The Rock continued to wield his considerable influence and stretch the unbeaten run under his charge to 3 matches. To ensure the troops fully understand his tactical requirement, he came prepared with a printed plan and illustrated the positioning he required of us with this vital piece of ordinary looking paper. KH only used his trusted 555-branded pocket-sized notebook, The Rock had an A4-size printout. Now, he does take his responsibility seriously, doesn't he?
The small pitch aided the trial 4-2-3-1 line-up, resulting in extra compactness of our 5-men midfield. The opponent, Fluid United, comprising veterans and thus of the same speed and fitness as us, further provided the space and time for us to settle down on this tactical deployment. The initial jittery soon dissipated under the calming words of The Rock, who appeared to be conducting an orchestra.
Without the services of 3 of our 4 regular fullbacks and both our sweepers, See Chiang and the recalled Mark filled in the right fullback and sweeper positions with relative ease. Leo and The Rock completed the defensive quartet in their usual roles. The lower midfield duo of Melvin and Weng Khong complemented the upper midfield trio of Simon supporting the attacks with Teck Wah and Kian Hwa on both flanks. Gan led the offensive on his own and he led the line superbly well.
Our defenders stamped their authority very early in the match and that caused their striker-in-chief, a tall, burly Caucasian, Tony (who bears a certain resemblance to Tony Cascarino) to drop deep and try picking up the ball from midfield. That eased the pressure on our defenders a bit and enabled us to turn our attention to cause a few anxious moments at the other end of the pitch for FU.
The small pitch was not only a boon to our trial line-up but it was no understatement that the narrow width contributed to 3 of our 4 goals. Our 1st 2 goals were almost carbon copy of each other, both resulted from Kian Hwa's throw-in directly into the penalty box from the left. The 1st one reached Leo, sandwiched in between 2 defenders, who managed to turn and shoot at goal. His effort was blocked but Teck Wah made no mistake with the follow-up half-volley. 1 - 0. FU found Gan too tough to handle in the box as our lone striker brushed their defender off when challenging for another throw-in from the left flank. The ball dropped onto the right foot of the grateful Simon, who made no mistake with the lob over a sea of heads, a carbon copy of the one scored last week. 2 – 0. Gan worked extremely hard to harass their keeper to fluff another clearance. Kian Hwa intercepted the poor clearance and with the goal mouth unguarded, he almost did a Gareth Barry. Though KH managed to keep the ball on the ground, the low shoot evaded everybody but went just wide off the left post. Simply put, KH lacks the finesse of GB.
It was a relatively poor first half for FU, by their usual standards. They only managed to carve out a few opportunities but apart from one that went just wide, Brandon was not really stretched. 2 - 0 at half-time.
FU breathed new life into their game in the 2nd half. After a few dubious offside calls against us, Simon finally breached their defence line cleanly but his tame shot was just too close to their keeper. The keeper gathered the ball on the 2nd attempt and from there he launched a quick counter-attack that resulted in FU reducing the deficit. With our midfielders still brooding over Simon's miss, FU had already moved the ball way into our half. See Chiang failed to clear the cross into the box and FU's forward hit a stiff grounder that was blocked by Mark. But the forward's 2nd attempt was swift and it packed such power that Brandon was soundly beaten. 2 - 1. Marine Sunday restored the 2-goals lead not long after FU's seemingly glimmer of hope. By now, FU must have hated the narrow width of the pitch. FU 's custodian managed to tip a corner, coming from their right, away for another corner, now at the opposite flag. Kian Hwa's left-foot in-swinger packed enough swerve to cause the FU’s keeper to let the ball slip off his grip and into the net. 3 – 1.
From then on, the 4-2-3-1went into full gear. Mark and Hock Leong, shielded by Weng Khong and Teck Chye in front, dealt ably with whatever was thrown at us. Increasingly, we used both wide men to good effect and this further stretched the fast tiring FU midfield and fullbacks. A couple of quick switches from right to left proved threatening but the final crosses from the left lacked accuracy to pick out Gan and the supporting Teck Wah in the box. The effort eventually paid off. Another cross-pitch pass from Teck Wah found Kian Hwa on the opposite flank. The latter exchanged a 1-2 with Gan before running onto the return ball to square in for Teck Wah in the 6-yards box. FU’s defender failed to clear the ball cleanly and Teck Wah punished him dearly with another left-foot half volley to notch his brace. 4 - 1! We were in cruise control and played out the final 15 minutes of the match to record a satisfying win.
Man of The Match: The Rock (3 out of 12 votes)
Read this: 2 players got 3 votes each and 3 players had 2 votes each. Tough call indeed.
You may argue the eventual choice was biased but seriously, both were worthy MoTM. For that extra edge to lead the call and galvanise the team, The Rock hit the tape by merely a nose:
1. “OK, MOTM goes to Hock Leong. Close one. KH was in the running but I felt the clincher was HL's formation which worked wonders for us. Of course this is an older team and therefore, may not have been in the best position to exploit our weaknesses. HL's positonal play just behind Simon plugged the gaps in the middle and he was instrumental in starting moves from deep within defence.”
2. “Everybody played well and sticked to the game plan or rather the new formula. The formula works very well but need some ajustments from all members as well. Shall see whether it works once the regular defenders tried them out. Motm will be the one who invented the 4231, garner the team to try it and make it works.”
3. “MOTM - The Rock lives up to his name again with a superb and gutsy display. At times, he had to double up the role of a defensive midfielder and despite lacking in pace, he was everywhere to nip the opponents.”
Where The Rock sparkled at the back, Gan excelled upfront. Mind you, he held on to wait for support. Easily, he had a foot in 2 of the 4 goals:
1. “MOTM goes to Gan- Got in front of defenders to receive ball on many situations, drawing defenders, creating gaps for MS to attack. The unsung hero.”
2. “MOTM 26 Sep: Gan has my vote. He did a very good job in his holding role. While I started off sceptical about Hock Leong's tactical positioning, it proved effective and I think most importantly, it got everyone speaking to each other as we made extra efforts to pull everyone back into formation so much”
3. “Motm = Gan. Led the line on his own very well. He didn’t score any goal but he made space, he came forward to receive the ball. He came close on a couple of occasions. Quite a typical English striker, I must say.”
Now, 3 players – Simon, Teck Wah, Kian Hwa, tied on 2 votes each. To eradicate any perception of conflict of interest, I’m out of the running. So, between Simon and Teck Wah for the 3rd position….Teck Wah had it. Why? One of his nominations came from one of the other two, that broke the impasse. Very objective, isn’t it?
1. “motm - Teck Wah, score a good 1st goal that lay the foundation and punctured the opponents slightly. Another well taken 4th goal also. Good cross field passes to the left mid that created attacking opportunities for us.... Special mention to Simon, play his heart out and a brilliant second goal identical to the one he score the previous game......almost everyone played well......”
2. “good compact play today. defence held assuredly against a resurgent opponent in the second half. midfield provided attacking menance and sound organisation; will surely improved with greater understanding as we adapt further to the new formation. kh was a live-wire as usual, took the knocks, and gave back in return pain for opponents in the form of a goal and an assist. gan as a lone striker performed superbly and was an outlet to play out of defence as well as a launch pad for attacks, clearly involved in the build up for our goals. only one motm unfortunately and it goes to teck wah as he revelled in his station on the right; helped to pick up balls from defence, played some very teasing (no pun intended) cross-field balls and demonstrated opportunistic poaching, sneaking in to score 2 goals.”
The 2 old warhorses had 2 votes each to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival:
1. “MOTM goes to Simon who is extremely hardworking in this new formation, acting as a pivot both defensively & offensively.”
2. “MOM is Simon for running himself to the ground to link up the attack and midfield. It was a new role and Simon did well for it by playing some good intelligent link up play and creating good oportunities for the team.”
3. “MOTM = Kian Hwa. Tireless running & excellent interchange plays down the left flanks leading to many attacking opportunties. Great assist in the 2nd half for Teck Wah goal.”
4. “motm: KH for providing the width on the left and putting in some good crosses, plus the trademark direct goal from a corner.”
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