O'Fallon Flames Archives

2.26.06 : Flames Hot Streak Comes To An End

Sunday the O’Fallon Flames took their 6 game winning streak on the road for an afternoon match with the Central West End Wildcats and manager John Sarra. Flames manager Jeff Drake knew his side was in for a struggle, having an earlier season 2-0 loss to the Wildcats at The Crematorium. The Flames played strong and smart defense in the early minutes shutting down the Wildcats build-up in the midfield. Unfortunately they could not create any build-up of their own and in the 9th minute the Wildcats’ first shot of the match found the far post and the back of the net for a 1-0 Central West End lead. Flames manager Jeff Drake felt fortunate to be only down a goal at the break. “We played a respectable first half today. I was pleased with our club’s effort.”

But the Flames good fortune didn’t last long. 3 minutes in to the second half the Wildcats brought the ball in wide down the right wing and placed a perfect shot into the upper 90 of the far post for a 2-0 lead. But the never-say-die Flames picked up their offensive pace and just minutes later broke in behind the left side of the Central West End defense and placed a great shot of their own to the far post upper 90 to cut the lead to 2-1. But that was as close as they would come. 3 more tremendous, and virtually unstoppable goals in the last 5 minutes by the Wildcats put the game out of reach and the match ended in a 5-1 drubbing. “They couldn’t miss today, and we did not give ourselves the chance to be creative enough to win this afternoon.” Drake said following the match. “I thought we played well at times today, and the score probably doesn’t reflect how well we played. But when you lose by four you don’t have much room for excuses. They were just too much for us today and John showed why he is one of the best players in the SLSL.”

Drake’s thoughts were probably correct as the Wildcats went on to beat Fenton and Florissant by similar scores later that day.