retired_destiny1124

1.11.08
Nice (1) Calais (1)
Nice- Johnny Vincio Leonardo 75
Calais- Mounir Alkhatib 87
MOM- Nenad Djodic, Nice

"It was a fair result for evenly matched sides," commented Gond.

"We were fortunate. They could easily have won this match had Cees (Paauwe) not played as well as he did. We had a tough time contaning Leonardo and Cedric Bardon."

"At least Mounir (Alkhatib) came through with the equalizer. It was touch and go for us to even the match."

"It was almost a win- when Daisuke (Matsui) hit the crossbar with his header I thought we were going to steal a win."

***

8.11.08
Calais (2) Chateauroux (0)
Calais- Dulee Johnson 20 Fabio Ceschi 35
Chateauroux- None
MOM- Dulee Johnson, Calais

"That was a difficult match," said a now happy Gond.

Faramir shrugged, "I don't think they will get any easier. Every club will be gunning for us the second time around. Still, it was another solid performance where all the parts of the team worked together and earned us another win."

"Dulee (Johnson) really showed some fine form today. I think this was the first time I had seen him take over a match with his speed and power."

retired_destiny1124

11.1.08
Ajaccio (1) Calais (5)
Ajaccio- William Correia 13
Calais- Mounir Alkhatib 15 Yoann Tapella 17,59 Fabio Ceschi 42 Omar Zongo 88
MOM- Omar Zongo, Calais

"I heard that Omar was so inspired because a bunch of friends had flown in from Abidjan to see him play today," mentioned Gond.

Faramir chuckled, "Maybe we should bring them in more often. He really did play a good match today. I was also pleased with Kevin Brown filling in for Kevin Mofid at right back."

"Not much difference between the two of them when you come right down to it."

***

14.11.08
Calais (3) Tours (0)
Calais- Yoann Tapella 4,59 Daisuke Matsui 23
Tours- None
MOM- Loic Pailleres, Calais

Barry Gond looked up from the stat sheet, "Loic (Pailleres) had a really great match- two assists and he continually broke up Tours midfield attack with his deft tackling."

"Yoann (Tapella) certainly liked his passes- left him with a couple more easy goals. Even now, clubs know that Yoann is our key attacker and they aren't able to really mark him out."

"Will we be going with a first team lineup when we visit Clermont next- for the League Cup match."

"Not a full one- though there will be several regulars dotting the lineup."

retired_destiny1124

18.11.08
Clermont (1) Calais (3) League Cup 1st round
Clermont- Salah Jafar Said 53
Calais- Omar Zongo 16 Joao Paralta 34,77
MOM- Joao Paralta, Calais

"I thought we might be in a bit of trouble when Dulee (Johnson) went down with his leg injury- instead Joao just turned on the afterburners and ruined Clermont's day," said a pleased Barry Gond.

"He was superb with the ball today- creating plays, drawing the defense and just plain shooting well. He certainly deserved the match honours."

"How long is Dulee out for?"

"It will be at least a month."

***

22.11.08
Nancy (0) Calais (3)
Nancy- None
Calais- Yoann Tapella 1 Fabio Ceschi 29 Filipe Morais 41
MOM- Filipe Morais, Calais

Faramir stared out the window at the sunny cold day, "It is hard to imagine reaching midseason in any better shape."

"The boys are really rolling along. It seems like we just have to point them to the right approach and then they execute it to perfection."

"Yoann's (Tapella) first goal was a perfect example of that- it was the quickest goal we have scored this season and all because we stepped in front of a pass..."

"Filipe Morais should have had that other goal, I don't really think he was offside on the goal that the officials waved off."

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * French Second Division - Saturday 22nd November 2008********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2008/9 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Calais 19 10 0 0 31 10 8 1 0 22 5 55 2nd Reims 20 8 1 2 21 9 4 4 1 18 15 41 3rd Metz 19 5 2 3 15 12 7 0 2 22 11 38 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Grenoble 17 4 1 3 10 7 6 3 0 11 2 34 5th Nîmes 18 5 3 1 13 8 4 1 4 13 9 31 6th Istres 19 5 3 2 16 8 3 2 4 8 11 29 7th Nice 18 6 2 1 19 10 2 2 5 10 13 28 8th Clermont 18 4 3 2 21 17 3 2 4 16 18 26 9th Toulouse 19 5 3 2 16 9 2 2 5 12 18 26 10th Châteauroux 18 2 5 1 5 4 4 1 5 17 18 24 11th Nancy 19 6 2 1 17 9 1 1 8 9 23 24 12th Valence 19 5 0 5 10 12 2 3 4 8 13 24 13th Lorient 19 3 4 3 14 14 2 3 4 11 16 22 14th Ajaccio AC 20 5 3 2 20 16 0 3 7 8 20 21 15th Tours 19 4 3 2 14 11 1 3 6 7 18 21 16th Caen 18 3 3 3 13 13 1 4 4 16 20 19 17th Laval 18 3 3 3 14 18 1 2 6 6 13 17 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Beauvais 19 2 0 7 14 19 2 2 6 12 18 14 19th Racing CP 19 3 1 5 11 13 0 2 8 5 21 12 20th Sochaux 19 2 1 6 10 19 1 2 7 7 22 12 </pre>

retired_destiny1124

29.11.08
Pont-Audmer (0) Calais (1) French Cup 7th round
Pont-Audmer- None
Calais- Billy Macdonald 69
MOM- Alexander Alm, Calais

Gond looked hard at the scoresheet- as if the score would change, "We generated a lot of 'nothing' offense in the match."

"If 'nothing' means shooting wide or high of the net- yes, we had plenty of that. 20 shots and only 7 of them actually on net. At least we did get one in finally."

"They never really had a good chance to score- the defense passed muster today."

***

6.12.08
Calais (1) Lorient (0)
Calais- Yoann Tapella 55
Lorient- None
MOM- Mounir Alkhatib, Calais

Gond shook his head negatively, "I have to disagree with their selection of Mounir (Alkhatib) as MOM. It sure seems like a home field pick when you compare him to Jean-Gabriel Padovani in their net."

"I would have to agree with you Barry- Lorient only managed one shot the entire match. We spent most of the match in their end and he came up with several game saving stops- not to mention Fabio's (Ceschi) penalty kick that he saved."

"How long will Fabio be out for?"

"Looks like at least 3 weeks."

"We are starting to get thin on forwards."

"I know- working on solving that."

retired_destiny1124

13.12.08
Reims (2) Calais (2)
Reims- Rock Mamale 45 Stephane Andre 74
Calais- Daisuke Matsui 33,46
MOM- Daisuke Matsui, Calais

"We let them off the hook," grumbled Gond. "We had them cold, but then we didn't cover Andre on that corner and just like that- a draw."

Faramir nodded, "I don't think we played all that badly, though Cees (Paauwe) wasn't his usual self. Daisuke (Matsui) showed why we were so glad to get him. The bad news is that Alessandro (Pistone) will be coaching on crutches for the remainder of the season. He tore up his ankle when he broke it."

"The rest of the season?"

"Almost certainly. In fact, though he hasn't said anything to me yet- he might retire as a player because of this injury. It is going to be hard to rehab it."

***

20.12.08
Calais (4) Gueugnon (1) French Cup 8th round
Calaiss- Alexander Alm 12 Filipe Morais 64 Kevin Brown 79 Loic Pailleres 89
Gueugnon- Fadel Brahami 84
MOM- Alexander Alm, Calais

"A fine match for Alexander," observed Gond.

"He showed some of his considerable talent today- it was a very good showing."

"We did a nice job of clamping down on their long ball attempts."

***

Gond glanced at Faramir, "No player movement during this winter break?"

"Only the sale of Phillipe Colinet. We received 325K for him. He hadn't been happy since we allowed Guillaume to move, so this was the time to clear his spot.

retired_destiny1124

10.1.09
Nimes (2) Calais (5) League Cup 2nd round
Nimes- Alou Diarra 31 Thomas Kleine Own-Goal 73
Calais- Mounir Alkhatib 12,45-P,65,80 Dulee Johnson 50
MOM- Mounir Alkhatib, Calais

"That was a nice way to roar back into action after the break," smiled Gond.

Faramir nodded, "Not only that, but that extra 300K for winning really looks nice on our bottom line. Mounir (Alkhatib) was terrific today."

"He was devastating to them- they had no way of countering his slashing attacks. Is Yoann (Tapella) out long?"

"Only 10 days, we were fortunate on that."

***

17.1.09
Calais (3) Grenoble (0)
Calais- Daisuke Matsui 40,54 Joao Paralta 87
Grenoble- None
MOM- Loic Pailleres, Calais

"We didn't seem to miss Yoann (Tapella) much in that one," observed Gond.

"Daisuke (Matsui) has been waiting most of the season for a chance- he has impressed me a lot when he has had the chance. He made some good decisions today."

"Cees (Paauwe) also played very well today- this would have been a lot closer match if he hadn't..."

retired_destiny1124

24.1.09
Calais (1) Nimes (0) French Cup 9th round
Calais- Joao Paralta 90
Nimes- None
MOM- Kevin Brown, Calais

"Another timely goal from Joao," asserted a pleased Barry Gond.

"It was a tough match, but yes he certainly came up with the goal we needed. Kevin getting the MOM honours was a bit surprising- but not altogether undeserved."

"He played well after subbing on for Marc-Vivien (Foe), but I have to agree he probably didn't deserve the award."

***

28.1.09
Clermont (1) Calais (0)
Clermont- Thomas Chatelle 29
Calais- None
MOM- Thomas Chatelle, Clermont

"It was bound to happen," shrugged Faramir.

"I don't like losing- even once- but I suppose you're right, we weren't going through the entire season unbeaten," flatly stated Gond.

"We didn't play poorly, but they executed much better than we did. Jaime Alejandro Barrientos was very good in goal for them and we didn't make him work hard enough."

"The backline also didn't play very sharp- though Cees (Paauwe) did his best to make up for that fact."

retired_destiny1124

31.1.09
Nantes (1) Calais (1) League Cup 3rd round (Calais advances on penalties)
Nantes- Bernard Di Rocco 87
Calais- Dulee Johnson 27
MOM- Derek Boateg, Nantes

Faramir shook his head in amazement, "They thought they had us when Mike (Zonneveld) was sent off at 30 minutes, but they didn't figure in our tough defensive approach when we already had a goal. If we hadn't gotten Dulee's (Johnson) goal early we almost certainly wouldn't have gotten to penalties."

"We spoiled Jean-Francois Richard's debut as Manager quite nicely. They were fortunate to get their goal in regulation..." replied Gond.

"Not fortunate. They worked hard and finally wore us down. We were very tired when they finally qot that goal. We were a bit fortunate in extra time that Cees (Paauwe) was dazzling, because we likely should have lost then. I was just hoping to reach penalties."

"It was great to see our guys knocking those penalties down. When Cees saved Rafael Marquez's- you could sense the players were determined to win it without giving them a chance. That was just what they did..."

"Thomas (Kleine) was so elated to fire his home. I don't think I have ever seen him jump that high."

***

7.2.09
Metz (0) Calais (2)
Metz- None
Calais- Yoann Tapella 45 Mounir Alkhatib 60
MOM- Guillaume Marchand, Metz

"Metz badly wanted that match," observed Gond.

"It wasn't so much that they think they can catch us for first place- but they are trying to gain some breathing room over 4th place Grenoble and 5th place Nimes in hanging on to one of the promotion slots."

"Yoann (Tapella) was showing better form today. He worked hard to earn that goal."

"I think the injury threw him off more than we thought it would. He really hadn't looked anywhere close to the form he showed earlier- until today."

retired_destiny1124

14.2.09
Dunkerque (0) Calais (5)
Dunkerque- None
Calais- Omar Zongo 16 Filipe Morais 43 Fabio Ceschi 52 Alexander Alm 75,87
MOM- Alexander Alm, Calais

"It took us awhile to get going, but once we did..." smiled Gond.

Faramir chuckled, "Well, if the referee doesn't wave off Fabio's (Ceschi) first goal on offside- it would have been a more comfortable first half. It was a pretty efficient offensive effort- only one shot that wasn't on net."

"Alexander (Alm) was a problem for them- they couldn't figure out how to defend him."

***
18.2.09
Caen (1) Calais (0)
Caen- Patrick Descamps 54
Calais- None
MOM- Alcide Michel, Caen

Gond slumped in the chair, "We didn't show much in this one."

Faramir nodded, "It was easily our worst match of the year. Not playing any regulars could be an excuse- except our 2nd line has been playing as well as the first line all season. Not today though."

"We only managed three shots- that is by far our lowest of the season. They did a good job of bottling us up."

retired_destiny1124

21.2.09
Calais (2) Auxerre (0) League Cup Quarterfinal
Calais- Adriano 40 Yoann Tapella 47
Auxerre- None
MOM- Hamid Dahoub, Auxerre

Faramir relaxed against the wall, "Splendid! It was a treat to win that one."

Gond answered excitedly, "I think the press have caught on that we are a good little club. They are all over the dressing room."

"Let the boys enjoy it. They really did earn it with this one. We outplayed Auxerre by a fair margin and survived another Zonneveld redcard."

"I thought Mike was going to be out for the match."

"I wish I had left him out- given the redcard. Still, it was only his wrist that was bothering him- so I thought he could play with the limitations."

***

28.2.09
Calais (4) Valence (0)
Calais- Marc-Vivien Foe 29,58 Dulee Johnson 31 Yoann Tapella 58
Valence- None
MOM- Dulee Johnson, Calais

Gond smiled brightly, "A very relaxed performance where everyone contributed."

"It was nice to see Marc-Vivien (Foe) get those two. He had been deserving of many more goals this season, but the breaks haven't been kind to him."

"Speaking of breaks, I was surprised that Yoann (Tapella) was ruled offside and his goal in injury time taken away."

"I guess the referee had just seen enough of our scoring. He didn't look offside."