Fit for Second

Sunday October 14, 2012
Waltham, MA - It was a cold dreary fall morning at the Gann Academy fields.  As was expected it was a heated and well played match between the top two teams in the conference.  The tensions were high throughout the match, the man in the middle did a good job of keeping everyones' emotions in check and flashed 4 yellow cards in total.  Mid-way through the first frame saw a gruesome play occur at Alliance's 40yd line, BFC's Steve Kaye closed in on ASC's #8 to deny him turning up field for a fast break - unfortunately both players collided heads and immediately went down.  #8 fell to the ground and stayed down for a few minutes while he tried to regain his surroundings.  Meanwhile our very own Steve Kaye had severely split open a 3-4" gash on his right eybrow/forehead, with a fair amount of blood flowing from the region.  Play was suspened approximately 10 minutes as both players were helped from the field, an ambulance was called for Steve and he was taken to the local ER to have a doctor administer 23 stitches (Ed Note: The doctor called it "Epic").  Good news for Steve is that there were no fractures, signs of concussion and most importantly he was out of the hospital and back home in time for his daughter's first birthday party.  All of us at BFC Blogspot wish Steve a speedy recovery and hope that #8 on Alliance is also doing well after that nasty collision.

The game eventually continued, all in all Alliance held a slight advantage with possession.  Brookline's backline did well repel the attacks and start quick counters, but as it has been all season the boys in Yellow were unable to get much going once down in the final 3rd of the pitch.  With less than 10 minutes in the game Alliance had a quick counter of their own - their left defender served a great long ball to their streaking striker who was able to get behind the D and slot the only goal of the game.  A frantic final few minutes saw BFC put additional pressure on the Alliance D but BFC was unable to find the equalizer.  Alliance played a solid game and deserved the 3 points.  The outcome all but clinches the division for Alliance SC, with them sitting atop the standings with least a 7 point lead with 3 games left in the season.  Meanwhile the second loss of the season for BFC leaves them either tied for 2nd place or 3 points behind PAAC depending on the final results from yesterday's PAAC v Norfolk game.  Brookline will need to regroup and take maximum points in the last three games of the season to ensure a 2nd consecutive campaign with a post season appearance.  They no longer control their promotion destiny (too many factors to try to analyze and layout) but BFC can still control their playoff destiny.  The last game of the season has even more implications than just the normal grudge match that is played out between PAAC and Brookline FC - if the season plays out the way it's expected the winner of that match will secure the 2nd and final playoff spot.

Next week is the Brookline Derby to be played in Braintree (don't ask me how/why I don't have an answer).