Another Sunday, another 90 minutes of glorious football on display by the mighty Frothers. A 5-4 win against Loko that became more tense than it needed to but eventually was another 3 points in the bank. One obvious outcome however, with Farshid taking the captains armband, scoring and getting an assist, it was obvious he couldn’t be allowed to write the match report this week. Censorship deeper than the Epstein files.

It didn’t start well for the Frothers with Loko scoring easily down the left wing 10 minutes in. And shortly after it should have been 2 with an open goal somehow kept out and scrambled away to safety by the Frothers defence. The boys in purple were rattled but a move to a back 4 with James dropping into CB steadied the ship and the tide began to turn.

0-1

273 days since last taking the field it was time for the return of Yash. Off the bench after a rigorous warm up routine, it wasn’t long before the good times were back. A long cross field ball over the top from the older brother found the younger one racing down the wing and moments later the ball was out for a goal kick and both brothers were seen hunched over sucking in the big ones. Like nothing had changed.

Farshid was having a well-earned spell on the bench so Yarride, in his 150th match, stepped up to show the apprentice how it’s done. And with Chris still on bereavement leave as he comes to terms with the departure of Milan, it was Jacob striding up from CB with a target on his forehead. With the first half coming to an end, the Frothers were on the board as Jacob’s strong header gave the keeper no chance. Ctrl+C & Ctrl+V 2 minutes later, with the exact same outcome, and the Frothers had stolen a lead going into halftime.

2-1

10 minutes into the second half and it was 4-1 as the Frothers hit top gear and Aleksey, back where he belongs, scored twice to rock the Loko. First a very tidy finish from a cutback by Farshid that was extremely simple and really anybody could have made. Second, a soft free kick won by Evan on the edge of the boxed was expertly lined up and then slotted in top bins from the ring in. The club will start looking for a Saudi-backed ownership group to buy him back from Auckland.

4-1

The ref was wanting a close game though and blew a soft penalty which Loko scored from. In a quick response, Aleksey was almost gifted a hat trick before the ball fell loose in the penalty area and it was Shokoohi reacting faster than an American CEO on the Kiss Cam to score yet another open goal. A third straight week on the scoresheet since being moved to the right wing by the geniuses that run this team. A fifth for the Froth.

5-2

At 5-2 and with Loko struggling to find anything in attack it seemed the Frothers would comfortably see this out. Enter Ryan and Jacob, making lovey dovey eyes at the each other and forgetting the ball between them for an opponent to sneak in and pass into the open net. The Frothers however quickly regained composure and were easily controlling the midfield. Declan made contact on an incredible bicycle kick effort that would have been goal in the century but also could have been a broken back.

5-3

With 10 minutes to go, the referee again decided to step in and make things interesting. Hugo getting to a cross first to make a clearance, the ref saw contact that nobody else did and awarded a second penalty for the Loko.

5-4

No more drama after that though as Loko hardly saw the ball until the full whistle was blown.

MOTM

A special shoutout to Dylan and James who were on “limited minutes” so obviously played most of the game cleaning up everything and igniting a number of attacks from the centre circle. Also to Aleksey for blowing the game open to start the second half and Jacob for owning the set pieces and filling in strongly at the back. But MOTM this week goes to Yash for playing more than 5 minutes in his comeback and with all his bones intact.

DotD

Jacob and Hugo both gave away penalties and Ryan didn’t do his thing and save either of them. So clearly Farshid is DotD.