Friday 29 April 2016

Week Ten - April 29th

- Week Nine saw Ihsan salvage a tie with Emaan, Shukr pile on the misery for Haya and Sabr and Ikhlas end in a tie in a game both desperately wanted to win.

- Emaan was coasting to another win which would have clinched them first place but a late goal from Salman Khalid got Ihsan the tie.  A crucial point for Ihsan as they are in a fight for a playoff spot.  Emaan is in the drivers seat to clinch first place and no matter what happens already have a top-two finish locked up.

- Haya suffered another loss, their fourth in a row but even worse a big injury issue as Rayhan Malik took a slash during the game that has resulted in a broken bone in his foot and will cost him the rest of the season.  Malik has been a bright spot for Haya this season and the team will be in a scramble to try and replace his contributions to the team.  The loss of Malik will also break up the Ernie and Bert combination he has with Shoaib Bhatti on Haya.

- Ihsan has received a boost with the appearance of Amir Multani who has found his game.  GM Fuzail Thakur was said to be extremely concerned that the enigmatic Multani was struggling so much but after last week, Thakur was seen taking down these signs he had posted around the city.

- Shukr got a critical win last week but at a heavy price as reports are circulating that Kashif Taqiuddin suffered a calf injury that may keep him out for the rest of the season.  A big loss for Shukr losing their leader on the floor but the silver lining is that they will still have Coach K behind the bench and with him focused on one role now expect this team to be even better organized than before.

- The early struggles for Ihsan seem long gone with a win and tie in their last two games and the team starting to gel together.  Ahmad Hathout has found a rhythm with 8 points in his last 3 games - but 0/8 in his pledge to score the fastest goal to start a game.

- Sabr was clinging to a 1-0 lead late in their game against Ikhlas but the latter scored to even it up with just 29 seconds left.  The win would have put Sabr into a playoff spot and dropped Ikhlas to last, instead Ikhlas holds onto 4th place and Sabr is in a fight to get out of last.

- Arif Bijabhai will look to the final two games of the season as an opportunity to show his former team that it was a mistake to trade him as he goes up against Ikhlas.  In four games with Ikhlas he had zero points and his team did not win a game with a combined score of 16-4 over the four games.  Since joining Emaan and being placed on their second line he has 6 points in four games and his team is undefeated.

- The final two weeks has teams in a home and home series with Emaan/Ikhlas, Shukr/Ihsan and Haya/Sabr facing off and each series having a direct impact on the playoff picture.

Player of the Game Video's have been posted:
Shukr vs Haya - Not available as Coach K is keeping his players away from the media
Ihsan vs Emaan - Tariq Hathout with a solid two-way performance against 1st place Emaan
Sabr vs Ikhlas - Not available

No comments:

Post a Comment