Sunday, October 09, 2005
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The Reds won their debut game against HPU (
Hokkien Peng United) 4 - 3 at the Yishun Ring pitch. The following is the full match write up:
In preparation for the beginning of the new Espzen league season next year, the newly formed team, yet to be named, played its first friendly today. In what was a match that can only be described as thrilling, the team managed to snatch a 4 - 3 victory in its debut game with Wong Keng completing a stunning hat trick and Roger scoring late in the second half to snatch the win. Unfortunately, the game came to an unexpected and abrupt end when the opposing team decided that they were looking for a fight instead of a soccer game. Making an executive decision, I called an end to what had been, up to then, a fantastic chance to interact and interplay with this new team.
Something of a
diamond in the rough, I was slightly uncertain of what to expect of
Gerald who made his field debut between the posts for us. It was not long before I realized that the guy was a goddamn natural...knowing exactly when to come out and having excellent shot-stopping ability. The moment he has gotten more experience and worked on his goal-kick, we will have the Manchester United equilavent of Van Der Sar in between the posts for us.
Ian who started off as sweeper was initially uncomfortable with the role but showed his defensive ability and stopping power. I believe that once
Ivan recovers from his injury and resumes his sweeper role allowing Ian to move up to stopper, our defence will find itself in pole position to break down any attack.
Our midfield displayed the grit and discipline that was required of them with
Jon Lau and
Shijie providing excellent stability, backed by
Zhenghan who covered defensive midfield duties to give them the neccessary cover.
Russell, a youth player with the Holland Knights, filled in as a makeshift right back displaying a tenacity that easily outplayed opponents more than 5 years his senior and virtually twice his size, whilst
Tianhao's non-stop heckling of strikers down the right back ensured that the defence had more than enough time to re-organize to meet the oncoming threat. As for the forwards, the scoreline speaks for itself with
Wong Keng smashing in a hat-trick and
Roger putting in the winning strike.
Jonathan who relentlessly pushed down the left flank skipped past markers to ensure that our offensive penetration was never in doubt.
As for me...I partnered Ian in defence as stopper today but am glad that I was a part of a team that displayed discipline, organisation and integrity...qualities that outstrip talent anyday (though it's advisable to have a fair portion of
that too...thankfully we have that as well :)
Man of the Match:
Wong Keng
| The Reds Scored @ 6:47 AM|
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