This week sees' us playing reigning champions from the past two seasons the Eagle Boys. A veteran team that we barely beat before in a pre-season friendly. In the league and on a grass pitch, we were not too sure how we would do as they may step up their game and also we're not the most confident on grass considering a previous encounter on grass. :P.
Hot humid evening excabated by the haze and everyone arrived early after some housekeeping email sent by the manager on game day manners and discipline. A quick warm up session and we have some sidelined players back for this warm up to test their fitness. Good to see Colin our current top goal scorer back jogging on the pitch. Still hobbling slightly but am sure he would be back in the side sooner rather than later.
Manager gave a quick pep talk on who to watch out for as we know them from our previous friendly and the match kicked off slightly late due to the referee's late arrival.
First Half
Eagle boys are definitely a ball playing team, confidently stroking the ball around on the grass pitch and trying to retain the ball as long as they can to dictate play. Within 5 mins, as they were playing the ball around the defence, the ball was stroked back to the keeper. Loy ran for a lost cause to close down the keeper and surprisingly the keeper dwindled on the ball and by the time he kicked the ball, our Capt Loy was close enough to stick out a foot in the ball's path and it rebounded into the net! 1-0 to Incepcion. Another break down the left by Harold saw he square the ball to Roger's feet in the box but Roger was caught by surprise and didn't shoot and Eagles managed to clear.
Our opponents started to settle and one of their intricate passing moves managed to break our offside (although their forward did look way way offside!) but fair play to their player who managed to round SK and slot the ball into the net. 1-1 and all square.
Another quick break down the right from Harold and a searching ball into the box for Yew Boon onto his head but his connection was not perfect and the ball rolled out wide.
Some key tackles made by our defense to stop their quick maurading wingers and some tactical fouls that Clarence and Darryl had to concede and got yellow cards for.
Half Time: 1-1.
Second Half
The 2nd half saw some strategic changes by the manager who moved Harold upfront as the striker in a move to disrupt the opponents play. A quick punt upfield and Harold managed to hold on to the ball in the opponents box, turning away and looking for a pass, inexplicably the defender chopped him down from the back. Penalty! No arguments from the defender who hung his head for the rash challenge. Up stepped Loy who meekly shot to the keeper's right and the ball was parried out back to Loy who then calmly stroked it into the net. 2-1 to us now! (X Missed Penalty) (Rebound Scored)
EB was upping the tempo of the game now and trying to get back into the game. One such attack led to Pat heading it out for a corner and from the resultant corner - the inswinging cross floated into the net. 2-2 now and with still half an hour to go.
A quick breakaway from the opponents saw they float a ball over the top which Clarence grabbed with his hands out of the air like he was an NBA all star in a World Championship match. We all had our hearts in our mouths thinking he was gonna be sent off being on a yellow already in the first half but surprisingly the opponents didn't complain much and ref was lenient. Whew...a let off but a moment of madness. We need to be more aware of our line with the ref when playing on pitch people...
We were battling all over the pitch and containing them well and on one such occasion, Pat managed to break down the right and curled a grounder into the box. Harold ghosted in between the static defence to receive the ball, rounded the keeper and slotted it into the net. 3-2!
We continued our resolute defending and some tactical defending from Bee resulted in him taking a yellow for the team while Damien and their Captain were like long lost lovers who couldn't keep their hands off each other and exchanged lovey words that got both into the referees book.
In the end, we managed to hold out secured a hard fought victory over the reigning champions and extend our unbeaten run to 5 games on the trot. A great win boys and everyboy was feeling fantastic!
Post Game Evaluation
A majority of the team went for drinks after and watched the Tottenham vs Liverpool together and it was evident that the hard fought victory and our resurgence was a great feel good factor for everyone. Some funny observations after a few drinks:
- Before knowing the SG Sikhs game results, we were briefly top of the table...imagine, top of the table team with a negative goal difference!
- Some superstitions on events leading to this run: Sherman's return to the team since our 2-1 fight back started this run. After his injury, we lost the two weeks he was not around. In the game that he came to support, we were 1-0 down. Capt Loy threw a tantrum and walked off. Roger then equalized, then Jerome scored the winner.....everything just went up post these two incidents. So..it's either Loy's tantrum or Sherman's return....Or maybe both :)
This week we had a couple of contenders for MOM. Capt Loy for his industry and contributions, Harold for the difference to the play and winning goal. Bee, Clarence and Darryl for their great defensive work. After much debate Darryl shades it for keeping their dangerous winger quiet and his great defensive work rate.
Congrats Darryl for being our MOM for this week!
Have a good week and lets continue this good run and really challenge for the league as far as we can. Onwards and Viva La Incepcion!
