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The LIGA - Week 16 - The Cups Commence

  • 11/04/13
  • By Daniel Corlett
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Summary of the action from Week 16 of the LIGA 11-A-Side Leagues - The Cup Quarter Finals

The LIGA returned following the two week Easter break with the beginning of the first ever LIGA knock-out competitions, with the teams from the top half of each of the three LIGA's competing for the LIGA Cup and the teams from the bottom half competing for the LIGA Plate.

Despite the competitions having being structured to finish prior to the beginning of the exam period, it had been predicted that some teams would struggle to field teams due to the increased educational workload at this time of year. This proved to be a perceptive prediction as two LIGA A teams, champions Quantity Surville and third ranked Mathematic Bilbao were forced to pull out of their NTU Cup ties against FC Futsal and Kings Of Leon Osman respectively. The NTU Plate was especially hard hit as Dynamo Chicken Kiev, Bayer Lexerkusen and Red Stripe Belgrade all withdrew, resulting in BSOC All Stars, Bayer Neverloosen & Brack City all progressing to the Semi-Finals without kicking a ball.

The two remaining NTU Cup Quarter-Finals saw LIGA C winners History Society take on the third placed team from LIGA B, Table Tennis Society, the tie that both teams had hoped for when the draw was done. In a closely and fairly competed game History Society were able to prevail with a 2-1 win which sees them progress to face the team that finished directly above Table Tennis in LIGA B, FC Futsal. The second Cup Quarter-Final saw the sole remaining LIGA A team, ACS, face the LIGA C runners-up, AFC Botton. Each teams league games had proved to be goalfests all season, and the trend was repeated in this match. Despite seeing the AFC Botton goalkeeper make an early penalty save (with his face!), ACS were able to pull away to a 4-1 lead by half time. However, Botton refused to give in and fought back to 4-3 before ACS were able to settle any nerves with a late goal to leave the final score 5-3 and book a Semi-Final against Kings Of Leon Osman.

The only LIGA Plate match to be played turned out to be one worth waiting for as the top ranked LIGA A side, BSOC Bulldogz, met Average Joe's, the last remaining team from LIGA B. Joe's have had a knack all season for scoring goals in the early stages of match, and repeated this feat stunning BSOC with a goal after just 2 minutes and maintaining the lead until halftime. BSOC fought back strongly in the second half, scoring two goals and looking set to progress to the Semi-Finals. Average Joe's other trait this season has been scoring goals right at the death and they did it again scoring an equalizer in the last five minutes to take the game to extra time.