Challenge

BAKU-CITY
Spectators: 50 (Terracing: 38, Seating: 11, VIP seats: 1) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Rod Williamson kicked off to start the match. Philip Palmer made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Häsrät Azamämmädov in the 5th minute of play. Albert Shaw's late challenge caught a --FIRELAND--'s player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Albert Shaw helped the player get up and apologised. Albert Shaw hit a great freekick 6 minutes into the match. Imran Yusubov took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from William Rennie, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. After 9 minutes --FIRELAND--'s defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Rod Williamson who took care of the corner kick. Rod Williamson might have been able to make a better finish in the 13th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Imran Yusubov. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Rod Williamson ran back to his position shaking his head. Imran Yusubov showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from William Rennie, who was totally free with the ball in the 14th minute. The audience was convinced that Rod Williamson's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Imran Yusubov was relentless in the 17th minute of the game. If William Rennie had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 36th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. 38 minutes into the match, Sojourner Truth Pioneers's goal looked a bit too open when Alberto de Souza came free, but Philip Palmer reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. With a little luck, Sojourner Truth Pioneers's Philip Palmer got control of the ball when Häsrät Azamämmädov tried to sneak it across the goal line. In the 44th minute Alberto de Souza shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Philip Palmer saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. A collision led to Sojourner Truth Pioneers getting a freekick after 46 minutes play. Albert Shaw hit a great ball.

The hometeam waved at the audience when it was time for Miloš Šlehofer to strike the kick off in the second half. Alberto de Souza fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 55th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Philip Palmer having to interfere. In the 60th minute, Miloš Šlehofer made a precise shot to the right of Philip Palmer. Sojourner Truth Pioneers's defense was at fault, and the scoreboard reflected the new score, 1-0. --FIRELAND--'s Imran Yusubov proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 69th minute of the match, managed to save --FIRELAND-- from getting a goal against them. In the 70th play minute Rod Williamson came free and shot an unsuspected shot which went into goal from the right pole behind a surprised Imran Yusubov. 1-1. Imran Yusubov made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from William Rennie in the 73rd minute of play. Imran Yusubov came out of the goal in the 73rd minute to try and stop a shot by Sojourner Truth Pioneers's William Rennie. But to his dismay, William Rennie quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 1-2. Albert Shaw hit a great freekick 75 minutes into the match. Alberto de Souza fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 82nd minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Philip Palmer having to interfere. Zeynal Malişov charged in rather forcefully in the 86th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Zeynal Malişov the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. When Alberto de Souza came up free with the goalie in the 88th minute, the --FIRELAND-- fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Alberto de Souza couldn't finish the play. Rod Williamson hit a great freekick 89 minutes into the match. 95 minutes into the match, Alberto de Souza had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Philip Palmer. Sojourner Truth Pioneers's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Alberto de Souza was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 3-2. --FIRELAND--'s supporters were delighted with their team's performance and swarmed onto the pitch at the end of the match to celebrate the victory with the players.