This was once again a midday kick-off and before the start of the match, the AKITA players were looking for the cool of the shade. The Yuen Long Team had a deeper bench but the AKITA team with 11 players on the match sheet were not at their worst. Based on the preliminary matches, AKITA knew that Yuen Long had a strong attack and that they lost first place in their group by 1 goal only against ARISE.
The match started with both teams being very close, the AKITA defense was not as sharp as usual and despite scoring first by David, the Gwailos were then over taken to 1 - 2. Hans brought AKITA to 2 - 2, then PA scored for 3 - 3, David again brought the two teams back at 4 - 4. After 8 minutes, the score was still tied, but for the next 10 minutes, AKITA would not score. Something was broken in the rythm of the team and some nervous mistakes offered too many opportunities to Yuen Long. AKITA suffered its worst sequence ever seeing the score growing to 4 - 9. Yuen Long was finding the line every single time creating havoc and frustration in the AKITA defense. By the time AKITA reacted, Norbert and Markus R. got yellow carded. Fortunately, after a time out, the team moved to a 6/0 defense and this stopped the access to the line. In the last 7 minutes, AKITA did not concede and came back in the match. Markus scored first followed by Alex and Norbert. Playing with one player less as Norbert received a second yellow, AKITA still managed not to concede and 2 penalties converted by Alex brought back the team to 9 - 9 at half time.
The second half started like the first with both team answering to each other. AKITA was trying to increase the pressure in attacking phase and PA scored twice from the distance forcing the defense to get out. Another David fast break allowed AKITA to be 2 ahead at 13 - 11. Number 12 of Yuen Long reduced the gap but Hans launch himself to score on the next 9 meter free throw. With the score at 14 - 12 and with 13 minutes to play, the AKITA team should have built on the gap. Exactly the opposite happened as the tiredness started to show. The defense was giving too many opportunities and the attack was not necessarily choosing the right options. Alex once again brought the team back one ahead but Yuen long answered with 3 goals in 2 minutes.
With 5 minutes to go Norbert scored bringing the team just 1 behind but on the following action he received a severe 2 minutes suspension. Things were hard they, they were becoming much more difficult. AKITA was forced into doing some changes as some of the players were just exhausted with the heat. Yuen Long restored a 2 goal advantage but Hans immediately brought it back to 1. With 4 minutes to go, the AKITA team could not concede anymore. To his great surprise Hans received 2 minutes against him and AKITA was defending at 4 against 6 for 20 seconds. The players on the pitch gave all they could not to concede and managed to keep the score up to Norbert's return on the pitch. Unfortunately, he received a final 2 minutes 5 seconds later. At 4 against 6 for another 1 and a half minute and with 1:50 to play things were becoming extremely difficult. The AKITA team did not give up and once again managed to protect the goal getting the ball back with 1:20 to play. at 4 against 6, the AKITA team tried to find options and not to force something impossible but they let themselves get cornered on the right wing and a too optimistic pass ended out of play.
With 30 seconds to play, Yuen Long took their final time out to make sure they would follow a plan. With one player less, the AKITA team still tried to press high but there was little other option than letting one of the Yuen Long player go to the shoot and hope for a miss. Unfortunately number 12 scored to close the 19 - 17 victory of Yuen Long.
This was not a great performance of AKITA, as the team lacked consistency on the day and did not fare well under the heat and pressure of a close match but full credits to Yuen Long which performed from the first to the last minute and never decreased the tempo, even when they struggled against the AKITA defense at the end of the first half. They were the better team on the day, coping better with the weather and playing their game all along.
For the promotion race, both teams can still get through but it made everything much closer and the AKITA team burnt their joker. This is even closer considering that ARISE drew against HKIED. Those four teams are therefore still in the mix.
Alex 4, Hans 3, David 3, PA 3, Markus 2, Norbert 2
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