Adecco MOM BEFC vs Lions - Akito Shimizu

  • Adecco BEFC Man of the Match Award - Akito Shimizu

Matches against Lions are always a huge battle with lots of tough and intense play. This time was no different and BEFC very quickly felt themselves under a heap of pressure until a quick formational switch restored some balance to the flow of the game. It didn't help that Lions had gone and recruited a former JFL Briobecca Uruyasu and Czechoslovakian league 3 HFK Trebic striker Tomoyoshi Tsuchiya to heap the pain onto their opposition.
BEFC quickly realised they had the sort of attacking threat you don't expect in TML Division 2, especially when the ex-professional speed demon blasted through on goal with covering Ben Palmer only being able to hassle and jostle him enough for Akito Shimizu to dash out and perform a brilliant shutdown. And it was Akito who initiated BEFC's goal to break the deadlock with a wonderfully taken free kick forward into the Lions third to be finished by Kaz Fushimi. Always calm and assured between the posts Akito dealt cleanly with long range Lions efforts and then pulled out a brilliant stop when Lion's striker broke to the left of the box on another sprint challenge with Palmer and slammed a shot across the goal - tipping the shot just onto the outside of the far post which BEFC then cleared. Not just these excellent stops but his aura of calm and strong communication was the shield of steel the BEFC back-line needed to weather the Lions surging forward. Having been close to the MOM in his previous matches, this time was truly deserved with the first BEFC cleansheet against a high level strikeforce. For all around excellent keeping, great ball distribution, solid communication and initiating the opening goal --- Akito Shimizu is the Adecco Man of the Match versus Lions!