Saturday 1st of October saw GAS resume their season VS PTT Academy, last years division 2 champions.
The first 15-20 minutes was all GAS. With plenty of communication across the back line and composure in midfield it was all GAS. Jan, Dom and Carl Turner all going close before the unthinkable happened and the PTT striker found himself 1 on 1 with the keeper who slipped whilst rushing out to close down, allowing their striker to finish into an empty net. 1-0 PTT, totally against the run of play. The remaining 20 minutes saw PTT come back into the game with Do being forced into a smart save at his near post, though most of the game was fought out in the middle.
Half time 1-0 PTT.
Second half was the GAS show. We were a team on a mission. An inspirational half time team talk from Assistant Coach Dom ensured we played with everything we had. Acknowledging we had to resume from the first 20 minutes, we did just that. Good organization at the back coupled with plenty of hard work from Vaneck and Thomas on the wings lead to the inevitable equalizer though it was left late. A left footed cross from substitute John, unpunished grappling involving Jan and their defender resulted in allowing Dom ‘the menace’ Schaufler to smash the ball home from 5 yards. 1-1 and the absolute minimum we deserved. The rest of the game saw us push as hard as we have ever done with Chaeng putting in the miles in the center of midfield with Zak also making a difference since his introduction, though in fairness the PTT defence were resilient and managed to hold on for a very flattering point form their perspective.
To some the draw felt like a loss though nonetheless we came away with a point and again, lots of positives to take away from the game. We know if we play like that every week and we are in for a very promising season.