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Weekly Kickabout
I'm not a columnist but someone has got to update
this section. So here I am typing this after this afternoon's fantastic game.
I was convinced
that nothing could spoil the day for me initially. After all Man Ure was playing Pottyham and I would be happy if either team lost. As it
turned out Spuds down 1-0 to Man Ure and not before long it
was double joy as Norwich put one over Pompey (smelly Portsmouth for the uninitiated). I would have been
rather satisfied given all this, plus the great afternoon soccer
session... but it was not to be. I tuned in to the Saints versus Charlton match and was deeply troubled by our failure to hit the target. It seemed that we controlled the
game, outplayed the opposition, and did just about everything right except put the ball in the back of the net where it should be. Debutant Niemi gave us some cause for cheer as he was majestic in place of Jonah who was dropped after his clanger at West Brom.
I am right now very unhappy with the draw against Charlton so I am channelling my negative energy to updating this page.
Ok, now for the afternoon match played at Gan Eng
Seng. The turnout was decent - 12 players in all. Let me see if I can recall all the players off-hand:
Team A
Alvin, an exciting striking prospect at 14 years
Kelvin, a close friend of mine, Liverpool fan
Suan, a Saints sympathiser
Nicuz, nice big fellow
Vincent, plays like the Duracell bunny, never stops
Cody, our responsible organizer of many things
Team B
Jialong, the reason why we have this club in the first place
Bing Ji, our treasurer (more about him later)
Rosz, one in a family of Southampton supporters!
Jas, Nicuz' friend
Sow, another friend of big Nicuz
Julian, myself
The ever-friendly Norman came to cheer us on around 5pm.
I can't remember the exact score-line, but the game was
pretty high-scoring. Everyone played well, with special
mention to Bing Ji who was on a scoring streak. His stamina,
determination and footwork coupled with his Herculean physique saw
him brushing aside all opposition, meandering between challenges
and scoring a bagful of goals. Definitely my choice for Man of the Match.
This is roughly how the game panned out. We
all started (and ended) in the spirit of enjoying the game and not
injuring each other. It was good, clean fun. Team B took the lead and scored quite a few goals through Bing Ji and Rosz. The emphasis on passing paid dividends as
Team B cut open the opponents' defence time and again. I tried to get in the act as well but somehow managed to blast the
ball way wide of goal...
Jialong ably marshalled the defence for Team B aided by Bing Ji (serious!), while Rosz was the man link between attack and defence. I was the lazy marauding right-winger with a tendency to ball-watch and stroll around the park. The guy on the left, Sow, was hard-working and proved a handful. Jas was our main man up front and he
played pretty well too. Bing Ji virtually ran the whole
length of the field each time he forayed into the opponents' half
and more often than not he would score! After a few ugly
shots by me, I decided that I should try to feed the attackers
rather than shoot. Jialong was impressive
in defence as he launched many counter-attacks from
there. Rosz was the cool and steady midfield link who gradually brought me into the game.
It all appeared to be a one-sided match but Kelvin
turned down an offer to reshuffle the teams. In fact, right
after that, Team A began to threaten with a
few near misses by Alvin. Vincent's constant running seemed
to have rubbed off on the team as Suan and Kelvin held on to the
ball much better and managed to get smoother movement off the
ball too. At that point, the gentlemanly Cody was still being muscled off the ball when Team A eventually scored through
Alvin. When Nicuz abandoned his defensive role, Team A seemed
to be able to score much more easily. However they were
still conceding as much as they were scoring, which did not help
reduce the deficit.
Exasperated, I heard Cody saying something about
taking matters into his own hands and he actually did perform much
much better after that! He was pretty much at the heart of
the attack, doing little fakes here and there and pulling them off
sweetly and encouraging the team. From that point on, Team
A's transformation was complete! With Cody fired up,
Vincent doing well in defence and Suan cutting out the threatening
balls from Team B, Kelvin, Nicuz and Alvin combined to turn the
tide. They managed to score quite a few until I heard
someone say, "Two more!", indicating that two more goals
would tie the game.
That woke Team B up. Goals were
harder to come by then, but Team B managed to score just a few
more than Team A from then on and Team B emerged victors about 6.15 p.m.
I must say I was disappointed with not scoring at all and actually bungled a sitter that was perfect for
Jialong to put away. Overall though, everyone played
well. I just hope that my sore left knee will be ok next week, so that I won't have to play at half pace
like today. I didn't want to aggravate
my knee and so I ran just a little, hardly sprinted and made just a few light but crucial challenges.
I agree with the post-match analysis by
Kelvin - Team A scored fewer but nicer goals. I remember once when the ball was whipped in low and fast towards the small frame of Alvin. He took it first time and the resulting shot flew fast and true in at the right side of goal - a stunner by the 14 year-old. We will surely see more of him in the weeks to come! For the time being, we can try to convince Wee Gordon Strachan to give Bing Ji a trial and see if he could help the Saints score!
Julian Chow
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