Match Report - RT United (h)

A bright and dry November’s Sunday morning at Mount Grace (not often we say that) was the setting for this weekend’s fixture. In what was a huge pre-game bonus for both teams, the Home Ground staff had actually remembered to paint some lines on the pitch! Unfortunately, they forgot to get the lawn mower out, but baby steps.

Starting XI: Rajan Ranu; Terry Savva, Chris Johnson, Ollie Begueria; Michael Georgiades, Danny Smith, Ben Reynolds, Saj Rajaratnam; Iddo Razin, Steph Savva, Michael Andreou

In a new 3-4-3 formation, the likes of which football has never seen before, Roza started well, keeping the ball and constantly threatening the opposition goal. Iddo Razin, who has recently seen a slight position change to the left hand side of the front three, was a constant threat in behind and to feet, and without the slant of the pitch, could have been in on goal more than once. RT United were finding joy when winning the ball high up the pitch though, and were awarded an early penalty for a challenge from the most unlikely source, Roza’s Rock Chris Johnson.

RT stepped up with a certain air of arrogance, taking 2 steps sideways, 5 steps forward, a hop and a skip. Yawn yawn yawn, Roza’s No.1 stayed focused, and pounced to save his 2nd penalty in 2 games. In our manager’s own words, there isn’t a better keeper in the league, and by recent performances it would be hard for anyone to disagree. From here on out, Roza dominated the first half. CJ quickly made up for his mistake with a bullet header. Iddo Razin crossed the ball from a corner on the right, which was slightly behind Johnson, who managed to twist his body and connect with a strong header planted into the back of the net. That was Razin’s first assist of the season, something he was delighted with, and as always, CJ celebrated with a huge smile in almost disbelief. No more shouts of “I scored, I actually scored” though, because the goals seem to be plentiful recently!

A second quickly followed, again created by 🎵 Iddo Iddo Razin 🎵 with a whipping and dipping free kick, too hot to handle for RT’s keeper, tapped in by a charged up Steph Savva, who continually decided to refer to himself as C*NT every time he touched the ball. Half time was upon us, with praise from the gaffer in the first half performance and encouragement to continue in the same vein, with confidence growing in the system and back playing our football.

The second half was without incident for circa 10-15 minutes with a couple of changes made at around 60 mins, with Michael Georgiades and Iddo Razin replaced by Alex Andreou and Cal Cook. A big shout out also to Michael G, who was superb after some difficult recent performances in the highly scrutinised CDM role, constantly offering and receiving the ball to give Roza an outlet from the back.

RT Soon capitalised on a lack of intensity from the home side however, with a spare man scoring at the back post to make the game 2-1. Given recent games, even against RT, it would have not been a surprise to see the game turn, but Roza battled away and managed to shift momentum back in their favour; Ollie Begueria, in particular being strong in the tackle to stop RT threatening and playing with his usual air of class to start attacks from defence.

And with that momentum, the goals soon followed. Another set piece goal for Roza, becoming quite the habit, with an Alex Andreou whipped ball in steered home by September’s player of the month, Danny Smith. Steph Savva soon showed why perseverance, determination and confidence in his own ability are so key to success. Roza’s number 9 learnt from a first half missed opportunity where the RT keeper made a great save, to then take it round the keeper from the very same position to slot home into an empty net, 4-1, and with that the game and the next round of the cup for Roza.

Great to also see some returning faces to the squad and team, our very own Eric Schmidt back from a long absence, who didn’t put a foot wrong in his time on the pitch, with Adam shaw also looking sharp off the bench, showing exactly what he offers with some neat combination and build up play.

An all round solid win & weekend for the Roses in the cup to kick off what we hope will be a great run full of goals, excitement and wins, and a good performance to build some momentum with crucial league games pending in the coming weeks.

See you next week for more.

UP THE ROZA!