Monsters 4-0 Geordies

Sunday 25th April 2010

Monsters Park, Teesside. Att: 31,495.

Ian Parker's long-awaited comeback game turned out to be one he'll remember for a long time as the England midfielder netted a hat-trick in the Tyne-Tees derby as the Monsters routed the Newcastle Geordies four goals to nil.

23-year-old Parker had finally made his return in the green-and-purple shirt after recovering from a serious knee injury suffered last August which forced him to miss the remainder of last season as well as Monsters' Champions League adventure which continues.

And the Teesside outfit will benefit from his comeback as he stunned the Geordies by hitting a perfect hat-trick.

The auburn-haired speedster linked up very well with Darren Watkinson, and after a one-two with the midfielder, Parker chipped Newcastle stopper Jackie Stackman with the outside of his left foot.

He later scored the second with a superb leaping header, outjumping Geordies' big Swiss centre-back Martin Machler, from Quique's cross.

And for Stackman, whose hopes of making the cut for England's CSA World Cup squad appear to be vanishing week after week, the misery would not end as Spain striker Quique scored the third before Parker completed his treble with a 20-yard rocket with his preferred right foot to give the Monsters a valuable victory over their most hated rivals.

Goals

Monsters: Parker 13', 57', 87', Quique 76'.

Geordies: none.

FC London 5-4 London Town

Saturday 27th March

FC London Stadium, London. Att: 46,680.

FC London completed possibly the biggest comeback in BritLeague history, downing London Town 5-4 in another BritLeague classic to give the reigning champions their second league defeat.

The Megahoops found themselves 4-0 down at half-time after a dominant London Town performance.

The Blues are exponents of scoring early goals and today was no exception as John Carey netted his fourth goal of the campaign after only four minutes.

And Carey stunned the red and white faithful at the FC London Stadium into awful silence as his stunning free-kick put Town 2-0 up after only ten minutes' play.

Poor width from FCL allowed Town left-back Ashton Reid to run the full length of the pitch and he let rip a 20-yard left-footer which had no chance for 'keeper Christian Watson.

Many predicted the game was already over in the first half, as FCL old boy James Douglas made it four without reply, silencing the fans who called him Judas and booed every single touch he made of the ball.

In fact, at half-time, many FCL fans left the ground in disgust.

But despite the scoreline, FCL were far from out of it.

Clearly inspired by a heated team-talk by manager Brian Young, FCL began to take control of the game in the second half and on the hour mark, Hoops winger Craig Palmer broke through into the box and threw himself to the floor on Niko Tomic. However, despite strong arguments from the Town players, the referee decided it was a penalty despite replays showing that golden-haired wizard Palmer clearly dived on the Croatian wing-back.

Young England CSA World Cup prospect Palmer took it himself and he buried it past Marco Schuipers.

FC London were given another penalty after Australian striker Craig Cinoli ran through on goal, 1 on 1 with Dutch stopper Schuipers, with the Town keeper clearly bringing Cinoli down for a penalty. Cinoli scored past sub Jeff Carter making the score 4-2.

Suddenly, the crowd were right behind their home team, and midfielder Ryan Welch scored two within nine minutes, making it 4-4.

Clearly stunned by FCL's comeback, Town not only lost their momentum, but also their focus and Jeremy "Jezza" Constantinidis scored his first FCL goal after running past the three central defenders Juanpa, Daniel Perry and Shane Macdonald, one-two-ing with Brian Nixon and shooting through Carter's legs to give FC London the most improbable win ever.

Goals

FC London: Palmer 61' p, Cinoli 67' p, Welch 73', 82', Jezza 90'.

London Town: Carey 5', 10', Reid 33', Douglas 38'.

Bookings

FC London: Trujillo 35', Jezza 77'.

London Town: Tomic 65', Schuipers 66', Perry 87', Juanpa 89'.

Fire 0-1 Real Birmingham

Tuesday 16th March

The City Ground, Nottingham. Att: 24,569.

Mark Strickland's header won the game for Real Birmingham in a highly intense Midlands Derby against Nottingham Fire.

The former England skipper rose above everyone else after Cris Costa's wonderful corner and he headed home past a stunned Mehdi Kaziri.

Goals

Fire: none.

Real Birmingham: Strickland 76'.

London Town 1-2 London United

Sunday 14th March

HMV Park, London. Att: 49,632.

CraiCo's dramatic late winner gave all three points to London United from reigning champions London Town.

John Carey put Town in front after a quarter of an hour gone.

But United equalised shortly after the second half after Edward Redwood capitalised on a rare error from Daniel Perry.

And CraiCo's last-minute goal sent the fans in black roaring.

Goals

London Town: Carey 16'.

London United: Redwood 48', CraiCo 89'.

Glasgow FC 3-2 Eagles

Sunday 11th May - MLF Round 9: The Battle of Scotland
Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow FC won 3-2 in a hotly contested all-Scottish clash with Edinburgh Eagles.

The GFC goals came from Scott MacRae, Steven Weir and Riko.

The Eagles goals were courtesy of Kevin Tennant and Clint van den Bergh.

GFC were dealt a blow when skipper John Jeffries was concussed after a collision with 'keeper Mike McGuire in the dying seconds.

A brawl then started after John Bengtsson allegedly spat at Eagles captain Craig Borchers.

Bengtsson, MacRae and Van den Bergh were shown yellow cards in for their parts in the scuffle - MacRae and Van den Bergh were seen kicking each other but amazingly the Welsh referee - Martyn Watson - did not send them off.

Strikers 1-1 Lightning

Monday 5th May - MLF Round 8: The Yorkshire Derby
Hillsborough, Sheffield, England

Sheffield Strikers and Leeds Lightning drew 1-1 at Hillsborough.

Kevin Henderson put Sheffield in the lead before Danny Rivera equalized for the Lightning.

Handbags erupted at the final whistle and a riot between Strikers and Lightning fans soon occured.

FC London 2-1 London United

Sunday 27th April - MLF Round 6: The London Derby
T-Mobile Stadium, London

James Douglas's late penalty ended London United's unbeaten start as they lost to their old nemesis FC London 2-1.

Douglas put FCL 1-0 up with a precise header after Umit Kubilay's sweet cross.

But Edward Redwood capitalized on a defensive error from Paulo Silva to equalize.

But John Macdonald handballed in the box after another cross from Umit, and Douglas buried home from the spot to take all three points for the Superhoops.

Juan Trujillo and Paulo Silva looked colossal in the centre of the red-and-white defence but their counterparts in the black John Macdonald and Mark Strickland on the other hand were in for a torrid afternoon.

The exceptional pace of Bob Harry exposed Macdonald and Strickland for the first time this season after the duo had a exceptional start to the season but Simon Herding saved comfortably, after returning from a back problem.

However Silva had one horror error when he passed it straight to Redwood who tucked past Christian Watson after Juan Trujillo crept behind him but virtually had no chance of stopping him legally.

Redwood had an unusual celebration. Instead of his usual 'Rifle' celebration he just used his body language to say get off me, Redsy appearing to struggle with a groin or a hip injury.

And it was clear that he was struggling, because five minutes later, the red-headed assassin limped off for Lionel Nunez.

And FC London could have scored more had not it been for two top goal-line clearances from Ashton Reid and Rodrigo Santos.

Karlo Krzystofski knocked the ball past Herding but Reid was on the line and a frustration from Trujillo as he wrestled with Strickland and Macdonald which looked more like World Class Wrestling than Major League Football.

And Brazilian forward Santos was there to clear ball from Brad Hatfield's hit, resulting in a hug with him and Reid.

Minutes into stoppage time, handbags erupted between both teams, as you would expect in London derbies like these, but referee Martin O'Brien handled the situation well and when the final whistle blew, both sets of players shook hands with each other in very nice scenes.

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FC London: Watson; Umit Kubilay, Paulo Silva, Trujillo, Lupatelli; Rhodes, Hatfield (Capper 83), Douglas, Steiner; Krzystofski, Harry (Wisniewski 88).
Subs Not Used: Edmundsson, Andersson, Blake.

Booked: Douglas, Trujillo.

Goals: Douglas 33, 87 pk.

London United: Herding; Mitchell, Strickland, Macdonald, Reid; Cristiano Costa (Parker 81), Warhurst, CraiCo (Adam Stockwell 89); Redwood (Nunez 72), Boyle, Rodrigo Santos.
Subs Not Used: Knott, Croussant.

Booked: Macdonald, Strickland, Reid.

Goals: Redwood 66.

Att: 31,563

Ref: Martin O'Brien (Hampshire).

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Panasonic Man of the Match: FC London midfielder James Douglas.

Lightning 1-0 Strikers

Friday 25th April - MLF Round 6: The Yorkshire Derby
Elland Road, Leeds

Richie O'Brien's header won the game 1-0 for Leeds Lightning over their Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Strikers.

Ajax London 1-6 London United

Wednesday 16th April - MLF Round 2
HMV Park, Essex

London United ran riot once again thrashing Ajax London 6-1 thus taking first place in the MLF table with 4-0-0 start.

Ajax old boy Edward Redwood scored a hat-trick while CraiCo, Cristiano Costa and Adam Stockwell grabbed the other three goals.

Ajax London however broke London United's clean sheet streak with a Juan Pablo Gonzalez fluke goal which came off the Spaniard's arse after a corner.

Juan Pablo had his back turned when the corner came after a hard push by John Macdonald. But somehow, as Juan Pablo fell to ground, the ball came off his backside and into the net for one of the great MLF comedy goals.

Fire 0-3 Real Birmingham

Saturday 12th April - MLF Round 4: The Midlands Derby
The City Ground, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

The Nottingham Fire and Real Birmingham contested the Midlands Derby: the first MLF derby of the season.

And it was Real who won the battle 3-0 with goals from Steve Tillman, Dicky-Dayve Johnson and Joey Robinson.