Friendly match vs AMC Report (5th January)

PMC made the long journey to Dover Road to take on AMC on their home turf for the 1st time in 2012. Being a day before the Chinese 'Chap Goh Meh', the PMC team was made up of 12 players and 3 guests (Isaiah, Shannon and Clement). This was in contrast to the AMC team which had at least 30 players turn up. Nonetheless, with whoever had arrived on time, PMC fielded the strongest possible team to take on AMC:

Yi Jun - Jeremy Tan

Jingzhong - Isaiah - Kee Min - Lincoln

Damien - Kevin - Daniel - Nigel

Michael

The match started with AMC on the front foot and completely pegging PMC in their own half. In the first 5 mins alone, PMC had to withstand wave after wave of AMC attacks, most notably from corners and long throws. PMC had to thank the post and Damien on the line for preventing AMC goals. The make-shift defence tried their best to cope with the onslaught and it was a miracle that it was still scoreless after 5 mins. Even more remarkable was that on a fast break, Damien played a sweet through ball to Jingzhong who took it down the left wing and squeezed the ball into AMC's goal via the near post. AMC looked completely stunned as PMC took the lead with their 1st attack of the game. Immediately after the re-start, AMC unleashed waves of onslaught and only some good work by the defenders and confident ball handling by Michael denied AMC an immediate goal. However, the defence could only hold on for so long, and when a corner was only cleared to the edge of the box, an AMC midfielder made no mistake by volleying it into the top corner of PMC's goal to make the score 1-1. PMC tried to hold on to the ball and gain a foothold in the match, but the ball was often lost in midfield, or played aimlessly forward. With AMC having more possession, it was only a matter of time before they scored their 2nd. This time, it was a corner that evaded all the defenders and Michael, allowing an AMC striker to head into an empty net. Within 15 mins, the score was 2-1 to AMC. By this time however, reinforcements arrived in the form of PMC's 1st choice centre-back pairing of Dominic and Jeremy Sin, who took the field to replace Jeremy Tan and Nigel. With some reshuffling and better organisation, PMC had better control of the ball and was able to carve out good chances for Yi Jun and Isaiah, but the AMC keeper was always up to the task. Credit must be given to Jeremy Sin and Dominic for shoring up the defence and shutting AMC out for the rest of the half (and the rest of the game actually...).

Daniel, Jingzhong & Damien taking a well-deserved break

Kee Min, Isaiah & Neil making full use of the half-time break

Start of the 2nd half

With more players to choose from in the 2nd half and some fresh legs, PMC took the field looking for an equaliser. Neil, Clement, Shannon and Ming Kiat came out for their first run-out of the afternoon. AMC also took the opportunity to change out their entire first-half 11 and started with a completely new team. PMC was much more composed in the 2nd half and held on to the ball well. Some neat one-touch play also allowed Yi Jun and Jingzhong to break towards goal, but they were ruled offside. When the big chance did arrive, only Ming Kiat will know how the ball did not end up in the back of AMC's net. A long ball forwards caught AMC's defenders ball watching, with only Ming Kiat making his run to meet the ball. However, his first time volley was sent high over the bar. AMC hardly threatened in the 2nd half, resorting mostly to corners and free kicks, which the steady defence was able to deal with. PMC had a few more good chances that fell to Jeremy Tan, Lincoln and Yi Jun, but all of them went begging through misses, or good goalkeeping by the AMC keeper. The final kick of the game saw Yi Jun hitting a stiff shot high and wide.

With the referee departing, PMC and AMC continued to play a 3rd period of 40min in Soccer Fellowship style, with AMC winning 2-0.