"Football, bloody hell!" were the immortal words spoken by Sir Alex Ferguson after Manchester United came from behind to win the European Cup in 1999, and yet he could have been referring to the match in Almaty on 31st May as GRATA Law Firm staged a stunning fight back to beat local rivals Borusan 3-2.
GRATA's team had an international blend of Kazakh, English, Irish and American players and were well supported by Aida Dzhussupova, and they started strongly, immediately putting Borusan under pressure. The skilful runs of captain Eldar Arystanov were causing the opposition all kinds of problems and an early shot from English legal assistant Gerard Aston brushed the crossbar with the veteran goalkeeper well and truly beaten.
Dilmurat Salikhov was a rock at the heart of the GRATA defence alongside the athletic Declan Byrne and together they comfortably dealt with the sporadic attacks of the tricky Borusan forwards. The pressure from GRATA deserved a goal and it duly arrived when some slick interpassing between Rakhim and Kolya, two associates of GRATA, created the opportunity and Rakim finished in style.
However, Borusan never give up easily and they replied almost instantly with two goals which goalkeeper Timur Yuldabayev, who made a string of excellent saves throughout the match, could do nothing to prevent.
In the second half GRATA were determined not to let this game slip away from them and the Borusan goal was placed under siege. The breakthrough finally came in spectacular style when Jeff Wolfe, the Chicago born GRATA midfield dynamo, scored from fully forty yards to draw the two teams level. Then came the real drama, as with the last kick of the game Kolya pounced on a loose ball and found the back of the net to secure a memorable victory for GRATA. Most importantly both teams enjoyed the day and hope to arrange a rematch in the future.
Gerard Aston
Legal Assistant
