Queenstown Sec, 1500 hrs
YSOSRS FC 2 Big Belly FC 0
(Asraf x1, Wei Xiang x1)
Yup so the time is now where I am available to give a summary of the day's events at a waterlogged Queenstown Sec pitch. Heh.... Anyway, the incessant rain provided us with the perfect excuse to give the game a miss and I am sure many of our regular guys would have preferred to just curl up in bed and snooze the afternoon away. Well, we didn't.
Gathering at the infamous Queenstown Sec pitch where we had suffered defeats on our last 2 visits, 3-1 to Intense and 4-0 to St Andrews, the team was split right down the middle with trialists on one side and regular peeps on the other. There was an air of anxiety as the new boys attempted to get to grips with the strange environment but all of that was soon thrown out of the window once the game kicked off.
*Check out the cool pics of a game in Brazil where torrential rain turned the stadium into a swimming pool!
With Big Belly starting with only 9 men, this allowed us to pass and move the ball around, perhaps something that we were not entirely used to. As there were times in which we struggled attempting to adapt to the atrocious conditions. Regardless of that, our best chances soon came about with some imperious running upfront by Izwann and also some really nifty footwork down the wing by Mimi. 3 trialists started in the 1st 11 and it has to be said that they bedded in pretty decently. The 1st chance was a result of some direct running by Mimi who squared the ball across the face of goal for an onwaiting Izwann and me. With only the keeper to beat and positioned almost nearly right in front of goal, yours truly smashed the ball as hard as i could. Yet as fate would have it, the keeper pulled off an instinctive save from point blank range to keep the score at 0-0.
1-0: Trialist Asraf who had shown much promise since coming on midway through the half galloped forward from his central mid position and pounced onto a through ball after a neat exchange of passes between Izwann and Law that tore open the belly backline. The finish was either really lucky or really special as an outside footshot from just inside the box nestled into the bottom right corner of the goal to put us 1-0 up.
The 2nd half saw changes aplenty but the game plan was still the same. Our backline was hardly troubled as a makeshift partnership of Amin and Huijie stood up to anything that was thrown at them very very well.
2-0: An attack down the left which involved Eugene who was certainly an outstanding find and AhCool saw the latter break free into the belly's box early in the 2nd half. Weixiang who had taken over the lone striker role did not wait to take a touch as once again another stunning outside foot finish found the top left hand corner with the keeper soundly beaten.
Our opponents did have their chances from corners in particular as their imperious size gave them the advantage. Hitting the base of the post with one and scraping the top of the bar with another yet the feeling was that we were more or less in control of the game. Well, we should have put the game to bed as Izwann who eventually came on again, outpaced the belly backline easily and ran down the right channel. Sending an inviting ball across the box, an onwaiting ahcool somehow ballooned his chance over the ball with only the keeper to beat. That wasn't the end of our clear cut chances for minutes before the end, another simple looking through ball by the impressive Izwann saw him slice apart the belly backline and gave Law the perfect opportunity to seal the game. Taking a touch forward and setting himself up, it seemed as if there was too much time for the lad as he eventually toepoked the ball straight at the keeper. Apparently he had tried to lift the ball over the onrushing keeper. We saw none of that. Haha.
So that wrapped up a wretched time in front of goal for us but a pretty decent performance overall on a rain soaked saturday afternoon. Plenty to look forward to as the future looks bright!!
Any signings will be announced in due time as the jokers take a much needed 3 week and 2 saturday break. Thank you to the trialists who made it for the game today and it was a pleasure boys. Cheers!
