Sunday League 7th Dec 2003 Kurdish Refugees 2 Inter-Beavers AFC 2. Northfield Football Ground by Mo

Match Video.

	Dialup	ISDN	Broadband
Save of the Day	Video Clip. 1, 200Kb	Video Clip. 1, 500Kb	Video Clip. 1, 700Kb
Corner	Video Clip. 2, 200Kb	Video Clip. 2, 500Kb	Video Clip. 2, 700Kb

Having met up with the lads at 10 o'clock this morning and shown them a printout of their team photo, it was smiles all round with the recognition that some of them had seen their first web report. The first thing they told me was although legally they are Iraqis, they come from Northern Iraq and are in fact all Kurds. They speak the Kurdish dialects of Badínaní (Northern Iraq) and Soraní (Central Iraq).

Oops, mistake corrected, face suitably reddened, I jumped in the car and we made our way off to the ground. On arrival at the Northfield Ground, as the boys are changing into their kit in a chilly wind, I meander over to the opposition, the Inter-Beaver AFC (Amateur Football Club) to do the usual Hello's and hand a few cards out.

They were warming up and confident having come from a five nil victory in the previous weekend's game.

Unbelievably Dave the no 12 has just returned from a six month tour of duty for the Territorial Army in Basra, Iraq's second largest city. He was in charge of a radio signal communications link for Iraq's principal port with the Royal Logistic Corps and tells me they were called up last May.

Billal, the Kurdish manager comes from Baghdad and roars with laughter at the coincidence when I tell him about Dave, the oppositions no. 12 being stationed in his home country. A toughly fought battle between the two teams began in the first half, spirits were high and I could see we were in for an exciting duel.

The Kurdish eleven were far more confident than the previous weekend and beginning to consistently string passes together to build play.

A battle was going on up front between the Inter-Beavers central defender no. 5 and Azad the Kurdish no. 9, doing his best to unsettle an already unnerved team. The Kurds were on top but just kept failing to finish some tremendous work from the left wing with support from Aco the captain no. 15 in midfield.

The half time team talk from Billal was as animated as I am beginning to expect from the manager, completely focused and driving his team on to victory. Maybe it was the pep talk, but ten minutes into the second half saw a bottom right hand corner shot by Kaiwan no. 7 that was just too powerful for John Uzzell (he told me his name, after I declared him man of the match) the Inter-Beavers keeper to hang onto and flies through his hands into the net. continued below

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Sunday League 7th Dec 2003 Kurdish Refugees 2 Inter-Beavers AFC 2. Northfield Football Ground by Mo

Until then, John had done a terrific job in keeping the Kurds at bay with several brave and spectacular saves from shots driven in from Azad (9) on the left. Both teams are battling well in an attempt to dominate the game, but the Kurds had taken the initiave with their one goal lead.

Only five minues later some careless mistakes in the Kurdish defence allows Inter-Beaver to reply from outside the box, no. 10 hammers a spectacular shot to make the game level at one a piece.

No we have a game on our hands, I thought to myself, even though my hands were numb with cold and I yet had video to record.

The Inter-Beavers make two substitutions, Scotty Ginger Wizard goes off to be replaced by no 10 and shortly after Louis is subbed for someone who sounded like Bill Runhard the no. 14. Must get my hearing aid attended to. Husman, the Kurds star player who is actually out with a knee injury (but I'm told has played for the Iraqi national team) has taken over the reffereeing of the game for the second half.

He's doing a grand job. Aco (15) captain goes by 4 players looking to pass to Azad (9) but is taken down outside the Inter-Beavers box. It's a free kick taken by No. 10 Karwan who clouts a stunning shot through the Inter-Beavers wall and passed the unseen John in their goal. Heads down, the Inter-Beavers were looking disheartened with an approaching final whistle.

Another terrific header down by Azad (9) draws a Gordon Banks ('The Save of the Century' when England travelled to Mexico to defend their title in 1970 world cup) from Pele's header-like save.

Diving down to the botton right hand corner on instinct alone John takes the man of the match award for me, what a performance from this lad. Tough tackling but fair the Inter-Beavers are defending well against a more confident Kurdish attack but win a second equalizing goal bringing the score to two each just minutes from the finish.

A well deserved draw from the Inter-Beavers who fought through an intense Kurdish onslaught, with grit and sheer determination. You must check the short video of Azad on target, pulling another first class save from the man of the match the Inter-Beavers keeper John Uzzell.

Next week Bricknell Avenue Kelvin Hall kick off 11 am.

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