Friendly Match Report: PMC vs CBC (25th May)

The PMC players gathered at Greenview Secondary on a very hot day to use its 'free' weekend for some match practice in order to keep the momentum going for CRC2013. Both PMC and CBC were in last position in their respective CRC groups, and needed a win to boost team morale. Being a long weekend, many PMC players were unavailable, but the team welcomed back Martin after his recovery from a fractured elbow. The pre-match team talk focused on using the friendly match to give everyone a good run-out and also to try out new formations to suit players available, instead of being adamant about playing a 4-2-3-1 if available players could not play some of the positions in this formation. The PMC team lined-up as follows:

Jeremy Tan

Jingzhong - Martin - Justin

Kee Min - Jeremy Sin

Wei En - Kevin - Daniel Low - Samuel

David Lim

The early exchanges were quite even, with the main battle in the middle of the pitch. CBC's #16 was seeing a lot of the ball, and it was clear that he was the playmaker for the team, stringing long passes, holding the ball well and even taking a few shots that sailed high above David Lim's goal. On PMC's part, having Martin back meant that the ball was retained better and on a number of occasions, Jeremy Tan was able to pressure the CBC defence. Jingzhong also had a number of chances and in general, the team was playing reasonably well, stringing decent passes but unable to put any away. In defence, the back four held firm and didn't allow much to trouble them. When the CBC players did get through, David Lim was there to smother the danger, or CBC's final pass was astray. With nothing much in it, the 1st half ended with the team performance reinforcing what had been the case this season - strong in defence, but unable to put the ball in the back of the net. 

The 2nd half allowed PMC to experiment with a 4-3-3 formation with more emphasis on attack. David Lim also made his debut in a forward role to see if that would provide a cutting edge to the team. The 2nd half kicked-off with the following line-up:

Jingzhong - David Sng - David Lim

Kevin - Kee Min - Jeremy Sin

Wei En - Samuel - Joel

Daniel Low

Michael

This new formation certainly allowed PMC the upper hand in the early exchanges of the match, keeping the ball in the opponent's half with some good pressing in the middle third. The best chance of the early exchanges fell to Jingzhong when he was played through on goal, but fired the ball high with only the GK to beat. David Lim tried to use his pace to beat defenders, but chances to do so were few and far between. It was against the run of play that CBC scored their first goal. A long lofted ball down CBC's right wing found their forward, who evaded Wei En and fired a still shot into the top left corner of Michael's goal, with the entire defence rooted. CBC's 2nd goal came quickly, again through a fast-break. Being 2-0 down and still not being able to score, PMC reverted to the 4-2-3-1 formation, which steadied the ship, allowing the players on the bench to rotate back on the pitch, and see out the match at that scoreline. 

Although it was another loss for PMC, the match allowed everyone to get at least a half of football and also allowed the team to try out something new with an eye on the next CRC match against CAG.