12/02/25: Falcs 6-5 ARU I

After three very long weeks without a game the Falcs were finally back in action for a Cambridge Derby against ARU. With the infirmary emptied out and the Blues not having a game, Dani and Mylo were both back in the squad. Unfortunately, after some shadmin from ARU to book a pitch, and Queens not allowing us to play there because the Groundsman was on his “lunch break”, the game was set on the tiniest of Fitz pitches. The Falcs started the game very strong, with George bagging his first goal after the most outrageous handball which the ref failed to see (more on the ref later…). This goal was soon followed by a Max bullet header from DFL’s throw in. Despite the ref missing two blatant pens, the boys kept working hard, with the midfield trio of Ujj, Max and Sanch controlling the game, and Thomas and Mylo terrorising their fullbacks. A loose ball across the box saw George scoring a brace, but soon after ARU cut the lead back to 3-1 after scoring from a corner (more on defensive set pieces later…). However, the reaction from the team was great, with Max scoring his second from another loose ball in the box, and George scoring a hat-trick with the best goal of the game. Silky play through Ross and Thomas, finding Sanch who chipped the ball over their centre backs to set George for a beautiful 1vs1 finish. It could’ve been a perfect end of the half, until Boris gave a silly free kick and they scored (again) from another set piece. Nevertheless, 5-2 at halftime, dominating the game and playing some great football, the only adjustment needed was defending set pieces.

The second half kicked off, and Boris had a hot-head moment, where he gave a free kick and then tried to uppercut their striker. Luckily for everyone involved, he didn’t connect. Then said striker proceeded to score a world class free kick to make it 5-3 (set pieces conceded: 3). Clearly the game wasn’t close enough, so Sanch decided to make it closer. Trying to clear a cross across the box, with the ARU striker waiting to tap it in, he unfortunately cleared the ball straight into the top corner of the goal. With the game now really close, ARU brought some of the nastiest tackles, with attempted murder on Sanch, and Mylo having to be subbed off the pitch. The referee was having none of this, and after Sanch tried to explain how “studs to the shin” is definitely a foul, with a demonstration to the ref (barely touched him) he got booked for “kicking the ref”. Struggling with momentum, ARU would equalise from (yes you guessed it) another set piece (4 goals conceded) making it 5-5 with 10 minutes left. The boys who came off the bench (Teni, Harry, Isaac, Niklas and Cam) all put in a massive shift to bring the energy back up. With 5 minutes left the Falcs would score the winner, coming from a quick free kick played by Niklas into Sanchez, and then straight into Harry who played a beautiful cross into Isaac, setting up Teni to score the winner. Teni would then proceed to boot the ball as far away possible and get another booking. Some really strong defending in the final minutes saw the Falcs claim this hard fought win. Main takeaway: maybe we need some more work on defending set pieces, but the Falcs looked superior and the better team all throughout the game.

Goals: George ⚽️⚽️⚽️, Max ⚽️⚽️, Teni ⚽️

Assists: Sanch 🪄, DFL 🪄, Isaac 🪄

MOTM: Dani Sanchez

DOTD: Boris (shoutout to the ref)

✍️ Dani Sanchez