Monday, December 19, 2011

Match #48 (17 Dec 11): We Ended The Season On A High

We looked to be ending the 2011 season on a dismal state. Another match at Nanyang JC, a big pitch which is not exactly our favoured spot, and with a leaner turnout of only 13 players including a guest player, Nick, and Teck Wah who could only make it for 2H, we braced ourselves for some tough time. Thank goodness, Opponent aren't exactly young speedsters, whom we dread. They had a smaller turnout of only 11 players to start and end the match.
 
First half was a balanced contest between both sides. Both sides laboured but made no breakthrough until Weng Khong put through a through ball for Teck Chye to scoop the ball over Opponent's onrushing keeper for 1-0 at the break.
 
We changed the froutline pair to Teck Wah and Chwee Leng and it paid handsome dividends. Nick's long punt was headed down beautifully by Chwee Leng onto the path of Teck Wah whose effort failed to beat the keeper but the elder Tang followed up to put the rebound into the empty net.
 
Opponent reduced the deficit when we were simply tardy at the back and failed to clear a simple corner. Surrounded by our players, we still allowed Opponent's striker to backheel the loose ball through a sea of legs into our goal. 2-1. We seemed shaky with a quarter of the match to go.
 
The re-introduction of Teck Chye in the last 8 minutes proved to be a tactical payoff. First he set up his younger sibling through for the latter to produce his trademark lob over the stranded keeper to make it 3-1 for us. Then he pulled 2 players with him to let Mike's cross from the right to reach Teck Wah unimpeded and Teck Wah finished it off with aplomb. 4-1 and we richly deserved that scoreline.
 
At the back, Weng Kwan filled in the sweeper role ably and commanded the line superbly to keep Opponent at bay. Nick showed steady feet and head. Evergreen Ng seemed to be the last virgin on earth with his tight defending and lasted almost the entire match until he made way for Teck Chye for the last 8 minutes. Woon, having found his boots, was glad to foot the bill for beer, especially after an assured performance at right back.
 
Great ending to the season!

1 comment:

m2mdaily said...

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along.
m to m