This article is solely the views of the author only and does not represent the position of the committee.
We are all working adults. A Saturday football game is what we all look forward to every week. The game, the camaraderie and friendship are all part of what we wish for after a long week of work. We don't make mistakes on purpose. We try our best. Sometimes it's not enough. But we try. If there's no effort put in, then we get frustrated. Encourage guys. We have been together for a while. We should know each other strengths and weaknesses. Encourage each other to get the best out of each one of us.
It never fails to rain when we meet Gaza. Same pitch, same team, same weather. But this time the skies held the rain in. And gave us a cool condition to play in. Manager wanted us to play an attacking game. With the last minute withdrawal of Sherman, he placed himself in goal. And maybe the last minute thing distracted him. More of it to come. We were told to put the foot forward quickly and not wait to get into the game. But that's not us. We didn't do that and were a goal down after 10 minutes. Familiar? A powerful shot went in to give the lead to Gaza. In the 16th minute, Yiong went on a lung bursting run down the right. Latching on to a long pass from Harold, barely keeping it in the pitch, skipped past their left midfielder, brushed aside their left back and faced the keeper. He then coolly pass the ball back to Yew Boon who calmly slotted the ball in for an equaliser. 1-1. Game on. Then we went to sleep again. A long cross from the right was headed in at the far post. Then two more powerful shots went past the manager as he couldn't do anything about it. Heads went down. We were down 4-1. The referee didn't help much. Choosing to ignore several bad tackles and not cautioning the players despite repeated confrontations from our players. Harold got chopped easily at least 5 to 6 times. No cards. None at all.
Manager wasn't pleased with the defence. Highlighting the fact that we are all experienced players and should be able to read the game better. In my opinion, we lost the midfield and that's why we got caught so many times. Measures were taken to beef it up with Faz going to DM, credit to him as he's fasting and I feel he was doing a great job.
2nd half and that's when we showed our tenacity. Pressuring hard from the front, we created plenty of chances. So many that I lost count and can't write it down. Another foul on Harold on the left led to a free kick and finally the yellow card came out. I was in two minds on whether to cross or shoot. But my last few deadballs were crap so I decided to test the keeper. And it looped in, beating him at the far post. 4-2. We continued the pressure and Gaza couldn't cope. Making more mistakes that we failed to capitalise on. Harold got the ball on the left. Swivelled past his marker, turned inside. Then went past another 3 more opponents and got to the right. From there he launched an unstoppable shot to make it 4-3. Fantastic goal. A goal that even Messi would be proud of. We thought we were on a roll. But we didn't continued the effort. Another defensive lapse allowed the right midfielder to get the ball inbetween the centre back and left back to slot the ball through the manager's leg. Heads went down and then we lost control. Conceding another goal. Tackles were flying in hard and furious and dangerous. Another two legged tackle on Yew Boon resulted in a fracas. Boon decided to checked if the guy who tackled him was wearing a wig and tried to pull his hair out. It wasn't and both players were sent off. 10 men each and the game continued. A penalty was awarded when Colin was fouled in the box. Losing his usual sharpness, he shot agonisingly past the post. We couldn't finish and the game ended 6-3.
Another defeat to Gaza. At times, we were clearly the better team. If only, we could have finished our chances. And we definitely needed more protection from the referee. Bad tackles are bound to happen but if the referee doesn't do anything about it, the game will not be enjoyable and injuries might happen. Have a good week ahead.
