It was a hot and sunny afternoon. PMC players gathered early to have a warm-up together. We were surprised to see the overwhelming number of RLC players present, particularly with the addition of 4 tall Russian players.
PMC starting 11:
PMC players warming up
Isaiah - Martin
Jingzhong - Dominic - Kee Min - Jacob
Daniel Chen - Weijie - Jeremy Sin - Daniel Low
Sean
PMC started the brighter of the 2 teams, using our both wings to create chances for our 2 target men in front. With Dom and Kee Min bossing the mid-field with their tireless runs, PMC were able to keep more possession on the ball. Jacob had huge space on the right but was often holding the ball for too long and failed to make the cross. RLC only limited their play to long balls and the PMC defence was able to handle them splendidly. The combination of Isaiah and Martin proved to be a headache for RLC as our front two kept adding pressure to their defence. On one occasion, Isaiah sneaked through the RLC defence and was able to perform a tap-in but unfortunately for PMC, the ball hit the left pole with GK rooted to the ground. After waves of attacks from PMC, RLC took time to organise themselves and fought back in the last 15mins of the first half. However, both teams were unable to find the net and the halftime scoreline stayed at 0:0.
In an attempt to keep the team fresh and to prepare everybody for our upcoming tournament, PMC did a couple of changes to the starting line-up.
PMC starting 11:
Yi Jun - Jeremy Tan
Jingzhong - Wen Bin - Isaiah - Lincoln
Kee Min - Weijie - Dominic - Daniel Low
Sean
On the other hand, RLC changed almost the entire squad except the GK. Wenbin performed well as a DM after 2nd half kicked off and was able to distribute the ball nicely to our wings. Being the more energetic side, RLC immediately used the pace of their wings to carry out waves of attacks. With some neat and quick passes from their newly-established front three triangles, they were able to pull open PMC defence. First goal arrived early in the 2nd half as their right wing found some space on the right and scored with a clinical finish. And the 2nd goal followed soon after. Unfortunately for PMC, Weijie wasn't able to continue as he sustained a cramp and PMC found ourselves in a difficult situation without a recognised CB on the field. Changes were made with Isaiah dropped back to replace Weijie and Joel for Lincoln, Jacob on LB and Kee Min back to CM. After re-grouping, Yijun linked up well with JZ on the left and were able put in some crosses from the left. Jeremy Tan used his advantage in his pace to keep haunting RLC defence. On one occasion, Jeremy Tan blasted the ball on the right in an attempt to keep the ball in-play, and the ball flew just above the top right hand corner of the goal. The 3rd goal for RLC came when the PMC defence couldn't clear a free-kick on the right and a RLC player scored with a free header. The 4th and the 5th goals were scored from quick plays from the RLC front three triangles again. Late into the game, Jacob found a huge space on the left and learning from his prior mistakes, he swung in the ball early with a first-time effort, resulting a free header for Yijun but he sent it above the bar. The RLC No2, who was involved in our last strife, had a malicious and intentional stamp on Daniel Low's leg but was unpunished by the referee. Again, Daniel showed his professionalism by not reacting to it. And the final scoreline was a painful 0:5.
Isaiah gave some valuable reflections on our lost, stating that if the opponents were able to cause us internal problems as seen in this match, they had already won over our minds and we should learnt from today's lost. Martin and Sean also gave their thoughts on the game.
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