Last minute thriller beats the Hammerheads
Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve attended a game before Satuday. That lull in home fixtures totally killed my writing momentum as I was left scrolling through USLDiscussions to find full time scores and any news. I just wish there was a way to broadcast the highlights on the Web so that I could see some of the action, instead of having to trust the opinions of (often uninformed) journalists and biased opposing fans.
When the Kickers did finally return to UR stadium last Memorial Day weekend, my ass was in Philly attending a wedding of some distant relative of my girlfriend’s. Apparently I missed a fabulous goal from Stanley Nyazamba (need to come up with a nickname for this guy) against our not-so-arch rivals, the Christian Eagles. Even though I was not there to witness it, it’s nice to get some revenge for the 3-0 hammering earlier in the season, and gives me a glimmer of hope that we do have chance for success this year.
But onto the game I did manage to attend, the Wilmington Hammerheads. It was a beautiful day for a game of football, the sun had been shining all day and while my house had experienced a brief hail storm an hour prior to kick-off, it apparently had not reached the stadium which is all of five miles away (perhaps it did a Simmonds and gave up half way there).
The game started brightly as the Kickers knocked the ball around but lacked the killer instinct in front of goal, some credit must go to former Future keeper John O’Hara, who managed a few decent saves. But for the most part the action stayed away from our corner which was a good sign for the boys in red.
The deadlock was broken just after the half-hour mark when Richmond were awarded a free kick on the left side of the field in Wilmington’s half. It got to Mike Burke and after a little trademark dribbling he sent in a cross to ‘Zamba, he shook off a pair of defenders to fire past a diving O’Hara and into the net. Three goals in three games is pretty good form, let’s hope he can keep it up.
The unfortunate side effect of this goal was that we woke up the sharks, and before too long they found our half of the field. They spent the remainder of the half harrying our defense and came up with a near miss in the 37th minute, but the Kickers back line stayed strong and made it to half-time with the lead in tact.
Unfortunately the lead wouldn’t last too long in the second half as the Kickers were caught napping at the back during a Chris Murray free kick from 30 yards out. 1-1. Now I wasn’t too concerned at this point, in fact I actually like to see a team play when they are forced to attack (perhaps this is my conditioning as a Liverpool supporter).
Unfortunately the game did not unfold as I would have hoped, buoyed by their equalizer the Hammerheads clearly smelled blood. Ronnie Pascale was forced to make a couple of saves and the game went back and forth.
By the 70th minute it became clear that the ‘Heads were playing for the draw, any throw-in or goal-kick took almost two minutes to take, O’Hara being the worse offender. This drew the ire of the crowd and they (we) hurled insults at anybody who would listen. Unfortunately the refereeing team seemed content to let it go on.
As the clock ticked down, a winning goal looked less and less likely. The team were not looking cohesive as both Burke and ‘Zamba struggled to complete their passes, crosses and corners seemingly couldn’t go higher than three feet and a forgettable Hunter free-kick bounced off the Wilmington wall like a squash ball.
Ian Bennett came on for Burke in the 82nd minute and seemed to provide extra spark immediately as his fresh legs easily beat the Wilmington defenders, and he sent in a couple of dangerous passes. But alas, every miss was another two minutes off the clock.
With three minutes left, Gorres looked ready to take matters into his own hands as he received the ball on the left wing, cut into the center of the pitch and headed for the edge of the box before being cynically cut down as he was about to unleash a shot. Free kick, Kickers.
The Hammerheads began constructing a wall ridiculously close to the free kick, probably in a bid to waste more time. But wasting time was the last thing on Ben Hunter’s mind as he quickly blasted a shot around the wall and into the goal while O’Hara was still barking instructions at his defenders. The referee pointed to the center circle, 2-1 Kickers.
The strike reminded me of a more high profile goal scored by Ryan Giggs in the Champions League last year, and Wilmington’s reaction was not too disimlar to Lille’s that night as practically the whole team surrounded the referee demanding an explanaition (apparently the bench did the same to the 4th official). John O’Hara was particularly nasty as he chased the referee all the way to the halfway line, eventually drawing a yellow card.
The Kickers didn’t care about any of this as they celebrated (what would be) a hard won victory. The Hammerheads may languish at the bottom of the table, but their performance on the night demonstrated that they are better then their record implies. While there is certainly work to be done on the training ground in Richmond, the nature of this victory could give the team the confidence it needs going to Charlotte tomorrow.
1 year ago