Saturday 15 September 2018, Pretoria, South Africa:
After missing out upon Champions League qualification, 5 participants converged for the 2018 Europa League event to compete for the Players Cup. As was expected, we witnessed some closely contested matches and below are the highlights of the day.
ROUND 1 : Imtiaz Ahmed continuing his development in the sport with a sound 2-0 victory over Neilon Waterson. The tie of round saw Kegan van der Merwe score twice in a minute before Gary Downs pulled one back in the final minute of play for a 2-1 final score.
ROUND 2 : Osvaldo van Niekerk enjoying plenty of possession but yet ending with a 0-0 draw against Kegan. In Match 4, Gary comes back into contention with a 2-0 victory over Imtiaz. Then probably, the "Match of the Day" with 3 goals coming in the final 5 minutes of play - with Neilon shocking Osvaldo into action for Osvaldo to score twice within the final 3 minutes, and in so doing Osvaldo going 2nd overall at the end of the round.
ROUND 3 : Osvaldo effectively ending Gary's hopes of glory with a hard fought 1-0 victory. Kegan matching Osvaldo with a 1-0 victory over Neilon.
ROUND 4 : Imtiaz having a big say on the day's proceedings - first by holding Osvaldo to a 0-0 draw. Gary then secured 3rd place overall with a 2-0 victory over Neilon. Then….drama in Match 10 as Kegan takes the lead after 9 minutes of play, but Imtiaz scores with only 3 seconds left to play -forcing the event into a final play-off match between Kegan and Osvaldo as there was no "head to head" to choose from between these two players!
The final paly-off match was heading the same way as the two players' Round 2 encounter - but with only 50 seconds left on the clock, Osvaldo let his guard down for Kegan to score with a deftly sliced shot with Osvaldo's keeper nowhere near to saving the shot !
Individual acknowledgements of the day :
GOAL BLITZ : Gary ended the day as the top scorer !
TOUGH AS NAILS : Despite not recording a win all day, Neilon's goalkeeping skills caught the eye!
MOMENT OF THE DAY : Imtiaz - for scoring against Kegan in Match 10, forcing the event into a final play-off match !
PLAY OF THE DAY : Osvaldo's "come from behind" 2-1 win over Neilon in Match 5 !
As always, a big thank you to all who attended to make the day a great success.
(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
No comments:
Post a Comment