We knew all about the quality of their midfield two big strong strapping lads that had quality passing and brute strength. It was a mammoth task for Lee and Gaz but they were up for any challenge. Up front the sun was beating off the head of the tall, powerful looking bald striker, another player we knew all about too well.
The game took a very similar pattern to that of past games in that Forest were looking exceptionally strong and put together some fine passing moves. However, the intensity of the Millers in this game was much stronger than any gone before and no one was allowed more than a second to settle on the ball.
It was very much about defending from here on in till half time. The front two were taking on a defensive role chasing down everything and to be honest despite some good play from Forest they were restricted to long range efforts. The defence was working its magic once more and after two clean sheets on a row confidence was high.
So come half time and there was barely a chance at either end but Forest dominating the majority of the game. Chris Grist who did his job well in the first 15 minutes came off to allow tournament leading scorer Steve Burns to enter the fold.
The second half was not much different to the first except occasionally Burnsy threatened to get in behind before being tackled by the big powerful Forest defenders. The Millers were finding it hard to get a foothold on the game but their defending was superb all around the park. Even the attack minded JV was flinging himself into tackles and putting his body on the line to block the right side up.
With two minutes to go there were chances at either end that could have won the game. The first fell to Forest where they broke with purpose down the right side and had numbers in the box. For once outnumbered, Jebu was alone in the box as the ball came in, with a striker almost a foot taller than him he flung himself into the air to win the header and the striker fouled with a push in the back. The Millers had escaped and almost immediately went up the pitch on the attack. With the Forest defence line tiring Burnsy found himself in behind with literally seconds of the game to go. With the keeper coming out he unleashed a shot and the whole of Leeds went quiet…….. it just brushed wide to a collective groan of the Millers supporters and sigh of relief to the forest players. It was going into golden goal extra time.
Forest players were tiring, the game was taking a lot out of both sets of players and chances were starting to come at a premium. To be honest it looked set to go to penalties but there was two more defining moments of this game to be had.
With time running out the big powerful Forest striker cut inside and from 30 yards out curled a shot towards the top corner. It looked in all the way and to be honest no one expected Shark to get close to it. No one quite knows where it came from, probably the lord himself, but the young keeper mustered enough effort to get up into the top corner of the net and push the ball behind for a corner. Everyone was stunned, it was an absolutely world class save.
Confident of going to pens the Millers hung on but with 5 minutes to go a dramatic golden goal was about to unfold. The Forest defender went on a winding run only to find JV stood in his way. The IMFC winger just stood there as the big lad bowled into him and the ball ran out for a throw in. The Forest players stood asking for a free kick but quite unbelievably Gaz was stood exactly where the ball went out. He picked the ball up and did a “claw hammer” throw to Burnsy who was stood behind the Forest defensive line. The big man took a fantastic first touch and with all his might absolutely belted the ball on the volley that nearly broke the back of the net.
The Millers went absolutely wild, mugging Burnsy in the corner and if there was a few people that didn’t believe before they did now! Only the really old IMFC players from way back when it was first founded had managed to get a victory over Forest so for nearly everyone this was a unique experience. What a time to break the duck!
Before the tournament a thread on the IMFC forum in Millersmad posed a simple question that required a one word answer, “Who will win Worldnet?” – Going into the tournament QPR had been playing extremely well and there were many thoughts that this was going to be their year. Certainly Denti thought so with him tipping them to be this year’s winner.
On the other side of the coin only a couple of people dared put Rotherham. I was one of these people (Jebu) as I honestly thought that even though we might not have a squad as talented as a number of teams we did have all the right ingredients to do well in these sorts of competitions.
So as it panned it out, it was the extremely talented and favoured QPR side versus Rotherham who in some peoples eyes were considered dark horses after recent good performances in local tournaments. The way QPR like to play their football against IMFC’s recently acquired style of counter attacking football it was sure to be an interesting final.
By now the Millers were running solely on adrenaline and Lucozade sport tablets. These little wonder Lucozade glucogen tablets deserve all the credit in the world as they turned half dead zombies into warriors ready for battle. Was it luck that just before the final a spare packet of tablets was found? Either way, the Elliott’s rejoiced and scoffed a few down!
Denti donned his battle armour and took to the pitch, with the defence not conceding a goal in the past 3 games we were all confident that a clean sheet could be acquired and hopefully we can nick the odd goal at the other end.
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