|
eFlicker.net
|
Comeback king Ronzani wins Putney Open
Playing his first tournament since the London Grand Prix last January, Federico Ronzani defeated fellow PSC heavyweight David Russell 3-2 in extra-time to win his second consecutive Putney Open title.
Despite being defending champion, Ronzani had to win the event in tough circumstances after not being seeded for the tournament due to him slipping down the UKIC rankings after taking a year off from the game.
Ronzani though had little difficulty in qualifying for the knockout stages although England International Paul Lawrenson kept the Italian scoreless until early in the second half of their encounter. Ronzani went on to win the tie 4-1.
Ronzani defeated Mike Newton 4-0 in the last 16 before beating another England International, London TFC's John Brand 5-2 in a highly entertaining quarter-final clash.
This set up a semi-final with the tournament's number 1 seed, Chris Thomas. It was Ronzani who progressed to the final after a nail-biting 1-0 shots victory over the Cardiff-based English player.
Thomas had taken the lead in the first half before Ronzani hit back just before the interval. The remainder of the game was a tight affair with both players having few chances.
Ronzani struck his penalty winner with his third shot and a disappointed Thomas was left cursing his bad finishing during the shoot-out.
David Russell was in sizzling form throughout the day. The number 2 seed had no trouble in progressing to the knockout stages with two high scoring victories.
It was slightly different in his second round game. Russell only defeated Worthing's Shaun Allison 3-1, after going behind early on, to progress to a quarter-final against his tournament buddy and fellow PSC player Rob O'Hare.
Whilst Russell had little difficulty in beating O'Hare 5-0, the game could have been tighter if the Cypriot international had a bit more luck in front of goal. But the tie was never in doubt after Russell took the lead after 5 minutes.
It was an improvement for O'Hare though, who had lost 7-1 to the same opponent in the league meet a few days beforehand.
Russell then took his goal-spree form into the semis where he faced Welsh international David Lauder. The English player raced into a 4-0 half time lead before eventually defeating Lauder 8-0. The game was stopped two minutes before the end after Russell's total dominance in the tie forced Lauder to raise his white flag.
Before bowing out to Russell, O'Hare earlier topped his group after a 2-1 victory over Mike Newton, then won a thrilling all-PSC clash with Victor Jones, 5-3 in the barrage round. That set up a last 16 match against Worthing's Nicky Chappell, and some more clinical play in front of goal saw O'Hare to a 5-0 victory.
The host club's Simon Gale reached the last 16 without conceding a goal until his defeat to John Brand 3-0. In the previous round, Gale defeated fellow PSC player Paolo Barone 4-0, and can also be proud of his 0-0 scoreline against Craig Heward in the group stages.
Barone himself took a scalp, defeating Shaun Allison 3-2 in their group encounter - an excellent victory for the Italian who had previously lost 5-0 to Allison at the Worthing tournament in December.
Another Italian, former PSC player Paolo Baffone, made his UK tournament debut. In his first match against Chris Thomas, Baffone took a surprise 1-0 lead which he held for ten minutes of the first half before Thomas went on the rampage in the second half winning the game 6-1.
Baffone was also close to grabbing a point from Simon Bryan, but the EMA man hit a winning goal in literally the final second.
Malc Dickson again won the plate title. After being knocked out in the group stages despite some encouraging displays, including a 1-1 draw with Steve Hawkins, Dickson defeated EMA's John Turpin 7-1 to win the Thames Cup.
In the juniors, Sam Curtis faired better than his father Adrian had in the Open, but the youngster had looked tired all weekend.
Despite this he managed some excellent results in the both Open and U15 tournaments including a fine 5-1 victory over LTFC's Michael Miltiadous which set up a repeat of the Worthing Open final in September against Fivestar's Brandon Lavender in the game that put Lavender on the UK junior scene with an excellent victory over the England international.
Lavender again had the better over the world number 3, winning the Putney title with a fine 2-0 win.
It was later revealed that the reason for Curtis being so tired was the fact that he was developing a bout of chicken pox.
* Congratulations to Jonathan Bryan for winning the day's Fair-play award after his polite manner on and off the field of play earned him praise from other players.
* Putney SC would like to thank all those who supported the event, especially London TFC and Worthing Fivestar for providing many of the tables used. At least £150 was raised from the open for the local Regenerate.com charity.
Putney Open - Final
Federico Ronzani 3 David Russell 2 (after overtime)
It took six wins for Federico Ronzani to retain his Putney Open title. Six wins against English internationals of various levels.
The last two victories were no doubt the toughest, and having won his first four matches with consummate ease, a shoot-out victory after an edgy semi-final encounter with Chris Thomas set up a suitably all-Putney league clash against David Russell.
And again the game went past the regulation 30 minutes, as a goal midway through overtime won it for the Italian.
Ronzani had emerged from the tougher half of the draw. His beaten semi-final opponent Thomas had edged Jeff Jordan by the odd goal in three in the last 8, and the East Londoner himself had had a close-fought match with Craig Heward in the preceding round.
But Russell had shown fine form in front on goal on his own way towards the final, and he took the game to Ronzani in the early stages of their meeting, forcing a shot inside 30 seconds, before chipping in the first goal of the contest a minute later.
However the lead didn't last long and within 60 seconds, a neat rolling ball move by Ronzani through his opponent's defence was neatly finished by the Italian.
Ronzani had the upper hand for much of the first half, but errors started to creep into his play, first missing the ball after creating a clear-cut chance, then having a goal ruled out for offside.
The Italian had further chances towards the end of the period and he continued to press at the start of the second half.
And the pressure paid off 5 minute in he chipped past the keeper, following a flick-in on the left.
The pair traded chances for the remainder of the half, with some clever build-up play from each, but both found the other in fine form with the keeper.
Russell installed a greater sense of urgency into his game as the minutes ticked by, with a couple of well-worked shots on the move late on. It was though a rather weakly struck shot, down the centre of goal, that caught Ronzani unawares for the equaliser with less than 30 seconds to play.
There was still time for one last Ronzani effort in normal time, but his shot in the final second of play flew wide.
Flicking-off, Ronzani had more possession during the extra period. And four minutes in, having got the better of an offside decision, he clinically dispatched the decisive goal from just inside the shooting area to ensure a second concessive Putney winner's trophy.
Got News? E-mail us at flicker1995@yahoo.co.uk