When Playing Top Teams...

As I was looking to Derek for answers after the game, he summed it up the best - "I think with top teams, if you make mistakes you get punished. I think that's the lesson for today." And it was spot on.

Two goals in the first half by Timoran proved decisive in an evenly contested friendly with a comeback goal by long-term absentee Keon (chicken-pox) not enough to deny them victory. With a long-standing tradition as a top-quality team, the game against Timoran was always going to be a cracker. And the first-half started with Timoran having the bulk of the possession, moving the ball comfortably among themselves while getting into good positions. Their strategy it seemed was to get the ball to their wingers to run us down. However, Ramblers were surprisingly the side with the better chances. Whilst Michael had nothing much to do, the Timoran defence and their keeper were kept busy by Ming and Heng everytime a ball got forward. Then, tragedy struck. A corner by Timoran was headed down and on the way to goal when Aaron, guarding at the far post, was unlucky to have the ball spun off his forehead and into the net to give Timoran the lead. It was a freak goal but I think they'll take it however they came. Their second goal arrived barely 10 minutes after that with an atrocious squared-pass by Adrian to Fajar being intercepted by their striker at the edge of the box to fire low under the outstretched arms of Michael. There was a memorable moment, however, as Ming dribbled pass 3 Timoran players and into the box but was nugged off the ball before he could muster a shot. A glimpse of better things to come in the future, perhaps?

2nd-Half:

The break was a welcomed relief as Max and Michael sought to re-jigg the side in order to find that elusive goal. Max replaced Siang, Aik started at left-back, Derek moved into left-midfield and Wei was introduced on the right. With that, Ramblers came out fighting. Our midfield was sparked to live, with our attacks livelier and the defence finally settling down to cut-off their attacks. After putting pressure on their defence, a cross-field pass by Max was brought down expertly by Poay on the left to cross into the box for Keon to push the ball pass the advancing keeper and reduce the deficit. It was a typical poachers goal and Keon showed no signs of being away for so long. The match continued in our favor as we huffed and puffed to find the equalizer. However, Ramblers were nearly dealt a sucker-punch late in the game when a Timoran midfielder pounced on a loose ball and strided into our penalty area, but Adrian was on-hand to atone for his earlier mistake with a timely sliding tackle to deny the man. And then proceded to recover to block another point-blank shot by their winger who got on to the rebound. Minutes later, the match was over and Timoran took home a hardfought 2-1 victory.

Analysis:

In the first-half, I felt we gave Timoran too much respect and didn't really give them a good go. Our midfield, though industrious, was often pulled out of shape and there were gaps in the center, which, thankfully wasn't exposed by the opposition. Poay was unusually subdued and it left Jason with too much to do. Ming has the pace and the tenacity (although not in the same breath as Brown) to beat opposition players but he needs to find the confidence to do so. And Siang was trying too hard to impress given the fact that we were playing his former team. Adrian, on the other hand, was too concerned with his injured foot and Fajar was pressured to cover his zone and Adrian's.

The second-half was an improvement but in football, if you don't outscore the opposition, you end up losing the game. And we just couldn't kill off the game despite having numerous chances. An over-dependance on Heng and Brown, maybe? Max stood his ground in the center, covering the gaps, giving Jason the freedom to roam. But Sin was pegged back by fear of their left-midfielder, taking the cautious approach and subduing his urge to over-lap. Keon was lively despite a long hiatus and Derek made good use of the spaces he found on the left.

On the plus side, the team showed good character and tactical ability by moving the ball around more. For the most part, we kept things simple and tidy and in truth, it was much better than pumping the ball forward.