¼ Final: Man United 0:2 Rotherham

A couple of old heads were in the back line for Man U and it was these that IMFC would try play off and get Burnsy in behind.

Right from the off it was lightening fast. Man United came at the Millers hard and fast but the defence held firm. Man U best player got the shock of his life when he tried to burst through but Denti hit him with the hardest block tackle seen by man. It almost broke the little striker in half and was a signal of the defence’s intention throughout the game.

IMFC were getting caught offside, not just a little but on almost every attack. Man United were employing a very effective but insanely dangerous game of playing their backline just about on the half way line. We knew that chances would come and sooner or later our strikers would get in behind. Until then it was a matter of getting stuck in and our midfielders worked exceptionally with Lee and Gaz outstanding.

Struggling to get through the IMFC rearguard down the middle Man United tried to get at them down the wings. There was no such luck as Duds and Jebu had their respective wingers in their pockets and with the defence doubling up on any attacks there was confidence throughout that this backline would not be breached. Paul Elliot was defying his age, playing outstanding and making sure everyone knew that we were good enough and strong enough to beat this Man U side.

The most dangerous moment of the match for IMFC came in the first half where the fast nippy striker was forced inside and from the edge of the box managed to squeeze a shot in but Shark gathered comfortably.

Half time came and it was 0-0. A good solid defensive display and the forwards were on the verge of cracking the offside trap. Straight from the off in the second half offside trap was broken. Jebu picked the ball up in the back line and hit a peach of a ball over the defence into the stride of Jammer. The youngest Elliott hit an outside of foot volley on the run that just missed the up right, inches away from a glory goal.

The tactic was obvious but effective. Defend soundly and hit the corners with accuracy or space in behind for the forwards to chase down. Jebu was pinging balls into the corners and whereas it didn’t look pretty at times it was starting to be very effective with IMFC getting on top.

Eventually the break came and it was from a fantastic long directed ball by Denti from the back line into the path of Burnsy. He strode on and lifted the ball over the on-rushing keeper to send the Millers absolutely wild. Everyone was starting to believe!

Man United reacted well and came flying forward once more but was unable to muster up any real good chances. If the midfield line was broken the Man United players found a bank of two defenders. Jammer was working his socks off all over the park and Burnsy was doing exactly what he needed to do, scoring goals to win games.

With a few minutes left the game was all over as IMFC scored a second to secure a famous victory over one of the biggest clubs in the world. Another ball over the top found Burnsy avoiding the offside trap and he raced on with intent. The keeper came flying out and as the big man pushed the ball past the keeper he went down like a spectacular sack of spuds. The ref pointed to the spot and even though there was minimal contact if a keeper goes flying in like that he’s asking for trouble if he doesn’t get the ball.

Jammer calmly stepped up and IMFC good form with penalties continued as he belted it into the bottom corner. A late flurry by Man United came in the last few minutes but the forwards were congratulating us with a couple of minutes to go which showed they had resigned themselves to defeat.

The final whistle came and the Millers were overjoyed. There were serious doubts as to whether this squad was good enough to win Worldnet, some believed more than others but after this game everyone believed. The defence wasn’t conceding goals and we had the capability of scoring a goal from anything, all the ingredients were in place to win this tournament and people knew it.

The Bogey Enemy

News was filtering through that QPR were progressing quite nicely through the tournament, beating another pre tournament favourite Celtic along the way. Quite amazingly Coventry had also made the semi final beating a host of top teams on the way to meet QPR, it was obvious they didn’t have the best side out against IMFC in the group stages!

Who exactly had IMFC got in the semi final? Would you believe it, it was Nottingham Forest! The side that for the past 3 years has comfortably beaten us in any game we have played against them. For some reason they play the type of football that we just can’t break down and to be honest they tend to control the matches. On a few occasions we have started well and took early leads but as the games wear on their midfield take control and we end up losing comfortably.

If IMFC were to progress to the final they would have to up their game even more. To be fair we were not playing our usual game and tactics at this point in the tournament as the legs were just not fit enough to do so. What seemed to be working was defending like lions from Jammer to the midfield to the defence and then hitting long, hard and fast for the big man to get on the end of. The further up the pitch we could get it the less running he had to do to get on the end of it! This is a tactic I don’t think Forest have seen us do before and it might just hit them by surprise.

The management team took a huge gamble in this game. For the first 15 minutes Chris Grist got a chance up front to run his socks off with Jammer and tire out the forest defenders. Burnsy was desperate for a rest so the gamble was made and the big man chucked some food down him and marshalled the team from the side line for the first 15 minutes.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE