The very much anticipated Polling Day arrived and after casting our votes, we turned up at SAFRA Tampines to take on Brian's Team on the synthetic turf. Passers-by wondered if we were the 'Workers Party' team, decked out in our sky blue kit.
Although response to the friendly was good, none of the GKs could make it or turn up on time, so we thank Jeremy Tan who came down to play as GK in the 1st half. Even though it was a friendly, the referee called the teams to start the match rather promptly, requiring us to field whoever had turned up on time in the following 4-4-2 line-up:
Jeremy Tan
Samuel - Dominic - Maurice - Damien
Nigel - Kee Min - Kevin - Jingzhong
Steve - Martin
The field was definitely much bigger and allowed a bit more time and space to pass the ball around. Play was generally even during the 1st half, with both sides not able to penetrate well organised defences for the 1st 15 min or so. Whatever long balls or through passes were generally well handled by the respective GKs. PMC seemed like the more likely to score with Martin holding the ball up well and trying to get Steve into the mix. Brian's team spread the ball around well, but did not manage a single shot on goal. At the 30min mark, substitutions started to roll with Kevin coming off for Daniel and followed by Nigel, Wei Ern, Rusydi and David. It was towards the 2nd half that we made our break-through. A freekick on the edge of the box was well taken by Daniel, who curled it into the top right hand corner of the net. It was 1-0 to PMC. As Steve came off for a break, Kevin went back on to the field to bulk up the middle and hold the scoreline till the break.
Action on the SAFRA Tampines synthetic pitch
The bench getting ready to enter the fray
The 2nd half started in very positive fashion, much like the 1st, with good passing from both teams. It took some individual brilliance from Brian to level the score when he went on a run from defence and curled the ball out of Michael's reach to make it 1-1. Brian's Team took advantage of the momentum to lead 2-1, when a long ball led to a mix-up between Daniel and Dominic, allowing a forward to capitalise and beat Michael. The PMC team did not led their heads drop, but kept pressing for the equalizer. Substitutions were made to keep things fresh on the field. It was left to Rusydi to score the goal of the game. Played in on the left by Steve, Rusydi took the ball past the RB with his pace and fired the ball into the far side of the net with the outside of his foot. It was beauty! No other goals were scored and it was another positive outing for the team, with all players getting at least 30min of play under their belts. Well done everyone!
The team after the match
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