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 YC&AC, Sun 16th March. The Geckoes kicked off their defence of the Footy Japan cup with a convincing win over Maritizio at YCAC on Sunday afternoon. Both teams struggled at first as they tried to work out how you could play football on the moon like surface but it wasn’t long before the Geckoes were in front. The ball was worked down the left and Jonathan Smith played a nice one two with Paul on the edge of the box before burying it into the bottom corner.
 A second should have followed soon afterwards when Mikkel charged through the right and pulled the ball back to the unmarked Paul who knocked it in, however it was pulled back for an offside that was harsh to say the least.
The Geckoes did get a second shortly afterwards when Tom Kiley was brought down in the box. Tom stepped up to take the penalty himself and having already missed three penalties this season, there was some relief that he smashed it into the top corner.
The third came from a corner that was only half cleared to Pete Zollar. He crossed it into the box and Andy Gill headed home to make it 3-0 at half time.
The second half started in the same way as the first, with the Geckoes dominant and Maritizio on the defensive. And it wasn’t long afterwards that the Geckoes were four up.
 Now I can’t say for sure what happened as I didn’t see the shot, and to be honest I wasn’t even sure whether it had gone in. I actually thought he’d missed and Joff was running around like a mad man – no surprises there… however according to the Legendary veteran he smashed (shinned) the ball from 40 yards (more like 20) through the back of the net. Anyway you look at it, it was a cracking goal which by his reckoning was his 102nd for the club, though maths clearly isn’t his strong point.
Andy Gill added a fifth and his second of the game after breaking through the Maritizio defence and hammering the goal home. He was then clobbered by the defender for his troubles. Nice.
With 20 minutes remaining the Geckoes scored their sixth and final goal. Andy Gill burst down the right and Paul headed home.
The Geckoes finished the game strongly and could and should have had a lot more and on another pitch they probably would have but it finished 6-0.
Report by Rob Manager
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