Games 318 thru 320 (Cisgronkian Cup), 06-11-300 thru 06-16-300:

Game 318: Guwimith - United Territories 06-11-300:
 
IVEFA presents the result of today's (Sunday, 11 June) Cisgronkian Cup
match:

The Technical Information:

Final score: GUWIMITH 0 - 1 UNITED TERRITORIES
Played at: Shenhua Oval, Forde, Whitlam.
Attendance: 46,157
Referee: Greg Stoneley (Whitlam)
Yellow Cards: None.
Red Cards: None.
Goals: Macghileagh (UNT, 68th)
Substitutions: None
Yellow cards: None

LIONS DOWN EAGLES IN TOUGH MATCH.

The opening match of the 3 match Cisgronkian Cup series was fought out
between Guwimith and the United Territories. Designed as a warm up for
the VexGames football championship, the friendly tournament sees the
current world champions of Whitlam, the emerging United Territories and
young and still inexperienced Guwimith Eagles fighting it out for the
trophy named after the ocean each country backs on to.

A rather low key tournament, the opening match was a tough but very fair
match, with no players recieving cards for fouls. The Guwimithians have
certainly tightened their defence up at the back, but unfortunately it
looks as though the United Territories will still have a way to go,
though credit must go to the Guwimithians, as their defence was very
tight, and Kraichin and Zarubezhanin were very eager to stay on the ball
when in defence, tightly marking their opposite numbers.

The first half only saw 6 shots on goal, 4 coming from the Eagles as
both sides attempted to feel each other out, with Ankudinov and Vaboska
the best of the 4 forwards on the pitch. Vaboska, a big strong forward
familiar to the Territorians (he plays for Douglas Celtic in the United
Territories) was kept from running and using his size in the box. After
the first 20 minutes and 2 shots from Vaboska prevented by tight
Territorian defence, Vaboska was seen to change his role in the game,
laying everything back to Ankudinov inside the box, or Kraichin outside
it for the longer shot. Kraichin's rockets were off target, but the shot
he placed on the goal was only tipped out by debutant 'keeper, Timothy
O'Leary, forcing a corner. With Vaboska again controling the ball in the
box, he laid the ball off to Ankudinov who hit a straight hard shot at
the bottom left corner of the goal. O'Leary again managed to get a
fingertip to the ball, putting the ball on the post where Francie
O'Connor cleared the ball upfield.

This belt upfield caught the Eagles off guard after their period of
sustained pressure, and led to Macghileagh and another debutant, Tommy
Johnson charging at the Guwimithian 'keeper, Vasyenka Zbroslao and
Guwimithian central defender Cheslav Kobylets (who was attempting to run
off an ankle injury) who were back to defend. Kobylets bravely ran in at
Johnson, cutting off any possibility of a shot. He laid the ball off to
Macghileagh, who fired the shot in low and hard, but straight into
Zbroslao's stomach. Despite the ball winding him, he held it, and the
game then petered out to put the score at 0-0 at half time.

The second half was marked by a midfield battle that no side was really
winning or losing. Territorian firebrand, Coco Bryce was making some
progress against Prostokisha, but the Guwimithian coach saw the problem
and had the Guwimithian left back, Georgy Ostaf'i playing a little
further upfield to blunt the offensives made by Bryce. However, it was
Bryce who was the spark for the goal for the Territorians. The flow of
the game began to move their way as a result of their midfield's
attacking skills on the flanks. Bryce attempted to draw both Prostokisha
and Ostaf'i, then broke free. Brandon Whitby who had the ball saw Bryce
move into space, and fed him the ball. From there, Bryce had an open
field, skilfully making the break and drawing the Guwimithian central
defenders in. Pushing the ball right, Johnson charged onto the ball,
drew Zbroslao over, and pushed the ball through to Macghileagh who
struck hard, the ball moving away from the desperate movement of
Zbroslao who had seen the change of direction. The ball found the back
of the net, and the score was 1-0 as a result of skilled team play.

>From there, the Lions shut up shop, holding the Guwimithian midfield
well, and continuing to neutralise Vaboska. It is difficult to say if
any other team would have been so successful in shutting Vaboska down,
but every man in the Territorian back 4 has faced him 4 times this
season, and it was obvious that he was the target of the Territorian
defence.

There are no injuries resulting from this game, and both teams will move
on to play the Federal Republic of Whitlam. Line ups for the match are
below.
                                GUWIMITH

                         1 - Vasyenka Zbroslao

  2 - Donat Ontomanko 3 - Cheslav Kobylets 4 - Yevgeniy Znaichichik 5 -
                             Georgy Ostaf'i

  6 - Dimitri Znaleslav 7 - Jermija Zarubezhanin 8 - Jurg Kraichin 9 -
                         Stanislav Prostokisha

               10 - Slavochka Ankudinov 11 - Mark Vaboska

RESERVES
12 - Olezka Vsevolozha
13 - Bohdan Fiveia
14 - Pyotr Zbraslav
15 - Oleg Onkudinik
16 - Fadeyka Balanda
17 - Shurochka Polonovsk
18 - Ruslan Koshkodai
19 - Foma Feodora
20 - Tomas Feodora
21 - Deniska Wienczyslawa
22 - Antosha Sergushka

                           UNITED TERRITORIES

                           22 Timothy O'Leary

 2 Dean Thayill 5 Andrew Whiteford 7 Francie O'Connor 14 Andy McKimmie

     11 Coco Bryce 21 Brandon Whitby 9 Irvine Boyle 8 Randall Hicks

                  3 Séamus Macghileagh 16 Tommy Johnson

RESERVES
1 David Bragg
4 Christian Blackmore
12 Stephen McMillian
13 Gary McSwegan
10 Ewan Coyle
15 Scott Appleyard
17 Bill Stephenson
18 Paul Gallacher
20 Norman Cook
19 Timothy Lampwick
6 Shaun McSkimming

The Technical Information:

Final score: GUWIMITH 0 - 5 WHITLAM
Played at: The Gazelle Ground, Fisher, Jelena, Whitlam.
Attendance: 76,572
Referee: George Caplick (United Territories)
Yellow Cards: Kobylets (GUW, 23), Vaboska (GUW 65).
Red Cards: Kobylets (GUW, 24).
Goals: Krizhobolya (FRW, 24), Chen (FRW, 34), Armstark (FRW, 43),
Blacklock (FRW 67), Sinisterfoot (FRW 83).
Substitutions: Sergushka for Zbroslao (GUW, 46), Fiveia for Zarubezhanin
(GUW, 53).

DEBUTANTS AND JUNIORS CLIP EAGLES WINGS.

The Guwimith Eagles came up against a determined and highly skillful
Whitlam squad made up of several skilled Gronkians who have recieved
Whitlamite citizenship and have been cleared by the IVEFA, and by
younger reserves players.

The Dragons were led out by their young Vice Captain, Matt Hickey today
playing the lead role as Whitlamite coach John Gray let superstar
forward Ricky Walford take an international game off, with former
Northern Gronkian central forward Viliam Sinisterfoot taking his place
to make his debut in the blue white and gold of the Dragons, playing his
first international for more than a year.

Sinisterfoot was able to influence the game almost immediately being an
unknown commodity for the young Guwimithians to contend with. He was
making Cheslav Kobylets' life hell, continually getting around the
outside of him. It was the frustration of Kobylets that led to the
defining moment in the match however, when in the 23rd minute he fouled
Sinisterfoot, and recieved a yellow card for his troubles. His further
dissent towards the referee led to the second yellow card being pulled
out, resulting in a red. There have now been 2 games in which a
Guwimithian has been sent off, and after the game, the Guwimithian coach
assured the media that there will be a discipline crack down, with an
appointment already made at the Guwimithian Naval Academy next week. The
send off of Kobylets led to Zarubezhanin moving back to central
defender, and the forward, Mark Vaboska moved back to the midfield, his
size being an important issue in keeping the midfield tight. However,
this also completely blunted the Guwimithian attack, the small and pacy
Ankudinov unable to shake Hickey or Chen.

>From the free kick, Lumbago Krizhobolya another former Northern Gronk
international curved the ball with his right boot, beating the wall, and
passing Zbroslao, to give him a goal on his Whitlam debut. It certainly
appears as though the former Northern Gronkian footballers have not lost
any of their skills, and perhaps they needed more development and
coaching and work on skills in order to fulfill their obvious
potentials.

With the dismissal of the vital Kobylets, the flood gates opened, with
Zarubezhanin having a shocking first half, and Vaboska unable to stop
the liquid movement of the Whitlamite midfield. Bin Chen hit a
speculative 40 metre cannon of a shot almost lazily in the 34th minute,
catching Zbroslao off guard, and making the score 2-0. Armstark wound
the second half down in the 43rd minute with a spectacular individual
goal, nutmegging Ontomanko, rounding him and driving a left footed shot
off the outside of his boot into the bottom left of the goal, leaving
Zbroslao stranded on the right side of the goal mouth anticipating a
cross.

The Guwimith coach decided to substitute his 'keeper, having written the
game off, giving Antosha Sergushka a chance at some top grade
international football, and putting a specialist central defender Bohdan
Fiveia on for his international debut, replacing the abysmal
Zarubezhanin early in the second half.

The changes actually did the Eagles some good, holding the Dragons for
20 minutes, who seemed as though they were doing passing drills, rather
than playing a game. Their passing skills are one aspect that won them
the VexCup, and it is quite possible that this mixture of newcomers and
substitutes are just as good as the starting team of superstars.
Blacklock made the score 4-0 with a rather unspectacular goal, turning
and shooting a rather weak shot that deflected and wrong footed
Serguhka, who, if not for the deflection, would have saved the ball
easily.

Sinisterfoot by this time had 2 assists, dropping the ball back to Chen
for his goal, and passing neatly through to Blacklock for the second,
and it was his turn to get on the scorers sheet in the 83rd minute after
making a break and recieving a pass from Krizhobolya that beat the
defenders and offside trap. Sinisterfoot's professionalism and
experience was a bit too much for Serghka, who shot high as the 'keeper
dove at his feet, making the score 5-0 and giving him a goal on his
debut for Whitlam.

Anyone who doubted the depth of the Whitlam squad and believed they
couldn't win without Walford was most certainly proven wrong today.
Blacklock and Sinisterfoot formed a solid partnership, and rumours
abound that Sinisterfoot will actually transfer to Revelucion Chifley
for the beginning of the 300/301 season to partner Blacklock up front.
Didier Genzmer may have retired from the playing squad, but he has been
replaced by some promising players.

As for the Eagles, firstly they have to iron out their discipline
problems, and then they need to play some teams of their calibre.
Playing top 20 teams is good for big experience, but playing teams at
your same level builds skills and rankings points! The Eagles can't win
the Cisgronkian Cup, but they can certainly return home safe in the
knowledge that they are developing a solid squad.

                                GUWIMITH

                         1 - Vasyenka Zbroslao

  2 - Donat Ontomanko 3 - Cheslav Kobylets 4 - Yevgeniy Znaichichik 5 -
                             Georgy Ostaf'i

  6 - Dimitri Znaleslav 7 - Jermija Zarubezhanin 8 - Jurg Kraichin 9 -
                         Stanislav Prostokisha

               10 - Slavochka Ankudinov 11 - Mark Vaboska

RESERVES
12 - Olezka Vsevolozha
13 - Bohdan Fiveia
14 - Pyotr Zbraslav
15 - Oleg Onkudinik
16 - Fadeyka Balanda
17 - Shurochka Polonovsk
18 - Ruslan Koshkodai
19 - Foma Feodora
20 - Tomas Feodora
21 - Deniska Wienczyslawa
22 - Antosha Sergushka

                                WHITLAM

                  32 - Branimir Kopravi (Formerly NGK)

29 - Miyar Yoakes (Formerly NGK), 3 - Matt Hickey (VC), 14 - Bin Chen, 6
                             - Eddie Rayner

   31 - Lumbago Krizhobolya (Formerly NGK), 8 - Hussein Al-Dhabi, 18 -
                Chrigi Ouagadougu, 11 - Stefan Armstark

      5 - Nathan Blacklock 30 - Viliam Sinisterfoot (Formerly NGK)

RESERVES
1 - Anatoly Zaytseva
22 - Brian Shring
4 - Andrew Storry
15 - Adrian Brunker
7 - Craig Westwood
12 William Biafra
17 - Richard Wolff
24 - Mark Parkin
10 - Ryan McGaw
23 -  Tim Bell
21 -  Ahmed Bayssari
2 - Ricky Walford (C)
25 - Jose Ibanez

The Technical Information:

Final score: WHITLAM 2 - 1 UNITED TERRITORIES
Played at: Hawke Bitter Stadium, Gough, Whitlam.
Attendance: 119,349
Referee: Sergei Sakhov (Guwimith)
Yellow Cards: Hickey (FRW, 53), O'Connor (UNT, 65).
Red Cards: NONE.
Goals: Cook (UNT, 1), Rayner (FRW, 55), Walford (FRW, 68)
Substitutions: NONE.

DRAGONS TOO PROFESSIONAL.

The Whitlam Dragons today took out the Cisgronkian Cup with a polished
2-1 victory over the United Territories Lions.

Both teams made changes to their squads to strengthen them, with both
first string 'keepers coming into the squad, and some defensive and
forward reshuffles. John Gray of the Whitlam Dragons brought his star
striker, Ricky Walford back, resting Blacklock, and testing the
combination between Sinisterfoot and Walford. Both sides also seemed to
be treating the game as a final, with solid tactics and no substitutions
through the match. The game was relatively clean, but the Dragons got
away with a 2-1 win, and the Lions weren't at all disgraced.

The first team to find the net was the Lions absolutely catching the
Dragons off guard with a set piece opening. An elaborate short passing
game in the centre of the field coupled with a forward run from
"Stormin'" Norman Cook drew forward the eager Whitlam defence, with Cook
able to beat the offside trap, taking the long ball and driving the ball
under the desperate Zayatseva, who was furious with his defence as the
Lions went up 1-0.

However, rather than breaking the confidence of the Dragons, it actually
boosted them, furious that they had been caught out so quickly. Coming
back quickly and maintaining the pressure on the Lions, a goal looked
inevitable, but David Bragg, the Territorian 'keeper and the entire back
4 weathered the storm, as they were well supported by their midfield. It
seemed as though the Territorians were just attempting to keep their men
behind the ball to stop the chances of a goal, and were responding when
with the ball with weak counter attacks. As half time, the score was 1-0
in favour of the Lions.

In the second half, the Territorians attempted to gain the ball quickly
off the kick off, attempting to duplicate the opening movement of the
first half, but Walford was far too wise for that, immediately turning
around and belting the ball at his own goalkeeper in Whitlam's own
version of a set play! From there, the game again descended into a
replay of the first half, with the Dragons playing patient but attacking
football, dropping shot after shot at the stoic Territorians. In one of
the few Territorian breaks of the second half, they lost control of the
football after a lazy passing movement within the box. Whitlam's Bin
Chen was there and able to intercept the pass and easily shoot through
to equalise. The Territorian players were highly upset by their lapse,
and immediately went on the attack, this time not attempting to get the
jump on the Dragons with their set play.

However, this attacking football was to be their downfall as they
attempted to pick up the winning goal, realising that as time went by,
the Dragons would only get better. In the 68th minute, Walford pounced,
heading a ball home from an expertly taken corner from Krizhobolya,
putting the score at 2-1 and breaking the Territorian spirit. From
there, they continued to attack, but didn't look like scoring as the
Dragons shut up shop for the night.

The Territorians would have picked up the 3 points against almost any
other team, but it was the professionalism of the Dragons that got them
through and won them the tournament.

>From here, all 3 teams move on to the VexGames where the Dragons will be
under considerable pressure to get the results. However, John Gray
appears to be taking a low key approach, stating that their silver medal
and VexCup success last year "doesn't mean a thing in tournaments like
this. Last year we sent over an unprepared team and walked away with
silver. This year we could send world champions and not even pass the
first stage." Guwimith's coach is seeking "a few wins first", while Tam
Doughty, coach of the Lions is hoping the team "will be able to make the
second or third stage, depending on the draw."

Team, P, W, D, L, F, A, Diff, Pts.
------------------------------------
WHITLAM  2, 2, 0, 0, 7, 1, +6, 6
UTFN     2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 2,  0, 3
GUWIMITH 2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 6, -6, 0

                                WHITLAM

                          1 - Anatoly Zaytseva

29 - Miyar Yoakes (Formerly NGK), 3 - Matt Hickey (VC), 14 - Bin Chen, 6
                             - Eddie Rayner

   31 - Lumbago Krizhobolya (Formerly NGK), 8 - Hussein Al-Dhabi, 18 -
                Chrigi Ouagadougu, 11 - Stefan Armstark

      2 - Ricky Walford (C) 30 - Viliam Sinisterfoot (Formerly NGK)

RESERVES
22 - Brian Shring
32 - Branimir Kopravi (Formerly NGK)
4 - Andrew Storry
15 - Adrian Brunker
7 - Craig Westwood
12 William Biafra
17 - Richard Wolff
24 - Mark Parkin
10 - Ryan McGaw
23 -  Tim Bell
21 -  Ahmed Bayssari
5 - Nathan Blacklock
25 - Jose Ibanez

                           UNITED TERRITORIES

                             1 David Bragg

    2 Dean Thayill 5 Andrew Whiteford 7 Francie O'Connor 4 Christian
                               Blackmore

      11 Coco Bryce 21 Brandon Whitby 9 Irvine Boyle 10 Ewan Coyle

                   3 Séamus Macghileagh 20 Norman Cook

RESERVES
22 Timothy O'Leary
14 Andy McKimmie
12 Stephen McMillian
13 Gary McSwegan
8 Randall Hicks
15 Scott Appleyard
17 Bill Stephenson
18 Paul Gallacher
16 Tommy Johnson
19 Timothy Lampwick
6 Shaun McSkimming