*** MATCH REPORT 16/08/09 ***
Watford Bengals FC 4 - 3 Hertfordshire Harriers FC
Watford Bengals went into their last game of 2009 against, Watford Sunday League Division 4 side Hertfordshire Harriers FC, with a squad of 12 players down at Little Bushey Lane. From the squad in the previous game a week earlier, Anamul, Abas and Shaun were replaced with Abdul Azim (younger brother of fading striker Abdul Alim), the return of Juhel (after wife given permisson to play) and emergency transfer of semi pro player Toks. There 3 were drafted in to provide a more solid defensive backbone after the previous week of conceding 6 goals.
With no Abas or Shaun, Kamrul took the gloves in goal. Defence started off with Abdul Azim making his debut at right back, Farid at left back and Daisy and Toks at centre halves. Richard started left wing, Nazim at right wing, with the little and large combination of Talha and Juhel at central midfield. Abdul Alim and Hasan were the strikers with Foyzul still getting changed on the sidelines. The match started off with WBFC having the lions share of pocession. With the Harriers forward line causing little trouble to the back four, WBFC were in the unusal position of able to start off attacks right from the centre backs who found it easy to just simpley stride forward and link up with midfield. With Juhel providing composure on the ball in midfield, the Bengals were looking dangerous in every attack and it was a matter of when, not if, the team in green opened the scoring. Foyzul, coming on as sub, was finding vast open spaces in the Harriers half, giving him time to turn and dribble at the defence. The first goal came soon after, when a through ball from Richard, enabled Foyzul to size up the goal and let fly with a lob over the stranded keeper. Soon after, 1 became 2, when Juhel making numberous advances, got caught with a late challenge outside the area. From the resulting free kick, Toks, curled a delightful free kick around the wall with keeper having no chance. Half time, 2 nil to Watford Bengals.
The second half WBFC continued to press forward looking for third which didn't take too long. A long ball through the middle by Juhel, relied on Foyzul's pace to get behind the Harriers defence. Foyzul did indeed out pace the defence and cooly put the ball into the back of the net, 3 nil. From another Bengals attack, Harriers cleared their lines and from the long ball cleared, a whistle was heard by the Bengal defence thinking offside. However, whistle came from adjoining pitch and Harriers kept going and slotted past Kamrul. This was a sucker blow as Harriers hardly looked to attack let alone score. Harriers seemed to come to life after their goal. Their one dangerous attacker, Jack, started to peel towards the right and his trickery and pace was now causing problems for Nazim who was now at left back. From a long punt, the ball skipped from the control of Lee, the Harriers captain, onto his arm and with the Bengal boys crying out handball, Lee turned and lobbed Kamrul from around 20 yards. The ref allowed the goal to stand as it was ajudged ball to hand and not hand to ball. 3-2 did not reflect the pocession and territory Watford Bengals had and two goal gap was again reached when after a bit of hogging by Hasan who lost the ball, managed to win the ball back on the left hand side who let Abdul Alim in down the flank, who was a revelation playing left wing. Abdul crossed for Nazim to slot in to make it 2 goals in 2 games for him. Again Harriers scored another, when Jack ran from nearer the corner without any clear tackles flying in, scored at Kamrul's near post with a crisp hard shot. The WBFC defence allowed Jack the same time as USL allowed last week in a similar goal. The remaining minutes of the game, of noteable mention was Nazim scoring a disallowed goal and Hasan sulking off the pitch after being told by a team mate to pass the ball!!!
So a much needed win to end 2009 friendlies. But the peformance was expectional as well as the win. Daisy and Toks provided a strong partnership in the back who were hardly tested. Even Farid and Abdul Azim got stuck in and won their fair share of the ball. Juhel provided some much needed composure on the ball in the middle of the park (but was hogging it a few too many times). Abdul Alim was enjoying himself at left wing, showing glimpses of yesteryears by running back with attackers and doing some of his trade mark U-turns (and getting fouled in the process). Nazim doing very little during the game still managed to keep his goal scoring habit up. Hasan provided some pace in the team and gave us a good laugh with his Anelka impression. Talha and Richard both provided some physical and skillful pressence in midfield but both seem to never stay in position. If this squad stays together, there could be a few more games come 2010.
SQUAD: Kamrul, Abdul Azim, Farid, Talha, Toks, Daisy (c), Nazim, Juhel, Foyzul, Richard, Abdul, Hasan
WBFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Toks. Just edgying out center back partner, Daisy, as capped a remarkable debut with a wonderful free kick.
*** MATCH REPORT 09/08/09 ***
Watford Bengals FC 2 - 6 USL Rams FC
After a gap of three years, Watford Bengals FC played its first 11-a-side match of the season, and also marked the 10 year anniversary of WBFC's first ever 11-a-side match, way back in 1999 in Luton. Thus it was fitting, that again it was another Luton team to provide opposition. This time the venue home territory ofQueens School, against old friends, United Sporting Luton (USL) Rams FC. The first game between the two sides, three years back in Luton, ended 9 nil to USL, inflicting WBFC its heaviest defeat in the club's short history.
Five players who played in the very first game, 10 years back, were again in the squad. These were club captain Kamrul, Foyzul, Farid, Abdul and Anamul. Players making their debuts for the Bengals were Shaun (goalie), Daisy,Talha and Richard. Due to an injury, regular keeper, Abas made his debut on pitch at right back, with Farid at left back and Nazim and Talha slotting in as centre backs. Kamrul played at right wing with Richard being on the other wing and Anamul and Foyzul starting in centre midfield. Abdul and Daisy both took their positions in attack. Not one of the starting XI were under the age of 30 and the one who was, Hasan, was no were to be seen.
The game started off very cautiously on a hot blisttering day. USL started to pass the ball around and were making advances reguarly into the Bengals half. It was clearly evident which team had been in pre-season training since July and already played two friendly matches. However, the back four were able to block all advances (just) and were ablely helped by Shaun in goal. With the WBFC midfield being dragged further back to help the defence, the front two partnership of Daisy and Abdul hardly touched the ball let along cause any problems to the opposition's defence. When Daisy was able to flick on, Abdul lacked the pace to feed off. With over half of the first half completed, WBFC managed to start getting some composure on the ball and was able to string a few passes together. Daisy was a constant threat when dropping off deep and attacking the oppo with his pace. Even Abas was seemingly winning the battle against his speedy winger. The only really threats to goal came from the hugh long throws possessed by a USL defender which casued mayhem for WBFC. The defensive unit was able to move up together pushing the opposition attackers more nearer to the half way line but the danger was of vast gap between defence and goalie especially with a lack of pace at the back being evident. With USL still having the majority of the ball and being comfortable spraying the ball from either side, the breakthrough finally came when a cross landing into the penalty area resulted in a scrabble between Nazim and the USL winger and seems to either come off the leg of Nazim or the attacker and crept into the corner of Shaun's goal. This was a bitter blow coming so close to half time.
The second half got even worse for the home side. Within a matter of minutes, USL managed to get their second of the match. Within the next 10 minutes, the scoreline read 4 nil to USL. Most of the goals came from mistakes from the home team. An example of this was when an USL attacker was heading towards the corner flag, but Nazim decided to chop him down. From the resulting free kick, Anamul misjudged the flight of the ball which led to the attack having a simple header towards goal. As a result of a surge of leaked goals, Daisy put himself at centre back with Nazim moving to right wing and Hasan playing up top with Abdul. The defence became a much tigher ship with Daisy's pace able to sweep any attacks. Amazingly Nazim got the ball on the right side outside the area and ghosted past two defenders (all in slow motion) and slotted the ball clamly past the advancing keeper. USL were still attacking from all sides. From a shot just outside the box, Shaun managed a great save from his feet to stop the ball finishing in the bottome corner. But USL managed to keep their 4 goal gap by scoring again. But WBFC still managed press forward and from a resulting corner, the ball dropped down to Talha outside the box, who cut inside the advancing defender and let fly. The ball was heading toward the safety of the keepers hand but only for a defender in trying to block the ball, let the ball hit his body and loop over the keeper for the home team's second goal. Just before the final whistle, USL grabbed their sixth goal of the game to read a final score of 6-2 to the away side.
The final scoreline was a tad harsh on the home side considering the effort put in by the team. However, it was the team's first game in three with many unfamiliar faces. Combined with age factor and lack of fitness in such a heatwave, the scoreline was not a big surprise. The club has redeemed itself to an extent against the same opposition and also managed to score two goals in one match which is a uncommon. Special mention goes to Abas who played on pitch for the first time for many a years (since the days he didn't have a belly). Abas played remarkably well especially against a quick winger, and kept battling to the end. Some of us better players could take heed from his performance.
SQUAD: Shaun, Abas, Farid, Talha, Nazim, Anamul, Foyzul, Kamrul (c), Richard, Abdul, Daisy, Hasan
WBFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Nazim and Daisy. Naz was solid in his new role at centre back and surprising able to ghost past two defenders to score the first goal. Daisy had some excellent attacking runs in the first half and sweeped easily in the second half at centre back, thus providing some much needed pace at the back.
*** MATCH REPORT 03/08/08 ***
Dewhurst Guild FC 6 - 4 Old Fullerians AFC (Watford Bengals)
SCORERS: Nazim, Rony, Moynul, Hasan
WBFC PLAYERS: Kamrul (goalie), Abdul, Nazim, Anamul, Foyzul, Moynul, Rony, Ali, Juhel
*** MATCH REPORT 10/09/06 ***
Enfield XI 5 - 2 Watford Bengals FC
With regular keeper, Abas, back from his hols, Watford Bengals went into their away match against Enfield with much confidence, however, still unable to filed their strongest first eleven with Foyzul missing due to torn back muscles from the defeat to MK Durbar previously. Players ability to last the full 90 minutes were cause for concern as nearly half of the squad went for a curry 30 minutes before kick off.
The game kicked off with Watford playing a formation of 3-5-2 started off with Anamul, Farid and Amir as the 3 centre defenders, Nazim and Ali covering the wing back positions, with Kamrul, Juhel and Abdul as the 3 central midfielders and Hassan and Moynul pairing up front. As per normal fashion, the home team provided early pressure resulting in a goal within the first 10 minutes with an attack coming down the away teams right hand side. This early goal prompted Ali to revert to central defence and Amir playing as wing back. The early goal though proved a good omen for Watford, as with the defence holding out and pushing up, enabled the midfield trio to exact some pressure with Juhel and Kamrul able to run the midfield. This pressure led to a succession of chances for the away team for Nazim, Moynul and Juhel but instead of going for goal were trying to walk it in. Juhel in particular was virutually on the goal line when his scuffed shot rolling to the keeper.
However, the goal drought stretching back to the game in Luton on 16th July was finally broken, when the Juhel provided a ball to Nazim down the left, where with no defender in sight tucked away the ball past the advancing goalie. With the continued pressure and excellent play in midfield resulted in Nazim getting another identical goal to put Watford in the lead. Not content to holding the lead, the away team was looking to kill the game off. Nazim now on fire hit the woodwork when he thought he was getting his first ever hattrick and from a pass from Abdul, playing his last game before retirement, the goalie spilled the ball out which Nazim tapped in only for the ref to award a freekick towards the goalie. Watford even had dead cert claim for handball before half time which was turned down by the ref. Watford now went into half time break with an unprecedented lead.
The half time break, seemed to spur on the home team, coupled with two solid black players brought on changed the game and Watford lost the dominance they had. This with the tiredness settling in for Watford in the extreme hot weather conditions, resulted in Watford being pinned in its own half for the large part of the second half. The midfield dominance of the first half was now all about helping the defence and little was seen of the good passing shown by Kamrul and Juhel. Enfield scored another 3 goals with conceding anymore including an fatal error from Anamul and also an error from Abas letting a ball slip through his fingers when it seemed it easier to save. Right upto that point, Abas was outstanding in his return between the sticks pulling off stunning saves one after another, whilst playing with a broken finger.
All in all, a first half performance to be proud of after conceding the early goal, but stunning the home team with two quick strikes to be in the unusual position of leading at half time. The second half was poor mainly due to lack of stamina resulting in little mobility, tackling and passing. Notable performances by Sufyan, who showed why he is better on pitch than goal, and Abas who showed why he still first choice keeper.
SQUAD: Abdul, Abas, Moynul, Nazim, Farid, Anamul, Sufyan, Ali, Hassan, Juhel, Kamrul, Amir
WBFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Nazim, scoring two and unlucky not to get the hat trick
*** MATCH REPORT 27/08/06 ***
MK Durbar SC 7 - 0 Watford Bengals FC
With a stronger squad to choose from than in recent games, minus Yusef and regular goalie Abas, the Watford Bengals squad headed up north to Milton Keynes take on a old face in a much awaited rematch. It was decided that a more attacking approach would be taken with Moynul and Nazim being wingers, contemplating the first choice midfield of Foyzul, Juhel and Kamrul; with Hassan being the lone striker.
However, some things never change as Watford Bengals let in early sloppy goals and Foyzul going off the pitch in the first half. Durbar showed the drive and stamina of being the younger of the two teams to exploit the lack of stamina in the Bengals team with constant advances down the wings from Watford's corners and stand in keeper Sufyan being exposed from all angles. The score line reflected this domination being 5 nil at half time with the team still displaying the attributes of not able to tackle, header or shoot. The best chance for Watford in the first half was once Nazim swapped to the right wing, delivered a cross (and really his only attacking contribution in the game) which Hassan headed with power but just wide of the goal.
The second half displayed a much better effort by the team with stronger challenges coming in from the older players of the squad such as Nazim, Amir, Anamul and Kamrul. Farid in his new role of left wing, made good advances towards the opposition's box and Nazim providing some good crosses from the right wing. Most of the second half was played in the Durbar's half with the home team now playing counter attack. Anamul kept the defence more organised and seems to win every header he challenged for. Moynul was more involved in the game once playing in centre midfield and this good possession led to a Watford penalty. Injured Hassan took the ball with confidence but smashed the kick right over the bar as if he was Jonny Wilkinson. However, the lack of stamina and growing injuries to the team resulted in the home team adding a further 2 goals in the second half.
7 nil was slightly flattering to the home team, as ability wise were not as strong as expected. However, they had better stamina and drive which compensated this. With no Abas is a big loss to Watford Bengals and the ever grown injury list during the match doesnt help from an already small squad (maybe we need to look at Moynul's warm up routines to why so many injuries). Poor referee didn't not help especially as Watford should of had a penalty in the first half. All in all a poor performance (nothing new there) apart from a strong period in the second half and no excuses can be made as the team have played a few competitive matches now through during the Summer.
SQUAD: Abdul, Foyzul, Moynul, Nazim, Farid, Anamul, Sufyan, Monzir, Ali, Hassan, Juhel, Kamrul, Amir
SUPPORTER: Delwar Ali
*** MATCH REPORT 13/08/06 ***
United Sporting Luton FC 9 - 0 Watford Bengals FC
The driving rain to which the squad awoken to on Sunday morning was an omen of thinks to come. With only nine players at
With barely 2 minutes gone, USL with their first attack just missed the goal with an angle short. The drive, commitment and physical power of USL was way too strong for the away team and within 10 minutes the home team was 2 nil up. The usual bad start for
USL was a young, tough team who could play and did the basics well (unlike
TEAM: Sufyan, Abdul, Anamul, Farid, Nazim, Kamrul, Amir, Yusef, Babu, Hassan, Monzir
WBFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Kamrul
*** MATCH REPORT 16/07/06 ***
Luton XI 4 - 2 Watford Bengals FC
Watford Bengals FC played its first away match in 5 years with the short journey up the M1 to enemy territory, to play a Luton XI but reported to be Sunday League outfit Luton Athletic FC.
With the unexpected and sudden withdrawal of experienced player Kamrul, swift decisions had to be made on Market St while waiting for
With the onset of the match and in their new kit, Watford Bengals could not cope with the movement, pace and the physical battle of the opposition. This inconjuction with the burning heat and inexperience of playing competitive 11-a-side matches for the majority of the squad, resulted in poor passes and the inability of taking throw-on’s !
This resulted in the first evitable goal when a free kick was floated to the back post, where club captain, Anamul thought the ball was going off and thus the attacker had a free header which looped over
After regrouping at half time, with
Overall, a great second half and great performances in the second half considering the half of the opposition play Sunday League football, especially from Juhel, Foyzul, Hassan and Nazim. Particular mention goes to youngsters Sufyan, Sadik and Yusef who performed admirably against much older opposition.
SQUAD:
SUPPORTER: Delwar Ali
WBFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Juhel Ali
Due to the unexpected numbers of Poles turning up to play Watford Bengals, it was decided that the Poles would make up an 'A' and 'B' team and matches would be played over 20 minutes with winners staying on.
Watford Bengals 1 - 3 Watford Polish 'A'
First match for the Bengals was more of a problem getting players into best positions rather than playing football. Nav went into goal, with Ali and Farid as full backs and Asad and Anamul playing centre backs. Nazim and Yusef as wing players with Foyzul and Salim in the middle with Moynul and Kamrul playing up front. Arguemnts within the team (mainly directed towards Nazim) results in a 3-1 loss with Moynul getting a long range consolation goal.
Watford Bengals 1 - 0 Watford Polish 'B'
The dropping of Nazim to the bench and Abdul going up front and the bold decision to play 3 centre backs and moving Kamrul to the holding 'Makelele' role resulted in a stronger defensive team but allowing the attacking minds of Foyzul, Salim, Farid and Yusef to help the front two. This resulted in 1 nil win for the Bengals with Foyzul grabbing his first for the afternoon.
Watford Bengals 2 - 1 Watford Polish 'A'
The new system of 3 centre backs and packing up the midfield continued to pay dividends as Watford Bengals finally beat the stronger Polish team, at the third attempt. With Foyzul, Salim and Kamrul dictating the midfield, Watford Bengals pushed forward and both the inform duos of Foyzul and Moynul grabbing another goal each.
Watford Bengals 1 - 0 Watford Polish 'B'
The winning form continuted in the last match of the tournament. The defence was helped greatly by the wing back of Yusef and now injured Nazim. Yusef continued to grow through each game and his pace was starting to cause problems, and at the age of 16 became the youngest player for the club. However, this match will be remembered more for altercation between Moynul and the Polish coloured foreign import who was more interested in the end supporting England whilst walking of the pitch.
All in all, 3 out of 4 wins for the improving team and plenty of goals. Only sour note was the attempting boxing match between two of the older players of the squad in Farid and Nazim over who drank out of a bottle of water!!! This really was not Nazim's afternoon.
SQUAD: Nav, Ali, Asad, Anamul, Farid, Nazim, Foyzul, Salim, Yusef, Kamrul, Moynul, Abdul
***MATCH REPORT 16/04/06***
Watford Bengals 4 - 8 Watford Polish
An unexpected and at very short notice, resulted in Watford Bengals playing their first 11-a-side match for 5 years as the away team, against unknown quantity of Watford Polish providing the opposition at Watford Fields. Watford Bengals managed to field 11 players eventually with no subs including Abdul who was drafted off the treatment table. Due to a slight injury to Kamrul, Abas got the call to play outfield from the start of the match with Kamrul taking over the gloves.
With virtually the first attack of the game, a comical mix up between the the away defence and goalie resulted in Watford Polish going 1 nil up. After 15 minutes, the home team were 3 nil up. This resulted in drastic changes to stem the flow of goals. Abas got the call to go back in goal, with Kamrul playing up front as the lone striker with Abdul dropping into midfield to make a trio with Salim and Moynul in the middle of the park. Abdul was deployed in the unusual role of playmaker like his idol Alonso at Liverpool. Iqlak and Farid were the wingers and Anamul dropping back to central defence along side Ali. Even though Anamul is a regular in Sunday League football, this was his first game in central defence for many years. Monzir and Asad played fullbacks, with Asad 'Sheringham' becoming the oldest player to play for the club at the young age of 40.
These changes, resulted in Abas, keeping a clean sheet for the rest of the half, and with Moynul and Salim getting hold of the midfield, Watford Bengals started causing a threat to the home team. Only once did the away goal get tested again in the half, but the Watford exile, Abas, was tested when a cross come shot was looping towards the top corner but he managed to tip it over at full stretch.
The second half started with the Polish boys grabbing an early goal, but things changed drastically after that. With Anamul becoming a rock at the back winning all headers and making some crunching sliding tackles, the Bengals plied on the pressure resulting in Kamrul grabbing a sensational hat-trick in 15 minutes including lobbing the goalie and a header from a corner. With the score at 4-3 to the Poles, they knew they were in match now as the Bengals were matching them in every department. However, fatigue kicked in for the Bengals as was expected, and the home team ran in with a further 4 goals before the end.
The only positives to come out before the end of the match was how the Bengals kept going and Moynul grabbing a 30 yard long range goal which topped a good personal performance by mr Islam. As this was an unexpected fixture so early in the summer and considering the age of some of the players (and injuries picked up), this was a very good performance by Watford Bengals and vital preparation for the up and coming MK tournament.
TEAM: Abas, Monzir, Asad, Anamul, Ali, Moynul, Salim, Iqlak, Farid, Kamrul, Abdul
WBFC MAN OF THE MATCH: Kamrul, as its usually a big feat for any Bengal player to score one goal let alone a hat-trick