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YC&AC, Sun 17th Feb. YCAC 2nds progressed to the Quarter Finals of the Cup following a hard-working and disciplined performance, beating Zion 4-2 at Yokohama. Early in the first-half a handball led to a penalty kick and the vistors being reduced to 10 men.
A red card so early in the game always seems a bit harsh, but the ref was well-positioned and clearly thought it was deliberate. The penalty was well converted by Gavin, buried in the bottom left hand corner. We then went 2-0 up following a great run into the box and and a clinical finish by Taiki. This seemed to fire up the Zions, who put us under consistent pressure for the next 20 minutes and really bossed the game. We conceded two goals in this period to go in at half-time 2-2.
In the second half we worked very hard across the whole team and the extra man started to pay off. Another jinking run from Taiki into the area was ended abruptly and again the ref pointed to the penalty spot. Gavin converted again. Zion continued to push forward, which of course left gaps in their defence. Karl was very aware of that and at the right moment was spotted in space by Gavin who put him clean through on goal. Karl still had a lot to do but slotted the ball nicely past the keeper.
In summary, a very solid team performance with the whole team working hard for each other - very impressed with our two youngest players Simon and Taiki who reallly stepped up to the challenge.
Report by Big Steve McKie
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