Singspiration and sharing was led by Silas of MHC, with the song 'Trust and Obey', afterwhich he shared his testimony about how he came to know Jesus, and how that changed his perspective on the importance life.
Silas leading all players in a time of singspiration & sharing
PMC players participating in singspiration.
Immediately upon completion of singspiration and sharing, Kevin briefed the team on the need to do the basic things well and to adhere to the newly adopted 4-2-3-1 formation as follows:
Martin
Jingzhong - Timothy - Rusydi
Dominic - Kee Min
Kevin - Mark - Daniel Low
Weijie
Maurice
The referee very quickly called all players to the centre of the field for the kit inspection. From there, we knew that we had a no-nonsense referee managing the match. From making sure we stood in a straight line with jerseys tucked in, to meticulously checking that no one had jewellery and illegal studs, the referee made his mark on the players.
The referee asking PMC players to move to the right of MHC players as we were in the 'wrong' position for the kit inspection.
Obedient PMC players with jerseys tucked in and hands out-stretched.
With the formalities completed, both sides took to the field under the hot sun for their 2nd CRC2012 match. The referee's whistle signaled the start of the match and it wasn't long before PMC made its intentions clear, badly wanting to recover from the 1st match loss against CAG. PMC strung neat passes together and used Timothy as the fulcrum to bring Jingzhong, Rusydi and Martin into play. Behind them, Dominic and Kee Min did the necessary dirty work of winning balls and trying to distribute forwards. The MHC team was also playing with 1 up front and more traditional wingers, looking for the counter-attack when they regained possession, which was not often. When the ball did find its way past Mark, Weijie was there to sweep things up. At the 10min mark, PMC made the breakthrough. A quick throw-in by Rusydi was flicked on in the box by Martin and Jingzhong ghosted in from the left to fire an unstoppable right foot volley past the rooted MHC GK. It was 1-0 to PMC. From there, PMC rightly pressed for more goals, drawing from the huge amount of possession in the final third of the field. Both Martin and Timothy had glorious chances to fire in the 2nd goal, but they were either wide, high or both. What could have been a flowing game was often stopped by the referee's whistle, which was blown to signal the smallest of indiscretions committed by both sets of players. Freekicks from both teams did not threaten either GK, until a MHC freekick floated above the PMC wall, skidded off the turf and into the PMC net, with both defence and Maurice rooted, thinking that the ball would spin wide. It was another one of those sucker-punches that PMC had to endure and overcome as until then, PMC's goal did not look like it was going to be threatened. It took some time for PMC team to regain its composure before taking the lead again. This time, it was another beautiful move down the right, with Rusydi and Daniel exchanging passes before the overlapping RB was played through in the box and fired a stunning drive into the top far corner of the net. With that, PMC had the wind in its sail for the rest of the 1st half. The 3rd goal came from a delightful combination between Timothy and Martin. Timothy's strong drive into the MHC box saw him play a reverse pass to the overlapping Martin and on his left foot, Martin gave the MHC GK no chance. The 4th goal arrived courtesy of Timothy's involvement again. This time, he took on the MHC defence on his own, only to find his shot ricocheting off the post, but Jingzhong was on hand to tap home from close range. The goal brought a good half to an end with 4 goals and no cards received, despite the many fouls that the referee had blown against the team.
It was all smiles during the half-time team talk but Kevin made sure that everyone stayed focused and substitutions would not be haphazardly made. Also, the midfielders were asked to keep the ball better and to stay any fast breaks from the MHC players. With Timothy leaving, Wenbin was brought on as the offensive midfielder as the only change at the half.
The 2nd half started with MHC intent on getting themselves back into the match. To their credit, they tried hard, using a very direct approach, with long balls and forays down the flanks. However, the defensive four of PMC was able to hold their line, and had the help of Dominic and Kee Min to assist in defence. After 10min, PMC made its 2nd substitution with Yi Jun coming on for Martin. After 15min, Lincoln was brought on for Jingzhong. This triggered MHC to also send 5 players on the field, which led to at least a 5min stoppage, with the referee insisting on inspecting all 5 players meticulously. In fact, he even called an MHC player back to the touchline when the MHC player ran onto the field without the inspection being completed. The break in play certainly benefited neither team. When play resumed, it was the PMC subs who made their mark on the match. Lincoln took on the MHC RB, found space and played a square pass to Yi Jun who was through on goal. Yi Jun's cool finish made it 5-1 in PMC's favour. Immediately after the re-start, Yi Jun punctuated his claim for a starting spot by confidently volleying in PMC's 6th goal from outside the box, catching the MHC defence and GK by surprise. Even Yi Jun's PMC players were surprised and there were calls from the bench for Yi Jun to give everyone a dinner treat! Being 6-1 down and having received 3 yellow cards for late challenges was certainly not a desired position for MHC to be in, but the AC/CRC newcomers carried themselves well for the rest of the match, continuing to play and get themselves back in the match. PMC made its final substitutions with Jacob (for Rusydi), Steve (for Kee Min), Neil (for Daniel) and Marcus (for Kevin). The subs were all expecting a bit more playing time, but only realised at the end that the referee had not stopped his watch for the lengthy substitutions that had taken place. There was however, still time for Steve to make his mark on the game by giving the referee a mouthful after an offside decision. It took the a team effort to hold Steve back and we were thankful that the referee saw that Steve was not malicious in questioning the call.
As the referee blew for full-time, the PMC players basked in victory and encouraged one another during the final team talk. Maurice closed the session in prayer, thanking God for his provision, the unity within the team and for injuries to heal.
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