Isaiah - Yi Jun
Jingzhong - Kevin - Kee Min - Jacob
Damien - Mark - Weijie - Daniel
Sean
As usual (though not a good thing), AMC started the brighter of the 2 teams, controlling play in their usual high tempo style, swinging balls to the wings and crossing them in to threaten our defence. Having not fully gotten into the match, PMC played itself into trouble by taking too much time on the ball in defence, leading to an easy rob and put-away by the AMC forward (henceforth to be referred to as Chubby Botak). Enthused by his early goal, Chubby Botak started to ruffle a few feathers in our defence (to put it mildly), most notably Daniel and Weijie. Both players stood their ground well and did not give an inch to Chubby Botak's overly physical approach, nor did they respond too badly to Chubby Botak's over zealous remonstrations at them and the referee. Frustrated and obviously thinking that Weijie had gone unpunished for some infringements, Chubby Botak decided to take a good swipe at Weijie's shin right in front of the referee, flooring the player. The referee had no choice but to produce the red card to send Chubby Botak off, who continued to remonstrate and hesitated leaving the pitch. Regardless of the tactical advantage of playing with 1 men more, the incident left a sour taste in the mouths of the PMC players, something unexpected from the usual tough but fair play of AMC teams in the past. Weijie himself limped off with a badly cut shin and had to sit out the rest of the match, leaving us to 13 players with 75 min to go. Wenbin came on to replace him in central defence for the rest of the half.
On paper, the 1 man advantage should have favoured PMC, but the unpleasant incident clearly played on the minds of the PMC players, and it didn't help that the AMC team continued to gawk at PMC players throughout the match (again, something uncharacteristic of the AMC team), led by Chubby Botak on the sidelines. The remaining players on the pitch (especially the 2 forwards) continued to play the part of less-savoury individuals, using their elbows whenever the referee wasn't looking and even caught Kevin twice on the head while challenging for corners.
It was interesting that later in the evening a similar though more severe incident took place during the Manchester City vs QPR match, and Richard Jolly's match report describes what happened to PMC quite aptly: Referring to Chubby Botak - "Yet his stupidity galvanised his team-mates: 10 heroes holding out despite the actions of a violent idiot."
Not being strong enough, the PMC players could not raise their game and 10 men AMC scored a 2nd goal from a corner when its tall Indian forward rose between Kee Min and Kevin to head past a rooted Sean. PMC's first bright spark came from the ensuing kickoff when Isaiah expertly fired the ball from half-way towards goal, only to have it ricochet off the crossbar with the AMC keeper flapping air. Play for the rest of the 2nd half was mostly even and concentrated in midfield. Jacob and Jingzhong were trying their best to play Isaiah in to sniff out a goal, but most of the through balls were well dealt with by AMC's diligent defenders. In the dying minutes of the 2nd half, AMC got their 3rd when a weak clearance allowed the ball to find it's way to an AMC midfielder, who showed enough skill to turn his defender and fire low past Sean inside the post. The half ended with AMC chalking up a 3-0 lead despite playing most of it with a man short.
The half-time PMC team talk focused on regaining composure and putting the 'Chubby Botak' incident to rest. Changes were made to the formation in order to boss the midfield and make the numerical advantage count. Playing a 4-5-1, David came on to play in defence next to Mark, with Wenbin moving into midfield. Lincoln came on to play on the right with Jacob in the middle. Yi Jun and Kevin the players coming off.
AMC made 10 changes to their team, starting with a fresh set of legs in every position except GK. The 2nd half started in even fashion and it was clear what AMC's strategy was- to soak and strike. Playing deep in their half, they allowed PMC to dominate play, with Wenbin pulling strings in midfield. Once they retained possession, AMC launched speedy counter-attacks through their wingers, but initial attempts for a 4th goal proved fruitless. PMC on their part also lacked the cutting edge and on numerous occasions, the first touch of players meant losing the ball too quickly and far too often. It was through innocuous circumstances that the 4th goal was conceded by PMC. A harmless corner saw the ball sandwiched between 3 PMC players with no AMC players in the box challenging them. However, a booted clearance had the ball hit the back of 1 PMC player and into the arm of Mark. It was enough for the referee to whistle for a penalty even though Mark did not move his arm towards the ball at all. AMC's forward clinically put the penalty away to make it 4-0. For the rest of the 2nd half the 'soak and strike' strategy paid dividends for AMC, with PMC's midfield fading and AMC rotating their substitutes to keep their counter-attacks speedy. On 2 such occasions of identical nature, AMC scored their 5th and 6th goals. Kevin and Yi Jun came back on for Jingzhong and Kee Min late in the match, but it was a matter of holding the shape and playing the match out. This was the first match of the season that PMC had failed to score and laboured throughout the match to establish some tempo.
The post-match team talk was excellent with input coming from senior players about the need to maintain composure regardless of the actions of opponents, and needing to work on first touches and fitness. Kevin drew credit to Daniel and Weijie for their good behaviour despite provocation, and closed the session in prayer.
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