Pelicans FC Blue

On another cold and windy day, thankfully without rain this time, Screaming Pelicans first team came out on the short side of a 2-0 match with Wings Select. Wings claims to be the oldest club in Atlanta, but very few of their players appeared to be holdovers from last year’s squad. It was a tough game from the start, as Wings scored their first goal before we even touched the ball (save for 2 deflected passes). Setting up a corner kick inside of 1 minute, a Wings midfielder broke to the near post and finished beautifully into the top corner.

After that early lapse, the game was very even, with Pelicans getting plenty of pressure on the Wings back line, but no balls into the net. As has become habit, we just couldn’t find that last touch, and the Wings sweeper cleaned up most of the chances we had. Great effort on the flanks from Alex Cameron and Ricky Wells kept pressure coming throughout the game, but there were not enough shots taken overall, and obviously not enough finishing.

Just before halftime, the game got a little ugly as the beast of a forward from Wings decided that a mid-air goalie with the ball in his hands was fair game to maul. The ref rightly called foul, and after seeing Steve’s bloody broken nose, finally issued the yellow card for the attack. Thanks to Bryce for filling in briefly in net to finish out the first half.

The second half saw more of the same, as Pelicans had plenty of chances, but couldn’t come away with an equalizer. As the clock wound down under 10 minutes, the Wings set piece got the better of us again. This time it was the towering defender who rose first to the corner kick, again with a strong finish into the back of the net. 2-0 to Wings, and despite the constant attack from the home side, we could not pull back any goals.

This week we’ve got the first of a doubleheader with Stars SC, a newcomer to Division 2, but showing their skill with their current top of the table form. This week we’re at Stars Complex in Alpharetta for the league game at 3pm, then next week they come down to ACC for a Perrin Cup first round match. Please do your best to be there this weekend as subs are starting to be even more necessary with the winter weather. As always, please update your status for the game on this site, and make sure to contact Steve or Lawrence with any last minute changes to your availability. The schedule for the whole season is available on the ADASL website, so there shouldn’t be any late surprises regarding games.