Atlantic Stars : Match Report v KPMG Blue Rays on 08 Dec 08

Atlantic Star 9 KPMG Blue Rays 1

Team

Murray
Carlowe
Leach
Glasgow
Thorburn
Dickens
Heffernan
Fraser
Jack
Coen
Atterbury

Scorers
Carlowe 2
Dickens 4
Glasgow 2
Heffernan

Atlantic Star stormed to the top of the table with a resounding victory over strugglers KPMG Rays. With the news that UBS had earlier lost to Coconut Joes by six goals to one, and that RCC Strikers weren't playing for 24 hours, Star took full advantage to move into pole position.

Moving away from their 3-1-1 formation, manager Atterbury decided to go for the jugular with a 2-2-1 formation. Unfortunately there was a notable absence of strikers amongst the available ranks with all four strikers in the squad, Marler, Doherty, Maguire and Nick Silveira all absent. However this wasn't to hold the reds back too much. After a slow start where Star took the sting out of anything KPMG may have been willing to offer Carlowe opened the scoring with a strike from the left hand side that was beyond the reach of the Blue Rays goalkeeper. Shortly after Dickens was to add goals 2 and 3. The first was a good strike from the edge of the box, the second he shot from the left hand corner and the ball skipped off the boards and into the back of the net.

Atterbury was using the squad well with regular rotation and each player was enjoying time with the ball and some of the intricate passing was the best Star have played this season. The manager had held a training session on Sunday morning with the focus on two touch football and it was certainly paying off with some good passing and movement.

Coen came on and treated the crowd to an amazing pirouette in the middle of the park as he tried to pass the ball away but failed miserably!!

This wasn't to matter as season one's leading scorer was to get himself amongst the goals after a through ball from Jack was placed beyond the goalkeeper. Dickens was to complete his hat trick shortly after as Star made the most of numerical advantage after one of the KPMG defenders was sent off for structure violation.

To wrap up an excellent first half Carlowe added a second to his tally with another shot from the left. He had already done some showboating for the watching hoardes with a couple of trademark pull backs that left the KPMG right back in bewilderment.

Manager Atterbury decided it was time to show the young whippersnappers that he can still mix it with the best of them as he came on in defence at the start of the second half. He almost added himself to the scoring charts with a shot that sailed narrowly over the bar. KPMG's keeper who had been busy in the first half was starting to get the hang of goalkeeping as he made three excellent saves early on in the second half to keep the scoreline at 6. Just as it looked like being a frustrating second half on the scoring front, Dickens scored the goal of the game breaking down the right and blasting the ball into the top corner.

Some wayward shooting from Heffernan was keeping the scoreline at 7 until Glasgow scored from another through ball from Jack on the right side. Fraser was also coming close with a couple of efforts but he wasn't able to replicate his finish of the previous week. Carlowe further had the crowd on their feet as he looked like he was going to complete his hat trick only for his shot to bounce wide of the goal. Heffernan finally made up for his three thousand missed attempts with a mis-hit shot that dribbled between the goalkeeper's legs. Although unproven, it is suspected that the Irishman's close ties with KPMG had involved some kind of bung.

KPMG scored an excellent goal of their own as their striker played a one two off the boards to beat Leach and then fired it past Murray, the keeper who had played a sweeper role for most of the evening left with absolutely no chance. Star weren't to hit the double figures that they sought but there can be few complaints overall and with the Christmas break now upon them, it has been an excellent start to the season.