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by Robert "Pennywise" Gray

Insmouth stayed home for the second successive game in Campeonato Série A to welcome Whitehouse FC (185). The visitors were dangerously close to relegation places after the first half of the season during their debut campaign in the top flight. Manager chappyoung needed points to establish his side and keep them at this level. Good results against the top teams were considered a bonus in that quest.

Reverse fixture result (Match Day 1):
Whitehouse FC - Insmouth Cheetahs 0-3 (Furtado 2, Francescoli)

Insmouth Gazette pundits were unanimous with all 10 favoring Cheetahs for the win.

Derry Sewers was finally packed with a 10,000 crowd once again and some 1,684 fans even failed to obtain the precious ticket for the game.

Insmouth maintained the usual 4-5-1 formation. Michael Leitz (54) stepped down to the bench and his LB position was taken by keeper Giacomo Feriani (61). Striker Cian Jaggar (61) retained his RM role with Lutu Francescoli still serving suspension. Winger Éverton Tavares (55) was declared fit after his injury and received his debut in Cheetahs shirt, starting on the left side of midfield. The biggest issue Insmouth had was the suspension of star striker Leo Furtado and DM Lyapo Adelaja (73) was asked to fill in as the lone forward for this match.

Whitehouse FC picked a weird 5-2-3 formation and fielded attacking midfielder Havel Koniarek (41) as a part of the front line trio. There was some quality in the side, particularly in defense where Andrzej Niemojewski (52), Filipe Bolzan (56), Espoir Bakaji (59) and David Illingworth (53) formed a strong backbone in front of goalkeeper Dave Payne (58.) High hopes were pinned on DM Bernardo Vieira (61) who had the tough job of handling the midfield.

Cheetahs were the better side in all areas, particularly in midfield and especially in attack as despite the absense of Furtado Whitehouse simply couldn't count on any sufficiently talented strikers to pose a genuine threat.

The match went just as predicted. The visitors were pinned in their own half and didn't have the personnel to hold the ball - there was no quality up front and no bodies in between which invited consistent pressure on the defense.

It wasn't a rude match as there weren't many challenges to begin with however this made every foul stick out and eventually our CM Ayinde Ojaide (63) picked up a yellow for a rather harmless challenge.

26' - Yellow Card! CM Ayinde Ojaide (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Insmouth enjoyed total control over the match but showed strange reluctance to shoot from the long range distance. With Adelaja leading the line we expected to see a lot of link up play between him and the midfielders behind releasing them in good positions to shoot but instead it was Adelaja himself who looked to finish each attack.

This resulted in a number of missed opportunities which is exactly what you get when you ask your DM to score the goals.

However our dominance was so overwhelming that when Cian Jaggar broke through down the right hand side and sent a low ball across the goalsmouth near the end of the first half, Adelaja had a simple tap-in to do and he finally got the opener Insmouth needed!

41' - GOAL!!! 1-0 CF Lyapo Adelaja (RM Cian Jaggar assist)

During the entire first half Whitehouse only managed a couple long range efforts from Havel Koniarek who played on the left side of attack and ignored better opportunities to attempt long range efforts. The attacking midfielder obviously didn't feel well in his forward role and Insmouth should have been thankful he started there.

Cheetahs continued to dominate after the break but stubbornly persisted with trying to find Adelaja in the box. We rarely brought the players behind in and it was strange to watch doing the same thing over and over again when it was so obviously not working.

Veteran Whitehouse striker Werner Dörnefeldt (40) picked up a yellow card for strongly objecting to an offside flag. TV replays suggested it was a close call and it came as a warning sign - our defense had so little to do and really needed to guard against complacency as one such through ball could obliterate our fragile lead.

63' - Yellow Card! CF Werner Dörnefeldt (Whitehouse FC)

Insmouth missed a couple more chances until subs time arrived. We passed on the opportunity to freshen things up while the visitors made a couple changes, bringing off veteran striker Takuro Honda (35) and DM Jefferson Nogueira (39) to replace them with teenage forward Julio Rojas (26) and playmaker Aurel Martinek (39).

70' - Substitution (Whitehouse FC): RCM Jefferson Nogueira (39) off; playmaker Aurel Martinek (39) on

72' - Substitution (Whitehouse FC): RCF Takuro Honda (35) off; striker Julio Rojas (26) on

Aurel Martinek definitely freshened things up for the away team. Despite the little time on the ball he had in midfield, the playmaker made good decisions and pulled a dangerous forward pass which forced our CB Bettino Vetrano (69) to use his body and block Werner Dörnefeldt from getting to the ball in a delicate position. It cost Bettino a booking.

76' - Yellow Card! RCB Bettino Vetrano (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Despite having a 5 to 2 advantage in midfield, Insmouth failed to adapt to the new threat in the initial minutes and resorted to stopping Martinek with fouls.

This gave Whitehouse precious footing in our half and soon enough away fullback Andrzej Niemojewski used one of those set pieces to cross a good ball in our box. Our defense was caught napping and Werner Dörnefeldt somehow got to the ball - even though he didn't make a clear contact, a shoulder touch was enough to redirect it in our net!

79' - GOAL!!! 1-1 CF Werner Dörnefeldt (RB Andrzej Niemojewski assist)

The equalizer was a heavy price to pay for complacency after we had had so many chances to seal the game with a second goal. With so little time left on the clock Insmouth now had to step up and find a way to win it.

To their credit, our midfielders upped the tempo and pushed the visitors deep in their own box. Whitehouse were content with the score and resigned to defending the last minutes out.

Which was exactly what they did until the referee assigned 2 minutes of added time.

That's when our new acquisition, winger Éverton Tavares (55) erupted with a mazy run down the left hand side and for the first time in the match attempted something different than the monotonous balls sent towards Adelaja in the box. He surprised the Whitehouse defense with a backpass towards Kikugoro Sugahara and our Japanese attacking midfielder didn't hesitate to take a low shot that sneaked through the legs of an away player and tangled in the net, leaving keeper Payne stranded!

90' - GOAL!!! 2-1 LCM Kikugoro Sugahara (LM Éverton Tavares assist)

This also proved to be the winning goal and it was duly celebrated by our players and the fans even though they would have much preferred a less heartstopping closure!

Final score: Insmouth Cheetahs (3) - Whitehouse FC (186) 2-1 (Lyapo Adelaja 41, Kikugoro Sugahara 90; Werner Dörnefeldt 79)
Man of the Match: CF Lyapo Adelaja (Insmouth Cheetahs)

Campeonato Série A Match Day 20 results:

Red Onions (4) - Cf Craiovitza (456) 3-0
Peregrinos (7) - CLUB AMERICA (177) 2-0
Alexandra County (40) - Fluminese (584) 2-0
The Rockets (20) - Astonian FC (185) 2-0

While all title challengers won this round, there was a surprise as high-flying Homeboyz FC were held to a draw at Carvetii FC and Alexandra County leapfrogged them in the table. The Rockets also took advantage of that slip up to edge closer:

1. Insmouth...........__ 56 44-8
2. Red Onions............ 52 45-9
3. Peregrinos............. 49 41-14
4. Alexandra Countyw 44 38-17
5. Homeboyz FC.._____ 43 38-15
6. The Rockets....____ 40 34-14

Insmouth Gazette Pundits

Time for our pundits section. This round was rather easy for them and it came down to nailing precise scores to score bonus points. There were no changes in the leaderboard and andyoz remained top after extending his lead over colins70 tp eight points. Let's see how the leaderboard looks after Match Day 20:

1. andyoz.........__ 227pts
2. colins70............219pts
3. wally............__ 202pts
4. scotty1962..___ 173pts
5. mackfishy......._ 170pts
6. ironpsycho....__ 168pts
7. jpjjpj............... 162pts
8. AberdeenAngels 158pts
9. Tstuff......_____ 135pts
10. aknight2000__ 121pts
11. ozzymac......__ 110pts

Our next update will cover Match Day 21 that was played on Monday!