A cloudy overcast saturday and incepcion travels to bukit timah to play on a grass pitch for the return leg against the British Club. We normally don't enjoy playing on grass as our local grass turfs more often than not are uneven, hard and barren that is generally unsuited to our team play. However, as this is a league and as per norm, there are bad grounds that all teams have to live with and off we go.
The majority of the team reached there early with some last minute withdrawals and luckily we managed to activate some additional players and had the required depth. Checking the pitch, it was in better condition with less sandy patches and was slightly softer from the last time we played. Perhaps was the previous nights heavy showers and we felt quietly confident to be able to do better than how we did the last time round. Anything better than a 6-0 drumming would be a bonus but we know deep inside us that was an anomly and we can definitely play better than that and win the game against the BC.
After our regular warm up, our minds were back to being hungrier to show that the previous drumming was definitely a freak result.
First Half
BC fielded an almost similar team to the previous encounter with a mixture of senior players and quick skillful youths. BC kicked off the match and we got going.
After a couple of incidences of hard play and normal gameplay early on - Yiong got cautioned for dissent from the referee. The team had to literally shout at him to calm down and focus on the game, if the referee was more strict and he flashed out a red, there was nothing we could have done. Doesn't help the team in anyway to be down so early to 10. Good to have fire but we need to channel that energy into the game, not the referee nor your own team mates. We had to take him off for his own and the teams' good for the time being.
In the 24th min, a deep freekick from our own half by Ronald into the box was allowed to bounce and pat stole in behind the defense and infront of their on rushing keeper. Probably thinkin about an overhead kick at that moment he instead decided to head the ball with his back towards goal. Maybe it was too early for him to try his obligatory overhead kick but it definitely worked as the on rushing keeper was caught off position and the ball looped up and over him into the goal. 1-0 to Incepcion and we are off to a great start.
Martin was a threat upfront with his pace and a threaded pass to him by harold while he took a shot was unfortunately deemed offside. Ominous signs for a slow and static BC backline.
BC were trying really hard to get into the game with some hard and last min tackles that resulted in some bad fouls and 4 yellow cards for their players during this period. One of this deep in our half on 28th min allowed Ron to take one of his massive out of stadium free kicks and as it was in our own half, it dropped into the 6 yard box and Martin scrambled the ball in. 2-0 Incepcion!
We ended 2-0 to the good and with 4 of their players on yellows, we were confident on adding more in the 2nd half.
Second Half
We started the 2nd half confidently, stroking the back around and generally being quicker to everything. A good team give and go move resulted in Loy poking a slide rule for Martin to burst forward upon and he calmly put it beyond the keepers reach. 3-0 to Incepcion!
Credit to BC cos they never stopped trying but their efforts were either either well wide or soft efforts that didn;t trouble SK much. A hard unnecessary challenge on SK led to some shouting but overall things calmed down.
Being 3-0 up and comfortable, our passing was crisp and we were still hungry. In the 68th min, a floated ball from Harold behind BC and Pat was onto it in a flash, instead of placing it to either side of the keeper, he lashed it with power on the volley with his pair of brand new $350 primeknit Ace boots and it dipped with swerve before the keeper could even move. 4-0 Incepcion. We're not saying everyone should go out and spend plenty on boots but perhaps it works for Pat.
Another quick breakaway saw Martin clean through on goal with only the keeper to beat. Being unselfish, he squared the ball across to Pat and he put it into the back of the net thinking he has got his first ever hat-trick for a 11 a side game. The referee called it to be offside but it was clearly a legitimate goal. Martin could have shot himself being on 2 goals and gotten the hat trick as well. Truly unfortunate decision against us.
We were now attacking in waves and Yiong was brought back on to great impact. Martin brough the ball to the corner of the box and a fumbled clearance saw the ball fall again to him to touch it to Yiong and he poked it pass the keeper. 5-0 and truly one way traffic.
We were so comfortable that even our defense was up to the middle of the park, winning balls and when teams are at this stage, it's literally containing them in their half. a lose bad clearance ball out and Roger picked it up and touched it back into Yiong in the box and placed it past their diving keeper. The whole BC backline just stood still. 6-0!
At this stage, I'm sure the referee also felt that it was enough and blew the whistle for full time. Good sportsmanship for cheers to both team but BC was down and throdden from their looks while we were on a high and definitely the hungrier of the two.
Final Score: Incepcion 6 - 0 British Club
Thoughts and Mentions for the game
It was a good all round performance from the team to be hungrier and really wanting to bring the game to them considering the previous drumming and we have proved that the previous result is not a fair assesment of us against the British Club. The pitch was a definite factor that allowed us to play our usual game better as well.
Honourable mentions to the whole backline for doing a great job defending. Nick was doing a great job cutting out crosses from the sides, Clarence and Roger for defending astutely and didn't allow their dangerous young players any room. Pat for his nice boots...and of course his two goals. Yiong with the two impact moments to strangle the fight out of them and Martin whose pace caused them numerous issues.
While the committee felt Martin did enough to win the MOM, unfortunately it was his last game for us and instead we gave him a complimentary game instead. Still it was a tough call as to the MOM but for this week, Roger shades it was good defending and a cool head for his assist on the final goal to complete the 6-0 reversal. Congrats Roger for being MOM for this week.
Still one final thought from the committee that we all felt we needed to say something about due to the frequent weekly episodes...and no this is of no relation to Pat's overhead kick late in the game that nearly took Damian's head off. Yiong - it's about channeling your energy the right way and also about respect. Respect for yourself, your teammate, the referee and the opponents. Throwing a fit when the ball does not come your way does not help inspire confidence. It may have been a simple missed pass or perhaps the player did not feel that was the best ball at that point in time. Or technique just failed them at the moment as it has for everyone from time to time. Imagine how you would feel if someone did the same to you. The respect for the referee and the opponents also need to be there, no need to go shouting all the time in the referee's face.
On a more rationale cost-benefit analysis, if you get sent off, there's a fine, you have to sit out the game, banned for the next and also put your team and team's result in jeopardy when everybody is also working as hard and wants to win the game. If you get sent off or into a fight, and we lose the game, how do you think the team will feel? Should we throw a fit at you? Channel your great inner energy into making more babies or into the game like how you did for the 2nd half. :)
Overall - a great result team. Definitely showed the rest of the league that belong to the premium teams in the league.. Keep it up!
