Saturday 18 February 2017, Pretoria, South Africa
The eagerly anticipated start to the 2017 Pretoria Subbuteo season attracted a field of 12 entries - including Subbuteo debutants Marlin Boyd and Osvaldo van Niekerk. The theme of the event was….. "Derby Day", where Round 1 and Round 4 was reserved for the derby matches (home & away basis). Rounds 2 & 3 were pre-determined by way of random draw. Points were allocated as follows : 2p a win, 1p a draw ; however for "derbies" - an extra Bonus Point (BP) was awarded for the derby win, and where a derby matched ended in a draw, the "away" side earned an extra derby BP. What then followed was a series of matches which did not fail to deliver the thrills associated with derby matches - but dished up " the Subbuteo way".
As early as Match 2, we witnessed the "match of the day" as Rowin Wilson (Dortmund) took on Stanton Nortjie (Schalke 04) with a loud roar heard as Rowin took the lead on 10min of play ; An even bigger cheer sounded as Stanton scored a far post bullet on 13min to bring the tie level. In the dying stages of the match, Rowin pulled off a save over Stanton from a certain goal-scoring position - the final score 1-1, but Stanton beaming with confidence after earning his "away derby draw" BP!Other action from Round 1 saw Bevin Reed (Liverpool) beat Jayden vd Merwe (Everton) by 1-0 to take their derby honours - although Jayden was hugely unlucky not to come away with a draw. Elsewhere Chessray Jooste (AC Milan) beat Adam Murray (Inter Milan) by 3-0 to go top of the standings at the end of Round 1.
The "Debutants Derby" ended Marlin Boyd (Barcelona) (0) v (0) Osvaldo van Niekerk (Espanyol) with Osvaldo earning the "away derby draw" BP.
The pick of Round 2 action saw Marlin hold the much fancied Bevin to a 0-0 draw - that result pushing Bevin down to 3rd place. Stanton held Sherwin Reed (Man Utd) to a 0-0 draw to move 4th overall. Chessray then dispatched of newcomer Osvaldo by 3-0 to maintain the top spot. Kegan vd Merwe (Real Madrid) got another win by 1-0 over Neilon Waterson (Man City) to go 2nd overall at the end of Round 2. In Round 3, Sherwin stunned Julian vd Merwe (Atletico Madrid) with an unexpected long range angled shot to win by 1-0. Jayden then beat Osvaldo by 2-0 to go 3rd. Kegan's 1-0 win over Adam consolidated the 2nd spot. Bevin then recorded a 1-0 win over Chessray to inflict the day's only loss for Chessray - however, the result still saw Chessray cling onto the top spot.
Round 4 - the final "Derby round" - produced some thrilling encounters, with positive results recorded in all 6 derby encounters. Marlin scored his first ever goal to beat Osvaldo by 1-0, ensuring the derby BP for Marlin in the reverse fixture. Sherwin then recorded a 2-0 win over Neilon, scoring both goals on the counter attack in true derby style ! Kegan then secured the title by way of a 2-0 win over Julian - his second goal a powerful stunner from distance, deemed by many as the "goal of the day", a great goal of title winning quality ! Chessray then repeated the first round result of 3-0 over Adam to secure 2nd place overall. Stanton then beat Rowin by 1-0 to end the day 5th overall. Jayden then got the reverse derby win over Bevin by 2-0 - a result securing 3rd place overall for Jayden.
All in all, a good start to the 2017 calendar for the club, with the promise of new players to join. As for achievements on the day, Kegan deservedly claimed the "King of Derby Day" title by accumulating the maximum possible points and conceding none to make him the 2017 PFC Copa del Apertura Champion ! It is also worth mentioning that Marlin Boyd, Stanton Nortjie & Sherwin Reed all enjoyed an unbeaten run on the day ! Sherwin & debutant Marlin also joined Kegan as the only other players not to concede all day ! To many present on the day, there was the general agreement that this tournament was probably one of the best that PFC has ever staged to date as we witnessed Kegan claim his 5th WASPA title to date!
(report by Julian vd Merwe)
The PFC website & facebook page will be updated shortly with photo's & news content at :
http://pfctest.leaguerepublic.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PFC-SA/519566284755728
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