Ghost Buried

Powerhouse Brown - Hero

Ramblers finally ended their hoodoo against Penang Sports Club (PSC) when they grinded out a 3-2 win on Tuesday in a pre-Div 3 warm-up match. It was a solid, matured performance by Ramblers who could have scored more than the three goals if the bar was slightly higher by an inch as Heng and Keon both rattled it in either half with the keeper already beaten. But a pair of mistakes by Chris, who otherwise had a good game, allowed PSC to come back twice!

Defending a corner

Azrul had fired Ramblers ahead midway through the first half after Ramblers confidently controlled a large chunk of the game. A clearance by Derek after Jason had won the ball lead to the nippy winger blasting the ball pass the keeper. But then Chris spilled a speculative shot and Tong was on hand to equalize going into half-time.

Wei

Ramblers pressed hard for a goal as the midfield dominated their older opponents and Brown came on to provide more firepower upfront. And the move clearly worked as Ramblers went 2-1 up when Heng buried the ball pass the keeper 10 minutes after the restart. However, their joy was shortlived when Vijay's cut-back across the Ramblers goal was failed to pick up by Chris allowing their hulking number 8 to slot the ball into an empty net. 2-2!

A Clearly Jubilant Heng and Ming

Surprisingly, Ramblers rallied and they didn't show any of the nervous displays that had previously surfaced when such situations appeared (e.g. against Bintang Biru, NTFA, PYFC "B", De'Butterfly). And Brown came to the rescue when he outmuscled the PSC defenders to slot pass the onrushing keeper. Just rewards for an excellent display.

Brown making a pass!

Final Score:

Ramblers 3 -PSC 2

Thumping Win!

Ramblers scored a sensational 5-0 victory over AIA to move up one place into 5th in the ongoing Chinese Super League match with a Keon hattrick, and one a piece from Wei and Brown. The all-blacks dominated the game from start to finish, putting even more pressure on their opponents who now find themselves in the lower rungs of the league table.

Our Three Marksmen: (L to R) Keon, Brown, Wei

Final Score:

Ramblers 5 - AIA 0

Ramblers Back on Winning Note

Up against the tournament organizers, Ramblers needed to pick up the precious 3 points to revive their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of this league. And they duly did it with an angled drive from Au, an opportunistic goal from manager Michael, and a sublime chip from Heng. But it was a match marred by 2 red cards, one a horrendous kick from the keeper into Heng's throat as the custodian came out to challenge for a 50-50 ball.

Missing the suspended Poay and starting with only 10 men, Ramblers knew the task wasn't going to be an easy one. But they rose to the occasion and held out admirably until the arrival of Brown midway through the half. By then, Ramblers were already down 1-nil as early as the 5th minute, conceded when Chris somehow couldn't hold on to a freekick dispatched by Nara and allowing it to spill over the line. However, the presence of powerhouse Brown midway through the half reinvigorated the team and a teasing cross from Max found Au unmarked on the edge of the area and the gangly midfielder took a touch before sending the ball pass the keeper. Minutes later, just as Man. United's new number 7 was making his debut, Rambler's very own showcased his predatory instincts by knocking the ball pass the keeper to give us the lead. It was Manager Michael's first goal of the tournament! And Heng put the icing on the cake when he chipped in the third after good work from Man had allowed the striker supreme to beat the offside trap. But it was not all smooth sailing for Ramblers as a misplaced tackle left Nara with a free ball in the area, but Chris was on hand to thwart the bald striker from close range and palmed away the ball to safety.

3-1 to the good and Anak Malaysia were in freefall.

Even then they were never going to just give up. Ming reduced the deficit for Anak Malaysia as a cross shot somehow found its way to the top left corner of Rambler's goal. 3-2 and they sensed a comeback was possible. But that was before their keeper stuck his studs dangerously into Heng's throat. The big man collapsed in a heap and the custodian was given his marching orders. When play resumed, Ramblers tried to finish off the game by pressing for another goal. With Anak Malaysia defending desperately, they had Nara sent off unnecessarily when he handled the ball from a corner. It was his second yellow card and the referee had no choice but to flash the red. 11 against 9 and everyone knew it was game over as Anak Malaysia held on till the final whistle with a respectable 2-3 lost.

Final Score:

Ramblers 3 - Anak Malaysia 2

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It was a top-of-the-table clash but the hype was probably subdued because both teams had already qualified for the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, the action on the pitch was far from it. Equal on points but with TAMilan perched above the rest on goal difference, the only thing worth playing for was the title of group champ. And both teams went for it passionately, albeit with different approaches.

The younger and fitter TAMilan versus the composed and experienced NTFA. In the end, the older men triumphed 3-2 in a game that TAMilan will have felt hard done by. A controversial penalty when the game was still tied at 0-0 was just the beginning. A corner from the left was chested by Keong but the referee blew for a handball. The penalty was saved brilliantly by Suresh but the referee had it retaken as Wei was deemed to have entered the box when NTFA's penalty-taker was running in to smash the ball. And, they didn't waste the second one.

But Heng would have none of it as minutes later he got to the end of a beautiful through ball by Siang, dribbled the last defender and although the keeper did come out to challenge for the ball, it somehow escaped his grasped onto the path of the grateful striker to level the scores at 1-1. TAMilan were pretty much in control from then on as Poay, Jason and Siang combined well to string together some nifty passes. Our newly acquired winger Azrul was doing fairly well down the left with his simple touches and strong running down that flank. The debutante even had a shot palmed away by the keeper but Heng couldn't get to the loose ball in time.

After the restart, TAMilan could sense that NTFA's legs were creaking and they were getting tired really fast. And so the all-blacks upped the tempo as NTFA defended in numbers and look to hit TAMilan on the break. Unfortunately, for all their dominance, and with the powerful Brown replacing Heng in attack, TAMilan failed (again) to make their superiority count. Although they have a gifted pair of attacking midfielders in Poay and Siang (think Scholes and Lampard), they were lacking someone whose creative spark could unlock defences, someone in the mould of Riquelme or Xavi. And so as it happens so many times in football, if you fail to capitalize on your advantage, then the team is living on the edge.

NTFA struck unexpectedly with a glancing header as their number 20 ghosted in to place the ball pass Suresh from a cross down the right. Then a corner shortly afterwards saw a header placed firmly down to the bottom left post after Keong had cleared his line before the ball was played safely out of the box. TAMilan rallied after that goal and continued dominating possession, punctuated by occassional demands of the referee to change the ball although it was ideally pumped. This had TAMilan players stumped but did provide a welcome breather to NTFA.

Relentless attacks finally yielded a goal when Siang won a penalty after being fouled in the box and Poay stepped up to take the spotkick. The number 2's penalty was put too near the keeper's right but he was alert enough to place the rebound pass the keeper to close the gap to 3-2. It was pretty much one way traffic after that as NTFA held on desperately for a win and dislodged TAMilan from the top of Group A.

Final Score:

NTFA 3 – TAMilan 2

Ramblers Wings Clipped By De'Butterfly

The 3rd American President, Thomas Jefferson, once said, “.. the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” But if he were to look at Rambler's performances in the Chinese Super League week in and week out, I am sure he would beg to differ. Another dominating performance undermined by another heart-breaking result.

Ramblers went down 1-0 to De'Butterfly in the dying minutes of a match the all-blacks controlled from the start. Having won all their previous encounters and never conceding a goal against their rival, Ramblers looked in menacing form as Chard rattled Tony's crossbar from a freekick early in the game and the keeper had to be alert again to acrobatically palm away a thunderous drive from Man. The big man pulled off another desperate save with his feet when a cross on the left found an unmarked Wei at the far post who didn't put enough power into his shot.

With the absence of first-team strikers Heng and Brown, Chien was working as hard as he could upfront with some very smart runs, causing the De'Butterfly defence to stay on their toes while Shukor and Wei were bombing down their flanks, supplying cross after cross. Poay, Man and Jason made up the midfield trio and De'Butterfly responded to Rambler's dominance by defending stoutly, playing on the counter-attack and booting the ball forward to their nippy striker to run onto, reminiscent of England. To be fair, their tactic did yield a shot that Chris dealt with comfortably, and Adrian had to be alert to divert out a shot with the goalmouth at their striker's mercy. Besides that, Chard and his defence were never seriously threatened.

As the second-half resumed, the backline was totally revamped with Keong replacing Sin, Max coming on for Tee Oon, the injured Chris going off for Adrian, and Man taking his place beside Chard whereas Benni was introduced at the expense of Wei. Unfortunately, barely 10 minutes into the game, Chard injured himself going into a tackle and Rambler's libero had to be subbed. Benni was then moved back to the defence, pushing Poay into a striker's role and Au coming in at midfield. The sudden reorganization did unsettle Rambler's for awhile and De'Butterfly took advantage of it by increasing their tempo. And it was not long before the substitute keeper was called into action, rushing off his line twice to cover the striker's shooting angle for the marksman to pull his shot wide and once dealing with a long freekick.

But normal order was resumed shortly after up the other end when Ah Or, Shukor and Poay carved open De'Butterfly's defence time and again but failed to finish off their chances. As the minutes ticked away, desperation became evident in Rambler's play. Keong and Max were overlapping at will down the left and right respectively while Ah Or took on 2 to 3 players each time he had the ball at his feet; the young gun drawing numerous fouls from the panicking De'Butterfly defenders. However, this left the backline exposed with only Man and Benni available to thwart off their counter-attacks, one of which resulted in their striker shooting directly at the grateful custodian.

And so, as in many games, Rambler's domination without being able to capitalize on it proved to be their undoing when a long freekick, after Au was caught offside and with Keong out of position, allowed the De'Butterfly winger a clear run on goal and he lobbed the ball over the advancing Adrian to break Rambler's hearts. A jubilant De'Butterfly then proceeded, in the words of Mourinho after a game against Totenham, to “park a bus” in front of their goal and dented Rambler's hope to climb up the table and rue their luck once again.

Final Score:

Ramblers 0 – De'Butterfly 1

Cometh the hour, cometh the men

The stage was set. On a humid Tuesday evening, in a significant encounter, all that stood in the way of TAMilan SC qualifying for their first FAP Div. 3 Quarter-Finals was high-riding Inpro SC. As it should be, with no other Division games scheduled, this match took centre-stage and it felt like Wimbledon's centre-court, with fans thronging the sidelines to watch a match that had top-billing written all over it. And they were not to be disappointed.

TAMilan SC emerged victorious after a 5 goal thriller that saw Inpro SC fighting back with Chard's own goal and a dubious looking penalty. But cometh the hour, cometh the man. Or in this case, men. TAMilan's strikers finally emerged from the shadows of their midfield supremos of Poay, Darlington, Ming and Siang with Heng netting a brace and Brown breaking his duck to add the other. However, credit must also go to the whole team as every player in a black jersey that came on gave their all. Tee Oon who was deputising for an injured Max, Siang who played the first-half despite being down with fever the day before; Chris, Poay, Seng and Keong who were nursing injuries, all these players as well as the rest who either started or came on later in the game played with both heart and determination, and some would even say more.

As early as the first minute, Ming had a good chance to put them ahead when a Poay through ball sent him onside with only the keeper to beat but the custodian stood his ground and pushed Ming's attempt around the post for a corner. The boy-wonder had a similar situation a few minutes later but fluffed that as well. Heng held the ball up brilliantly as he played in Siang with a cheeky backheel that nutmegged the dazed Inpro defender only for Siang to shoot too early and wide off the left post. Inpro also had chances of their own as Chris saved 2 long range efforts and Adrian hacked clear a loose ball for a corner after the big-man palmed away another goalbound shot.

Heng then eased TAMilan's nerves as he tussled for the ball with the lanky centreback and won that challenge before sidefooting home from inside the box to put them ahead. But minutes later, Inpro equalized when a teasing cross from the right flew pass the outstretched arms of Chris only for Chard to slice it into his own net as he swung to clear. It was the second own goal they have conceded in 2 games.

One of the main reasons for TAMilan's success this season has been down to the effervescent Poay. And the number 2 took on 2 defenders on the byline to feed Heng to make it 2-1 to TAMilan just before the break.

TAMilan emerged in the second-half with Adrian replacing the injured Chris in goal, Brown coming on for Siang and Wei taking his place in a defensive midfield role with Man partnering Chard in the centre of the defense. And TAMilan started with a fast tempo game, deflating the already tired Inpro players and forcing them to make mistakes and unnecessary fouls. The Inpro defense had no answers to Brown's raw pace and power and the TAMilan striker battered through their brittle defense repeatedly, drawing foul after foul from their now nervous players. Either that or he was marginally offside due to his (over) enthusiastic runs. Meanwhile, Ming echoed the charge given by Poay earlier on about fighting for every ball by marauding upfield with it and scurrying back to help Keong when we lost it, slotting in a few shimmies in between.

Brown was justly rewarded for his hunger midway through the 2nd half when a long freekick from Chard was allowed to bounce by the Inpro defense and Brown nipped in to head the ball pass their keeper to put TAMilan 3-1 up.

Coach Mustafa then sent on Au to add steel to the midfield and to preserve the lead. But he was soon caught in the centre of a questionable decision from the referee. As the game wore on and TAMilan found themselves on the front foot, Inpro reduced the deficit through a dubious looking penalty when Au was deemed to have over impose his strength on the Inpro player via a bodycheck in the box during a corner. Despite heavy protests from the TAMilan players, the referee waved off any appeal and Adrian was sent the wrong way to make the scores 3-2.

Both Poay and Shukor could have put the result beyond any doubt nearing the end of the match. A low freekick from Poay broke through their wall, took a heavy deflection but had not enough power to trouble the keeper – the fortunate man just managing to claw the ball away. Moments after that, Shukor curled the ball narrowly wide off the left post when he received a great ball from Ming.

But try as they may, Inpro couldn't trouble a resilient looking TAMilan looking to book their place in the quarter-finals and when the final whistle blew, there was only joy and jubilation for the all-blacks.

Final Score:

TAMilan SC 3 - Inpro SC 2