Full Time Report: Sapphires FC vs Team Slayers
Sapphires FC vs Team Slayers, 3-1
Venue: Regent Secondary School Field
Kick off time: 3.30pm
Full time: 5.10pm
Weather Conditions: Overcast
Team Slayers Squad:
1. Ghalib (on loan keeper)
5. Terence
6. Zi Xiang
7. Shawn
8. Daryl
9. Reuben
10. Jeremy
11. Ying Lun
14. Kovan
16. Kamil
17. Lucas
18. Wei Ian
20. Andy
21. Jethro
Made No Appearances
4. Zi Han (uncontactable)
12. Jun Jie (just returned from camp, fatigue)
22. Chien Ming (formal lunch/ fatigue)
Team Slayers Disciplinary
1 Yellow Card (11. Ying Lun)
0 Red Cards
Injury During Match
8. Daryl- Cramp at Right Leg
Report
A closely competed match which could have gone either way. Unfortunately, it has gone against the Slayers once more. An exciting first half capped an outstanding display of midfielders Wei Ian and Jethro. Slayers' no. 18 and 21 dictated the pace of the first half with endless running, chasing of loose balls and continuous challenges to win possesion. The ACSians had most of the ball and sprayed decent passes and crosses to create a few chances. The match began with both sides having 50-50 possesion but Sapphires look most likely to score first. The Sapphires coach, a clever tactician, was wise to ask his players to try testing both of Slayers' flanks to find weaknesses in the defence that consisted of 9. Reuben at left back, 11. Ying Lun and 20. Andy at the heart of the defence and 8. Daryl at right back. It was a pretty decent and strong defence with both centre backs doing the dirty job, winning balls, and clearing the danger. Left midfielder 4. Siva and left striker were the sparks for Sapphires creating chances by threading through balls and chipped through balls over the Slayers' backline. However, Andy and Daryl were able to counter such threats and manage to hold off the threat posed.
There were few occasions which Slayers did well to counter attack. Captain Jeremy and versatile Shawn who played on the left combined well to bring strikers Kovan and Zi Xiang into play. The quick passing and confused the right side of the Sapphires defence and there were at least thrice where Kovan troubled the right back by tricking pass him and putting in a cross for Zi Xiang waiting in the 6 yard box. The efforts of the two-footed Kovan paid off when his left footed cross just on the bye line lobbed over the advancing keeper and to an opened Zi Xiang who had an open goal to shoot into. The simple tap in goal was strongly protested by the Sapphires players who believed that the ball went out of play before it was crossed into the box. However, the referee had none of those and awarded a goal to surprised Slayers. The morale boosting goal also meant that Zi Xiang is the current top scorer with 2 goals in 3 games.
Soon after, Slayers began to threaten with more passing and possesion. Wei Ian won challenges in midfield, including many aerial battles and squared the ball to the adventurous Jeremy who did well in pulling off tricks to get pass the opposing right midfielder and did one-twos with strikers Kovan and Zi Xiang. The Slayers' attack almost paid off again when Jeremy got past the whole Sapphires defence and squared the ball to the waiting Zi Xiang who was once again unmarked in front of the goal. Jeremy unselfishly passed to Slayer's no.6, but the ball was dramatically slowed down upon having contact with the puddle of water in front of goal. The Sapphires' no. 1 was then able to recover the ball and pump it up field which started a counter attack. Slayers almost made it 2-0 when Kovan from left wing cut in to send a shot from an impossible angle that sent the ball curling at top spin and hit the far post. Kovan had another chance from a free kick but blasted it way off the cross bar. Ying Lun and Andy were inspiring in central of defence with Ying Lun clearing difficult balls and Andy duly covering for the rest of the defenders who were in a few occasions caught out of position. Chipped throughs from the Sapphires strikers were more often and it needed a header from Daryl who was last man in line to put the ball out for a corner before Sapphires' left midfielder got to it. The resultant corner was expertly cleared by Andy and in the end a goalkick. The goalkick rammed upfield was weak and it fell ultimately for a Sapphires midfielder after Kovan made a mistake and he tried his luck from 20 metres with a dipping right footed shot that lobbed over no. 1 Ghalib and into the goal. 1-1.
Another try from Sapphires had them 2-1 up when their striker received a perfect early cross from again the lively and creative left midfielder and sprint clear of the 2 centre backs and drove a low strike down to Ghalib's right. Jethro and Wei Ian tried again to attack down the right but were neutrelised and soon it was half time. Tired players in Team Slayers had no mood for a team talk and all rested without a perfect plan that would bring us back into the game. There were a few shuffles and changes that went tactically wrong. No one in the Slayers camp expected the Sapphires team to change the entire team except for the goalkeeper. The team was supposedly the senior team with average age of about 20. Slayers changed with Jeremy going off for Terence and the whole backline change as Ying Lun moved up as target man and Zi Xiang moved back as centre back. Kovan drifted to the right and Daryl moved to leftback. It was chaotic and unorganised as many players were uncomfortable in the new positions. Only Jethro looked good attacking on the left with his tireless running and Wei Ian won more balls in CDM. Shawn and Reuben were isolated on the right but combined to give a few chances that were cut out by the Sapphires defence. Zi Xiang was awesome in the centre of defence with headers, last ditch tackles and providing cover for Terence and Andy. Soon, Jeremy decided a decent tactical change that saw Daryl coming off presumably for a rest and Kamil going on as left back where he looked extremely comfortable. That provided more stability and prompted Kovan who was soon had few chances to touch the ball to move to centre back. Andy drifted slight up as CDM and the back line seems strong with the 2 strikers who strangely met at centre back. Jeremy then went on for Andy who was exhausted. Reuben stayed at right wing with Shawn slightly to the middle and Jeremy went to the left. The plan seem to work out and Slayers held on. Jeremy almost equalised when his shot from the edge of the box was cleared off the line from a resultant corner. What a chance to equalise!
Until poor control by Reuben allowed a Sapphire player to race free of the defence and rammed a low shot under the advancing Ghalib. It became 3-1. Ying Lun created a chance to make it 3-2 when he placed a perfectly weighted through ball to the left for the lightning speed Kamil sprinting from the back. Kamil had a chance of his life that could have saved the Slayers but he decided not to shoot and soon lost the ball to the Sapphire defender. Soon after, Ying Lun was hacked down and needed to come off. Daryl went on again and had a free role drifting everywhere or act as cover for Kovan who went up more often and Zi Xiang who also was active in corners and free kicks. Lucas then replaced Jethro whose steam ran out finally after running kilometres in this match. No. 17 came on saw Kamil moving to left midfield and Jeremy to a more central role. Zi Xiang was superb in the dying minutes of the match and made countless challenges and blocks that prevented an embarassing defeat for the Slayers. He even used his face to block a drive that seem goalbound. Shawn also ran out of steam and came off for a CCK supporter in stoppage time. The game ended when a corner on the left was sent to the far post where a Sapphires striker whacked the post and the referee enthusiatically blew the final whistle for a dramatic game. Final score, Sapphires FC 3, Team Slayers 1.
Venue: Regent Secondary School Field
Kick off time: 3.30pm
Full time: 5.10pm
Weather Conditions: Overcast
Team Slayers Squad:
1. Ghalib (on loan keeper)
5. Terence
6. Zi Xiang
7. Shawn
8. Daryl
9. Reuben
10. Jeremy
11. Ying Lun
14. Kovan
16. Kamil
17. Lucas
18. Wei Ian
20. Andy
21. Jethro
Made No Appearances
4. Zi Han (uncontactable)
12. Jun Jie (just returned from camp, fatigue)
22. Chien Ming (formal lunch/ fatigue)
Team Slayers Disciplinary
1 Yellow Card (11. Ying Lun)
0 Red Cards
Injury During Match
8. Daryl- Cramp at Right Leg
Report
A closely competed match which could have gone either way. Unfortunately, it has gone against the Slayers once more. An exciting first half capped an outstanding display of midfielders Wei Ian and Jethro. Slayers' no. 18 and 21 dictated the pace of the first half with endless running, chasing of loose balls and continuous challenges to win possesion. The ACSians had most of the ball and sprayed decent passes and crosses to create a few chances. The match began with both sides having 50-50 possesion but Sapphires look most likely to score first. The Sapphires coach, a clever tactician, was wise to ask his players to try testing both of Slayers' flanks to find weaknesses in the defence that consisted of 9. Reuben at left back, 11. Ying Lun and 20. Andy at the heart of the defence and 8. Daryl at right back. It was a pretty decent and strong defence with both centre backs doing the dirty job, winning balls, and clearing the danger. Left midfielder 4. Siva and left striker were the sparks for Sapphires creating chances by threading through balls and chipped through balls over the Slayers' backline. However, Andy and Daryl were able to counter such threats and manage to hold off the threat posed.
There were few occasions which Slayers did well to counter attack. Captain Jeremy and versatile Shawn who played on the left combined well to bring strikers Kovan and Zi Xiang into play. The quick passing and confused the right side of the Sapphires defence and there were at least thrice where Kovan troubled the right back by tricking pass him and putting in a cross for Zi Xiang waiting in the 6 yard box. The efforts of the two-footed Kovan paid off when his left footed cross just on the bye line lobbed over the advancing keeper and to an opened Zi Xiang who had an open goal to shoot into. The simple tap in goal was strongly protested by the Sapphires players who believed that the ball went out of play before it was crossed into the box. However, the referee had none of those and awarded a goal to surprised Slayers. The morale boosting goal also meant that Zi Xiang is the current top scorer with 2 goals in 3 games.
Soon after, Slayers began to threaten with more passing and possesion. Wei Ian won challenges in midfield, including many aerial battles and squared the ball to the adventurous Jeremy who did well in pulling off tricks to get pass the opposing right midfielder and did one-twos with strikers Kovan and Zi Xiang. The Slayers' attack almost paid off again when Jeremy got past the whole Sapphires defence and squared the ball to the waiting Zi Xiang who was once again unmarked in front of the goal. Jeremy unselfishly passed to Slayer's no.6, but the ball was dramatically slowed down upon having contact with the puddle of water in front of goal. The Sapphires' no. 1 was then able to recover the ball and pump it up field which started a counter attack. Slayers almost made it 2-0 when Kovan from left wing cut in to send a shot from an impossible angle that sent the ball curling at top spin and hit the far post. Kovan had another chance from a free kick but blasted it way off the cross bar. Ying Lun and Andy were inspiring in central of defence with Ying Lun clearing difficult balls and Andy duly covering for the rest of the defenders who were in a few occasions caught out of position. Chipped throughs from the Sapphires strikers were more often and it needed a header from Daryl who was last man in line to put the ball out for a corner before Sapphires' left midfielder got to it. The resultant corner was expertly cleared by Andy and in the end a goalkick. The goalkick rammed upfield was weak and it fell ultimately for a Sapphires midfielder after Kovan made a mistake and he tried his luck from 20 metres with a dipping right footed shot that lobbed over no. 1 Ghalib and into the goal. 1-1.
Another try from Sapphires had them 2-1 up when their striker received a perfect early cross from again the lively and creative left midfielder and sprint clear of the 2 centre backs and drove a low strike down to Ghalib's right. Jethro and Wei Ian tried again to attack down the right but were neutrelised and soon it was half time. Tired players in Team Slayers had no mood for a team talk and all rested without a perfect plan that would bring us back into the game. There were a few shuffles and changes that went tactically wrong. No one in the Slayers camp expected the Sapphires team to change the entire team except for the goalkeeper. The team was supposedly the senior team with average age of about 20. Slayers changed with Jeremy going off for Terence and the whole backline change as Ying Lun moved up as target man and Zi Xiang moved back as centre back. Kovan drifted to the right and Daryl moved to leftback. It was chaotic and unorganised as many players were uncomfortable in the new positions. Only Jethro looked good attacking on the left with his tireless running and Wei Ian won more balls in CDM. Shawn and Reuben were isolated on the right but combined to give a few chances that were cut out by the Sapphires defence. Zi Xiang was awesome in the centre of defence with headers, last ditch tackles and providing cover for Terence and Andy. Soon, Jeremy decided a decent tactical change that saw Daryl coming off presumably for a rest and Kamil going on as left back where he looked extremely comfortable. That provided more stability and prompted Kovan who was soon had few chances to touch the ball to move to centre back. Andy drifted slight up as CDM and the back line seems strong with the 2 strikers who strangely met at centre back. Jeremy then went on for Andy who was exhausted. Reuben stayed at right wing with Shawn slightly to the middle and Jeremy went to the left. The plan seem to work out and Slayers held on. Jeremy almost equalised when his shot from the edge of the box was cleared off the line from a resultant corner. What a chance to equalise!
Until poor control by Reuben allowed a Sapphire player to race free of the defence and rammed a low shot under the advancing Ghalib. It became 3-1. Ying Lun created a chance to make it 3-2 when he placed a perfectly weighted through ball to the left for the lightning speed Kamil sprinting from the back. Kamil had a chance of his life that could have saved the Slayers but he decided not to shoot and soon lost the ball to the Sapphire defender. Soon after, Ying Lun was hacked down and needed to come off. Daryl went on again and had a free role drifting everywhere or act as cover for Kovan who went up more often and Zi Xiang who also was active in corners and free kicks. Lucas then replaced Jethro whose steam ran out finally after running kilometres in this match. No. 17 came on saw Kamil moving to left midfield and Jeremy to a more central role. Zi Xiang was superb in the dying minutes of the match and made countless challenges and blocks that prevented an embarassing defeat for the Slayers. He even used his face to block a drive that seem goalbound. Shawn also ran out of steam and came off for a CCK supporter in stoppage time. The game ended when a corner on the left was sent to the far post where a Sapphires striker whacked the post and the referee enthusiatically blew the final whistle for a dramatic game. Final score, Sapphires FC 3, Team Slayers 1.
posted by Joga Bonito at 3:30 PM
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