FC Irlande - Matchday 22

FC Irlande 3 - 1 Laeken Tennis

We brushed Laeken aside with a great second half performance after being frustrated for the first 35 minutes.

Things were looking bleak until the last moments of the first half, when Kieran nipped past his marker on the left and was scythed down. David whipped in the resulting free kick and I ghosted in at the near post to head home. The timing could not have been better; as we were celebrating the ref blew the whistle for half time. Until that goal it had difficult to break LT down. Although we were dominating midfield (with Mark and Yann in great form) we didn't create too many open chances.

That all changed in the second half. With Mark and Yann still bossing the game, and the defense thwarting all attacks, we began to play some great football. Sean came on and partnered Sigve up front with me just behind, and the three of us began working some lovely passing sequences. It was from one such sequence that the second goal came. After seven or eight passes, Sigve was fed on the right, and he floated a great ball to the far past that I eyed like a cold beer on a hot day. I didn't connect as cleanly as I wanted, but it was good enough to send the keeper the wrong way. 2-0.

Laeken threatened to spoil the party when Adrian deflected a free kick past Chris, but shortly after that scantly-deserved goal we hit back. From a corner the ball was worked to Mark on the right, and he fizzed over a low cross that went through a number of bodies before finding its way to me, unmarked at the far past. I volleyed in from five yards. 3-1.

It was a beautiful afternoon for football, and with a big crowd watching we played some of our best football of the season. It was the kind of match I didn't want to end, but sadly it did, and with a score line that does not reflect the difference in quality.

FC Irlande: Chris Jones, Adrian, Fred, Francis, Kieran (Sean), Yann, Mark, Pete, David, Ross, Sigve

Goals: Ross (3)

Man of the Match: Ross and Yann - Three tap-ins for yours truly, and an all-action performance from the Frenchman, made more special by the fact that he was out drinking until about 4am the night before.