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by Robert "Pennywise" Gray

Insmouth returned home to start the second string of tough fixtures our schedule climaxed in at the end of the first half of this season. We welcomed Qingnianlu City (167), a midtable club residing comfortably in 10th place under the secure leadership of long serving manager ronaldstothard.

Insmouth Gazette pundits didn't expect any surprises here and all 10 who gave us a prediction thought Cheetahs would win.

Derry Sewers continued the worrying recent trend of not picking up a capacity crowd as this time just 8,863 viewers arrived at the 10,000 ground.

Insmouth maintained the usual 4-5-1 formation. LB Michael Leitz (52) got his third start in a row and Bernardo Azzolina (54) filled in at RB for the suspended Shane Pybus (71). Changes in the starting lineup were concluded with striker Takafumi Daiwa (57) replacing Cian Jaggar (57) in the midfield slot next to right winger Lutu Francescoli (74).

Qingnianlu City employed a more aggressive 4-3-3 formation with key players expected to be keeper Flavio Faioli (52), CB Kasper Blood (62), DM Filipe Moniz (57), CM Dener Astete (60) and strikers Cameron Watson (60) and Daniel Littell (62).

Insmouth had a slight advantage in all areas except for defense, where the difference in quality was largely in our favor.

Expectations were for a hard battle in the middle and goals in both nets with Insmouth probably exploiting the visitors weak links in defense. The opening minutes painted a different picture. Cheetahs got a firm grip over proceedings and didn't leave the away team any time on the ball. There was a battle in terms of rough challenges from both sides but it didn't translate in evenly shared possession. Insmouth had total dominance in this component.

There were however early sparks when our winger Lutu Francescoli clashed with visitors DM Filipe Moniz after a fiery tackle. Lutu reacted strongly after just returning from injury and the referee cooled the passions with cards for both players - Moniz for the tackle and Francescoli for his reaction.

8' - Yellow Card! Filipe Moniz (Qingnianlu City)

8' - Yellow Card! Lutu Francescoli (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Insmouth had so much of the ball it inevitably lead to chances in front of the away goal. The first ones were long shots but we gradually tightened the grip and soon enough Leo Furtado broke free in the box and went around away keeper Faioli. Faioli went for the ball and had no option but to get to it - however Furtado was the first to get a touch and then went down. The referee watched the situation closely and pointed the spot.

28' - Yellow Card! Flavio Faioli (Qingnianlu City)

Furtado took the penalty kick himself and hammered a powerful shot... but Faioli guessed the direction correct, dived to his right and pushed it away! The Qingnianlu defenders hacked the ball away before Francescoli got to a rebound while Furtado had his face in his hands.

Cheetahs continued to attack until the end of the half but the missed penalty affected Furtado's confidence and he opted to pass instead of shoot in the only other good opportunity we created before the break.

The second half opening was much more even and the visitors had their first good chances in the match. Forwards Watson and Vieira couldn't finish those attacks though and Qingnianlu missed out on a wonderful opportunity to capitalize.

Insmouth were quick to punish this wastefulness. Left sided midfielder Kikugoro Sugahara delivered a good cross in the box and Furtado headed it home to make up for his earlier miss from the spot and give us the lead!

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

Instead of spurring the visitors to action, this goal caused them to fall back. Qingnianlu rarely had much of the ball from this point forward and barely managed to string a few passes together once they crossed the half line.

Just when it was starting to look Insmouth would score a second to kill it off, a quick counter presented the visitors with a great chance to get back in the match. Moniz was released with space on the flank and attempted a dangerous cross which met the hand of Bettino Vetrano. It was an unfortunate deflection the referee spotted and even though our defender didn't mean to stop the ball he conceded a penalty and got booked for it.

68' - Yellow Card! Bettino Vetrano (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Qingnianlu striker Daniel Littell stepped up to take it as the visiting fans geared up for celebrating an equalizer. Moments later these fans went in the other end of the spectrum as Littell smashed the ball against the left post and it went out!

A couple minutes later Insmouth took RB Bernardo Azzolina off to replace him with keeper Giacomo Feriani (59).

70' - Substitution (Insmouth Cheetahs): RB Bernardo Azzolina (54) off; goalkeeper Giacomo Feriani (59) on

Soon after the visitors made a sub as well, bringing in teenage striker Tymofiy Kupka to replace the tiring Cameron Watson.

72' - Substitution (Qingnianlu City): RCF Cameron Watson (60) off; striker Tymofiy Kupka (17) on

Instead of refreshing the away attack this sub failed to affect the game at all and the last 20 minutes went under Insmouth's dominance. We couldn't score the second goal but also didn't allow the opposition anywhere near our box.

The significant added time of five minutes didn't help Qingnianlu either and they were left to rue the early second half misses and the penalty Littell failed to convert in this match Insmouth won by the tiniest of margins.

Final score: Insmouth Cheetahs (3) - Qingnianlu City (167) 1-0 (Leo Furtado 52)
Man of the Match: Leo Furtado (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Campeonato Série A Match Day 17 results:

Jitterbug Pancakes (538.) - Red Onions (4) 1-2
Skl United (197) - Peregrinos (7) 0-2
Alexandra County (38.) - Whitehouse FC (177) 2-0
The Rockets (21) - Brynsadler FC (151) 2-1

As surprise package Homeboyz FC also won there were no changes in the top six of the league table:

1. Insmouth...........__ 47 39-6
2. Red Onions............ 45 38-8
3. Peregrinos............. 42 35-12
4. Homeboyz FC.._____ 39 34-11
5. Alexandra Countyw 38 32-14
6. The Rockets....____ 37 29-12

Insmouth Gazette Pundits

Time for our pundits section. This was an easy round with all favorites winning their matches so it came down to who was able to register more correct scores. Things remained tied at the helm as both andyoz and colins70 picked up the same points. There was a change in the bottom as lawtons11 withdrew from the race for the time being and Tstuff, aknight2000 and ozzymac moved up by 1 position. Let's see how the leaderboard looks after Match Day 17:

1. andyoz.........__ 189pts
1. colins70............189pts
3. wally............__ 170pts
4. ironpsycho....__ 150pts
5. scotty1962..___ 148pts
6. mackfishy......._ 147pts
7. AberdeenAngels 140pts
8. jpjjpj............... 137pts
9. Tstuff......_____ 111pts
10. aknight2000__ 104pts
11. ozzymac........... 87pts

It was Cup day right after and we promised to provide coverage for both the Brazilian Cup final and the Quarter-finals of the Inter Cup Platinum Cup so stay with us to see how our pundits fared in predicting those!