By Lawrence Mentesh

With a great result last week Bonus Weeks were looking to make it 3 wins on the bounce with victory over Division 2 leaders Cines IMF. However, with Cines IMF putting some good results in so far and still remaining unbeaten it was not going to be easy but Bonus Weeks also had to avenge a 2-0 loss to Cines in the First Phase of Matches.

It was a 12pm kick-off at the Rincon Pitches where Bonus Weeks have still to win a game. Apart from the injured Adam Musk, Jeff Ball who was away and the suspended duo of Adam Tauber and Dave Mold, Bonus Weeks had most of their regulars to choose from so it was a pretty familiar formation that took to the field except for Nathan Conteh taking over at left back and Chris Griffin starting on the left wing.

With a very valuable 3 points at stake both Teams started brightly and for the first 15 minutes it was end to end football with Bonus Weeks trying to edge their way towards the Cines goal and Cines sending numerous long balls over the top which really tested the Bonus Weeks back four. Cines had some very nippy strikers who were primed to chase these long balls down but with the imperious Lee Frape at the heart of the defence Bonus Weeks just about managed to keep them at bay.

Fortunately, it was Bonus Weeks who broke the deadlock on 15 minutes, a cross-field ball by Alan Belshaw found Adam Wilson on the right and although his run on goal took him past the keeper and way over to the right of the pitch Adam still somehow managed to squeeze the ball into the net from the most acute of angles and from some way out, very reminiscent of the goal Mark Hughes scored for Manchester United in the 1992 Cup Winners Final. It was a well taken goal and it gave Bonus Weeks a real lift and a psychological edge over their opponents.

However, Cines were handed a way back into the game 10 minutes later when a risky throw-in from Lawrence Mentesh to the centre of his defence didn’t quite reach its target and with the Cines striker coming off best in the scramble for the loose ball there was little keeper Carlos Parkin could do to stop the brilliant strike which sent the ball arcing its way into the top right corner of his net.

Shaken but not stirred, Bonus Weeks continued their assault of the Cines goal but despite an excellent shot by Alan Spurgeon which the keeper did very well to save they could not find a way through and the score remained at 1-1 when the referee blew for half-time.

With Dave Mold and Andy Ransom running things from the sidelines the second half saw 2 changes, Ross Musk and Lee Francis coming on and Chris Griffn and Alan Belshaw coming off. With a couple of fresh legs Bonus Weeks kept pushing Cines all the way, but Cines are not top of the Table for nothing and they sprang a great counter-attack after 20 minutes with some slick passing which ended in their striker rounding the keeper with some good footwork and then calmly slotting the ball into the empty net.

This was a real blow for Bonus Weeks after they had been defending so well, and a few minutes later in effort to introduce even more fresh legs John O’Leary and Gary Lane were brought on to replace Adam Wilson and Lawrence Mentesh. However, with about 15 minutes left Cines made it 3-1 with another good move, their one-touch passing carving out another goal-scoring opportunity which they took with relish.

Now 2 goals down Bonus Weeks made a couple more changes including the introduction of Paul Wells for his very first game. The changes seemed to work as the ball came to Paul on the right and he did well to pick out Alan Spurgeon in the centre who struck another great shot which came back off the keeper only to come back to Alan who made no mistake with his second attempt to make it 3-2. Congratulations also to Paul for the quickest ever booking, a late tackle earning him his yellow card after only about 20 seconds into his debut!

With just over 5 minutes left it was looking more and more likely that Bonus Weeks were going to find the equaliser but a shout for a penalty was given for an off-side instead and Bonus Weeks just could not get the draw that they deserved in what was a very hard fought and overall a very well tempered game.

In the end Cines were no doubt quite relieved to have claimed the points, but it was through no lack of effort from all of the Bonus Weeks players, particularly Alan Spurgeon and Lee Frape who put in another man of the match performance.

However, all is not lost as Bonus Weeks now have a run of 4 games against the bottom 4 Teams so nothing less than 4 wins and 12 points will do, not too much to ask considering how well Bonus Weeks are playing at the moment.

It looks like Cines may well top the Table at the end of the Season but there are still two other promotion places up for grabs and I have every belief that Bonus Weeks will claim one of them.

update van woensdag 06 februari 2008  

Click on FCO Bonus Weeks for the games report.