A weird week went past. The team committee resigned on Sunday, only to be reinstated again on Tuesday. This might be the best plan that every team member hoped for. The committee then got busy planning for the league and Colin clearly had some plans in mind for today’s friendly. As he set the team up today, his instructions was not to thrash the opponents and to keep the ball on the ground. It was so obvious as he left Max on the bench.
We certainly followed the instructions well. Passing the ball around and giving the ball away a lot. No urgency was noted as we kept stroking it around the back and we even had players deeper than the assigned DM. We conceded a very early goal when their old, I repeat old, striker sped through on the right and calmly slot it home. We created chances too as well. Patrick was put through twice and he failed to score, meekly passing the ball to the keeper and also blasting the ball over. A good move down the left found Faz and he crossed it low for Colin, who was unmarked in the box. He twisted his body, stretched and acrobatically used his right foot to score the equaliser. Before halftime, we lost the ball in midfield and a long ball found their old striker and he still sped past everyone to score easily in a one on one with Sherman. We were certainly doing a great job in making the game friendly.
Colin tried to shuffle his pack at half time and stuck to his plan but this time called upon Bobby to start the 2nd half in a 4-4-2 formation.
Alas, we were still being friendly as another long ball down the right found the old striker again. This time, he crossed nicely to the far post for them to nod home. 3-1 down and it was certainly still very friendly gestures from us. We hugged and puffed but couldn’t break through. Bobby was all over the place and latched onto a fine pass from Colin. He went into the box, looked up and tried to cross to Colin but miscues his kick. The keeper should have gotten it easily but he allowed it to slip through his hands and went into goal. Then the opponents scored again. I don’t remember how as i was knackered from running around aimlessly. Max was now in midfield and keeping the ball well. The opponents had already realised that he’s the danger man and targeting him with heavy tackles and blocks. We got a lot of chances as a result of his heavy involvement and Bobby’s selfish runs. Corners were wasted. Free kicks hit the wall or went deeper into Yishun. Finally, an attack from us led to a scramble in the box. The ball broke loose to Stuart at the edge and he composed himself to smash it in via the crossbar. By now, it was clear that we were the better team but we were so friendly that we still didn’t make chances count. Bobby missed a good chance from a Pat flocked header. Pat himself tried to be too clever when he just tapped the ball despite him being only 2 feet from goal. The clock ticked down and with minutes left, Harold decided to go down the wing with his fancy footwork. He put in a super delicious cross for Pat but that narrowly missed his head. However, Colin arrived at the far post and threw himself at the ball to head it in for the equaliser again. Great stuff from him but he didn’t seem to be enjoying that. Whistle blew shortly after and the job was done. We didn’t thrash the opponents. We didn’t even win. We were lucky to get a draw. Very undeserved one I must say as we certainly can’t be bothered about the result. Let’s see whether Colin’s plans work then.
Internal game next week and we gather for BBQ. Maybe we will be more serious with that game than today.
