Pelicans FC White

The Perrin Cup draw was released late last night. Pelicans FC Blue is matched up against second division side Inter Atlanta FC, Pelicans FC White is matched up against new league joiners Estudiantes from the 3rd division and Pelicans FC Black draws Sting Gold from the first division. Should be exciting games all around. The match times are not set yet, but the first round will be played on 11/6.

Last year the Pelicans Football Club saw two of the clubs three teams advance to the quarterfinals. Let’s see if the club can surpass that this season!

About the Perrin Cup: The Perrin Cup is named for Chris Perrin a former player, manager and officer of the League who died of cancer in the late 80’s. The Perrin cup is an intra-league knockout style tournament which can provide a team anywhere from one to six additional games of play. The Cup is played throughout the length of the season and is a single-elimination format. Teams are drawn in a double-blind method with the only stipulation being the Division 1 teams will not meet in the first round. Once listed on a line up sheet, players are bound to that team only for the remainder of the Cup. Preliminary round games ending in ties will go straight to penalty kicks to determine advancement.

http://www.adasl.com/PERRIN.asp

(October 3, 2011 – Atlanta, GA) – Pelicans FC White kicked off the 2011-2012 ADASL season against their arch rivals Bafana on a picture perfect fall morning. Gracing the field for the Pelicans in this season opener were a mix of familiar old and new faces – of the new blood, ex-Bafana standout Mitch Losey started with a point to prove.

Pelicans FC White got off to a confident start against the initially short handed Bafana. The Pelicans were having their way with early possession, but other than a few crosses from the right side which troubled both the Bafana keeper and back-line, the Pelicans couldn’t really fashion any gilt edged chances. Perhaps most promising to Pelicans management was the performance of their early defense as Bafana struggled to string more than a few passes together, and failed to test Pelican’s stand-in keeper Jem McAbee in any way.

About a third of the way through the first half, the Pelicans finally broke the deadlock. After another menacing run and teasing cross from the right-side, the Pelicans forced a corner from the left side. Captain and longtime Pelican Lawrence Monroe ambled over to take the set-piece and promptly dispatched it directly in to the Bafana goal leaving both the keeper and a defender on top of each other inside the old onion bag. It was no more than the Pelicans deserved, and certainly settled any nerves they may have had.

Bafana were soon at full strength as their kit manager and known lush Tommy Evans finally arrived with their gear. However, the evening up of numbers did not stop Pelicans FC White from dominating possession, and blanking every attacking option Bafana had to offer. Particular standouts were the roles played by DeShaun, Justin and Nick – each of whom dealt admirably with the threat of one of the ADASL’s most prolific scorers, Shaun Camay. As the half petered out to the constant and erratic whistle of the referee, Pelicans maintained their one goal advantage.

Pelicans White opened the second half with perhaps the best ball movement of the game. Several players were involved from back to front with some lovely one touch passing. Alas, as was the case in much of the first half, not a great deal came of this movement in the final third. Bafana threatened a few times in the first third of the second half, but again the Pelicans defense held strong and forced a number of Bafana attempts from distance. However, the Pelicans would soon take control of the game again, and repeal any remaining threat to their goal.

Once again, just as the second half had begun, Pelicans FC White produced a series of passes in which Bafana were chasing shadows. At the heart of this move was Richard Henry who showed patience and unselfishness to put captain marvelous Lawrence Monroe through on goal. With poise and composure, he slotted the ball past the on rushing keeper to put the away team on top two goals to zero. Bafana heads dropped, and the result was put beyond doubt. Pelicans FC White will hope to take this performance to Southern Wolves next week.

Match report courtesy of Roy McClymont

The club has seen some big changes this offseason as they saw Pelicans FC Blue of the 2nd division get promoted to the first division and Pelicans FC White get promoted to the second division. The club now has a team in each of the 3 divisions with Pelicans FC Black looking to take the title in the third division this season.

The club has added some strong talent across all three teams and will be looking to show it’s the upcoming club ready to push for the each of the division titles.

Pelicans FC Blue will be supported by both lower division teams to make a strong run in the first division as well as the Perrin Cup. While White and Black will go for their respective division titles.

Welcome to the club for all the new players!

Pelicans FC 2011-2012 season kicks off October 2nd. Come out and support the club!

The club has seen some big changes this offseason as they saw Pelicans FC Blue of the 2nd division get promoted to the first division and Pelicans FC White get promoted to the second division. The club now has a team in each of the 3 divisions with Pelicans FC Black looking to take the title in the third division this season.

The club has added some strong talent across all three teams and will be looking to show it’s the upcoming club ready to push for the each of the division titles.

Pelicans FC Blue will be supported by both lower division teams to make a strong run in the first division as well as the Perrin Cup. While White and Black will go for their respective division titles.

Welcome to the club for all the new players!

Pelicans FC 2011-2012 season kicks off October 2nd. Come out and support the club!

The recent snow and ice in the Atlanta area may be gone, but its lingering effects lingered on this past Sunday. Despite a perfect partly sunny day with moderate temperatures, only 2 matches in the ADASL were played and they were located on the artificial turf at Silverback Park. Other games postponed will have to be made up at a later date in the season.

The day began with 2nd place FC Silverbacks 2pts ahead of Pelicans FC White in the 3rd division standings. In the tight race for promotion from the 3rd division, this would be considered a vital fixture to get positive points. FC Silverbacks were on home turf and would have that home field advantage to be the favored team in the match. For Pelicans White, a victory would catapult them 2 places in the standings for the week.

The match started brightly for Pelicans as they used fluid passing to control the midfield, but they were not able to benefit in the final 3rd as the FC Silverbacks defense stood solid. Then on 20 minutes, FC Silverbacks got an advantage against the run of play. Pelicans had been getting most of the ball up to this point, but a ball over the top found its way back toward the Pelican’s goal. The Pelicans keeper came out of his box trying to get to the ball before the on rushing FC Silverbacks striker, but the FC Silverbacks player was able to tap the ball over the keeper and settle the ball for an easy goal for a Silverbacks 1 – 0 lead. 2 minutes later, FC Silverbacks would increase their lead on what was clearly an offides run that was missed by the linesman.

Down 2 – 0, events were already getting desperate and on 20 minutes, it was to get worse. A Pelican’s player who was earlier received a yellow card for disent, was given his second yellow and dismissed on 20 minutes for another late challenge. There were arguments that the same type of challenge on the Pelican’s player had earlier gone unpunished and the Pelicans bench felt wrongly done by the 2nd yellow on their player.

Despite the early goals, Pelicans still maintained an edge in possession as they looked to unlock a touch Silverbacks defense. But then on a poor clearance and already a 2 goal lead, FC Silverbacks asserted themselves in the match to keep the pressure on Pelicans on 36 minutes with a fantastic long range effort from Silverback attacker, Greivin Vega. It all started harmless enough at midfield. Vega took possession of a rebound about 40 yards out, as defenders backed off, Vega moved forward a few paces and let lose with a stinging shot from 25 yards out getting past the keeper and giving FC Silverbacks a 3 – 0.

Pelicans must have felt aggrieved after putting so much in a vital match like this and getting precious little in return.

The second half started with FC Silverbacks maintaining their advantage in control and possession and Vega would get on the score sheet again on 50 minutes. On 51 minutes there would be another flash point in the match. It seemed clear to the Pelicans players that they were not getting calls for some hard fouls in the middle of the pitch. Dalibor Amanovic approached the match referee to show him what was happening. While describing how he was repeatedly fouled Daca tapped the ref with his elbow as he demonstrated how he was fouled, but the referee immediately issued a straight red for touching him. Dismay from Pelican’s players followed but the referee waved away protests.

Later in the half a good move up the left found Vega in possession left of the penalty area. Again Vega was able to move and turn to lose his marker and put in a low shot which beat the keeper for a 4 – 0 match.

Now down to 9 men, and down by 4 goals, all seemed lost. But Pelicans fought on.

Up to this point, FC Silverbacks had been getting the best out of the match in possession and control. Now down to 9 men, Pelicans played some of the best football of the match. Chances were coming now for Pelicans but the finishing was not good enough and they couldn’t find a goal for their hard work. FC Silverbacks Vega would give the final answer as he grabbed his hat-trick and Silverbacks 5th goal of the match to round out the scoring and finalize the victory at Silverback park by the score of 5 – 0.

Though a setback for Pelicans FC White, they still remain in the mix with plenty of time to bounce back from this defeat to work their own path toward promotion. Pelican’s also remain in the Perrin Cup as they have a February 13th date against 1st division’s Georgia Tech FC.

(Match Report contributions by Andre Bomar – Atlanta Footballnet www.atlanta-footballnet.com; edits by Steve Cantonis)