VETERANS 6-1 WIN OVER CPC IN THEIR MAIDEN AGAPE CUP 2010 OUTING

PMC Starting 11:
GK - Kelvin
RB - John S, CB - James, CB - Mark, LB - Adrian
RM - Ronnie, CM - George, CM - Kevin, LM - David H
CF - Steve, CF - Martin

Subs:
Andy C for John S (HT)
David T for Mark (HT)
Ramon for George (HT)
Daniel for David H (HT)
Jeffrey for Kevin (60m)
Justin for Martin (65m)
Derrick for Ronnie (70m)

Unused Subs:
John C, Sean, Joel, Yuen Wai, Raymond

It was raining heavily when the Veterans arrived at the Hiding Place for the start of their Agape Cup campaign against Covenant Presbyterian Church (CPC).

Just when everyone thought the game would be cancelled due to the soggy pitch conditions, the rain ligthened to a drizzle just long enough for the referee to give the go ahead. The mood of the players immediately bouyed as everyone started to kit-up in earnest.

After Singspiration and Devotions led by Yuen Wai, the teams took to the pitch with PMC's starting 11 consisting of a mix of regulars and new faces. Both teams struggled with the soggy pitch with passes stopping short and dribbles being stuck in the small ponds that formed throughout the pitch.

Playing a 4-4-2 formation, the physically stronger PMC team was first to adapt to the water ponding problems with long passes to their front men of Steve and Martin who had a few early shots at goal. With the rain starting to fall heavily again, it became apparent very early on from these tentative shots at goal that the CPC goalkeeper was decidedly nervous. The PMC team forged forward to take advantage of this perceived weakness in the opponents.

The PMC midfield comprising of Dave (left wing), Kevin (centre mid), George (centre mid) and Ronnie (right wing) were more aggressive than their opponents and thus controlled the midfield. The height advantage of Kevin and George in the centre also contributed tremendously in allowing PMC to keep possession.

The 1st goal started down the left flank with Dave and Kevin working the ball into the opponents half. Kevin sent a long cross-field pass to Ronnie on the right wing taking the opponents by surpise. After dribbling past his marker at the touch line, Ronnie sent a curling left foot shot into the left corner of the goal taking the nervous keeper completely by surprise. This sent the (dry) PMC fans, who had taken shelter under the zinc roof along the touch lines, into loud cheers and shouts! High fives were also seen being exchanged between the (wet) players on the field.

The 2nd goal came shortly after. The play again started from the mid-field where PMC was firmly in control. The ball was passed to Steve who sent a long stiff shot into the top left hand corner past the bewildered keeper. The goal was almost identical to the earlier goal scored by Ronnie earlier. The weakness of the opponents keeper was being exploited to the fullest.

The opponents had a few opportunities at scoring but were stopped mostly in their tracks by the back four comprised of John Simpson (right back), Mark (Centre), James (Centre) and Adrain (left back). The main threat came down the left flanks from the opponents no.14 who had already been identified from the youtube videos as the man to mark! Adrain dealt with him comfortably and on those occasions where he managed to cut into the centre, James and Mark gave him no room to manouvre.

There were a few scary moments for PMC when the opponent's no. 14 managed to send a cross from the right but the opponents lacked the finish to score in the ensuing goal mouth melee. PMC had an extra '12th player' in the form of a large puddle of water in front of our goal mouth which on one occasion stopped the ball on the goal line when it seemed to be headed for the goal!

Kelvin, who was keeping goal for PMC, had a torried time dealing with the wet conditions and was forced on several occasions to take a 'bath' in the large puddle of water in front of him just in order to get on top of the ball! The brand-new silver goalkeeper's jersey looked like it had seen better days!

The 3rd goal came again from a cross from the midfield. Martin, who was facing away from goal, rose to meet the header and flicked the ball backwards. The dipping ball eluded the opponents keeper who was now truly demoralised. By this time, the opponents had totally lost all confidence in their keeper, who by all accounts looked like he was merely a stand-in for their regular keeper. One of the opponent's defenders took over as keeper and their nervous keeper was unceremoniously substituted by another midfielder.

The opponent's fortunes however did not change for the better with the substitutions. PMC's 4th goal came courtesy of Steve who scored from a beautiful cross from the left wing. This was Steve's 2nd goal and everyone on the PMC bench was now rooting for a hat-trick.

By now the opponents frustrations at the water-logged conditions was getting the best of them, although to their credit, they kept their cool and did not commit any rash tackles.

The 1st half ended with the score at 4-0 in favour of PMC.

During the half-time and in the 2nd half, Mark (Captain) made several substitutions with David Teong, Andy, Jeffrey, Derrick, Daniel, Ramon and Justin coming on to replace Mark, John Simpson, Dave, Ronnie, Kevin, George and Martin.

The team was also re-organised with Ramon and Steve in front, Daniel, Justin, Derrick and Jeffrey in the midfield and James, Andy, David and Adrain at the back.

PMC was now attacking the water-logged end of the pitch. Surprisingly, this did not deter the PMC attack and the 5th goal and Steve's hat-trick came from a cross from Ronnie on the right wing after a mazy run along the goal line. The cross eluded all the defenders and fell to Steve, who had positioned himself at the left goal post, for a simple tap in from the only 'dry' spot in front of the opponent's goal!

The 5th goal put a "comfortable" distance between PMC and our opponents. Justin was overhead saying "I dont think we even scored this many goals for the entire Agape Cup last year!" (to be verified).

As the rain had stopped by now and the ground was much drier, the opponent's pace was more apparent. A move down the right wing saw the off-side trap being beaten and resulted in a consolation goal for the opponents.

By now, time was running out for the opponents and PMC finished off the game with their 6th goal which started off down the right flank by Justin who evaded a few defenders before firing a stiff right foot shot into the bottom right hand corner of the goal.

The PMC defence held off further challenges by the opponents and the referee blew the final whistle to end the opponents misery.

Overrall the game was fairly played, with good sportsmanship all round. It was obvious that the rain played to PMC's advantage as it slowed down the play considerably and prevented the opponents from capitalising on their pace.

As always, the mid-field played a crucial role in the game and the bigger built of the PMC players compared to their opponents worked in our favour.

Several positive observations from the side-lines:

a. TEAMWORK was the key to the team's success against CPC - the attackers comprising Steve, Martin and Ramon worked together with the midfield as 1 cohesive unit. The attackers constantly tracked backed to challenge for the ball in the midfield leaving the midfield to pick up lose balls.

This meant that there was effectively 6 PMC players vs 4 CPC players in the midfield. Of course having fit attackers played a part and in this regard, Martin, Steve and Ramon are to be commended.

b. Tall midfielders - the 2 tall midfielders Kevin and George provided a target for Kelvin our keeper to aim for. Also they won quite a few balls that came from the opponent's goal kicks. This put a lot of pressure on the opponent's defence as the game was played mostly in their half.

c. Short passes - although we had quick wingers, they chose to make short passes instead of dribbling down the line. This allowed the midfield to play as a close unit and supported each other going up. Of course the water-logged pitch did not allow for much dribbling to begin with but this provided a valuable lesson in the merits of short passes.

d. Commitment to tackles - all players especially defenders were committed to their tackles. This gave us a psychological advantage as CPC knew from early on that PMC would not shy away from hard but fair tackling. The centres, Mark and James, also did a great job covering the right and left backs with hard tackles whenever the pacier wingers evaded the left/right backs.