Port Royal: Up then Down - MD 6 & MD 7

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Port Royal: Up then Down

MD#6 & MD#7

It's a new week here at the SSL Academy and with that new week brings us two matchdays! Last week was a week to forget for Port Royal so I'm not going to dwell on it and instead look forward to a week of new games where they can hopefully change their fortunes and turn their season around. Up first in MD#6 they are playing against PS Jakarta and in MD#7 they will be facing Istanbul FK.

Matchday #6 - Port Royal FC vs PS Jakarta

The game today saw a bit of a formation change for the Royals, manager Piza clearly wanted to see what a change could do to galvanise the team, since really with their recent form they don't really have much to lose from here on. They changed from the usual 4-2-3-1 formation to a 4-3-3/4-5-1 hybrind formation utilizing 3 central midfielders and players out wide on either side.
It brings a change of position for someplayers, bringing Barry McGlynn out to the left hand side in LAM instead of his usual CAM role behind the striker and Owen Bryant was brought more central next to StarScream with Munro playing that holding DM role just behind and in front of the defence. Piza would be hoping that this could maybe the key that unlocks the teams potential!

The start of the game seemed to continue the usual high fire start that the Royals have shown this season already, an early interception from Gerard Legend with a header just on the halfway line to Bryant, who passed forward to McGlynn on the left hand side, he ran forward to the edge of the box and passed across the 18 yard line to Scream who squared it to Sadie Black and her effort fizzed low past the right hand side post.

Minutes later, a Tenderloin Legend header from a Sadie Black corner just went over the crossbar. Then an opportunity for Bryant came from a nice lobbed pass into the box from Reece Munro however Bryant could only put his header over the crossbar again. As usual a good start from the Royals here, with three good efforts in the first 10 minuts of play.

Then bang on the 11th Minute saw a fantastic piece of team play from the Royals, Unshark intercepted a pass intended for Chicken Legend, he ran forward with the ball down the right hand side, squared it to the center for Bryant, who slotted a through ball to McGlynn on the left hand side of the box who cut a nice a pass across the 6 yard box to Owen Goal who passed the ball into the open net for his first goal of the game and season! Absolutely beautiful piece of play from the Royals to find themselves up 1-0!

Not 2 minutes later in the 13th minute brought another great team play by the Royals, Tenderloin Legend had the ball at the halfway line passing to Scream who then knocked it onto Sadie Black, he travelled with the ball and passed back to Scream who knocked it to Bryant, Bryant then played a throughball for McGlynn on the left side of the box who taken a shot but was only able to watch the ball bounce off the right hand post, however the ball bounced kindly to Sadie Black who made a follow up run into the box and he slotted the ball home to make it 2-0!
I'm sure McGlynn will agree with the commentators and the ball bouncing off the post to Black was indeed planned! He'll want to claim the assist but I don't think it tends to work like that!

Unshark again had another interception on right hand side, heading the ball Black, who travelled forward into the box and passed to Owen Goal whose effort was tipped wide by the Jakarta goalkeeper! The following corner didn't amount to much wioth the ball ending up out of the pitch for a throw in to the Royals, they kept play going and it fell to Scream who played a one-two with Unshark out right and then his effort on goal from 18 yards was perfectly placed as it slotted right past The Heretic Legend into the bottom corner and it was 3-0 to the Royals! All inside 20 minutes of play.

In the 34th minute we saw a long patient period of possession from the Royals come to fruition, as eventually McGlynn has the ball on the left hand side, he played a pass forward to Bryant who found himself with some time and space, ran forward into the box and squared it across to Owen Goal who rifled his first time shot in the box past the Jakarta keeper and it was just like that the Royals astoundingly found themselves up 4-0 in the first half here against PS Jakarta!

Minutes later saw the Royals bombing forward looking to keep the momentum up and extend their lead, Black ran through the middle of the park and passed out left to McGlynn, he then centered it to Bryant whose effort from 20 yards was tipped by the Jakrta keeper onto the crossbar and it bounced kindly for Owen Goal who inexplicably skied the ball into row Z from just 6 yards out with the goalie on the floor! Unfortunately he was unable at that moment to seal his first half hattrick!

The 41st minute seemed to bring more woes for PS Jakarta, as the referee pointed to the penalty spot after he spotted an infringement in the 6 yard box after the corner was sent in, Unshark stepped up to the penalty spot to hammer the ball in to the bottom right corner as the Jakarta keeper dived the wrong way. 5-0!

Half Time

What a dominant display from the Royals in that first half, picking up 5 goals from their 16 shots! Their xG soared to 4.05! Here's hoping a generational collapse doesn't occur for them in the second half!

Bryant had an early effort after the break soar over the crossbar after travelling up the park and managing to beat his defender, the shot unfortunately was never going to trouble the goalkeeper.

Another effort from the Royals came after Saide Black picked up the ball on the right hand side, played in a high cross and Owen Goal managed to jump up over the towering CDs and header the ball towards the goal, however The Heretic Legend did make a good save and tip the ball onto the crossbar and the ball was cleaered away for a corner by the Jakarta defence.
The resulting corner saw Erickson have a headed effort collected by The Heretic Legend.

Just about the first effort from Jakarta came in the 53rd Minute as Thessenvitz Legend had the ball down the right hand side, made a very high cross to the back post where Chicken Legend was able to jump higher than Unshark and header the ball past Degon in nets and it was 5-1! Jakarta with the consellation goal.

57th Minute and a long ball forward by Jakarta was headed back up the park by Tenderloin Legend and the ball made its way to Scream who passed forward to Bryant, a pass then to Black at the edge of the box who laid it off for Owen Goal, he was tackled and the ball fell staright to Scream who smashed it from 18 yards past The Heretic Legend and it was 6-1 and the Royals picked up their 5-goal lead again!

The 60th minute and Scream who had travelled well with the ball at his feet to the 18 yard box, had his shot tipped wide for a corner by the Jakarta goalkeeper. The resulting corner didn't really amount to much with Jakarta picking up possession of the ball.

However, 5 minutes later in the 65th minute saw Port Royal with another corner, Sadie Black played a great cross in, quite low, and it found Erickson at the 6 yard box who volleyed the ball with venom into the Jakarta net and it was now 7-1! Port Royal were having an absolute field day out there on the park!

77 minutes in to the game and this time Jakarta with the ball, Theseenvitz with the ball on the right hand side sideline again, swinging in a very high cross to the backpost again where Chicken Legend was lurking unmarked, left by his defender Unshark, and he headed the ball home for the second time in the game today to make it 7-2 and at least giving Jakarta something to glad for in this game.

The remaining 15 minutes of the game just saw a header from Owne Bryant for the Royals just bounce past the post and Jakarta had a headed effort from a corner see itself go over the head and crossbar of Ian Degons goal. Who had somewhat a not very busy day, however out of Jakarta's 4 shots, 2 were on target and he had to pick them both out of his net so whilst a dominant performance from the team, I believe Degon will feel he could've maybe done better.

The full time whistle was blown and it was a superb dominant performance from Port Royal winning 7-2, something they definitely feel was coming and hoped would come sooner rather than later to help alleviate all the fears of the fans for the rest of the season. Superb performances across the board however props to be given to special performances from Owen Goal and Star Scream both picking up a brace!


Matchday #6 - Istanbul FK vs Port Royal FC.

Port Royal went with an unchanged formation and the same lineup that saw them come out 7-2 winners in a jaw dropping performance against Jakarta. Today, however, they were up against a team starting to come into a bit of form with 2 wins in their last 2 games.

A few minutes and as usual Port Royal comes out all guns blazing, McGlynn picks up the ball at the half way line, making use of his pace he dribbles up the park taking on his man, wizzes past and to the left side of the box he cuts a pass across to Owen Goal at the 6 yard box who skies it horrifically over the goal from so close where it was definitely harder to miss than score. Especially after his last time out, picking up 2 goals.

Immediately after Istanbul hit Port Royal on the counter attack, the ball is passed to Jake Ronaldo who travels up the park, to the by line, squares it across to Von Wolfe who just had to tap it in and it was 1-0 in the 4th minute to Istanbul! Literally a carbon copy chance that the Royals just had however Von Wolfe was able to score where Owen Goal couldn't.

McGlynn again creating opportunities for his team, crossing the ball in from the left side into Owen Goal who knocked his header over to Bryant who unfortunately headed the ball right into "The Headhunters" hands.

A chance for the Royals as Tenderloin Legend got onto the end of a Sadie Black corner however the shot just hit the wrong side of the side netting.

Another corner for the Royals as this time Bryant saw his headed effdot bounce off the crossbar and the ball was cleared away from the line by Istanbul!

Istanbul then had a chance as Bergman crossed in the ball from the right hand side and found Lopta Legend however the effort went over the crossbar.

The 25th minute comes and Istanbul has a throw in down the left hand side, Lopta Legend collects the ball and passes to John Warhurst on the edge of the box whose first time effort squeezes past the out-stretched Degon and rolls round the side netting into the back of the net and it was now 2-0 Istanbul! They have been much more clinical than the Royals that's for sure.

5 minutes later and Istanbul find themselves with a comfortable 3-0 lead, Castellani received a pass in the middle of the park and played a through ball straight down the middle to Jake Ronaldo, who moved it forward on his left side and his shot went back across the goal into the bottom right corner past Ian Degon. Port Royal finding themselves in their usual uphill struggle and it's only been 30 minutes of play.

In the 37th minute and Istanbul came rushing forward outnumbering the Royals at the back and a pass was made to Homme III Esquire who ran with the ball into the box and with a tight angle was able to bury the ball past the Port Royal GK, who absolutely should never be beaten from that angle under any circumstance. Terrible goalkeeping. 4-0 to Istanbul!

Half Time

That was the last of the first half action as the referee blew his whistle for the break. A much needed break in the play for Port Royal after a terrible first half performance, Istanbul will be delirious though!

In the 53rd minute, Dante Von Wolfe managed to break through the middle of the defence, getting himself into a 1v1 with Degon but he somehow managed to put the shot wide of the goal. He'll not be happy with that effort.

10 minutes later and Istanbul had the ball in the back of the net after a nice bit of teamplay saw Ronaldo put the ball in the net from a Bergman cross but Berman was deemed to be in an offside position.

Sadie Black then saw his effort fly over the crossbar and Port Royal are onto slim pickings for chances this second half so far. One such chance saw Scream send in a high cross to McGlynn who headed the ball off the post, something he continues to do at least once per game!

McGlynn shortly after had another headed effort unfortunately go about a yard over the crossbar. Definitely seems to be not his day! He also managed to get into a dangerous position with the ball at the left side of the 6 yard box and squared it across the goal but not a single Royal player within 5 yards to tap it into the goal. No final third intuition by the Royal attackers.

The final 10 minutes of the game saw a flurry of chances as, to their credit, Port Royal continued to pepper the Istanbul goal with shots but none of them anywhere near clinical enough to have even grabbed a consolation goal

The referee blew his whistle at 90+1 and the final score was 4-0 to Istanbul!

A short summary of this match is it was definitely a game of two halves... however Istabul converted the chances they had into goals and Port Royal seemed to just trun their shots into corners.... which doesn't win games. Another bitterly disappointing result for Port Royal, hopefully next week sees them pick up a more favourable result!