(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat Storm completed the year unbeaten and extended its run to 13 games when it thrashed Team Romania 4-1 at The Sultan's School ground on Wednesday.
Storm manager Lee Ebbutt made one change to the side with Giorgio Di Spiga coming in for Davis Rizzolo. Storm was keen to finish the year unbeaten and Romania had brought a squad to try and ruin the party.
In the first 15 minutes the home team seemed nervous and carelessly gave the ball away a few times giving the visitors plenty of the ball and allowing them to grow in confidence.
The visitors could have scored as early as in the tenth minute when Adrien took the ball down inside the box but his second touch allowed Billy White to poke the ball away.
Some sloppy play by Storm gave Romania its second chance when it intercepted a stray pass and broke quickly down the left. The final shot from Adrien left Storm's keeper Fahim with no chance.
Romania's goal seemed to be the wake-up call that Storm needed and from that point on it dominated play all over the pitch. It wasn't long before Storm's first chance came when Luis Miguel unleashed a left-foot volley which was heading for the top corner until it struck a Romania defender.
Minutes later a combination of quick passes between Miguel Jay Wynter and Oli Myhill put through Kirk McPherson who calmly slotted his first goal of the game.
Storm began controlling the play and when a cheeky pass from Marco Scott caught the visiting defence flat McPherson found the space and calmly made it 2-0.
Storm continued to camp in the attacking third of the pitch keeping the visitors pinned back. Miguel soon scored Storm's third goal shortly before the break when his pass was misjudged by the keeper and the run of Nick French confused the Romania keeper as the ball bounced into the net.
The second half saw Storm push the tempo up with the visitors struggling to get out of their own half. Hugh Davies came to life down the right flank and was causing all sorts of problems with his pace. With the midfield tied up Storm played some of its best football of the season.
Playing out from the back Ebbutt White and Polson were all comfortable to play through the midfield. As the visitors tried to close in on the ball they left spaces for Miguel and Myhill. With Wynter playing higher up the pitch Storm was creating chances and had it not been for some last-ditch defending the scoreline could have been much worse for Romania.
Romania would not give up though and as it pushed to get back into the game a quick break down the right saw Davies expose the space left behind. His shot was unstoppable as it flew into the net and put Storm 4-1 up.
Storm seemed to enjoy the last 15 minutes spreading the play out from side to side and playing some good possession football.
Ebbutt said after the win "It's a great way to finish the year. For 75 minutes we played some of the best football I have seen from us. To end the year unbeaten in 13 games against some tough opponents is fantastic. I hope we can continue to build on this after the break."
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