Weekend 5 of the season brought the first "double header" weekend. Round one of the cup on Saturday in Lugano followed by Rotweiss in Wettingen on Sunday. The team were all present and raring to go at 6.50 on Saturday morning for the first leg of the marathon weekend. After 6 scenic hours on the train we arrived to hazy sunshine in Lugano with everybody eager to get the defense of the Swiss cup under way.

The game began with Servette controlling the ball and imposing our passing game against an enthusiastic and vocal opponent. The early passages of play led to a short corner to Servette. Gareth stepped up and placed the drag flick in the bottom right corner of the goal (with the aid of the leg of a Lugano defender on the line). With the score at 1-0, the game fell into a pattern of Servette pressure and scoring opportunities interspersed with the odd counter attack by Lugano. Mid-way through the first half Servette mounted an attack down the left and the ball was crossed by Matt, via Alexis to Keith who managed to bundle the ball over the line for 2-0. It wasn’t spectacular stuff but we were happy to put some daylight between us and our persistent opponents.

With the score at 2-0 at half time both Nico and Laurent gave us a timely reminder that we needed to be more clinical in front of goal to ensure we didn’t leave Lugano empty handed. The second half brought more Servette possession and pressure. Our determined approach finally paid off and the goals began to flow. Matt (2), Alexis, Bertrand and finally Gareth with his second from the flick spot rounded off what ended up as a comfortable win (7-0).

It wasn’t always pretty and some of the tackles from our opponents left a lot to be desired (a sliding hack from behind on Alexis before half time springs to mind). However we kept our discipline and remained focused on winning the match. All in all we were happy to head back to the train station injury free with our place in the quarter finals assured. One down and only the small matter of a league game against Rotweiss to go, the weekend was shaping up nicely…

Keith Walsh