Team Orange making their debut in the FAP Div. 3 League, under the guise of TAMilan SC, came from behind to grind out a 3-2 win over an experienced Tanjung Bungah Rangers at Polo Field yesterday.
Poay was the hero for the debutants as he struck twice to cancel out TBR's lead, established with two goals from defensive mistakes within a space of 15 minutes in the first half. But he dragged the team back from the brink of defeat and signalled the start of a great adventure and the arrival of Jack The Ripper (his English name is Jack by the way, hence the association)
Poay struck his first near the end of the first half and added his second late in the game to seal a memorable win that will surely rankle in the minds of the opposition after they had surrendered a 2-0 lead and even conceded an own goal.
Team Orange made a sluggish start with management opting for a 4-2-3-1 formation, surprisingly dropping Chris to the bench in favor of Suresh. But the big guy (Chris) also had a big heart as he supported the team from the sidelines with his constant shouts of motivation. And it's with players and supporters like Chris that make a club great; just look at the Kop at Anfield, the Catalans at Barcelona or the homeside of the intimidating Ali Sami Yen Stadium of Galatasaray. Darlington played just behind Heng with Poay and Shukor flanking our target men. Jason partnered Adrian for the first time as the defensive midfield duo, covering Chard, Kugz, Keong and Max.
TBR took control of the midfield, keeping their passess simple and tidy. And they were using their wingers to good effect as they lauched raid after raid down our left and right channels. Max and Keong dealt with those attacks rather uneasily although they got the job done. It was through one of these attacks that our prominent left-back, Keong, was injured as he took a tumble after a challenge and injured his right ankle badly. But before that TBR had been 2-0 up.
Their first goal came as if it were straight out from a tragic comedy as Adrian tried to pump the ball forward with his left-foot as 3 TBR players closed him down, but only managed to sent it wheezing to Poay. With a confused look on his face whether to chest or head the ball, he opted for the former and the ball fell kindly to a TBR player and he sent a pass down to his striker. Then Kugan and Chard collided with each other as they both went for the ball, missed it and as the striker took a tame shot at Suresh, the newbie allowing the ball to somehow squirm through his hands and between his legs for the onrushing striker to follow up on his first effort and rammed the ball home. The 2nd goal also came as a result of a howler from the GK as he came flying out to catch a low squared pass, but only managed to catch the wind as the ball flew pass him for a a lurking TBR player to head home from barely 5 yards out! At that point, most of us felt we had got a Gomes when we really needed a Van de Sar!
At the other end, Heng was enjoying a physical battle with TBR's centre-backs as their defence held firm against our attacks.
Then with Keong injured, Adrian was pulled to left-back, at which time he now felt like Juliano Belleti at Chelsea. The Cristiano Ronaldo-like Ming was introduced on the right as Shukor and Poay moved into central midfield while Jason (???) was thrown out to the left. And the fightback began as Poay struck the first of his 2 goals when a shot from Darlington was spilled by the GK to the waiting Poay to stroke home from just inside the box. Soon after, it was half-time and 2-1 was the result as we took a break.
The 2nd half began brightly as Team Orange was now slowly but surely taking the reigns as Heng was replaced by Brown, and with Jason now moved back into central midfield, we looked threatening. And it was no surprise as we grabbed the equalizer when Brown's free-kick was knocked into goal by their own player. But we were not done yet. By now we knew that just one goal would kill of this tie as their players were starting to tire. Keon replaced Shukor on the left to give us more attacking impetus and Ming combined well with Brown to really put their team under pressure. Poay sealed the win when he picked up a pass, strided into the box and let fly with a wicked shot that shook the net ferociously! The job was now done and our little number 2 had etched his name into the record books.
Final Result:
TAMilan SC 3 - Tanjung Bungah Rangers 2
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