match45: 22 Feb 09 vs. Lake Ocean Aquarium @ Woodlands Sec 5-3 win

Bay (GK)

Rahman - Imran - Fazli - Shafi

Omar - Helmi - Azman - Syafiq

Shahid - Fairuz

Subs:
Akim
Joharie
Rafeeq
Kelvin
Farhan
Rahman C4
Syaifudean

Scorers:
Own goal
Akim
Fazli
Dean
Rahman C4

p45 w17 d10 l18 f101 a117

Rahman and I were left fuming towards the end of the match despite this victory. We were truly upset that the players let their hair down and indulging selfishly too much too often and too impatient to score more goals instead of being more professional, ok so we are less than amateurs footballers but you know what I mean, to switch off our mindset and put the defence under some unnecessary pressure and in the end, ended up with such a narrow scoreline.

The frustrating bit was that our performance suggested a wider disparity in terms of quality. And even if the fact that our opponents lacked the numbers on the bench may have affected the end result, we were still the much superior team throughout. But sometimes we have to be more patient and take advantage of that superiority with a little more measure of respect for the opponents.

This was a questionable 2nd time that we have had a match with Lake Ocean Aquarium and according to the records I have, there was a yellow-shirted team whom we lost 4-1 to on 7 June 2008. As we had no pictures and videos (Rahman and Shy were saving up for a good camera then), this can't be confirmed. But even a small iota of familiarity means that we have probably been in a cycle of facing the same opponents repeatedly. If anything though, assuming we lost to LOA before, then this was a revenge match for us.

Both teams were feeling each other out at the start of the match but it soon became clear that we were the better team. The opponents' defence were probably led by only one true defender which was their awesome centre back no.23, so we were pretty much running rings around the rest of them though our penetration was still sorely lacking breaking down more often than not resulting in few clear-cut chances.

Omar, who had been menacing yet again on the right flank, whipped in a cross towards the near post and the defender guarding that area deflected it towards goal with the GK helpless by the sudden change in direction of the ball. We had the lead.

The waves of substitutions took place midway through the 1st half and Farhan and I combined to score the 2nd goal. The play started from defence initially and I felt it was a good finish.

Fazli then caught everyone unaware with a lob just inside the opponents' half to make it 3-0. The GK got a touch to it but the ball was already behind him.

LOA pulled a goal back for 3-1 after we had botched a throw-in in their half for them to launch a counter-attack. The right midfielder had the ball and darted towards goal, looked up and after spotting Bay out of his line, he successfully attempted a brilliant finish over our GK.

The 2nd half started with us singing and in joyous mood. We saw that the opponents mood were sombre. And while they were probably thinking of going home, we decided to party too soon.

After Dean passed to Rafeeq right on the halfway line, Rafeeq deftly returned the pass with a lovely flick that beat the offside trap to send Dean through on goal. As Dean brought the ball away from the goal, the angle seemed to be getting wider for any chance of a goal but Dean finally shot and while the GK, a substitute player, had his hands on the ball, Dean's shot was powerful enough to land in the net for a 4-1 lead.

It was 5-1 and Dean was again involved. This time he became creator after receving Kelvin's throw in on the right flank. Dean beat two men and unselfishly lay it off for Rahman C4 who easily tapped in with the goal at his mercy.

That got our team very high indeed and that sparked a messy and frustrating performance for the remainder of the match.

After the many substitutions again took place, Syafiq's robbery of Farhan's legitimate goal was the main lowlight of Rahman's and my frustration. We were already cruising to victory but we were excited to score more. As a result, our defence were often at sea when our attackers, having lost the ball in midfield, failed to drop back to help the defence out.

LOA pulled another goal back with the goal of the match. After a seemingly harmless LOA free-kick landed at the feet of their player, it bounced over to his team-mate who brought the ball under control for yet another LOA player to volley superbly over Bay into goal for 5-2.

It was 5-3 when they scored again. A corner was flung out to the back post where the umarked LOA no.23 player got his forceful header on target and Rahman's clearance at the goal-line was in vain.

It could and should have been 6-3 when Farhan's lob was already going in. Syafiq, already in an offside position, decided to make sure it does go in and the referee had to rightfully disallow the goal.

There was still a good bit of match left to be played but eventually the referee called time for the final whistle.

Akim - Reviewer
Shyairah - Team Pictures/Videos/Debt collector
Huda - Logistics / Debt collector