By Phillip Laskaris

Sky Sports Super Sunday

Announcer 

There’s the whistle and we begin. Thank you for joining us. My name is Martin Tyler and sitting here beside me is Alan Smith. We are in for a real treat today with Marley, Pierre, and Phillip taking on a falling Boris. Phillip is coming off a win last week and will look to carry that momentum with another today. While the team is missing a striker due to injury, they’ll hope good passing in the midfield and a bit of creativity will see them through this week with another three points. 

Here they are now building out from the back. In the opening stages of these games, they’ve been known to spend a lot of time in the back. They take in the formation of their opponent. Boris is pressing them hard, but they’re able to hold on. It looks like something is coming together now as Pierre swings over a long one to Marley who takes it in well. She’s bringing it up with pitch now and with pace. A quick give and go with Phillip has her streaking forward. Boris needs to put a stop to this run, because she is looking unstoppable. Their manager, Ali Milani who is having his club debut today, is looking on keenly. 

OOH! But here’s Boris sliding in with a great tackle and getting enough of the ball to warrant a no whistle from the ref even though he took Marley’s legs out along with the ball. Pierre, Phillip, and Marley though do not look disheartened, it would appear they’re onto something. I dare say they have their insight. Going into the second half they will surely do their best to exploit it. You can see the excitement in Phillip’s eyes as he leaves the pitch ready for another 45 minutes of football. 

Marley, Pierre, and Phillip come in confident to the second half. Allowing themselves to be a little more laid back on the ball, trusting that their chance will come soon. Boris with the ball now and it appears the opposition is okay to let him have it. Perhaps they don’t realize that the clock is ticking away and unless they start to press and push on the attack themselves, they’ll have a lot of work to do in the final ten minutes of this game. 

They’re finally on the attack now! Oh, and it’s stopped. 

Here they come again, moving down the flank – and halted again. Boris now on the counter and they score! A brilliant header. It’s now 1-0. 

It would appear their game plan is not going according to plan. The holes that were open before have been plugged up and you would think they’ll adapt. The executions of their strategy just aren’t quite cutting it, but they’re going to press on. It’s a valiant effort as they push forward yet again. 

This is looking promising; Phillip sends a cross into the box and it’s in! Pierre and Marley with a double strike have drilled it past the keeper, just spectacular. 

Wait. 

What’s this? VAR? The ref has signaled that a VAR check is being done for offsides. Yes. Yes. Oh my. The goal has been disallowed after video replay! They were certain they had a winner, but it’s been ripped from their hands. And there goes the final whistle!

This will be a disappointing loss for the team, especially after so much enthusiasm. What will they take from it? Hopefully a lot. They’ll each make note of their own errors and it won’t be the last time they fail on the pitch, but hopefully it’s their last time making those mistakes. They can regroup and come back next week fresh. A loss is never fun, but it only makes the wins sweeter. 

Thank you for watching, once again, I’m Martin Tyler, this is Alan Smith, signing off. Goodnight.