Jenny Klopp relinquishes his caretaker manager duties as Lord Colin returns to Incepcion. Having lost last week's game, Jenny was definitely looking forward to this. It was a mixed Chinese veterans team that were to be our opponents. Sherman told me that we had recently played them before and lost, but I don't remember that. The night before, the party of the century for Harold's stag night had happened and I believed Colin took that into consideration and named the starting 11. Ron was starting as striker in a surprise move.
We started the game meekly. Poor concentration and effort caused several passes to go wayward. We didn't move. We were slower than the rubbish truck moving on the road. Only notable mover was Faz. Maybe it's because he doesn't drink. The rest of us were poor and we couldn't cope with the skillful opponents who created several chances but couldn't convert. We then lost the ball in our half, and couldn't recover in time. A superb through ball to their left winger gave him time to measure his cross back and their veteran striker coolly slammed it in. We didn't create much chances and when we did, the ball either ended up in the bushes behind or the bushes at the side. Half-time 1-0.
Colin wasn't happy but he encouraged everyone to try harder and made some changes to the formation. It was definitely a different Incepcion that came out of the starting blocks in the 2nd half. Ron was now in midfield and he put in plenty of effort in closing down from the front. One such hustle at the corner saw him getting the ball and he managed to cross it but it was cleared for a corner. From the resultant corner, Ron swung a delicious cross into the box. Colin was on hand. Shouted his name and was about to make contact. BUT Pikachu came out of nowhere and in front of him to power a header for the equalizer. It was a great comeback. We didn't relent and created more chances. Harold missed his header at the far post, Colin was a tad too slow to some passes and a Dave free-kick reached Colin's car in the carpark. While we were definitely the stronger side now, the opponents were not going to sit back. They also created several chances and a few 1 on 1s. Sherman was our saviour today. Saving 3-4 certain goals at point blank and keeping the score at 1-1. By this time, Jenny was last man and he was comfortably marshalling the defence well. Faz was back in the game and around the 70th minute, he drove down the left. He looked up and called for Colin and put in a cross. Colin was ready. But the cross never reached him, instead it went towards the goalkeeper and slipped through his hands. It was a fluke but still a goal! About time we took the lead. Game ended quickly after that we we wind the clock down. 2-1 to us. A great comeback.
Great effort in the 2nd half. The energy, effort and attitude were so much better than the 1st. If we had played like this earlier, we would have won the game more comfortably. The party of the century might have been the reason for this. BIG BIG thanks and credit to Sherman. He kept us in the game with several crucial saves and decisive play.
No game next week as we celebrate Harold's big day. Congratulations to Harold and till the next game guys.
