PHILIPPINE UNITED STRETCH UNBEATEN RECORD AGAIN WITH BRILLIANT VICTORY

Once again, Philippine United came through with flying colours, beating POTTEN END F.C. away 2-7.

I have to say that the opposition had done their homework on us, by not letting us play the football that we are used to, as we did when we first met them, beating them 6-0. As soon as the whistle blew, they bullied us in most departments and managed to intimidate some of our players, making it very hard for us to get into the game and play with our usual rhythm.

To escape the deadlock, we broke away down the right and Aniello Mone slotted the ball home without any problem, making it 0-1. Not long after the restart, POTTEN-END equalized with a scrappy goal, making it 1-1. We kept to our task and got rewarded with a looping header from the edge of the penalty-box from Garey Reyes, scoring his first goal for the club, making it 1-2.

POTTEN-END came back once again with great persistence and scored a second goal with a clearance from the half-way line that crept under our crossbar through bad judgement from our keeper, Keith Townsend to level the score at 2-2.

The game was now very even and to be honest, POTTEN-END deserved their two goals even if they were both a calamity of errors, but along came that moment of brilliance from our top scorer, Aniello Mone, with a great finish from a great run, smashing the ball in the roof of the net, giving their keeper no chance and making the score 2-3 and it stayed that way till half-time.

The last two weeks at the break have been easy for me, not having to give the guys a lecture or two, but this week was different. I needed to get across to them how we were getting bullied and not winning the fifty-fifty balls, but told them to play our normal football using the width of the field and to be patient, because we nearly always wear the other teams down and surely enough we did in great style.

From the off, we were in total control, with certain influential players like Raymond Tordecilla and Marco Ordona, started to play the football that they can and sure enough we scored again, with a good strike from Jason (The Beast) Arroyo, taking the score-line to 2-4. By now, we were playing some great football and kept cutting their defence wide open, time after time and stranger to the team (because of work duties), Jerriel Cajigas, tucked away a good drive, making it 2-5.

POTTEN-END’s legs were really tired now, which allowed us to capitalize on the situation even more, with two more goals from Aniello Mone, taking his tally for the day to four goals and making the final score 2-7, for the second week running.

Once again, the sheer class of PHILIPPINE UNITED came through, but I have to say that in numerous games in the past, we do tend to get intimidated with certain oppositions, mainly because of the sheer size and I do mean size. Every week, it is like David and Goliath, but we let our football do the talking. Maybe in the near future, we need to address this fact, bringing in some stronger players as we are striving for perfection, even if we will not get it.

Good performances today came from, (Mr.Reliable) Marco Ordona, Garey Reyes was outstanding once again and I was very pleased with striker A.J.Ross-Low, who had a great second half, really being a pain in the neck for the Opposition’s defence and was unlucky not to scored a couple of goals.

Well, the Man of the Match can only go to my prolific striker, Aniello Mone. Not just because he scored four goals, but because of his all-round play.
When Aniello’s head is in the right frame of mind, he is literally unstoppable. I am lucky to have some really talented players in my squad, but their fitness level, lets them down at times. Aniello will run for every ball, even if it is a lost cause and he never pulls out of a tackle, and if he looses the ball, he will chase back and retrieve it back again…..Like I said, ……if he has the right frame of mind. Some of the runs and dribbles he made today were brilliant and he is now getting close to scoring thirty goals, which is a great achievement, for a player, so young, the youngest in our team at just eighteen years old.

He is a natural finisher and can only get better with experience. Well I hope all you PUFC fans will be going home happy again, after reading about your team getting another great victory, but I still have some more good news for you all.

In just over a month’s time, on the 22nd of April, PHILIPPINE UNITED will be playing against the mighty BLACKBURN ROVERS.F.C. from the English Premiership League.

Our Founder/Director, Leo Jensen, has organized the game for us and I think there might be a chance that we will loose our unbeaten record, haha! only joking, as we are hoping to do well, even if we are not playing their first team.

I personally want to see my players play against full time professionals and it can only add to their experience, so hopefully we will all have a great day, thanks to our Founder Leo Jensen. Not only has he fixed us up with BLACKBURN ROVERS, but also, he has organized other games with MANCHESTER UNITED, EVERTON, LIVERPOOL, and hopefully my beloved SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY. My old playing pal, Niel Warnock, has also promised to give us a game when he was at CRYSTAL PALACE, but he is now at QUEENS PARK RANGERS, so I am hoping he will still oblige.

Take care and as always keep the faith.

Yours in Football,
Norm Parkin