It was a hot Sunday afternoon. So hot that it felt scorching even as the 5pm fixture approached. The team gathered early to warm-up and we took the opportunity to have a team talk even before S&S started. Again, this match saw some last minute changes as Maurice came down a virus on Sunday and couldn't make the matchday squad. Some tweaks were made, but essentially, the team lined up in a more offensive 4-1-3-2 formation. The objectives were to win and not pick up any yellow cards.
Sean
Daniel - Weijie - Mark - Marcus
Jacob
Lincoln - Dominic - Jingzhong
Steve - Martin
Arriving early to kit up
Adrian (got to book-out from camp) catching up with Martin & Steve
Someone's spanking new Nike Tiempo Legend
S&S was led by Hinghwa Methodist Church and after that, it was straight to the game. Kevin, who was managing the team (in the absence of Maurice) reminded everyone to be confident, but not complacent. The team started the match very positively, attacking from all areas of the pitch. Chances were arriving by the bucket load but none were taken. Lincoln shot straight to the GK, while both Steve and Martin fired wide. On the rare counter-attack, TCPC's attack was halted by PMC's rearguard. The breakthrough finally came when Martin skilfully controlled a pass from Steve in the box and fired a shot into the corner of the net. Thinking that the floodgates had opened, PMC continued to press for more. However, an unexpected twist sent the PMC players reeling. When a long ball into the PMC box was not cleared sufficiently, a TCPC player on the edge of the area expertly fired a first time volley high and wide into Sean's net. It was 1-1 and the PMC players had to compose themselves. To their credit, PMC continued to string good passes and probe the TCPC backline. It also required some genius from Jingzhong to make the score 2-1 when he cut in from the left and unleashed an unstoppable right foot shot high into the net. Soon, it was 3-1 when Martin passed to Steve for him to fire home low into the net. With the final 'head' of the game from a corner, Weijie brought the score to 4-1, allowing PMC to breathe easy for the 2nd half.
The subs lending their support in the 1st half
Time for kick-off
#1 fan
Daniel takes a throw-in
During the half-time team talk, the emphasis was on keeping up the pressure and to go for more goals if possible. 4 changes were made for the team to shape up like this:
Michael
Daniel - Dominic - Weijie - Marcus
Kevin
Yi Jun - Rusydi - Jingzhong
Steve - Martin
The 2nd half started as planned, with good control from the PMC team, but no goal was forthcoming. TCPC displayed more steely determination to defend and on the off-chance, attack down the flanks, which were largely ineffective. They did win a few corners, which didn't trouble Michael. It took 2 strokes of genius from Rusydi to add to the goals in the 2nd half. The 1st was a long range effort which swerved and deceived the GK, who could only palm it and then watch it bounce into the net. The 2nd was from another long range shot, but this time the GK saved better, only to have Rusydi follow his shot in with a header into the bottom corner. There were no further goals and John Simpson and Nigel came in for the remaining 15min. During the post-match de-brief, Kevin commended everyone on a job well done, and signalled the improving communication as a positive to take into future matches. He also closed in prayer.
No comments:
Post a Comment