Roy of the Rovers A New Beginning

Week 33
Pine City Pirates 0, Baltimore Bullets 1 | MLS Match
Report



Pine City Stadium Baltimore Bullets midfielder Carlos Figueroa scored a goal befitting his
Designated Player status to hand the Bullets a stunning 1-0 victory at Pine City on Sunday
night.

Figueroa collected the ball at midfield, diced through the Pirates defence and then tucked
home at the second attempt to open the scoring after just two minutes. The Honduran
midfielder's fourth goal of the season proved just enough to hand the visitors their fourth
victory on the trot, though the home side produced plenty of chances to prevent the setback
and perhaps even secure all three points.

Pine City watched Paulie Iaquinta and Joe Lalatovich both clear off the line inside the
opening half hour and Andy Gallagher spurned a chance to equalize at the near post, but
the Pirates dropped off after the first half and slipped to a third defeat in three attempts.

Figueroa assumed responsibility for the course of the night by recording the opener inside
the first two minutes. His diligence at midfield allowed him to win possession and surge into
the Pirates half. His deft hitch inside the penalty area created room to shoot, but Luciano
charged down his effort. He stuck with his task, though, and thumped home the rebound to
open the scoring.

The home side attempted to respond in short order. Ronnie Eagar nearly polished off a
scruffy move inside the opening quarter of an hour, but Iaquinta hacked off the line. Bullets
goalkeeper Sam Jackson then parried away a Leroy Donaldson half-volley and watched
Gallagher lash into the side of the net from a promising position.

The Bullets dropped deeper and deeper inside its own half as the Pirates controlled the
possession and piled on the pressure. Lalatovich swept off the line after 34 minutes to
maintain the visitors' advantage before Gordon wasted a good opportunity to equalize at the
far post shortly before the interval.
Pine City failed to replicate its first-half incisiveness after the break as Baltimore held out
doggedly in a bid to secure its fourth victory of the season. Jackson repelled another Eagar
effort at the near post to preserve the advantage heading into the tense final half-hour.
More players pushed forward for the home side in a bid to procure the equalizer. Eagar hit
the outside of the far post with an acrobatic effort in the fourth minute of second-half
stoppage time to bring the Pirates' frustrating night to a close and ensure the Bullets
escaped Pine City Stadium with three unexpected points.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
Rank Player What We Saw
1 Carlos Figueroa Scored an excellent individual goal, but gets the top spot here for his added work in midfield,
where he was instrumental in stopping the Pirates from getting anything up the middle
2 Sam Jackson The Bullets goalkeeper made a number of highlight-reel saves in the first half to keep his
team ahead and remained solid for the rest of the match
3 Paulie Iaquinta/Robson
Helguera
OK, a bit of a cop out, but the Bullets' center back duo was equally capable of answering
nearly every question asked of them.

* * *
The Races had earned a mini-break, the Bullets form had been superb, winning four in a row and
they had decided that a short holiday to England to watch their beloved Melchester Rovers in their
final match of the season was just reward. Besides, Rocky had never taken his wife or daughters to a
soccer match in England and what better baptism than The Derby. He was sure they would enjoy the
atmosphere and it was important that his American family began to understand the unique
connection the Race family has with Englands biggest football club.
Roy had secured seats for all in the executive box, thanks to David Roth and he was looking forward
to catching up on all the news he had missed since departing for Baltimore over a month ago. AS the
family made their way through passport control and customs they were greeted by Roys driver who
had hired a people carrier to transport the family to the Race Mansion on the outskirts of the city.
Roy owned multiple properties in the city, but spent most of his time in his penthouse apartment in
the recently gentrified former industrial centre overlooking the River Mel. Through the ceiling height
windows in the lounge he could see both Mel Park and Melborough Stadium. Roy would gaze out
reliving old memories from his playing years, whenever he felt lonely or down, which if he was
honest was quite often. But now he had an excuse to return to the mansion, the house where Rocky
and his sisters had been brought up, by himself and his adored late wife, Penny.
As the car pulled up into the drive, Roy looked around at his sons family. They were the perfect
nuclear family, modern American; all blond, all blue-eyed, all tanned and all smiling perfect white
toothy grins and all incredibly good looking. Rockys wife, Jeanette, was simply stunning, like a
blonde version of his Penny, he thought. Roy was so excited that she and his grand-daughters would
soon be settling in at the family house; the country-style house that he and Penny had spent so
many years turning into a home would soon be filled with the sounds of all the Race family.
The big match was on Sunday, as it was the final week of the season, all the Premier League matches
were to be played at the same time. So, Roy and Rocky had insisted that Mel and little Roy, Diana
and Dec would all be there for a barbecue. It would be the perfect start to the perfect weekend and
the perfect football match: Melboro vs Melchester Rovers...

* * *
Jake Cheetham laced up his right boot, then his left, leant back and took a long, slow look around the
away dressing room, eyeing his team-mates. His friends, Drew Powell and Richie Lyons, were the
only two who made eye contact. Powell, gave his closest pal a wink and muttered, Go get em
boyo. Jake, leapt to his feet remembering he was captain and this was his team, Come on boys!
Lets do this, we are Melchester Rovers and we will win!
The bell rang and Oliver Thomas, the Premier Leagues young star of a referee, leant in through the
slightly open door, Time to go boys, remember keep it clean, especially early on, I want to let this
game flow, but dont take any liberties. Jake walked into the tunnel purposefully, brushing past
Nathan Daniels and Mike Burgess. The dropped Steve Daley, his predecessor as captain, whispered
into Jakes ear, You know what to do, son. Give em hell and make sure they dont take home that
trophy. If they win today, they achieve something we never have. Jake said nothing, but patted the
veteran centre-half on the shoulder.
Melchester Rovers lined up in the spacious tunnel, the Melboro players soon joined them. There
were no pleasantries, no jolly handshakes or man-hugs. Vernon Eliot had made it clear that his men
were not to engage their opponents, they were not under any circumstances to be nice to them. The
young Irish defender, Burgess, had been picked to replace the out of form Daley, but also as a hard
man. He was banging the walls of the tunnel, smashing his fists into portraits of Melboro greats,
including legendary manager Andy Jackson, former-Rover Geoff Giles and their greatest ever player
Archie Miller. The stocky defender let out a roar as current Melboro skipper, Dave Baker passed
him, Were coming for you Boro! Youre not having the league today! Come on Rovers!
Baker gave the rookie a stern look and took a step towards him, their shoulders connected, with
Burgess spun slightly, but never flinching. Baker was then forehead to forehead with the Irishman,
rubbing and snarling. The tunnel erupted; Cheetham, Powell and Lyons, who earlier in the year had
fought with Baker and the goalie, Johnny White on a night out, were backing their young team-mate.
Lyons was swinging wildly at the big goalkeeper, Powell kicking out at Baker. Pushes and shoves,
shouting and swearing, all live in front of the cameras and millions of viewers around the world. The
commentary team tried to sound disapproving, but it was clear Chippy Croker was loving it, his
statement of, Theres a genuine rivalry between this set of players! did little justice to his true
feelings or the gravity of the situation, but the Premier League brand did not approve of bust-ups
and fighting and they insisted that the television broadcasters protected the product.
Stewards separated the battling players, as the referee tooted on his whistle hysterically. Vernon
Eliot was not impressed with the young official, he saw that reaction as a show of weakness. He
hoped that the man in the middle would be able to cope with the tense atmosphere created from
the stands, now as the players had already exploded, the Melchester manager had real doubt over
Referee Thomas ability to handle such a big game.
While the result meant far more to Melboro, Vernon was keen to end the season on a positive note
and after all, at the start of the 2013/14 calendar, he had made a promise to the Rovers army of fans
that they would be back on Europe and he intended to make sure of that. Thats enough! the
Rovers manager shouted, at the top of his voice, Get on that pitch and sort this rubbish out there!
Both sides split off and jogged onto the field, the referee then lined them up for the pre-match
rituals. There would be few, if any, genuine wishes of good luck as the teams shook hands. It was
going to be a war
























Storky Knight
NEXT Will Santiago Fuentes fire Melboro to the title, or can Rovers keep the champions a bay?