Wizards cast a spell on Wanderers

Matchday 2 of the 6-a-side season was a close-fought NW6 derby game as the West Hampstead Wanderers took on the Kilburn Wizards. Sadly the Wanderers couldn’t find enough tricks to unlock the Wizards’ defence. Dom Christie reports:

Match day 2. Monday 24th January. KO 6.30
West Hampstead Wanderers 3 – 6 Kilburn Wizards

West Hampstead Wanderers had a near-full squad available ahead of the game against the unbeaten Kilburn Wizards. @timcheese was forced to pull out thanks to “British Rail” while @martin_tse replaced the injured @djvectra between the posts. @thomhoffman and @nwsixdan were back from trials at (or “trips to”)  Barcelona, and went straight into the starting lineup.

The Wanderers kept it tight from the start, and eventually took a well-deserved lead mid-way through the first half thanks to @thomhoffman. This good form continued with some superb saves from @martin_tse, but the Wanderers couldn’t quite hold out and, on the stroke of half-time, the Wizards levelled.
It was the first time the Wanderers hadn’t headed off for half-time oranges trailing their opponents, so optimism was high. The second half was feisty, and the Wizards were getting away with some pretty aggressive slide tackles. The quick tempo saw them slot home three quick goals and suddenly the Wanderers found themselves 4-1 down.

The referee sin-binned Wanderers’ @onedavidlewy midway through the second half, and appeared to do the same to a Wizards’ player a few minutes later; but the Wizard – clearly deploying some cunning mind spell – played on regardless. Despite being a man down, the Wanderers plugged away with @MatthewMargot scoring a second and @thomhoffman getting his second and the Wanderers third. Unfortunately the Wizards had two more tricks up their collective sleeve and also scored twice. Final score: 6-3 to the Wizards.

The Wizards are top of the league, but once again the Wanderers’ improved on their previous week’s performance. There’s a long way to go in this campaign, and you can be sure that next time the two teams meet the Wanderers will be highly motivated to pull the rabbit out of the proverbial and turn the tables on their tricky opponents.

Team:
@NickHudgell, @Martin_Tse, @nwsixDan, @ThomHoffman, @SamWong1, @oneDavidLewy, @MatthewMargot, @DomChristie, @Talalb01

Goal scorers:
@thomhoffman x 2
@MatthewMargot

League standings:

Kilburn Wizards          P2 W2 D0 L0 GD +6
Abacus Athletic          P2 W1 D0 L1 GD +1
The Gym Utd              P2 W1 D0 L1 GD 0
West Hampstead Wanderers P2 W0 D0 L2 GD -7