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by Robert "Pennywise" Gray

Insmouth hit the road again for one of the few away games that weren't expected to pose huge problems this season - a trip to The Rats Nest, home of newly promoted Rattus Rattus 2nd. Our hosts were finding life in Campeonato Série A tough after manager Kyth guided them to 3rd place and promotion last campaign and were dangerously close to relegation zone.

Insmouth Gazette pundits strongly backed Cheetahs for the win with all 8 who gave us a prediction expecting a strong performance and 3 points for us.

The Rats Nest gathered a crowd of 6,384 - slightly under the 7,000 capacity of the ground.

Rattus Rattus 2nd relied on 4-4-2 formation and fielded a lineup of mixed quality with inexperienced players partnering much more developed ones in each area of the pitch. Key players for the hosts were goalkeeper Pompiliu Milescu (56), winger Ian Patrick (49) and veteran hole player Yoriyuki Sakurai (50).

Insmouth reverted back to our standard 4-5-1 and handed a second consecutive start to fullback Michael Leitz (52) on the left side of defense, which meant Bernardo Azzolina (54) had to drop to the bench. Winger Lutu Francescoli (74) made a much anticipated return after injury and striker Cian Jaggar (57) was asked to link up with him on the right side of our midfield.

Insmouth had a significant advantage in all areas.

This quickly showed in vastly superior possession however our players were desperately wide off the mark with their shooting in the opening minutes.

Cheetahs were much more aggressive and the referee showed a worrying tendency to blow the whistle for relatively innocent physical challenges. Furthermore he was quick to pull a yellow card when Insmouth DM Lyapo Adelaja (72) conceded the first obvious foul in the match with a late challenge in the middle.

10' - Yellow Card! Lyapo Adelaja (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Thanks to those decisions Rattus Rattus 2nd had a large number of set pieces and ample opportunities to loop the ball forward but they failed to make that count and most of their attacks showed dire lack of understanding in the final third as their strikers were caught offside time and time again.

Insmouth had no problems with holding the ball but we simply had no final product. Furthermore the frequent fouls deprived the match of any dynamic and we were failing to get our rhythm right.

The first half turned into a protracted sequence of set pieces and the hosts made the most of it by delaying taking each of them to send bodies forward before looping the ball forward - but they always had enough in the back to quickly regroup and defend when each cross was inevitably dealt with.

Insmouth's biggest failure in the first half was inability to catch the home team on the break as our passing went mostly sideways and killed off any momentum.

We improved after the break by getting much better service to Furtado in the box but it seemed our star forward was having an off day as he wasted too many good balls with opportunistic shots and generally trying to do the more complicated thing when better options were available.

The hosts continued to waste time and they were quite efficient about it as minutes rolled by and Insmouth looked short of fresh ideas in front of goal.

Cheetahs opted for a peculiar tactical sub with 20 minutes to go - fullback Michael Leitz was replaced by young hole player Shubham Tendulkar (33). While this had become a common change for us we usually went for it when in the lead and not while desperately chasing goals.

70' - Substitution (Insmouth Cheetahs): LCB Michael Leitz (52) off; hole player Shubham Tendulkar (33) on

If the intention was for the young striker to freshen up things with more directness down the left hand side it didn't work well. The Indian teenager remained largely isolated from play and rarely had any touches at all.

The match entered the final ten minutes and Rattus Rattus 2nd were edging closer to a vital point.

It was the worst time for right back Shane Pybus (71) to concede a foul deep in our own half. Up to this point we had limited those set piece opportunities to a fairly large distance but this one was close enough for a direct effort or a dangerous cross.

And of course the referee didn't hesitate to reach for his pocket.

81' - Yellow Card! Shane Pybus (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Rattus attacking midfielder Anderson Ventura (38.) surprised everyone with a direct effort that bounced just before reaching our keeper and Rosewarns had no choice but to use his body to block the shot. The ball fell to home striker Sakurai and his shot was cleared off the line by CB Bettino Vetrano (67). More like it hit Vetrano - with the goal wide open! Insmouth failed to get the ball away from the box and the other home striker Kurylenko managed to produce yet another shot on target but it was a tame effort Rosewarns had no problem to collect.

Insmouth immediately launched a quick counter and this time it caught Rattus Rattus 2nd unprepared. Our LM Kikugoro Sugahara (64) raced towards the box and was tripped by the home RB Gustavo Cavalcanti (43). In a matter of seconds the table reversed and it was we who had a good free kick opportunity.

82' - Yellow Card! Gustavo Cavalcanti (Rattus Rattus 2nd)

Leo Furtado laid the ball and curled a beautiful ball high into the close corner of the net to finally open the score and make up for his numerous misses earlier in the match!

82' - GOAL!!! 0-1 - Leo Furtado (Kikugoro Sugahara assist)

This was a real sucker punch for the hosts and their sound defensive play collapsed in the minutes after. Insmouth moved in for the kill and pinned them back in their own box.

Curiously enough Rattus conceded only their first corner kick in the match during the siege. It was taken by Cian Jaggar and he delivered a good cross that caught the keeper in no man's land and allowed our CB Bettino Vetrano (67) to power a close range header that cracked against the bar and into the net!

85' - GOAL!!! 0-1 - Bettino Vetrano (Cian Jaggar assist)

This quickfire double proved too much for the hosts and Insmouth secured vital points in the title chase against an opponent that turned up quite hard to break down.

Final score: Rattus Rattus 2nd (264) - Insmouth Cheetahs (3) 0-2 (Leo Furtado 82, Bettino Vetrano 85)
Man of the Match: Bettino Vetrano (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Campeonato Série A Match Day 16 results:

Red Onions (4) - Skl United (187) 2-1
Peregrinos (7) - 1980 Classico AFC (171) 3-0
Homeboyz FC (64) - Alexandra County (35) 2-2
Qingnianlu City (167) - The Rockets (20) 1-3

The results didn't lead to any changes in the league table however the draw in the unexpected derby between Homeboyz FC and Alexandra allowed the leading trio to pull away at the top and The Rockets to close the gap to those two teams:

1. Insmouth...........__ 44 38-6
2. Red Onions............ 42 36-7
3. Peregrinos............. 39 33-12
4. Homeboyz FC.._____ 36 32-11
5. Alexandra Countyw 35 30-14
6. The Rockets....____ 34 27-11

Insmouth Gazette Pundits

Time for our pundits section. Not all of them nailed the derby game draw and with a few missing out on predicting this round there were some changes in the chart. Things got as heated as ever at the top with andyoz catching up with leader colins70 to share the leader position. A little under scotty1962 and mackfishy took advantage of ironpsycho skipping this round to edge closer to 4th. Sadly aknight2000's set of predictions arrived late and he missed out on 5 points that would have put him level with Tstuff in 10th. Let's see how the leaderboard looks after Match Day 16:

1. andyoz.........__ 182pts
1. colins70............182pts
3. wally............__ 163pts
4. ironpsycho....__ 143pts
5. scotty1962..___ 141pts
6. mackfishy......._ 140pts
7. AberdeenAngels 135pts
8. jpjjpj............... 132pts
9. lawtons11.....__ 119pts
10. Tstuff......____ 104pts
11. aknight2000..... 99pts
12. ozzymac........... 87pts

The hectic schedule of Campeonato Série A resumed with even more games so stay tuned for our update for Match Day 17 which had our pundits predict the following matches:

Insmouth Cheetahs (3) - Qingnianlu City (167)
Jitterbug Pancakes (539) - Red Onions (4)
Skl United (187) - Peregrinos (7)
Whitehouse FC (179) - Alexandra County (35)
The Rockets (20) - Brynsadler FC (147)