Hounslow Wolves v Rajput Del Mundo

5th December 2021

Hounslow Wolves 2-0 Rajput Del Mundo

Starting XI: Rose Mo, Jags, Ali, A.Abdali, Sanjit (C), Liam, Rudy, Tamim, Bilal

Subs: Ish Bhullar Arjun

After last week's triumphant victory which sent us top of the league, Wolves now turned their attention to the Div 2 Cup against Rajput Del Mundo, whom we previously beat 11-0 in the league. But once again you can never underestimate the strength of squads in this league, as you never know who fancies turning up on a Sunday morning. A few changes to the line-up this week with 3 changes to the back 4. With both Vik and Sergio out to personal commitments, Mo was given the nod from the gaffer with Jagdev also returning from hockey duties. Another debutant was LB Ali, who impressed in training and got the call up. Also, with Killian out, big man Harms was called up for his debut in goal. A very different back 5 than the usual weeks, but more than enough quality to get the job done.

As the kick off whistle approached the boys were once again led by Coach Jat who put them through their paces in the warm up, the Wolves knew the conditions were a massive contrast to last week, wet and windy was the forecast predicated. Once again Gaffer Rishi opted for a 4-3-3, with Bilal returning to the front line, and Ish, Bhullar and Arjun on the bench. With the whistle K/O imminent, the ref mentioned he wanted free flowing game...which was contrary to what the lads got. As we kicked off, the Wolves started off very bright, stringing passes together in bunches, and hunting the ball down in packs. Exactly what the gaffer requested. In turn this allowed Tamim to break into the box, and once again nobody could keep up, and was brought down. Penalty kick. Tamim who won the pen handed it over to Rudy, whom faced up against possible the least keeper looking keeper we had all ever seen. Rudy stepped up and smashed it straight at the keeper who gobbled up the rebound. 0-0. This would've been a perfect start and the floodgates would've been open, but it seemed like it would've been one of those days where nothing goes in, and it seemed that way for the remainder of the first half. With shots peppering the Rajput goal, nothing seemed to beat the keeper, with post's being hit and shots going over the top. The Wolves fans were left wondering if it would ever go in. And just before the half time whistle, Rajput received a freekick on the edge of the box, and the captain elected to shoot, which was denied brilliantly by Harms who tipped the ball on to the crossbar…..this however left a gaping goal for their striker to tap into and almost seemed impossible to miss, which he did. 0-0 half time. And a sigh of relief.

The half time team talk was one of contrasting feeling 's the gaffer felt that we were doing all the right things and we knew this being a cup game that this would mean penalties if it ended a draw, which we knew would be an injustice. But also, a tad lucky to go in at 0-0, so the boys had to pull up their socks and get the goal. No changes from the gaffer.

With the second half underway, the Wolves once again had Rajputs under the cosh, not giving them time to breath on the ball, but once again the end product was lacking and to be fair to Rajput, held a very strong defensive line. One moment that will stick in the minds of the fans will be the sending off of debutant Ali and being reversed for mistaken identity for Rudy. The dubious panel is still out on this, but one thing that mattered is the Wolves remained with 11 bodies on the pitch. As the game went on, the nerves of the Wolves grew as Rajput sat deeper and deeper almost as if taking the pens would give them a better chance. In came a few changes, Arjun came on for Rudy and Ish replaced Bilal up top, who sadly suffered another injury blow. One thing we did lack was shots at the keeper, so the word from the gaffer was pop them off. As the game grew deeper, and several goal line clearance's from Rajput, the Wolves wondered if it would ever go in. And in comes Arjun, With a mis-kick from the keeper falling right to the feet of Arjun in the midfield, he beat his man and was encouraged to shoot by the fans, which he did, and the keeper fluffed his lines. 1-0. Pandemonium ensued, think Trippier scoring in the world cup semi-final. Arjun, whom received a yellow card instantly when getting on the pitch, decided to take his top off in the moment, which luckily was covered by all the lads and was denied his yellow card. With 3 minutes to play the Wolves played smart to manage the game, with the introduction of Bhullar replacing Ish whom wasted time like no other and was winning free kicks with his Oscar performance diving about. A free kick was won deep in the Rajput half near the corner flag which was taken quickly and received by Arjun, who turned his man and entered the box, and fired home past the keeper giving him no chance. 2-0. A sigh of relief by all and as the kick off ensued the ref blew his whistle and the Wolves go marching onto the semi-final, 2 games from silverware!

A big shout out to the defensive line and the keeper, who were Brillant for their clean sheet and a very impressive debut by Ali. The midfield once again superb in not allowing any football to be played by the opposition and the front three will have felt outraged it wasn't 8 or 9. All in all a solid team performance and the focus is back on the league and remaining top going into the new year.

MOTM

Arjun