Match Report - Fireside (A)

As games up and down the country were postponed due to torrential rain, we were pleasantly surprised by the news that our away game against Fireside would go ahead on Sunday. With a few absentees, including both goalkeepers, we knew we had a tough test; but we were keen to find 3 points against a team who beat us earlier in the season.

Roza set up with a midfield diamond, a throwback to the 22/23 season where this system paid dividends in their journey to second place in the table. Without Steph Savva, and with Adam Shaw going in goal in the absence of Roza’s goalkeepers, Smith and Andreou were trusted to lead the line on this spring morning in Colindale.

Starting XI: Adam Shaw; Deano Spyrou, Giorgio Koullas, Chris Johnson, Jake Koumi; Michael Georgiades, Saj Rajaratnam, Cal Cook; Ben Reynolds; Danny Smith, Alex Andreou

Roza started the game excellently, controlling early proceedings. Georgiades was finding space in the midfield, Rajaratnam was marauding forward and causing problems, whilst the back four looked comfortable and confident both in possessional and defensive phases. The setup of the game entailed Roza possession and a more direct approach from our opponents, but both defences were coming out on top in the early stages.

After 18 minutes, our strong start was bolstered by a goal from Danny Smith. We had started to find some joy when pressing the opposition defence a few minutes before, and Smith’s tenacity got him through on goal, where he calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner. Roza roars were aplenty, and the confidence of the team was clear for all to see.

As the half went on there were a few more chances for a second, but we were struggling to convert these moments. However, in the moments where the ball was in the back of the net, some questionable decisions majorly halted our progress. Firstly, it was an Alex Andreou corner which was sublimely headed into the top corner by Giorgio Koullas, which was disallowed. It took a while to understand why this was the case; before the referee identified goalscorer Smith as the offender, for simply standing by the goalkeeper without making a challenge.

The home side could not deal with Roza’s set-piece prowess and, five minutes later, Rajaratnam finished well after a flick-on from a deep free-kick. This time offside was cited as the reason for the goal being disallowed although, once again, it was extremely harsh to say the least.

It was one way traffic until around the 38th minute. In a more fortunate context, Roza would have been 0-3 to the good and cruising; but as is often the case in football, the next goal went to the home side, who found the equaliser. There were warning signs when Roza found themselves outnumbered on the right-hand side minutes earlier, and Koullas’ foul halted the attack. This time, a long ball over the top found the striker in on goal – albeit with a very hard angle to score from. His finish was cleared off the line by the returning Chris Johnson, but in came the winger to score the equaliser, reacting first to the rebound.

Half-time came in shortly after, with Roza’s squad feeling hard done by to not be in front, but also keeping calm ahead of what was going to be a crucial second half.

The second half was a different pattern. Both teams were struggling to create going forwards, and the game became increasingly scrappy, suiting the home side. Roza struggled to create aside from an Andreou half-chance from the right and a couple of headers from corners.

An outrageous lob from around 20 yards was what put Fireside in front. Whether it was on purpose or helped by a bobble, the execution could not be questioned, and a backtracking Adam Shaw could not reach the excellent looping effort. We now had a game to chase.

There were around 20 minutes when the goal went in, and as expected, Roza pushed for the equaliser for the rest of the game. The home side were defending strongly with a compact back five not allowing our attackers time to breathe. It was a late effort from Reece Denny, caught sweetly on the half volley, which nearly got us the point we deserved; it was about to hit the target at some real velocity when the Fireside defender blocked. Roza players felt it was with the arm, but the appeals did not turn the referee’s decision – but it will certainly be an interesting one to watch on Fireside’s YouTube channel.

The boys left everything on the pitch and it was a tough one to take, but we have to recover quickly and finish the season as well as possible.

Up The Rose.