Agape Cup 2009 - Panthers Match #8 .vs. HFC [23rd August]

A cold wet sunday precedes Panthers game against HFC. Afew Panthers were absent for 1 reason or another and hence, loaned afew Pandas over for this game. At kickoff, only excatly 11 players arrived for Panthers whereas HMC had a shortage of players too, starting the game with 10. Panthers had Felipe in goal, veteran Jimmy sweeper and Jem stopping infront. Sam Eyo at LB and Andy on the right makeup the defence. At the centre of the pitch is Derrick and Keemin with Marcus down the left and Nigel on the right. Upfront Justin partnered David, and after Felipe had his gear on, HFC kicked off the match with 10 men before their 11th man join in sometime into the first half.

1st Half:
Opening minutes saw lots of physical tussel in midfield, with misplace passes, misread high ball and poor touches, largely due to the condition of the wet pitch. Challenges were coming in fast and ball went out of play more often than not, with Nigel and Andy on the right seeing lots of possesion. Long balls to David and Justin were dealt with by HFC big defenders while Derrick easily dominated aerially in centre midfield whenever HFC launched long balls.
Incident 1:
Midway through the 1st half, Marcus was ridiculously yellowcarded for a foul by HFC. Pushing down the left, HFC RB was apparently unable to reach the ball and thus bodychecked and obstructed Marcus, sending him to the floor. Surprisingly referee blew for HFC freekick and issued Marcus a yellow card of which Marcus was clearly not happy about. Play stopped for awhile as Marcus confronted the referee. Not sure what the referee said, but Marcus was told to calm down and walk away, hence play resume. Having failed to attack down Panthers right, HFC turned their attention to the left towards the end of first half. Sam Eyo lacked of pace was exposed a couple of time but Jem and Felipe did enough to cover up.
Panther's goal:
Just before halftime, a long ball to David was controlled beautifully and as he turn in the box, HFC defenders sandwiched and sent David to the ground. A clear foul but referee once again somehow cant seem to see the obvious. Fortunately strike partner Justin came in at the right time and place, slotting the loose ball cooly past HFC goalkeeper. After the restart, the opposite pitch halftime whistle somehow reminded the referee that halftime is here.

Half time: Panthers 1 HFC 0.

2nd Half:
Panthers kicked off the 2nd half making changes to the midfield. 'Hot headed' Marcus was replaced by Jingzhong on the left and Ryusdi replaced Nigel on the right, adding much pace to wings. HFC also make changes to their team, sending their speedy wingers down their right now (clearly spoting Panthers LB lack of pace) and adding another technical striker to partner their big targetman. Opening minutes of 2nd half saw both teams attacking down the wings but at the final third often produce nothing as both side defence coped well. Positive attacking play is often seen down Panthers right as Andy and Rysudi torment down the wings, with David shouldering close to their last man and getting himself to a couple of good position. HFC on the other hand constantly attack down the left, taking on Sam Eyo on the left and many times left him catching nothing. Fortunately Jem and Keemin covered him a couple of times and HFC final shot end up over the fence more often than not. Midway into the second half, Justin make way for John to come in.
HFC's equaliser:
HFC persistence down Panthers left finally paid off as their equaliser soon came. Beating Sam Eyo at the left, Jem did enough to cover and win back possesion but his mispass back out to Sam was intercepted and the ball came back into the penalty box. In an attempt to get back the ball, Jem bodychecked the HFC striker coming in, sending him to the ground (apparently too soft) easily. Referee blew for a penalty immediately, and when Jem questioned why, referee replied that the striker was 'tripped' (the referee judgment of the game is obviously blurred with this kind of reasoning). HFC then duly converted the penalty with a powerful drive, nothing that Felipe can do much about. At 1-1, the intensity of play increase as both side looked for the winning goal.
Incident 2:
Derrick pushed up to support David and almost and should have gotten Panthers infront. A long ball forward saw Derrick through on goal and as HFC GK came out for the high ball, Derrick got to it first in the box but HFC GK nudged onto his back and sent Derrick to the ground clutching his back. A clear penalty claim, almost identical to the last BPL game between Portsmouth and Birmingham (where David James came out for the ball but Birmingham's Mcfadden nick it before James, and James momentum simply floored the Birmingham striker and referee awarded a clear penalty). Derrick had no choice but to continue the rest of the game with an aching back.
Incident 3:
Next to the ground was Andy as he was nudged the ground by HFC LM after he cleared the ball away to the touch but referee simply just waved played on, leaving Andy stranded on the gounded. A clear foul but because referee failed to blow the foul, Panthers were unable to attend to him as HFC were holding onto possesion. When referee finally see Andy on the ground, play stopped to check if hes ok. By then Andy is already on his feet limping back to his position.
HFC winning goal:
With Andy limping, HFC switched to the right to attack Panthers LB again. Its resulting cross from HFC right to the far post saw a free header nodded in by the same player on the left who earlier injured Andy. With that goal, opposite pitch blew the final whistle and the referee here let play for another minute before blowing the final whistle as well.

Final Score: Panthers 1 HFC 2

One side point, it was noticed that the referee of our game officiated without a watch. With so many stoppages in this game, one wonders if his timecheck based on the opposite pitch is actually accurate, especially since both pitch have different amount of time stoppages. Well the ball is round and life's like that...