The Byki oldboys got back into the swing of things after a month-long break when they faced Hellenic United at Montrose & Cumberland last Saturday. The teams traded five goals in the first half, as Hellenic came away with an important 3:2 win. The result leaves the Byki at 2-1-6, trailing Hellenic for the third and final playoff spot in the Blue Section.

After a nice turnaround to their dreadful start to the season, the Byki expected to be competitive in every match going forward. Although the Byki looked good at times against Hellenic, they failed to put together a consistent effort for the entire 80 minutes of the match.

Coach Eric Tower wanted to implement a simple game plan, and his pre-game talk emphasized playing two- and three-touch possessions and keeping the ball moving from side to side. On the defensive side of the ball, it was important to not allow anything down the middle and to force Hellenic to fight for every inch of turf on the Byki half of the field.

Despite the absence of three regular players in the midfield, the Byki executed the game plan as expected in the first half of the contest. The game started off in promising fashion. After Hellenic took a long, speculative shot, the Byki put together a tremendous buildup out of the back. Jing Geng hit Maciek Kekus with a through ball. Kekus’ burst of speed easily put him past the Hellenic defender, and he dished a pass across the box to an unmarked Robert Dec. Dec made sure on the open net, and the Byki had a dream start with just four minutes gone.

The quick lead may have caused the Byki to become complacent. Just two minutes later, the Byki left Hellenic’s portly right midfielder completely unaccounted for just outside the Byki penalty area. The Hellenic player had a bit of difficulty maintaining his balance while trying to control the ball and he ended up launching a toe shot at the Byki goal. The ball took an unfortunate bounce on the hard ground, and goalkeeper Dean Fukar only managed to get a hand on it as he dove, and the ball trickled over the line before Fukar could recover.

After this initial flurry of goals, the game proceeded at a more measured pace. The Byki settled down and improved their marking, shutting down the Hellenic attack. Good ball distribution kept Hellenic back on their heels, as the Byki created a number of good opportunities that went wide or were saved by the Hellenic keeper.

Hellenic, however, scored the next goal in controversial fashion in the 24th minute. Hellenic hit a pass through to their right forward, who was closely marked by Steven Pedlow. Just when it looked as though the ball would bounce over the end line, the Hellenic player made a desperate attempt to keep the ball in the field. He stabbed at it, as Pedlow’s marking barely gave him any room to breathe. The Hellenic player managed to get his cross in and the ball somehow found its way into the Byki net at the back post. Fukar was livid and protested to the referee that the ball went in only because the goal had been pushed back off the goal line. The referee ignored Fukar’s claim and the goal gave Hellenic a dubious 2:1 lead.

The Byki kept their heads up after this misfortune and continued to play some good football. They missed several golden opportunities to finish, the best one coming from an unmarked Nick Elmkinssi. The midfielder had a good look at the goal, but shanked a one-touch shot wide of the target.

Hellenic added to their lead in the 31st minute. With a free kick just outside the right corner of the Byki box, a Hellenic player went straight for goal, forcing Fukar to make a tough save. The ball spilled loose, however, and a Hellenic player knocked it home in the ensuing scramble.

The Byki did not quit, however. Just before the break, the Hellenic defense failed to clear a header, and the opportunistic Chris Cardenas pounced on the ball and outran the defenders. He then artfully finished his chance by calmly placing the ball into the net below the grasp of the onrushing keeper, who was injured on the play when his jaw took the force of Cardenas’ follow-through. After a lengthy delay, the goalkeeper had to leave the game.

At halftime, Tower emphasized that the Byki had to continue to maintain possession and to switch the field. It would also be significant to take shots on the untested goalkeeper. The Byki went into the second half believing that they were the better team and that the goals would come.

Things didn’t go according to plan after the break, however. The Byki threw patience right out the window. Rather than building the attack through the back line, Byki fullbacks and midfielders needlessly pumped the ball forward, thinking that Cardenas and Kekus had a speed advantage over the Hellenic defense. The result was a large number of unforced turnovers and few dangerous opportunities. The headlong rush forward also created gaps in the Byki midfield, and Hellenic found some joy running counters down the Byki wings and then dishing the ball to trailing players in the central midfield. Hellenic generated one excellent scoring opportunity in the second half when a striker crushed a full volley from outside the Byki area. Fukar saw the shot all the way and parried the ball over the goal. The sputtering Byki attack had suddenly lost its way. The players, who had all been playing harmoniously, became a hodgepodge of messy passes.

“This is all part of our building process,” said Gorecki. ”When everyone can play their best for the whole match, the results will come.”

BYKI LINEUP
(4-4-2): Fukar – Klimaszewski, Pedlow, Tower, Geng – Dec, Jedrzejowski (c), Treter, Elmkinssi – Cardenas, Kekus. Bench: Jacobs, Moore, Silverstein, Tsipris.

BYKI SCORING SUMMARY
Dec 1 (Kekus); 4th; 1:0. Cardenas 2; 35th; 2:3.