This past Saturday gave us something that we have been waiting for over 10 weeks to see; Kris Mole back amongst the goals.

He had been without a goal for the last 9 official matches, a situation which not many expected after such an electric pre-season for the young Brighton export.

The game was an official friendly away to Slovenian 4th division side, Ilirija. The weather was perfect for football although the pitchcould have done with a bit of work. After an opening 15-20 minutes which saw most of the play going to the home team, the score had been held by the visitors at 0-0. Then the tide semed to change and Ihan's players were really showing a real comfort on the ball, something which they have not always done in the past. Chapman went close after being put through by Mole, and then 5 minutes before the interval Mole went even closer. A throw-in found him on the right angle of the penalty box. After taking a touch to bring the ball under control, he then hit it on the half-volley and watched as it agonisingly hit the angle of the goal frame and bounced away to safety. The effort deserved a finish.

Into the second half and the game was still flowing in the favour of Ihan. Alan Chapman found himself running through on goal being persued by a defender. Instead of trying to take it all the way he lifted it beautifully over the keeper from a difficult angle and found the top corner. 1-0 Ihan.

The home team, clearly angry at going behind, then started to attack a bit more. Ihan's defence held firm, and with Ilirija throwing men forward switched to a counter-attack game. The move paid off 5 minutes later when Ihan winger Phillippe lifted the ball from the flank into the Ilirija penalty area to where Mole had made a quick darted run. The striker pulled the ball out of the air with his first touch and calmly placed it in the bottom corner with his second. 2-0 Ihan.

Maybe Ihan became a bit complacent after that second goal because 10 minutes from the end of the game they found the score level at 2-2. It wouldn't matter too much though in the end, because the away team simply raised their game again. Five minutes before the end debutant, Robi found himself through on goal and he made no mistake with the finsih, stroking it past the keeper into the bottom corner. And then with Ilirija pushing hard for the equaliser, Mole again made a good run into the box which wasn't picked up, got onto the end of a long throw-in, and lashed the ball into the net from 6 yards out and from a tight angle. 4-2 Ihan. Game over.

We caught up with Mole this Monday morning to see how he saw things. He gave us this;

"Finally. Finally, I'm back in the goals. It feels good, boys. I always had faith in my ability and I knew that it would come eventually, but the longer it went on the harder it became, you know. After I hit the bar in the first half I thought to myself 'Here we go again. It's not gonna be your day.' So when I did actually get that first goal in the second half, I felt relief more than anything. I knew as soon as I saw Phillippe in that position that if he could just get to the bal first I would get on the end of it and not make any mistakes in dispatching it. The second goal was a lot easier, I couldn't really miss, but it was still a nice feeling to see it hit the back of the net. Hopefully I've gone some way to silencing my critics who have been quite hard on me over the past couple of months. I know though, that if I really want to silence them completely, I need to get a few more in the next couple of weeks. I wish that I could play another game today and then again tomorrow, just to bang a few more in. I feel good. Believe me when I say, the second half of the league season will be nothing like the first half. With some of our new additions to the squad, we are going to be a real force."

From everyone here at Deal-Real News, Congratulations Kris, and congratulations Ihan Finance. We look forward to continuing the journey with you.

 

Deal-Real News Agency,

Ljubljana