Brewerkz FC 8 - Nippon 1 
Goals:   Amu 3,  Aitken  1, Thomas 1, Miranda 1, Mancha 1,  John Bett.1
Cards: None
Half-time:   2-1 
Venue:   SCRC
Team:
Jean-Baptiste Berchetou,  Lawrence Loy, (sub  Dave Cooper) Jon Bett  (sub Tomas Miranda) , Fulvio Manini,  Stuart Aiken, Ettienne van den Boegaert, (sub Pierre Rico)  Matt Harding, Richard Thomas, Jamie Swan (sub Patrick Mancha  ,  Micky Amu.
 
Report:  

The scoreline suggests a hiding for FC Nippon, but for at the first 45 minutes they were a match if not better than the Microbrewers and could have easily gone in at half time on level terms. This was again a Jekkel and Hyde performance from Brewerkz with passes going astray regularly, players not getting picked up and generally lethargic tepid first half display.

Brewerkz were the first to get off the mark with some controversy, with a Hurst like (world cup final 1966) with the ball smashing against the bar from a splendid free kick from Amu, for it to cross the line -  the linesman was the only person well positioned to make the decision, much to the dismay of the Nippon. 1-0 Brewerkz. The next 20 mins of play was fairly even with neither side dominating, but the next goal went to Nippon , sloppy defending by Brewerkz allowed a cross to find their very good forward (94) who coolly took his time , found his position and slotted home from 6 yards. All square. This did not last for long and Brewerkz found them selves in front again from Amu, who turned quickly to regain the advantage for Brewerkz. Nippon could have easily equalised only for some poor finishing by their centre forward. Half time Brewekz 2. Nippon 1.

Some stiff half time talk, a reshuffle of the pack and a steady 4-4-2 tried and tested formula and the return of the prodigal son Pat Mancha, lay the blue print for a rousing 2nf half performance. Dominant from the off, Brewerkz made their intent on the game by scoring a quick 3rd goal from the boot off John Bett , many will say it was a miss kick, John will undoubtly say it wasn’t, but whatever it ended up in the TOP CORNER of the Nippon net to restore some confidence and put some distance between the two sides. Brewerkz now began to dominate completely and as Nippon became more tired Brewerkz stepped up the pace and the goals tally, a 4th was added by Mancha who coolly slotted for his first of the season, substitutes Pierre Rico and Dave  Cooper steadied the right hand side and set up a pass and cross for Tomas Miranda to head in the 5th. With 10 mins still on the clock and Brewerkz now in total control, a corner on the left by Thomas into the hands of the keeper saw what many would consider an own goal by the Nippon keeper, but we prefer to say it was intended by Thomas, but the keeper really should have done better. 6-1 and two more to follow , 1 a deserved goal for young Stevie G look-alike Aiken a fine header for a good all round 2nd half performance and man of the match Micky Amu capped off a fine game with his 3rd goal of the game to secure his 3rd hatrick of the season and what a season he is having. 

Thanks for Nippon who were much better than the scoreline suggests, keep plugging away your performances will merit the results soon.    

Brewerkz Man-of-the-match:  Micky Amu - another hatrick and good all round un selfish display. 

Fools Gold:  Richard Thomas for telling his manager to fook off when the easy pass was on instead of the mess he got himself into. (don’t do it again Rich).Training: Tuesday, 9.30 PM start, Turf City Premier Pitch

Next Fixture: Sat  Swiss  

Venue:  Simie Ave 4pm Kick off. .
Thanks to: The match officials who were pretty good; Hibs team: Competitive, fair and never-say-die; the  supporting cast of players who came to support the team from the sidelines. Terrific stuff and as stated a few weeks back, we have something special happening here both on and off the pitch. Lets keep it going. Don’t forget after match drinks at McCormick’s next sat.  
 

Author: Scouser Boss
Category: Team News
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LATINI 2, BREWERKZ 2
 
Goals:  Oliver, Amu
Cards: None
Half-time:  1-0
Venue:  Singapore Sports School
Team:
JB, Dave Cooper (Ayu), Fulvio Manini, Ike Junior, Lawrence Loy (sub Alex Westacott), Chris Perreira (Jamie Swan), Richard Thomas, Ettienne van den Boegaert, Thomas Miranda, Matthieu Harding (Aaron Oliver), Micky Amu.
 
Report: 
Brewerkz’ pre-match preparation was of the worst sort with the theft from the side of the pitch of bags containing valuables for two of our players obviously taking attention away from the game. Police reports have been made, but other teams need to be warned that this was opportunist theft that took place when players were distracted in a pre-match get-together.
 
The match itself was one we could easily have lost, and just as easily have won. Latini were fired up for the game and won most 50:50 battles in the first half. They also had the lead when we gifted easy possession to Latini at just the time our centre back had gone off the pitch to change his boots. Calamatous defending and lack of communication leaving Olivier Magoud one-on-one with debutant goalkeeper JB. Before the match, we spoke of the need: 1. To keep possession. Tick. 2. Not to give Olive space. Tick. 3. To communicate. Tick. 4. Not to gift goals cheaply. Tick. 5. The importance of the first goal. Tick.
 
It might soon have been 2-0 had JB not made a terrific save diving to his right to keep out a shot from 30 yards.
 
All the good things we did against Hotspurs last week, we didn’t do here. Latini simply had more desire for the game and (literally on one occasion) fought for every ball. The pre-match distractions and the 3pm start on a blistering hot day didn’t help, nor did several players deciding on a need to change footwear during the half. Even so, we had most of the possession but simply did not play as we can going forward. In the half, we created only one decent chance when Richard Thomas’ volley from Thomas Miranda’s cross was saved by the goalkeeper. Defensively - the goal apart - we were rarely troubled by Latini’s much-vaunted attack.
 
We improved after half-time. Our forwards went into the penalty area and we caused more problems. Aaron Oliver accepted the gift of a dreadful back-pass to score and we were level. It was then complacency again kicked in as we assumed we’d go on and win. Instead, Latini imposed themselves on the game, and JB made two important stops to keep the score level. He was helpless though when a defensive pass was intercepted, and a quick pass and good finish put us 1-2 down, and struggling.
 
Fortunately, we quickly equalised when our second debutant of the day - Ayala - and Micky Amu chased a through pass from Thomas. Amu was quickest and eased home his 6th goal of the season. From there we could - and should - have won it when Ike Junior’s long pass released Oliver on goal. He elected to shoot instead of passing and the chance was missed. 
 
Defeat would have been cruel on Latini, but if we are to be a challenging team, we need to win games like this, and certainly need to stop gifting goals to the opposition. 
 

Brewerkz Man-of-the-match: Fulvio Manini

Fools Gold: watch out for sneak thieves. Two bags taken from a cluster of 10-15. Be warned. 

Training: Tuesday, 9.30 PM start, Turf City Premier Pitch

Next Fixture: Sat 27^th Sept. vs Hollandse at Turf City, Pitch 2 @ 5pm

Thanks to: Latini for a physical game played in mostly good spirits; the match officials; The supporters who trekked up North on a blistering hot day.
 

Author: Scouser Boss
Category: Team News
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HOTSPURS 1, BREWERKZ 2

Author: Scouser Boss
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Brewerkz’s third game of the season and we knew it would be a test of character, passion and committmet. Brewerkz delivered all 3 along with a touch of flair and movement. Hotspurs boasted a strong squad , so we knew it would be a tough game. However the quality of our play in the first half the passing, the movement especially down the left where Tomas Miranda and Lawrence Loy played some lovely 1/2 touch football was a pleasure to watch.

The game started with Brewerkz on the assent from the first whistle and it was only for some fine keeping by the hotspurs keeper that kept the rampant Brewerkz side out. However it could not last for too long and after some fine play and build up the ball fell to Tomas who took time to move the ball from his right foot to his favouered left to ram the ball into the top corner for a deserverd 1 nil lead. However Brewerkz football deserved better than just the one . Matt then delivered his second goal in two weeks with a neat finish to send the Brewerkz into half time 2 nil to the better.

2nd half was a different game, Brewerkz lost a bit of momentum and allowed hotspurs back into the game and for the first 15 mins it seemed we could not get out of the Brewerkz half. Some solid defending and some spectacular saves from Dez maintained our 2 nil lead. One save in particular from a header well worthy of save of the season so far.

After 20 mins brewerkz started to get back into the game and again the hotspurs keeper earned his man of the match tag for some spendid keeping. Micky was lively up front, Chris kept solid on the right, Fulvio and Ike, solid in defence and mike hogan back to his best ensured the points where heading into the Brewerkz pot.

Some changes were made with big gerv coming on for Fulvio and sadly got injred with his first kick of the game. (Dont let it get you down big man). Jamie coming on for Matt to add some pace up front and young Stuart coming on for chris to add some energy in the middle along with Gordy the road runner for an injection of pace and energy up front. With 5 mins to go hotspurs grabbed a lifeline goal and with Brewerkz now down to 10 men it was 10 behind the ball for the remainder of the game.

In the end this game should have been won by a much wider margin, our finishing today was not as good as it should have been but our overall play was.

Man of the match goes to Tomas Miranda for his first half display, but there will be much tougher games ahead where we will need to see it for the full 90 mins.

Author: Scouser Boss
Category: Team News
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OLYMPIQUE GAULOIS 1 BREWERKZ 6

Goals: Gordon Cur, Matt Harding, Micky Amu (4) Half-time: 2-0 Team: Dez Corkhill, Alex Westacott (sub Mike Hogan), Ike Junior, Jon Bett (Fulvio Manini), Chris Pereira (Richard Thomas), Etienne van den Boegaert, Scott Aitken, Matthieu Harding (Dave Cooper), Jamie Swan (Pierre Rico), Micky Amu, Gordon Cyr.

Brewerkz mastered a dreadful pitch, poor conditions and a spirited Olympique Gaulois to record their second win of the new Cosmo League season. Centre-forward Micky Amu took the man-of-the-match award not only for his four-goal haul, but for his selfless play up front despite being fiercely marked throughout by the Gaulois centre-backs. Four changes in personnel, a new debutant (the seventh this season) and a change in formation meant that it took Brewerkz 20 minutes to get into gear. Amu had a one-on-one chance saved, before Chris Pereira broke down the right and crossed for Gordon Cyr to score. Tweaks in position and attitude slowly worked in our favour. Etienne van den Boegaert pushed further forward, and we began to control the game. Amu had a goal disallowed for offside and could easily have been awarded a penalty after being hauled down. Van den Boegaert had a header cleared off the goal-line. Then Matt Harding broke through some powder-puff challenges to smash home our second just before half-time. It was fair reflection of the game. In the second half, Manager McCormick made five substitutions, none of which weakened the team in any way. At the same time, our game continued to improve. Despite horrible conditions and pools of water and mud, we passed the ball nicely and stuck to a game plan of keeping the ball on the floor, getting it wide, and stretching the opposing defence. The reward came when debut-man Jamie Swan (one of three teenagers in the starting XI) found Scott Aitken in the penalty area. His pull-back was blasted home by Amu. Olympique pulled one back with a neat header from 6-yards, but that merely set the scene for Amu. Aitken and the Nigerian combined again for Amu to score left footed from 6-yards. Mike Hogan’s pass released him to win a foot-race with the impressive Gaulois ‘keeper to loft home his hat-trick, whilst Richard Thomas broke down the left to give him a tap-in for his fourth and our sixth. Surrounding the goals, Brewerkz were denied two stone-wall penalties, saw the goalkeeper make three very good saves, and had Cyr somehow denied by the ‘keeper from within the 6-yard box. There will be far more difficult games than this – starting at SCRC against Hotspurs next Saturday - though the Gaulois never gave up the game, and were always competitive.

Yellow Card: Micky Amu

 Fools Gold: Dave Cooper (turning up at Simei instead of Turf City)

 Training: Tuesday, 9.30 PM start, Turf City Premier Pitch Next Fixture: Sat 13th Sept. vs Hotspurs PS: Acknowledgement and thanks to the four players not selected for the squad who turned up to support the team.

Author: Scouser Boss
Category: Team News
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