Fighting Guantanamo Pipped at Post

A battling AFC Racing Guantanamo ended up with nothing after a hard-fought game with Broome City that was fraught with controversy.

Even before the game began, Broome City lodged a protest at Guantanamo’s inclusion of special guest signings Darren Young and Sean D’Arcy.

Young, an Asian Confederation B Grade coach, and D’Arcy, a world-renowned football trickster, were signed at the last minute by Guantanamo’s forward-thinking captain Ryan Platten under the B-Liga’s ‘Guest Player’ Legislation.

The two were registered with Football West, and it was found that Racing Guantanamo had broken no laws by including the pair in the starting line-up, much to the chagrin of Broome City.

The game began as a close affair, highlighting the improvements that the Guantanamo team have made in recent weeks. Going into the game without the talented Gordon Lawford, Joel Hamling and the injured Dan Walker, the Racing fans were praying for a miracle – one that almost happened.

With a new formation that saw the strong Tim Gray spearheading the attack, Guantanamo looked the better team going forward, troubling the City keeper on several occasions. Sam McGinn again looked the danger man in several of the Guantanamo attacks, with his pacy running and quick thinking turning the City defenders inside-out.

The midfield coped well, with Tim Rowe and guest signing Young linking up well and swapping positions at several times during the match. The pair maintained a well-tuned understanding, resulting in several dangerous runs and attacks, until Rowe had to be substituted as a result of an injury to his hamstring.

Guantanamo was again thankful for the experience of star defender Freya Mason, who again was a rock at the heart of the orange defence. The City strikers were frustrated again and again as the result of her deft tackling. Mason’s influence extended to the performance of Francois Kruger, who has proved himself an invaluable member of the Guantanamo team, showing his versatility by playing in goals and defence throughout the season

Just when the Guantanamo team thought they had carved out a well-deserved nil-all draw, Broome City pounced. A handball just outside the box gave Josh Mongoo the chink in the armour that City had been looking for, and he drilled the ball into the right side of the net past a shocked D’Arcy.

City grabbed a lone opportunity again when a counter attack found Andrew McPhie finding space down the left. His run toward goal was shadowed by Guantanamo captain Platten, before he managed to cut the ball inside to Liam Shaw who fired the ball low past D’Arcy.

Guantanamo refused to capitulate, finding strength to launch another attack – but in the end it was not to be. The loss sees Guantanamo rooted to the bottom of the table with 3 points from 6 games.

Racing Guantanamo Matchday Squad
PLATTEN Ryan, GRAY Tim, ROWE Tim, McGINN Sam, MASON Freya, KRUGER Francois, FALCONER Jonathon, D’ARCY Sean, YOUNG Darren, TURNER Luke

Final Score
Racing Guantanamo 0 – 2 Broome City

Attendance
6