The scoreline of 7-2 flattered the Frogs, with Jackson 5 failing to capitalise on several golden opportunities and the Frogs having a five minute period of “goal heaven”.

With star keeper Matt Bowen out due to other commitments, Jamie Blanchard stepped up to the challenge. Playing his first game for Jackson 5 in the #1 jersey, Jamie performed excellently, with the goals against being no reflection on how he played. Jamie managed some excellent saves, even though he was injured, showing a great level of skill and concentration.

Ex Semi-Pro Dave Haydon (Mike’s younger brother) seemed unusually lost in his first game for Jackson 5, being unable to handle the rigours of defence. He did, however, setup the Jackson 5’s first goal of the game, skillfully passing to Mike, who shot through the opposition goalkeeper’s legs.

The real star of the game was Alex Lustig, who tirelessly kept the attacking options open, scoring an excellent solo goal.

Better luck next time.

In a tense game, where both sides failed to capitalise on their chances, Jackson 5 clearly looked the better side. With the score drawn at 1-1 10 minutes into the game, Jackson 5 closed ranks, defended superbly and forced the Nuts into numerous errors.

photo credit:
Spoungeworthy

Goalkeeper Matt Bowen’s distribution was excellent, setting up many opportunities for Jackson 5, which kept the pressure squarely on the Mixed Nuts. Mike Haydon and Jen Keane in defence absorbed every attack the Nuts tried, while ring-in Melissa Haydon, Tara Donnelly, Alex Lustig and Tristan Cockman went hunting for the elusive victory.

With less than one minute remaining on the clock, Alex let loose a barrage of shots on the Nuts’ goal, each of which their keeper failed to hold onto. The ball then dropped for Melissa, who threaded the ball past 3 Nuts defenders for Mike to score the winning goal.

All in all, Jackson 5 showed the same resilience and discipline that they showed against the Deceptacons the week before, again proving that they are a force to be reckoned with.

BXVI completely dominated a lacklustre “Lumps & Fines” side to cruise to an incredible 16-1 victory.

The sole goal against BXVI came about as Mike Haydon was bored out of his brain in goals, so he tried to take on the Lumps. The Lump’s striker put in a desperate tackle to take the ball of Mike and easily scored past Catherine Haydon (who is an excellent defender, but has not yet learned how to cut the angle of a strike to pressure the striker and decrease the likelihood of a goal). As it was then 10-1, no-one really cared that the Lumps scored.

photo credit: CLF

That was the only blemish on an otherwise exciting night for BXVI, as they racked up their highest score yet. As the game is only 30 minutes long, BXVI scored more than every second minute. This takes BXVI’s goal difference for the season to 85 goals for, 8 against after playing 11 games, being a goal difference of 1,063%. The nearest rivals, Footloose have a goal difference of 140%… Yes, this is actually first division in what used to be a very competitive competition. The competitiveness of the competition has not changed, only BXVI has improved beyond measure.

It is confirmed that Dave Haydon scored at least a hattrick, Justin Carrick scored at least one goal, Gerrard Cummins scored several and Chico scored the rest.

Cat Haydon was again superb in defence, marking a Lump’s player who was far superior in ball control and experience, but Cat’s tenacious attitude and superior fitness, together with her increasing understanding of the game, made her a worthy adversary and allowed Chico, Gerrard and Dave to concentrate more on scoring, rather than defending.

Melissa Haydon was the reason Mike was bored out of his brain. Her incredible reading of the game, ability to judge the exact moment to tackle for maximum effectiveness and ability to distribute or run with the ball (as the situation called for) were on full display, forcing the few Lump’s shots to be wayward or taken from so far out that they never really troubled Mike.

photo credit: CLF

Dave Haydon, even though he had 5 hours sleep over the previous 2 nights, was suffering jet lag from coming back from the other side of Australia the day before and had spent the weekend partying til late (he was best man at Alther Yap’s wedding), and even though he had just come back from a crippling hamstring injury, he played far beyond what was expected in the circumstances, showing his pregnant wife Lisa Haydon how a Haydon plays soccer.

Justin Carrick provided superb support during the game, showing off an entertaining bag of tricks that dumfounded the Lumps, pulling them out of position many times, giving plenty of space for Chico, Dave and Gerrard to score.

Gerrard Cummins played well, striking decisively early in the game, giving the major contribution (and goals) that saw BXVI at 5-0, five minutes into the game, which basically put the game beyond doubt. His accurate finishing has improved greatly in the last few games, which puts the finishing touch to his excellent positional sense and hard working attitude.

photo credit: CLF

Chico… well, what more needs to be said, other than, on rough calculations, he scored 10 goals… Chico is the terror of the league, cutting defences to ribbons, scoring impossible goals and striking fear into the hearts of goalkeepers. Who is he? His real name is shrouded in mystery. Reliable sources tell us that his official first name is Mark, though they can’t be sure further than that. Some say he is a desendant of the great Pele, some say he is the cousin of Harry Kewell, while others put him as the nephew of goal-scoring freak Ronaldo. At the end of the day, all that is really known about him is that no matter the opposition, no matter the odds, no matter the skill of the opposition, Chico will find a way to score… many times.

The Deceptacons played the game with one player less, but their superior ball control and fitness gave them an edge over Jackson 5.

Three goals to Deceptacons and one to Jackson 5 in the first half set the stage for a gruelling second half. The first half Jackson 5 goal came off the boot of Mike Haydon from a brilliant pass by Jamie Blanchard. The Deceptacons’ goals were breathtaking, one even stunning veteran keeper Matt Bowen into motionlessness.

Mid-way through the second half, Jamie Blanchard was kicked in the calf, but without any substitutes, he gallantly continued playing, albeit while limping severely.

Incredible, determined play by Annabel Treagold and Catherine Haydon steadily wore down the Deceptacons until, towards the end of the second half, Mike Haydon scored again to take the final score to 3-2. Jackson 5 had finally shaken off the demons of the previous weeks and were taking the game to the league leaders.

Catherine, Annabel, Mike and Jamie all had shots that went agonisingly close, with only spectacular goalkeeping by Deceptacons keeping them in the game.

Let this be a message to the other teams in the league - when Jackson 5 is on fire, they can and will take the game even to the best of teams.

Happy Mutleys came out striking - being generally larger than the BXVI players, the Mutleys threw around their weight with complete disregard as to whether they could injure someone. In a display seen more on the rugby field, the Mutts tried to stamp their own brand of soccer on the game. The referee is well known for being exceedingly weak, preferring to just let the game flow, rather than give a free kick for an aggressive shoulder charge by a 6 foot 5, 110kg guy against a 5 foot 5, 55 kg girl, which knocked her off her feet. This is an example of the entire first half.

In the second half, it seemed that the referee realised that there was a raft of fouls being committed (could it have been the fights that broke out when the larger BXVI players got fed up with having their legs taken out illegally and told by the referee that nothing was wrong?). Needless to say, after the referee handed out 5 yellow (warning) cards, 4 of which were given to the Mutts, the Mutts cut down on their aggression and acutally tried to play soccer.

Once the game became soccer, rather than some sport akin to martial arts, BXVI displayed their superior skill, finishing the game 6-0, with another clean sheet to Mike Haydon.

Norfolk never had a “folk’n'Chance” against the crushing pressure of BXVI. Almost from the whistle, BXVI determined to break their three game streak of 9-1 victories to further solidify their position as league leaders.

Five goals were scored by Chico in his usual dashing style, one by Rachel, three by Tim Haydon and one by Gerard Cummins.

NFC, to their credit, kept playing the game even though they were 8-0 down with 10 minutes to play. In previous weeks, the opposition has tried every stalling tactic possible (like kicking the ball onto another field of play - for which the referee gave a yellow card) to stop the endless stream of goals from BXVI.

This takes BXVI’s goal tally to 63-7 in 9 games, a 900% goal difference which only serves to further highlight their prowess.

Five goals by Chico, two goals by Gerard Cummins and a goal to Dave Haydon on his first game back from injury wrapped up the evening. 5+2+1= hmmm, missing something… oh wait there was an OWN GOAL scored by OSF when the defender slid the ball past his hapless goalkeeper to deny Gerard Cummins a hattrick!

Tanya and Rachel both came extremely close to scoring their first goals of the season for BXVI. Dave Haydon rushed a shot in the dying seconds of the game (not realizing he had an extra 20 seconds) which would have seen BXVI finally break the 10 goal barrier. Well there’s always next week.

The goal scored by OSF was a fluke deflection in a crowded goal area that lobbed the outstretched 6ft5 frame of Mike Haydon. He got his finger tips to it, the ball hit the post, but Mike just couldn’t quite keep it out.

The strength of BXVI is in the fact that they play as a unit. Defence is tight, attack is like a pressure cooker. When BXVI loses the ball (usually because they’ve shot at goals lol), they all stream back in defence, picking up the opposition, not letting anything through. How can you beat such a champion team?

Last night’s results aren’t up yet, but you can see proof of BXVI’s dominance above. To see actual proof, go to the Lords website. As you can see, BXVI has won every single game this season. The points system is: win=3pt, draw=2pt, loss=1pt, forfeit loss=0pt, forfeit win=3pt, bye=3pt. BXVI is clearly superior to the competition. The league is called “MX2″ for some reason. There is no “MX1″ and it seems the Lords staff have made a mistake in the name as there is a “MX3″ and “MX4″. Go figure. 

It was a game of missed opportunities where Jackson 5 was denied by spectacular goal keeping. Whenever Minter’s keeper fumbled, the goal posts were there to keep the ball out. There was also at least three times when a Jackson 5 player was deliberately tripped over in Minter’s penalty area and should have been a penalty, but the referee did not see them.

Every single player for Jackson 5 gave their best in a physically tough game. Of particular note were Jamie Blanchard’s excellent positioning, giving him a number of shooting opportunities (that he didn’t score is no reflection on his skill or determination). Danielle Winzenried, Catherine Haydon and Tara played superbly, each going so close to scoring, Monty and Alex Lustig dominated their opponents, Matt Bowen was rock solid in goals, not making one mistake, and Mike Haydon finally got his speed back (if only the fitness could catch up).

In one of the few moments, a momentary lapse in concentration by Jackson 5 (and perhaps frustration) allowed a Minters player a clear run at goals, shooting powerfully to beat Matt.

There can be no player of the match award this week as every single player was player of the match. It was an amazing game and the players all enjoyed it, despite the result.

Final result 1-0 to Minter Ellison. Final Analysis - this was Jackson 5 playing at the top of their game. Another night, a bit of luck and Jackson 5 would have won the game 5-0 (no joke - the Jackson 5 domination was that complete).

On a day when BXVI could do no wrong, Mike Haydon made a number of early saves which frustrated Footloose, who have only been beaten by BXVI this season… twice.

photo credit:
diongillard

When Footloose lost cohesion, Chico, Justin Carrick and Tim Haydon were ready to pounce, with Chico bagging SIX goals, Tim collecting two and Justin bringing in the final goal.

BXVI’s efforts up front were matched by the defence of Catherine Haydon and Rachel, who outplayed men twice their size.

After absorbing intense pressure late in the first half, BXVI did not look back, storming their way to their eighth win of the season and a goal difference of 42-6, leaving no doubt as to which team is running this competition.

Mike Haydon was voted player of the match for keeping his cool under great pressure, denying Footloose on all but one occasion and setting up several goals with pin-point throws and kicks.

Yet again, BXVI brought the crowd to their feet in a run that seems unstoppable.

With a score line that flattered the opposition, Jackson 5 were 4-0 until one minute from the end through a Monty goal and a hat-trick by Mike Haydon. Each goal was set up by the indomitable Alex Lustig, ably assisted by Danielle Winzenried, Lidija Sliskovic and Catherine Haydon.

photo credit:
CLF

In an attempt to stop one of Mike Haydon’s goals, a Laddles player deliberately reached down and grabbed the ball with his hand, just as it was going over the goal line into the goals. Fortunately for the Laddles player, the referee decided that the ball had already crossed the line for a goal and only gave a yellow card (warning). If the ball had not crossed the line, the player would have been given a red card (sent off), Jackson 5 would have been given a penalty and Laddles would have played the rest of the game a player down.

Of particular note was the way that Catherine, Lidija and Danielle played. Catherine was rock solid in defence. Lidija and Danielle played the game intelligently, making space for themselves, forcing Laddles to make mistakes and keeping the pressure right on Laddles throughout the game.

Tristan Cockman played well for the time he was on. An unfortunate ankle injury sidelined him for most of the game, but when he was on, he made his prescence felt. Alex Lustig has been going from strength to strength. His reading of the game and ability to pounce on the mistakes of the opposition is excellent.

Matt Bowen in goals had an incredible game (it must have been because his daughter Eliza was watching and cheering ). There were a number of heart-stopping moments in the game where defensive blunders led to goal mouth scrambles, but each time Matt asserted his dominance and denied the opposition a goal.

The two goals that Laddles scored were in the final minute, when Jackson 5 just took their foot of the pedal a bit. Being so far in front (4-0 at the time), Matt got a rare chance to play on the field, coming very close to scoring. Whether it’s 4-0 or 4-2… who cares? Jackson 5 won and deservedly so.

Congratulations to Jackson 5 for their first win of the season. Next week… the battle of the law firms continues, when Jackson McDonald take on arch-rivals Minter Ellison.