Fleetwood Town International Football Academy (FTIFA) recorded their ninth straight victory after beating Global Soccer Network (GSN) 3-2 at Poolfoot Farm.
In a tight contest, goals from FTIFA’s Joel Sabalbarro and Ayo Akinwade ensured they picked up the win over their opponents on Monday afternoon.
It wasn’t straight forward with the away side scoring two goals in quick succession after Sabalbarro gave the hosts the lead, however there was a late drama with Akinwade’s close range effort hitting the back of the net.
This was the second meeting between the two sides in as many weeks, and with plenty of quality on show from trialists and former pros, it had goals written all over it.
FTIFA scored the first goal of the game midway through the first half when Sabalbarro twisted and turned the opponent’s defenders, before slamming the ball home past the on-rushing goalkeeper.
GSN responded after a moment of indecision caused FTIFA to concede not long after taking the lead. Keeper, Tom Lynch was closed down quickly by the attacker, resulting in an easy tap in for the GSN striker. The half-time score, 1-1.
Straight after the break, FTIFA caused yet more problems for themselves when centre back Dylan Maes got caught in possession. In his attempt to recover from loose touch, he was adjudged to have fouled the centre forward and a penalty was awarded. GSN dispatched the penalty to take a 2-1 lead in the match at Poolfoot Farm.
Chances kept falling for FTIFA and with pressure on the away side late in the match, their keeper was called into action – and his save low down to his right hand side denied the hosts from equalising.
But it wasn’t long before FTIFA were level. After great work down the right hand side by Hoyte and Yule, this led to a cross which the keeper could only parry into the path of Sabalbarro. Was there time for one more chance?
As the clock struck 90 minutes, it was end-to-end and with a top quality save from FTIFA keeping it 2-2, but it was straight down the other end for Akinwade to tap home – despite the defenders calling for an offside flag which never arrived.
FTIFA’s late goal made it nine wins out of nine, and the players and coaching staff will now look forward to their next fixture which will take place this Wednesday against Cardinal Newman (1:30pm kick-off).