In a sign of things to come, Jackson 5 indoor soccer team put on a great show against Minter Ellison in the Wednesday night indoor soccer competition. It was a battle of the law firms, with Jackson McDonald clearly the better side.
An early (and lucky) goal by Minter Ellison paved the way for a fast paced match. Soon after, a Minters player deliberately handled the ball just on the edge of their penalty area. For some strange reason, all the Minters players could think of was that Mike Haydon was going to shoot at goals from such a close range, leaving Alex Lustig completely free one meter from the goals! Not even the goalkeeper was watching him! Preferring a certain goal to glory, Mike Haydon faked a shot and passed to Alex who scored with deadly accuracy.
Soon after, a Minters player was given a red card for a dangerous sliding tackle against one of Jackson 5’s players. Strangely enough, the referee rescinded the card, allowing the player to continue playing. Discussions among the Jackson 5 players after the game revealed that the tackle was probably not serious enough to warrant the player being sent off.
In the second half, a poorly timed pass by a Minter Ellison player left Mike Haydon a clear run from one end of the pitch to the other with only one defender and the goalkeeper to beat. Despite a recent comeback from a knee injury, Mike raced to the goals and scored in style, leaving the goalkeeper kicking the goal posts (no really, the keeper stood up, turned around and started kicking the post! It was hilarious!).
Less than a minute later, Mike again had the ball at his feet and with a flash of his former skills, took on the entire Minters team and showed them how indoor soccer is played. Cutting the defense to ribbons, Mike scored a great goal. The scoreboard showed Jackson McDonald 3, Minter Ellison 1.
In an unlucky collision, a Minters shot ricocheted off Catherine Haydon past Matt Bowen (who by the way played brilliantly, as always) into the goals for an own goal. Soon after, Minters drew level with a very lucky goal that somehow squeezed between 3 players, Matt and the post without touching any of them.
Final score: 3-3
Despite all the above, the player of the night was clearly Lidija Sliskovic who was rock solid in defense, set up a number of goal scoring opportunities and came within centimeters of scoring several times.
The highlight of the night was the way Jackson 5 played together… as a team. There were some great combinations between Catherine Haydon, Jeremy Forsyth, Jamie Blanchard, Alex Lustig and Tristan Cockman and Jackson 5 dominated the game. Matt Bowen was superb in goals, displaying outstanding agility and skill.
Jackson 5 was unlucky not to walk away with a victory, but given the way they played tonight… the future is very bright for Jackson 5.