MATCH REPORT - MELCHESTER IN THE PINK AFTER SICILIAN JOB

None of this happened

Melchester's jinx continued at the weekend, as they turned up to their unloved home pitch to find that, unbeknownst to them, the location of the match had been changed to Bohunice. Naturally, no-one thought to tell the players, so it was a quick dash in convoy, 2minute warm-up, then in at the deep end.



Given Palermo's record (played 4, lost 4), Rovers were hopeful of a result but were perhaps a little complacent in the opening period, with some comedy backpasses that seemed to invite the opposition to snatch the lead. Fortunately Palermo failed to capitalise, and after creating a few chances of their own, our erstwhile heroes were soon ahead courtesy of Robin Smith, who latched onto Vegard Nordheim's cross to become a goalscoring debutant.


A goalscoring debut - Who could ask for more?


Despite creating chance after chance for the rest of the half, Rovers seemed to be suffering from a touch of the Arsenals, failing to make their superiority count. At half time, there was a real fear among the crowd that the reds might end up rueing their profligacy in front of goal.


And immediately after the restart, those fears looked to be proved correct, as a disorganised defence allowed the pinks into the box to head home from point-blank range. Could Rovers be the first team this season to give Palermo points?



Panic then ensued as Melchester worked hard, too hard, to make amends immediately. In the end, as is often becoming the case, it was down to leading scorer Colin Kimbrell to settle the nerves with a well taken effort from the edge of the box.


A tense crowd were later indulging in some Mexican waves after Melchester's 4th


From that point on, there was no way Palermo were going to enjoy any more gifts, and Nordheim popped up again, running through the defence and shooting whilst sitting down near the penalty spot. Rovers made good use of their substitutes, and by this point the pinks were red faced and out of breath, lacking the depth on the bench of their opponents. So it was hardly surprising when the killer blows came, with another goal apiece for Nordheim and Kimbrell, the latter having kept Rovers in it for much of the game with defensive work way beyond the call of duty for any striker.



A happy Melchester strolled off the field with a 5-1 win, but now with the "easy" games behind them they'll surely need to step up a level for their next fixture with Relax FC, who have actually managed to score some points already. However, on the day only the result mattered, although the shine was taken off the celebrations by the absence of Roy Race, who didn't receive the message about the pitch change either, and ended up watching the wrong game and wondering why he didn't recognise anyone.



Let's not get carried away - this throw in shows how good the opposition were