Gothenburg Celtic 2-2 Backatorp !
Saturday 24th of march, and Match 4 in the Gothenburg Celtic Pre season preparations, seen the hoops take on old league rivals Backatorp FC at Heden on a beautiful sunny spring day. In 3 Previous meeting the Tic had failed to take any points from Backatorp, losing twince in league meetings followed by a Quarter Final cup loss in Summer 7s. Today however was not going to be as easy as the boys in red white and blue had planned. The previous track record suggested that this fixture was going to be a tough match for teh celtic, however on the day Celtic looked very much ilke they were up for the points and salvaging some pride from what had so far been a bit of a turbulent pre season thus far.
A squad of 17 turned out today for the fixture, including a few debutants, playing their first Official game of the season in green and white. The day kicked off with the usual changing room confusion, This time changing rooms were closed so nowhere to change and no showers after so the lads had to on this occasion miss out on the normal homoerotica av towel whipping after the game. Public transport also played a part today as a double jinx leaving some of the guys stranded and in traffic jams before the game so small deviations were made from the original gameplan in order to get the game underway.
With 4 players, delayed the lads started with 11 and 2 subs and reshuffled to give themselves a good strong foundation to get through the starting phase of the game. The formation was set out to keep out an early goal and after 25 minutes, move to a more aggresive and lethal gameplan. As if by deliberate high jinxing from the sporting gods of athena someone said "Yeaasss...we made the first 25 minutes without conceeding, just like we said.:" yep....and then the clouds rolled and the thunder clapped BOOM ! 0-1 backatorp on the 26th minute !!
The goal itself was nothing of beauty, instead a great punched clearance from Gothenburg Celtic very own protege Thomas Ravelli the second only just clipped the crossbar and deflected outward instead of over, and in a crowded box where several packs of hungry wolves were stabbing att each other pinball style, one guy with a 3 meter long leg just had the advantage and tipped the ball over the line...Before this point Celtic hadnt been doing too badly at all, and were getting into the game after a traditionally slow start celtic style.Heads never went down and instead, the bhoys picked themeslves up puffed out their chests and braved through the remaining 20 or so minutes making sure that the scorelilne didnt grow any more than just the 1.
Half time came in what seemed to be a very quick 45, and the lads shuffled into the halftime team talk, they all agreed that perhaps we had shown a little bit too much respect to the opposition and had given them a bit too much time on the ball, and needed to increase the urgency if they were to claw back the minus point. So revitalised with some of Jimmys Power bubble water the troops set of out as they had finished in the second half, but this time with extra installed pride and agressions to go back out and regain their yeild ont he match. 10 minutes later a lovely through ball was played to the forward Sass, who took a touch took a step, had a wee shimmy and bolted toward the goal like a Hare out of the trap..as he made his spearing run the opposite No1 flew off his line to attack him Sass being a weary old fox himself held of his defenders lured the keeper intoward him and than camly lifted the ball in slow motion over the outstrectehed keeper and lobbed him for the equaliser. 1-1 !!! Game ON !!!!!
This equaliser seemed to apparantly piss offf the opposition like a hive of angry bees who immediatelly retaliated....and suddenly shots were flying from distance and close on to the Hoops very own Ravelli, Ravelli being the wise old owl that he is, then repprogrammed himself in to Ravelli the Gymnast, and began some acrobatic manouveres flying through the air like a trapeze artist at maximus circus to paw away everything that flew at him. After 1055.of these acrobatic manouveres finally one sneaked passed him ..again in a crowded box of angry bees the little guy who had the 3 metre long leg did his trick again...he stuck his bargepole further out then any other human man could have to touch home a goal thourgh the crowd to make it 1-2 Backatorp.
Now roles were reversed, celtic came back flying and more pissed off than ever taking on the role of the angry bees, and began in the last 20 to really believe in themslves. This last 20 was the peak of the footbaling magic from the boys playing faster and better and really turing the screw. 10 minutes from the end young khalid was waltzing through the defence when someone took affence to his gliding movement, infact the didnt just take affence the took the gard fkin gate and all the garden tools and mauled him with a striking blow Darth Vaders scholl of light saber scything would have been proud of. After it was agreed Khalid was indeed still alive the Ref blew for a free kick 1 meter outside the box. And for those of you who have been following celtic over the years you may not need for me to tell you how this story ends?? Yep !! Alvarsson please step forward !....Well if he wasnt happy with his own free kick genius before this particular game he bloody well should be now !. 3 steps, one aim, on kick .....and of course how else could it end? GOOOOOOOAAALLLL !!! Alvarsson brought the celts right back into it with yet another wonder strike from 20 yards out !!
There was no time however for too much kissing and cuddling, with enough time left this could still be a 3 pointer for the Tic !!....The tic continued to press as Backatorp tired unfortunatly the clock was against them, andtime was running out....One last gasp effort seen young "Suds" garret flashed a peach of a shot goalbound only to be denied by a fingertip save which would have placed the cherry in the top of this sweet cake.
The whistle blew and all in all over the piece the scoreline was about right. Another match and another week of progress for teh Tic, and as we reach match week 5 of preseaon were finally starting to get up to speed. There will of course still be some tinkering in the last few weeks. but todays game showed flashes of typical celtic brilliance combined with the well known and loved fighting spirit of the might Gothenburg Celtic FC !!!
Next up: La familj Överås, 1600 March 31st
Attendance: 41,668
Man of the Match: Christian Olofsson
Yellows: Gildae
Watering hole: Lilla London
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment