Having been thoroughly outplayed and beaten by a young Malay team last week, we were apprehensive about the opponents this week. Razak was the team name and we didn’t know what we are up for. 5pm arrived and we were still strolling in. The opponents were more or less there. And it does seem that we will have a good game going. We didn’t had much chance to talk pre-game as our warm up was late and the quick message was to contain and keep the shape.
Keep the shape we did. And we quickly settled down and played the game. Henry was busy upfront hustling while we tried to keep the ball in the middle with some nice moves. Defence wasn’t really troubled as the opponents didn’t really had much attacking opportunities, although we did try to help them when Patrick passed the ball to their striker and he blasted it over. Chances were few and we grab at them when it came along. We didn’t make it count. Missing our 2 top scorers on this day seems to indicate that we will struggle in front of goal. Half time came and 0-0.
Communication needs to be improved. The guys at the sidelines were more vocal than those on the pitch but possibly because we were not the ones running and catching our breath. 10 minutes in the 2nd half, Daryl got the ball on the right wing. Saw the keeper out and took a shot. It went in to the top right corner. Good goal, just like how his dad will do it. Razak stepped up a gear and got their equalizer when we failed to clear a ball in defence which led to a pass in the box and the midfielder shot and scored. A quick blow. 5 minutes lead was all we had. We continued to keep our heads up and played some very nice football. Yew Boon was working hard and had a few opportunities but all missed. He finally scored when a quick pass into the box led him to poke the ball into the net. A deserved goal for him as he has been heckled by the fans all game for missing several chances. We wind the clock down and kept them out. Final score 2-1.
Key to this game was the hard work of the midfielders. Clarence and Damian worked their asses off to cover the ground. Andy was influential in keeping the pressure up. Defence didn’t had much to do as they comfortably soaked up the pressure. A nasty tackle to Richard almost took him out of the game but he went back on. He was hacked simply because he was too good to be stopped legally but the opponents. Credit to him for getting back into the game. Yew Boon struggled to find the net but continued to work hard. He got his reward and the team too with the winning goal. I am tempted to give the MOM to someone else, but he wasn’t playing so Yew Boon is my choice for MOM this week. First win of 2014. Let’s keep it going. Well done all.
