Serangoon, Singapore
City fresh from their 4-1 defeat in the hands of Central FC welcomed Woodlanderz who previous meeting were second best with scoreline of 6-6 and 4-3 in favour of City. Ridwan whose red card was overturned starts upfront today and with him having a good scoring record against Woodlanderz, he would want to add more tally to the 4 he had against the opponents today.
But City cursing their luck having only 8 City players for the match made loan signings of Danny, Padil and Fahmi from Stamford FC and Mamad. With Amin out, Fudin starts in goal, Mizan was retained at right back, Parry had a new partner in Padil while Eddy found him on the left. Bob started on the right wing, Danny started as a holding midfielder leaving captain Ryan free supporting Ridwan and Gabir upfront with Ahmad lurking on the left wing.
City started very cagey but it was their opponents who were lax on their passing and soon found the net as early as 10min. From a corner, their central back was free to head in a goal from close range after the intial header cannons off the crossbar. 1-0.
City pushes forward but it didnt came fruitful as their Woodlanderz custodian was equal to it. City then had a penalty claimed turned down after an excellent through ball by Eddy into the path of Ridwan who toe pokes past the last man but referee did not see a trailing leg which clipped City's forward.
Woodlanders could go further ahead but to the excellent ball winning from Danny kept the scoreline at 1-0.
Halftime stayed at 1-0.
Second half was the same fairytale as the first as Woodlanderz had way better possession and that puts them 2up 5 mins after the restart. Nutmeg subtitued Mamad, the striker scored from an acute angle. 2-0. City was distraught. They pushes forward. Ryan who at this timed played at righ wing lays to Ridwan who squares it to the onside Gabir, with a little bit of twist and turn to fool the defenders, Gabir can only see his effort saved by the goalkeeper.
Ahmad, who was running up the left flanks finally showed grimace of brilliance when he latched onto Gabir's pass, outruns 2 defenders before slotting it past the onrushing keeper to make it 2-1. City felt they can take something out of the match but they crumbled yet again at the back this time failing to catch their opponent with their offside trap with their captain scoring by shooting beneath Fudin.
3-1 Woodlanderz lead. City are not done yet, they busted their lungs trying to get within margin but the excellent defending of Woodlanderz kept City at bay.
City could not find the back of the net and must have left their scoring boots at home. Ridwan receiving a ball from Fahmi, beats two players in the penalty box sends a delighted cross to where Ahmad and Gabir was lurking but again, the goalkeeper was in tremendous form as he parries Gabir's shot with his leg.
As City pushes forward for a late onslaught, they left holes at the back and that is when the final kick of the game, Woodlanderz added another with an amazing lob shot past the despairing Fudin to make the scoreline at full time 4-1.
Ridwan commented, "September was the worst month ever for the team. It was a month to forget. Back to back 4-1 defeats were not accepted but we can look on the bright side cause the on-loan players who came in to cover for the key players were excellent in their first outing. Danny who was superb in controlling the centre midfield. We could have lost by a greater scoreline but kudos to Woodlanderz for giving us the enourmous display of good football. We do not have our full squad with us and we would might change the results of the game if we were to have everybody coming for the game. Its definitely over. We've threw it away. The hard work, the biggest margin of wins all goes down the drain. Mathematically, we are out of the tilte race. Sadly to say that but we have to face it. Whatever I'm going to say doesn't change the fact that we're out of it now. With Powerz Cup as the only silverware we can look for, the lads must know that matches will not be won if there is only 12 players turning out for the game and out of the 12, who can contribute? Are we ready to step up and be counted, that's the question we need to ask."
