Brandon Lavender (SC Flanders/ENG) claimed the 2020 Harrow FISTF Satellite with a hard fought 2-0 win over Mark Farrell (The White Star/ROI).
Fourteen players took part at the new beautiful Tithe Sport and Social Club venue, divided between a group of 4 and two groups of five players.
As a novel twist, the tournament was played on 70s cloth pitches with original Subbuteo fences.
Rudi presents the winners trophy to Brandon
Farrell won group A and went straight to the semis after winning all his games, whilst Paul Andreas (Harrow/CYP) took the second place at the expenses of Martin Hodds (Dundee United TFC/ENG).
Hodds win ágainst Alan Lee (White Star/ENG) wasn’t enough though to put him through the group for a worse goal difference.
Group B saw Spain’s Bruno Gerosa (Mallorca Águilas FM/ESP) cruising after two wins and a draw to the top of the group but had to leave early due to unfortunate circumstances, taking a 3-0 default loss to Victor Jones (Hawks/ENG), ending in fact 3rd, That favoured Rudi Peterschinigg (Hawks/ENG), with two wins and another draw, seeing him top the group with 8 points to place himself in the other semifinal, followed by Jones on 7 points.
Group C, was a tight one, which went down to the very last game between 3 players, in the end Brandon Lavender secured himself the top of a tough group with 8 points after two wins and two draws. Marco Ghigliotti (Hawks/ENG) made sure he got the point he needed in his last game, a 2-2 draw with Panagiotis Stemitsiotis (Hawks/ENG) to secure himself the last spot available for the Barrage with 7 points. Aaron Skinner (Bristol/ENG) ended also with 7 points but a worse goal difference compared to Ghigliotti, pushing him down to 3rd. Stemitsiotis fought hard and a win vs Ghigliotti in their last match would have guaranteed him a second place but within few minutes he went 2-0 down, managed to come back but the 2-2 wasn’t enough and ended 4th. Later he took out the Plate, making is journey back to Reading a little less salty. Lee Fenton did what he could in a really tough group for him, ending last but with some decent performances.
Mark Farrell receives the runners up trophy
The barrage stage saw Ghigliotti easily cruising to the semis with a 4-0 win over Jones, whilst Lavender had to fight more against Andreas before coming out a 2-0 winner.
The Semifinals produced two thrilling matches. While Mark Farrell managed to beat Ghigliotti 3-2 in a very tight game, Lavender seemed to be cruising 3-0 at halftime against Peterschinigg. But just when the match looked over, the Harrow Hawks man managed to find a goal, Lavender didn’t seem to be too much upset by that, but when the score went to 3-2, he then started to feel the pressure, and from there onward it was another game, with Rudi managing to level the game 3-3 before the end. In extra time Lavender finally woke up, started to play again and deservedly found an amazing golden goal from an almost impossible position to win 4-3 and reach the final.
After an emotional semifinal, Lavender made sure he wouldn’t lose his concentration again in the final. Both he and Farrell played a very good defensive match and the first half ended 0-0, but not without several chances on both sides. In the second half, Lavender found one of his gems to put himself 1-0 up after few minutes and put pressure on Farrell. Farrell then had to start pushing upfront a bit more as the clock was running fast for him, but on the most classic of counter attacks, Brandon scored again to close out the match 2-0.
Stemitsiotis won the Plate 3-1 against Aaron Skinner
Result and Standing
Group A
M. Farrel vs P. Andreas 1-0
A. Lee vs M. Hodds 0-1
Farrell vs Lee 5-0
Andreas vs Hodds 1-1
Farrell vs Hodds 2-1
Lee vs Andreas 0-3
9 Farrell
4 Andreas (+2)
4 Hodds (0)
0 Lee
Group B
B. Gerosa vs J. Turpin 1-0
K. Cordell vs V. Jones 1-1
V. Jones vs J.Turpin 3-1
R.Peters vs B. Gerosa 1-1
J. Turpin vs K. Cordell 0-1
V. Jones vs R. Peters 2-4
B. Gerosa vs K. Cordell 2-1
R. Peters vs J. Turpin 1-0
V.Jones vs B.Gerosa 3-0 (forfeit)
R. Peters vs K. Cordell 3-3
8 Peterschinigg
7 Jones (+3)
7 Gerosa (-1)
5 Cordell
0 Turpin
Group C
Lavender vs Ghigliotti 4-2
Fenton vs Skinner 0-1
Stemitsiotis vs Ghigliotti 2-2
Skinner vs Lavender 0-0
Ghigliotti vs Fenton 5-0
Stemitsiotis vs Skinner 1-2
Lavender vs Fenton 3-0
Fenton vs Stemitsiotis 0-2
Skinner vs Ghigliotti 0-2
Lavender va Stemitsiotis 2-2
8 Lavender
7 Ghigliotti (+5)
7 Skinner (0)
5 Stemitsiotis
0 Fenton
Barrage
Ghigliotti v Jones 4-0
Lavender v Andreas 2-0
Semis
Mark Farrell managed to beat 3-2 Ghigliotti
Lavender v Peterschinigg 4-3 (aet)
Final
Lavender v Farrelll 2-0
Plate:
Stemitsiotis won (3-1) the Plate vs Aaron Skinner