Match Details

Match Report ........ murphy
Irvine City continued their journey to the knockout stages of the Raul Briones Cup with a very up and down performance at West Grove. A fantastic first half performance combined with a lethargic second, resulted in 3 penalty kicks and a 10 goal thriller, that even Michael Jackson would have been impressed with.

The young Internationale team are flying high in the 1st division and want to show that they were the new kids on the block, judging form the amount of players and fans on the sidelines they seem to have generated a cult following. With 19 players suited up it was evident they were prepared for this clash, and a must win game for both clubs. However after about 30 minutes it was clear that they were in dire straits. City undefeated in their red England shirts, via Thailand, were hoping the English beat continued and it wasn't long before they settled down and asserted themselves. A Lill through ball found Richardson who almost burst the net from just inside the area. 1-0 and City were on their way. Bill Dow returning from injury was just playing his way into the flow of things when he was harshly judged to have brought down an Inter player in the box. Inter made no mistake from the spot and tied it up at 1-1. City were in a jam. Almost immediately Bill Dow atoned for the defensive error, and delivered a long throw in to the near post for Murphy to power home with his head. The immediate goal looked like it was the cure the ICFC needed. It seemed like all the defenders wanted to get in on the assists as McKindley made a darting rush up the right to deliver a cross to the back post. Somehow the mercurial Richardson deftly found the net at the far post with a cushioned header. Moments later Richardson turned provider as he played a centering ball to Murphy, who saw the keeper off his line and lobbed his header just out of his reach. 4-1 to the City. 4 goals, 3 headers for City, who hadn't scored a headed goal all season. A through ball from Briscoe to Murphy resulted in a fifth goal and a 5-1 half time lead.

The second half brought a renewed energy from Inter the half time team talk apparently woke up the Inter players. They went on an all out attack and dominated possession and had lots of scoring chances. Valenzuela had to police the goalmouth and A Lill penalty, awarded as Brown was felled in the area, made it 6-1 and seem to take the sting out of Inter. Just as the cup tie was beginning to die, a clinical finish, a missed penalty combined with a couple of soft goals, one from a deflection made it 6-4 and City were reeling. The loss of Dixon though injury showed for the first time all season that City seemed to miss Dirk Lingens at the back. Watching on TV in Berlin he must of wanted to jump on a plane from Europe to assist. With the ship righted, City played out the last 10 minutes forcing Inter to shoot from distance. The only real danger was to the cars behind the goal. Ross made a couple of fine saves and one or two kick outs that were actually straight.

So after the madness there was no change to the status quo, no new order. The better team deserved to win with talent INXS of their younger rivals. It will be Inter who will fear the next meeting while the City boys can look forward to the rest of the cup campaign unless SP Rounders achieved a maximum of 10 points against the HB Strikers.