It was a Mother's Day treat for the AFC Ann Arbor fans as the Mighty Oak toppled Detroit City FC 1-0 on a stoppage time goal from left-back Martieon Watson off a beautiful free kick from Jake Rosen. The win gives AFC Ann Arbor six points in the first two games and doles Detroit City a loss in their opening NPSL match.
What Happened:
For the better part of the first half, it was a tale of two teams feeling each other out. The teams made an occasional misstep, but with the game played centrally in the midfield neither team could gain the advantage. Yuri Farkas went just wide in the fourth and Michael Shaikly rounded the keeper near the 40th minute but sent the final effort just wide, but those two bits of play did not lead to the breakthrough AFC were hoping for. Detroit City made some runs of their own, but nothing was ultimately that threatening, and the game went into the half at 0-0.
The second half was much more open, starting off with each team grabbing footholds in the match and then struggling back-and-forth, starting with City. In the 52nd minute, keeper Mike Novotny was forced into action making a big kick save, then another diving save in the 58th. In the 69th, Detroit City had their best chance of the game as, with Novotny out of his net after an attempted clearance, Danny Deakin attempted a chip, but the immense Joseph Okumu was there to clear the ball away. Detroit was not finished, however, as late in the half Stephen Carroll had another shot kick-saved by Novotny.
AFC Ann Arbor weathered the storm and counter-punched frequently themselves. Detroit's defense was often left open on the counter attack as City frequently committed numbers forward leading to three-on-three or four-on-four opportunities. One stellar chance came off a corner kick as Fernando Pina's punchout led to a mad scramble in the box that Detroit eventually cleared. The game settled down after JP Rylah's chance went high in the 83rd. In stoppage time, that changed. AFC hit what looked like a final, last-gasp reserve of energy and pressed high, eventually winning a free kick. Jake Rosen took it and it met the head of Martieon Watson who nodded it off the top bar and into the net sending joy throughout the Main Street Hooligans. The Mighty Oak held on for the last few minutes, and the final whistle signaled Watson's goal to be the winner of a hard fought match.
How Did This Happen;
It took a stellar performance from everyone involved. It's hard to pick a man of the match, but when someone plays as hard as Watson did, then scores the winner, how can he not be that man? Watson dominated the left side of the park on attack and defense. He was not the only stellar defender, though. Okumu was an absolute rock in the center of the back line as he made vital clearances more times than one could count, including a goal-saving one too. It's hard to imagine him being able to play a better game today, he did not put a foot wrong and when needed was able to cover up for anyone who had. The defending allowed more freedom for the midfielders to operate and gave the attackers the opportunity to attack on the counter as well.
Speaking of the midfielders, it was an absolute battle in the midfield and the entire midfield crew deserves credit for the performance. In particular, Henry Ramirez proved to be a spark plug for the team in the center of the park. With multiple forward runs as well as tracking back well defensively, Ramirez put in a massive shift in the match today. You also cannot forget about Yuri Farkas who showed his quality time after time, especially in close spaces to get free from defenders. While it was not the attacker who got a goal, he had one of the best chances early in the game and continually was a thorn in the side of the City defense.
Josh Gatt's debut proved cause for buzz early among Detroit City fans, but he did not make a huge impact on the match before getting subbed off. With this being his first match for Detroit, it seems likely that this was more of a way to get his feet wet and perhaps warmed up for FC Cincinnati later in the week. The nice work done on Gatt was the theme as the already mentioned excellent AFC Ann Arbor defending did well to shut down any possible attacks. Any major breakthroughs were cleaned up well by Novotny who did extremely well all game and was a key reason for the clean sheet the Mighty Oak kept. The clean sheet means that AFC haven't allowed a goal in either of their first two NPSL matches, a stretch of 180 minutes that is certainly cause for pride among this strong defensive unit.
Final Thoughts:
It's tough to accurately describe how important how different portion of the team was to the AFC efforts in the match, but they each deserve their own credit. A game that is 0-0 for as long as this one was will always have some nervy moments, but with this Ann Arbor team you felt that their efforts surely had to be rewarded. And rewarded were they indeed.
Up next for the Mighty Oak are two matches in quick succession: an away match at Oakland County FC on May 18th in the opening round of the Milk Cup followed by a trip to face FC Indiana on May 20th.
Follow me on Twitter @RMABTweets for more AFC Ann Arbor coverage, as well as coverage for Michigan basketball and Liverpool FC.
What Happened:
For the better part of the first half, it was a tale of two teams feeling each other out. The teams made an occasional misstep, but with the game played centrally in the midfield neither team could gain the advantage. Yuri Farkas went just wide in the fourth and Michael Shaikly rounded the keeper near the 40th minute but sent the final effort just wide, but those two bits of play did not lead to the breakthrough AFC were hoping for. Detroit City made some runs of their own, but nothing was ultimately that threatening, and the game went into the half at 0-0.
The second half was much more open, starting off with each team grabbing footholds in the match and then struggling back-and-forth, starting with City. In the 52nd minute, keeper Mike Novotny was forced into action making a big kick save, then another diving save in the 58th. In the 69th, Detroit City had their best chance of the game as, with Novotny out of his net after an attempted clearance, Danny Deakin attempted a chip, but the immense Joseph Okumu was there to clear the ball away. Detroit was not finished, however, as late in the half Stephen Carroll had another shot kick-saved by Novotny.
AFC Ann Arbor weathered the storm and counter-punched frequently themselves. Detroit's defense was often left open on the counter attack as City frequently committed numbers forward leading to three-on-three or four-on-four opportunities. One stellar chance came off a corner kick as Fernando Pina's punchout led to a mad scramble in the box that Detroit eventually cleared. The game settled down after JP Rylah's chance went high in the 83rd. In stoppage time, that changed. AFC hit what looked like a final, last-gasp reserve of energy and pressed high, eventually winning a free kick. Jake Rosen took it and it met the head of Martieon Watson who nodded it off the top bar and into the net sending joy throughout the Main Street Hooligans. The Mighty Oak held on for the last few minutes, and the final whistle signaled Watson's goal to be the winner of a hard fought match.
How Did This Happen;
It took a stellar performance from everyone involved. It's hard to pick a man of the match, but when someone plays as hard as Watson did, then scores the winner, how can he not be that man? Watson dominated the left side of the park on attack and defense. He was not the only stellar defender, though. Okumu was an absolute rock in the center of the back line as he made vital clearances more times than one could count, including a goal-saving one too. It's hard to imagine him being able to play a better game today, he did not put a foot wrong and when needed was able to cover up for anyone who had. The defending allowed more freedom for the midfielders to operate and gave the attackers the opportunity to attack on the counter as well.
Speaking of the midfielders, it was an absolute battle in the midfield and the entire midfield crew deserves credit for the performance. In particular, Henry Ramirez proved to be a spark plug for the team in the center of the park. With multiple forward runs as well as tracking back well defensively, Ramirez put in a massive shift in the match today. You also cannot forget about Yuri Farkas who showed his quality time after time, especially in close spaces to get free from defenders. While it was not the attacker who got a goal, he had one of the best chances early in the game and continually was a thorn in the side of the City defense.
Josh Gatt's debut proved cause for buzz early among Detroit City fans, but he did not make a huge impact on the match before getting subbed off. With this being his first match for Detroit, it seems likely that this was more of a way to get his feet wet and perhaps warmed up for FC Cincinnati later in the week. The nice work done on Gatt was the theme as the already mentioned excellent AFC Ann Arbor defending did well to shut down any possible attacks. Any major breakthroughs were cleaned up well by Novotny who did extremely well all game and was a key reason for the clean sheet the Mighty Oak kept. The clean sheet means that AFC haven't allowed a goal in either of their first two NPSL matches, a stretch of 180 minutes that is certainly cause for pride among this strong defensive unit.
Final Thoughts:
It's tough to accurately describe how important how different portion of the team was to the AFC efforts in the match, but they each deserve their own credit. A game that is 0-0 for as long as this one was will always have some nervy moments, but with this Ann Arbor team you felt that their efforts surely had to be rewarded. And rewarded were they indeed.
Up next for the Mighty Oak are two matches in quick succession: an away match at Oakland County FC on May 18th in the opening round of the Milk Cup followed by a trip to face FC Indiana on May 20th.
Follow me on Twitter @RMABTweets for more AFC Ann Arbor coverage, as well as coverage for Michigan basketball and Liverpool FC.
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