It was supposed to be a difficult game for Ramblers Orange as they faced a team from their own division in a friendly match on a sunny day at Penang Free School. With no Heng or W.Brown present, it was left to Michael to strike forward up front aided by an advanced Siang. Derek & Fajar returned from senior Ramblers duty to bolster the spine of the team aided by the brothers Au & Cherk. Ex-KDU student Keon and young Penang player Ming added pace to both flanks whilst Seng and Michael slotted in behind them.
It was a tight first half with most of the play in the middle of the pitch. Kampung Makam proved that they could play with midfielders pulling the ball back with the soles of their feet and moving past opponents but they couldn't cut the strings of our defence. Whilst they could make pretty patterns in the front of their defence, they floundered on the rocks of Cherk and Fajar when they tried to link with their strikers. Chris had no serious shots fired at him whilst their keeper proved to be more active as Ramblers Orange made less pretty patterns but used pure pace to strike back. Ming was in scintillating C.Ronald0esque form as he held off the attentions of defenders whilst running at pace - twice forcing saves from the keeper and the last man - whilst Keon had more open chances from the right but was unable to secure a lead for us. It was up to Michael's replacement, Wei to latch onto a great Au pass and dink the ball above the advancing keeper to give us a one goal lead.
The second half saw us face the sun but allowed us to field a late W.Brown but with all these changes the pattern of the game was still the same. There were even more glorious chances for our strikers with Wei & W.Brown (I think) missing one on ones with the goalkeeper.
However the youngster Ming continued to be Merciless as he obviously benefited from Coach Mustapha's advice to rest for the week. His first goal of the match saw him run from the half way line battle with one defender, jink past another and smash the ball at the near post. His second came from the benefit of Au's block on a defender's clearance - Ming collected the loose ball, raced past another defender and fired another shot past the staggering goalkeeper.
Kampung Makam never gave up and continued to search for a goal. The Ramblers defence was dropping deeper and deeper as the match progressed which allowed them to get nearer our goal. The referee did give the team in red some free kicks around the edge of the box but it was a day of little work for the big man Chris. However they did make him bend over and pick the ball out of the net once after neat build up play on the right saw the ball come to the centre. The onrushing midfielder hit the ball first time and struck it sweetly as it swerved away from the keeper into the far side of the net.
Au did ask me to push up in the second half but I was reluctant to do so as his older brother Cherk had dropped deep as he sometimes does. I felt that if I had pushed up, I would have left a 15 yard gap in front of the defence which a good team like Kampung Makam are liable to exploit with their intelligence. Whilst I realised that this left the space further ahead a bit open, I was willing to sacrifice it for the sake of providing an extra man to shield the defence. The right midfielder certainly gave Max no cover in the 2nd half for instance which saw me shifting over to the right a lot.
I felt it worked well - Kampung Makam made little headway in our defensive third whilst we managed to puncture their defence six times. However we had to settle for just half of those clean cut chances taken and a final score of 3-1.
It was a tight first half with most of the play in the middle of the pitch. Kampung Makam proved that they could play with midfielders pulling the ball back with the soles of their feet and moving past opponents but they couldn't cut the strings of our defence. Whilst they could make pretty patterns in the front of their defence, they floundered on the rocks of Cherk and Fajar when they tried to link with their strikers. Chris had no serious shots fired at him whilst their keeper proved to be more active as Ramblers Orange made less pretty patterns but used pure pace to strike back. Ming was in scintillating C.Ronald0esque form as he held off the attentions of defenders whilst running at pace - twice forcing saves from the keeper and the last man - whilst Keon had more open chances from the right but was unable to secure a lead for us. It was up to Michael's replacement, Wei to latch onto a great Au pass and dink the ball above the advancing keeper to give us a one goal lead.
The second half saw us face the sun but allowed us to field a late W.Brown but with all these changes the pattern of the game was still the same. There were even more glorious chances for our strikers with Wei & W.Brown (I think) missing one on ones with the goalkeeper.
However the youngster Ming continued to be Merciless as he obviously benefited from Coach Mustapha's advice to rest for the week. His first goal of the match saw him run from the half way line battle with one defender, jink past another and smash the ball at the near post. His second came from the benefit of Au's block on a defender's clearance - Ming collected the loose ball, raced past another defender and fired another shot past the staggering goalkeeper.
Kampung Makam never gave up and continued to search for a goal. The Ramblers defence was dropping deeper and deeper as the match progressed which allowed them to get nearer our goal. The referee did give the team in red some free kicks around the edge of the box but it was a day of little work for the big man Chris. However they did make him bend over and pick the ball out of the net once after neat build up play on the right saw the ball come to the centre. The onrushing midfielder hit the ball first time and struck it sweetly as it swerved away from the keeper into the far side of the net.
Au did ask me to push up in the second half but I was reluctant to do so as his older brother Cherk had dropped deep as he sometimes does. I felt that if I had pushed up, I would have left a 15 yard gap in front of the defence which a good team like Kampung Makam are liable to exploit with their intelligence. Whilst I realised that this left the space further ahead a bit open, I was willing to sacrifice it for the sake of providing an extra man to shield the defence. The right midfielder certainly gave Max no cover in the 2nd half for instance which saw me shifting over to the right a lot.
I felt it worked well - Kampung Makam made little headway in our defensive third whilst we managed to puncture their defence six times. However we had to settle for just half of those clean cut chances taken and a final score of 3-1.
.JPG)
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