We played Eagles FC on Saturday. A squad of 16 turned up at Tampines Sec and the difference from last week was that we had 2 recognized strikers instead of none. We played the Eagles several times and they had 20 players this time, surprisingly more than us. Referee was late and that allowed us A LOT of time to warm up and worked our upper bodies. We also had Stan as a guest player who apparently is much fitter than ever before with his daily 6km runs.
Team talk was about trying to control the tempers and identifying who are the key players that we had to shackle. Starting line up
SK
Jiunn Roger Clarence Nick
Poh Andy Ron (Capt) Harold Henry
Colin
Subs:
Daryl
Stan
Yiong
Yew Boon
Damian
For once, we started very strongly and dominated the game. As early as the 4th minute, Harold struck the cross-bar with a shot. Chances were created but we failed to convert them. Colin worked hard and hustled for every ball. We pushed strongly but couldn’t get the goal we needed. They had a few chances but our defence were coping well and SK wasn’t troubled much. A great hustle from Andy resulted in a shot from Yew Boon which the goalkeeper parried back to him. He had the presence of mind to lay it off for Harold who struck it cleanly into the bottom corner. 1-0 and we were well on top. Poh got injured and couldn’t play anymore giving us one less sub. More chances were created, Damian had a shot which crept past the post. Yew Boon tried an audacious volley which went past narrowly. Andy shot from 25 yards but cannot beat the keeper. Yew Boon had a great header from a corner which was saved. 1-0 at half-time.
A quick halftime break due to the game starting late. We were very quiet in the first half and we definitely had to improve that. Key message was to raise the volume and talk more. We continued the momentum and created more chances. A quick attack led to a chance. Yew Boon passed to Colin, instead of shooting, but Colin could only struck it past the far post. We were very comfortable at this point and controlling the game. A breakaway from them led to a foul in the box by SK. Penalty. And they duly converted with a well-struck penalty to draw level. We had more chances but it seems that we were more intent on hitting the HDB block behind the goal than scoring as our freekicks and shots went over.
Final score 1-1. Great effort from everyone. Yiong did a good shift when asked for. Ron stuck to his job in the middle. Damian worked hard. Defence was focused and Stan was… Stan. One player stood out and I felt that he deserved it for being all over the pitch and creating chances. This was the kind of pressing that will help us. MOM - Andy.
We are using the website for a lot of functions now. It can also be a platform for social interaction. As you might have noticed, I also started putting ratings for the players. You can also do that. We will start by getting the day’s Captain to input HIS own ratings for the team on the day after the match report is out. Ron will be the first one to do so.
