) started playing virtually on the halfway line, encouraging Shigeru, Brookey and Andres to run at them.
And run at them they did…Andres smashed in two similar goals inside three minutes of the restart, the first from Dhugal’s thoughtful cut back and the second from Dan’s.
Then Charles and Dhugal danced a merry one-two dance from Pangea’s kick off, right through the middle, with Dhugal tucking it away in the corner.
Charles himself got in on the act a few minutes later, latching onto his own throughball (in lieu of selfish strike partners) and finishing high into the roof of the net.
Dhugal completed his hat-trick (The first in a very, very long time for Sala) with a lovely turn and shot, before Toby rounded off the scoring from Brookey’s pass.
Messy it was, but a timely goal-fest always helps boost confidence ahead of more pressing matters, in this case Kanto Celts next week.
A final word on Pangea. They have a few very talented players, and with a slightly deeper squad and more match practice they could certainly trouble any team in the TML.
Report by Roddy Charles
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