Cats Show Claws

ThunderCats F.C underlined their ambitions for the season by defeating Santos FC 5-1 at Thundera Grounds. In an offensive game Silvio Falcao opened his account for the season from short range after a corner wasn’t cleared. Fredrick Winnerljung briefly restored parity with a speculative strike from distance but it was always the hosts who were on top. Falcao added his second to put them back in front and they completely took over during a second-half performance of quality. Nelson Queimado fired in the third before Carlos Partini headed in the fourth to put the game beyond any reasonable doubt. Further gloss was added to the scoreline in injury-time as Fabricio Cidade headed in number five. The result sees ThunderCats sit top of the pile but Meelas will be keen his side remain there this season. Santos will want to get their season underway with points at the first available opportunity following their promotion into top flight football.

The only other side with a 100% record are Marseile who were 4-1 victors over AC Milan. In a comprehensive display Marseille never looked back after taking an early 2-0 lead. Rodney Shuttlewood scored first from a free-kick before a Johnny Douglas effort made it 2-0 after 22 minutes. With Milan struggling to get a foothold in the game it was to be 3-0 shortly after half-time. Shuttlewood added his second after a corner fell to him. Milan scored through Ricardo Kaka to briefly threaten a revival but a long range effort from Errol Beddoe with five minutes to go ensured Marseille would collect the three points. Cathal declared himself ‘very happy with my win’ as his plan of rebuilding his squad last season appears to be paying dividends. Markie was generous in defeat saying ‘well done Cathal, thought you got your tactics spot on mate, congratulations on the win.’

AFC Stanley had an eye-catching 3-1 win over Hun Haters at Garden Street. Despite Hun Haters creating the better chances in the opening half the sides went in level. Jon MacClintock headed the hosts ahead after 11 minutes but they would be pegged back by a Finlay MacCleir strike from some way out. The second-half belonged to Stanley as they took the game to their visitors and created chance after chance with some impressive attacking play. Alan Martindale put Stanley ahead after 48 minutes as Hun Haters failed to mark properly from a corner. MacClintock was to score his second goal of the game to seal the points as he was given enough time and space to fire in a long range effort. Markham was delighted with the three points saying his team ‘controlled it (the game) from start to finish’ and was especially pleased with the work of Martindale and Lind ‘who linked up well’. Hun will be looking to return to winning ways at home to F.C. Greatness.

This will prove to be no easy task as Greatness themselves had a fine 2-1 win over Yorkshires Amateurs. Earlier in the day Greatness announced that they had promoted Mario Balotelli from the youth team and the youngster went on to produce a stunning debut. Amateurs had scored first after just six minutes when their record signing Amadeo Caviedes headed in from close range. 17-year-old Balotelli quickly drew the hosts level with a clinical strike in the area. With chances being few and far between the rest of the half proved to be a tight affair until Balotelli struck again. Showing his prowess in the air he headed home powerfully from a Fabio Cannavaro cross. Greatness allowed Amateurs the majority of possession but it wasn’t to be the visitors day as the hosts got their first three points of the season. Darren Calvert spoke of his delight ‘with our first win of the season’ and was especially happy after going ‘a goal down.’ On Balotelli he called his display ‘fantastic’ but tried to calm everyone down by saying ‘we must not get carried away, he’s only 17.’ After a performance like this he will be the name on everyone’s lips going into Round Three.

Totaalvoetbal got the defence of their crown up and running with a handsome 3-0 home win over Reggae Reggae Sauce. It was the midfield performance which laid the foundations for the home side as first Johan Juffing headed in before Shirsh Vajpayee hit a super long range drive to make it 2-0 going into the half-time interval. The second-half continued as the first ended with Totaalvoetbal dominating their visitors to the point that they didn’t have an effort in the entire game. The win was rounded off when Pierre van Diemen scored his 26th goal in his Totaalvoetbal career by finishing well in the penalty area. While Xpertelevener will have been disappointed with his team’s performance Robin Meeblind was more than happy that his side ‘have bounced back well’ but stated that they won’t ‘get carried away with this (the win).’

Totaalvoetbal’s opening day conquerors St Omer were brought back down to earth as Tranmere Rovers defeated them 1-0 at Five Percent Stadium. An early injury to Cesar Monparlet threatened to completely derail St Omer but they continued to give as good as they got in a competitive encounter. The winning goal came after 28 minutes when Eusebio Abel headed home in the penalty area. Omer did have chances but lacking Franco Zoppetti left them at a huge disadvantage offensively and ultimately cost them the three points to a happy Tranmere side.