Pelicans FC White

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)