Friendly League

Slaughtergate
Spectators: 40 (Terracing: 31, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) Damian Stonehouse started the match with the kick off in front of an excited audience. When Martín Palermo came up free with the goalie in the 4th minute, the Metal Juniors fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Martín Palermo couldn't finish the play. After 6 minutes, Alex Barone mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Egg Chasers FC and the Metal Juniors players grew even worse after the yellow card. In the 9th minute, Marco Ireno got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. After a rather tough play, Metal Juniors's Reinaldo Castro got a free kick in the 10th minute. Martín Palermo sent away a hard shot on goal in the 18th minute, but the ball hit the crossbar and went out. A very good chance for a goal. The audience was convinced that Martín Palermo's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Fabien Barthez was relentless in the 20th minute of the game. Leopoldo Itzaina's shot was meant for the net just under the crossbar, but Fabien Barthez read the situation well and was quickly in position to make a wonderful save in the 23rd minute of play. Fabien Barthez took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Martín Palermo, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Martín Palermo scored 0-1 in the 25th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Fabien Barthez, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. Leopoldo Itzaina received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 31st minute. Fabien Barthez tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. In the 39th minute Martín Palermo shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Fabien Barthez saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. With a little luck, Metal Juniors's Francisco Nesor got control of the ball when Peter Crouch tried to sneak it across the goal line. Francisco Nesor made a fantastic save in the 47th minute, when Matthew Brookman sent off a good shot on target. Luck had favoured the away team in the first, and they walked off with a 0-2 lead.

During the 51st minute of the match Alex Barone completely mistimed his tackle and brought down his opponent. The referee gave Alex Barone a yellow card, his second in the match, which meant he could no longer take part in the game. After 51 played minutes Egg Chasers FC got a freekick which was hit by Alex Barone. Fabien Barthez took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Marco Ireno, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. The audience was convinced that Martín Palermo's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Fabien Barthez was relentless in the 72nd minute of the game. In the 75th minute Marco Ireno shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Fabien Barthez saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Fabien Barthez came out of the goal in the 83rd minute to try and stop a shot by Metal Juniors's Martín Palermo. But to his dismay, Martín Palermo quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 0-3. Metal Juniors's Sergio Dennis was substituted for Martín Palermo. Fabien Barthez was a little too slow when Sergio Dennis got a fine hit on the ball which went right into the goal in the 91st minute. The score was now 0-4. Egg Chasers FC's Fabien Barthez played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Sergio Dennis in the 96th minute of play. Metal Juniors's players went to the stands to thank the travelling support. The fan's backing had helped spurr the team on to a fine performance that won them the match.