RBFFC2 gets the 3 points again, not with a beautiful football but a very serious match on defense

Line-up: Puig, Mineo, Lambrecht, Guarnaccia, Ricketts, Pellegry, Vazquez, Si M’hammed, Legere, Henriquez, Gonzalez / Subs: McGirr, Philpot, Deschamps

On a classic summer-October day, RBFFC2 was getting ready to get again the 3 points after 4 draws in a row, and to keep the streak if this historic season. But this was not going to be an easy one, two unbeaten teams, with the same amount of points, were clashing and only one could remain unbeaten after the match.

Good news was that some of the many injured players could make it into the squad again. On the other hand, those that were still not able to play took the opportunity to visit the best doctors around the globe, and travelled to Germany, Barcelona, Rome, San Francisco or even St. Catherine to recover properly from their injuries.

Good atmosphere on the changing room and one clear target by Il Capitano on the speech: after 6 matches goalless during the first 35min, the team needed use the first half to win the match, so the key was to score and take an early advantage.

On the warm-up, we could already see that the fittest player of the pitch would be the referee, who did a better warm-up and stretches than any of the other 22 players.

The match went under way, and the bench of RBBFC2 (composed by Philpot, McGirr and Deschamps) looked closer to a gay solarium than a football team bench. Since the beginning we saw that probably this was not our day. On the first 20 minutes, the pressure of Entente was provoking some passing mistakes and not a fluid game. The engine room of the team was not being used and the match became more a kick&rush rather than a passing game. However, Entente was not making the most of it and the only danger were some long shots that went wide. Except one. A shot that was in the middle of the goal and looked easy for Puig. However, he only deflected and the striker caught the rebound but could only hit the crossbar from 5meters. The tension was growing and so did the screaming of Legere.

Yet, not everything was that bad and RBBFC2 still got some clear chances to open the scoreboard. Entente's defence was rather weak and this was used by Henriquez and Gonzalez, with the help of the wings Mineo and Pellegry and the midfielders Si M'hammed and Legere to make some good combinations and create some trouble.

Around the 20th minute a run from Mineo deep in the wing, a great cross straight on to Gonzalez that pushed the ball to the net and... Goal!! The team finally managed to be in front of the scoreboard on the first half after 6 matches.

After that, Entente saw that it was not going to be an easy match, and they lost concentration and their diving and screaming increased proportionally. This could have been used by RBBFC2 to widen the advantage, but strangely enough Henriquez did not manage to score on a couple of good chances.

Entente rushed in the last minutes and got a diving on the box (accompanied by extensively shouting and a yellow card) and, on probably the clearest chance, a 5 meters shot deflected by Puig's left foot.

During the whole first half, the massive crowd watching the game (i.e. the laidy delegue), was putting a lot of pressure on the Brits and giving a lot of energy to Entente, with screaming such as "British, here we play football and not rugby" or "Come on Entente, vous etes les meilleurs". However, this strong pressure did not distract the visiting team.

Half-time was whistled and that was fresh air for the RBBFC2 guys that could take some time to breathe and rest. The hot weather was clearly affecting much more the northern European team that their south Mediterranean rivals. The football was not great, but the result was. And in close matches this is what it counts.

Half time was used to get some water and set things down. The message was clear: the team needed to have the ball, get rid of the pressure and try to kill the match as soon as possible.

Second half started and nothing of that happened. Not even close. Entente increased the pressure, had the ball possession and locked RBBFC2 on its own half. In a situation that looked more like a futsal match than an 11-a side, Entente was moving the ball from one side to the other of the box and shooting when they had a chance. However, RBBFC defenders were ready to respond and blocked all the shots. This caused some swearing from the Entente guys that was quickly silenced by Legere, thanks to his extensive knowledge of the language. Without the ball control and 9 white men locked up in their own box, things were not looking very promising.

Similarly to the first half, most of the shots went wide except one. The striker was able to get 5 meters from the goal line, made a crossed shot but Puig put his left foot again to deflect the shot. It was a copy of the play of the first half, luckily with the same outcome. Frustration was growing on the opposition, time was passing and although they were dominating they were not able to have clear chances.

It was time for the guys of the gay solarium to come in and to help setting things down and securing the win. So they put their underwear, pants, socks and shirt and got into the pitch ready. And they did. Deschamps brought some fresh air upfront by holding the ball and some combinations, McGirr some power in the midfield by winning all the headers and giving some breath to the team and Philpot brought in concentration and toughness on the back, also allowing Ricketts and Vazquez to form a very solid and inviolable wall in the midfield.

Things went better, Entente was pushing harder, but RBBFC2 was capable of controlling them. Thanks to their advanced defence, RBBFC had many chances on the break that should have been enough to kill the match with 20minutes to go. But Gonzalez and Deschamps had not his day and wanted to put some emotion to the last minutes of the match.

In the meantime, some corners, weak headers and blocked shots were happening, but it was not Entente's strikers day either, so most shots went wide.

It was not until the last minute that the strikers decided that it was enough suffering. On a long ball, Deschamps headed to McGirr who assisted Gonzalez that, on a one to one with the goalkeeper, put the ball in the back of the net. One minute to go and RBBFC2 were securing the three points.

A great effort from the whole team, that allows RBBFC2 to keep its unbeaten streak with an important victory on a difficult pitch and against a direct rival and keeps the hopes to be among the top teams very much open. However, the home delegue give her verdict: "Honestly British, I thought you were much better". Still way to improve

After the match, some dancing from Mineo and some beers while watching the Rugby final, made another best day of the week! Except for Pellegry, who got his bag stolen at dawn, in one of the dark bars he likes to frequent. The question is, will the thief make the laundry and keep the stolen clothes or he just have got the most useless loot ever?

MoM and reporter: Marc "Il Capitano" Puig