Swindon in the Last 16 - After reviewing Swindons results in the group stages it was clear they would be a very strong side. Having knocked Arsenal into the numpty cup who had a good season in the IFA league. Swindon have not played many IFA matches so we didnt know what to expect apart from a very tough game. They play in red so we got a chance to use our new black kit and with people getting tired we ensured we have a good knockabout before the match.
Team versus Swindon - Keeping the 352 we brought Jammer back into the lineup but to play in the center of midfield alongside Dan. Mike was given a free role with Andy taking the left hand side and Gaz on the right. Skip was feeling better so we pushed Dave into defence with Duds and Denti resting Paul El. Jebu and Steve started up front.
SWINDON MATCH REVIEW
As Swindon played in red we wore our black tops - but we clashed with the referees! So we had to provide the refs with one of our white T-shirts to use! Below you can see us chatting about it with the referee.
|
It was the Internet Millers that broke the deadlock in a cracking game. The ball was won in midfield and played out wide to Steve, Jebu ran from a deep position into space behind the defenders and the ball from Steve was timed perfect. Jebu took the ball in his stride, paced away from the defenders and slipped past the outcoming keeper with his let foot to make it 1 nil to the Millers.
The game continued at a frantic pace with both midfields locked in battle. We felt at half time that we were getting exposed on our left and it was down this side that a great run from a charlton midfielder led to their equaliser. Jammer tried to track the midfielder but unfortunately his tackle created a deflection that took it past the keeper. It was a good run but rather fortunate finish to level the game.
At half time we addressed the left hand side by pushing Jammer up into the hole, bringing Andy into the center to provide more stability alongside Dan and pushed mike onto the wing. It worked and the game was a battle of midfields for long periods with both sides trying to use quick counters to break through, both coming close on numerous occasions.
However, it was Swindon who broke free and a misunderstanding at the back left Denti stranded after a poor header out by Duds and the striker swiveled to strike home from 7 yards out. With just 7 minutes to go all the encouragement from the sidelines was needed to drive on the team to try get an equaliser.
The word of encouragement made the IM team dig in even more, we kept our passing going where possible and in the end it paid dividends with an equaliser 2 mins to go.It was probably the best worked goal of the tournament with interplay between andy to Gaz, to Dan onto Jebu who set Steve clear to round the keeper and JUST prod home to level the scores. It was a wonderful feeling and showed how far we have come as a team to dig in and come back.
So the game went into extra time. With Jebu and Steve dead on their legs both Adis and Symon were pushed on to try become the heroes in golden goal extra time. Andy Parker almost latched onto cross field ball but to be fair swindon ended the strongest and should have scored a couple of headers late on.
|
It went to penalties as the nervous fans watched on. It was a mammoth effort in the shootout with 10 penalties each taken and the Millers losing 7-6. The closeness of the shoot out reflected how close the game was and even though we went out in the last 16 I really do believe that we were inside the top 8 best teams in that tournament with the ability on our day to beat absolutely anyone. Congratulations to Swindon for knocking us out and progressing but I am proud that out of the 6 games we played we won 5 and drew one, scoring 16 goals and conceding just the 5.
Final Score: Internet Millers 2:2 Swindon (Swindon won 7:6 on pens)
Click here for part 10