I was at the final ESL game before Christmas on Wednesday evening as I made the trip to
The hosts have
been on a fantastic run of late which has seen them take over at the top of the
Premier Division whilst visitors Sporting have been solid and hard to beat
under Anwar Uddin’s guidance this term and sees them sitting in tenth before
this game.
The opening exchanges saw an early chance for the hosts which saw Sergiu Pitaru fire one over the top of the Bengal goal in a warning to the visitors that this was going to be a tough evening for them no doubt but apart from this their wasn’t much else to report in the opening ten minutes of the contest.
On 13 minutes a
hosts corner came out to the edge of the box but the resultant effort deflected
wide off a hosts player in the six yard box and behind for a goal kick but
Sporting were more than holding there own in this one and backing up that ‘solid
and hard to beat’ tag labelled to them this season so far.
The visitors
then had a sight of goal themselves when a mis-kicked clearance from the hosts
defence saw the visitors in behind but the resulting volley was wide in what
was a disappointing effort at goal. And
then only a minute after this FCR went up the other end and got their noses in
front when the ball eventually fell to the feet of Florin Pop about six yard out and he turned and smashed home to
give the league leaders the advantage.
This seemed to
settle the hosts down as they started to play their brilliant pass and move
football and began to take control of the contest and duly doubled their lead
just past the half hour mark when after pinching the ball from the visitors attacked
with venom and saw Ilie Vasile laid
in and the winger fired home inside the keepers near post.
The visitors
were getting ragged now and were giving any possession away that they were
having, which wasn’t a great deal, as the hosts were controlling that part of
the contest too by now. It was no
surprise when FCR grabbed a third a minute before the break when a fabulous
long range strike from Sorin Bugiu thumped off the bar but saw the alert Pitaru get the ball and finish from
close range, slotting into the corner of the net.
Due to a couple
of lengthy injuries to FCR players early on their was a few minutes of stoppage
time added on and during this the visitors almost grabbed a reply when a from a
rare attack a deep cross saw Tunde Adewunmi's header cleared off the line by a
defender as the keeper was caught in no mans land but the hosts survived that
and made sure they went into the break three goals to the good in what had been
a fairly comfortable forty five minutes for them if truth be told.
Half Time FC Romania 3 Sporting
To their credit
Sporting came out and tried to take the game to their opponents when many would
have been forgiven for sitting back and doing a damage limitation job. However the hosts seemed to be able to find a
way through when they felt like doing so and ten minutes into the half made it
four when a lovely passing move saw a cross from the right find Pitaru who totally mis-hit his effort
but in doing so wrong footed the keeper and the ball duly rolled back across
goal into the far corner.
And just past
the hour mark it was five as the hosts were threatening to run riot once again
as they broke the offside trap and saw the ball squared to Vasile who took a touch before hitting home through a couple of
bodies on the line. However the expected
onslaught never really came thereafter as the hosts seemed to take their foot
of the gas somewhat, allowing Sporting to get more of a foot on the ball and
have a decent spell of play in the hosts half.
On 68 minutes
Sporting saw Adewunmi get in on goal after getting the right side of the
defender but he dragged his effort wide but with fifteen minutes to go the
visitors won a penalty when Adewunmi’s was kicked on the foot and saw the
referee point to the spot. Adewunmi duly converted the penalty and
saw the visitors finally have a goal there second half showing had probably
deserved.
The final few
minutes saw the match turn into a rather tetchy affair as some naughty niggly
challenges were going in. It had been
out of context as the rest of the game had been played in fairly good
spirit. It had got to that stage where
both teams wanted the final whistle which duly came after several more minutes
of stoppage time and saw the hosts build a four point lead at the top going
into their boxing day clash at Mayesbrook
Park
For Sporting
Bengal it was a sixth defeat in 22 league games to remain in tenth spot in what
was a rare heavy defeat in a season which has seen them come on leaps and
bounds from last term. They had some
decent spells in this game but came up against an FC Romania side who on their
day could beat teams far higher than Step Five as some of their football is
that good at times so no shame in that.
Full Time FC Romania 5 Sporting Bengal United 1
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