Scorers (Assists)
Muhammad (Omar)
Muhammad(-)
Man Of The Match
Muhammad (7) - First goals for the club rewarded with a democratic vote
Huang (3) - our striker had his chances but failed to add to his tally of 2 league goals so far. Worked extremely hard and ran hard too
Bay (2) - some great saves
Akim (2) - harworking, decisive and looking handsome (somebody said that last part!)
Bay (GK)
Shahid - Akim - Fazli - Shafi
Farhan - Azman - Muhammad - Omar
Huang - Rafeeq
Subs:
Mubarak
Firdaus Masdar
Helmi
Joharie
Rahman
Azhari
Karim
Kelvin
With 2 league games remaining for KFC, I realised rather belatedly that the organizers had changed the number of promotion candidates from 2 to 3 earlier before start of the season. Nevertheless, we are not looking at that (promotion aspirations) really. Really. Next season perhaps.
Against a strong Macheda team, which was played on quite a narrow pitch, due to renovation works, we were left to ponder what could have been after going into half-time with a 0-1 deficit to overcome despite producing some gutsy display of football though it was not pretty at times.
Missing a host of players especially in defence, namely Imran, Rashid and Firul, Fazli, Mubarak and I were shuffled in the centre of defence while Shafi, Firdaus, Shahid and Fazli (again) patrolled the full-back positions. Our midfield was typically as strong as it can get with strikers Huang and Rafeeq tasked to supply the goals. Even on the bench, there is some strength in depth with Rahman, Azhari, Helmi and Kelvin good for first-team action and Karim and Joharie, the former enjoying a hungry role up front yet again and the latter still fighting for match fitness.
It was with some disappointment that we went 1-0 down midway through the match. A very nervy Shahid failed to cope with the Macheda left winger and after we botched the opponents throw-in down the left flank, the Macheda player found himself clear en route to goal. While Bay could have done better to save the player's shot at the near post, we could have pre-empt the danger much earlier.
We did not shy away from the challenge as we had shots of our own too. Our passing was patchy at times but the dual threat of Farhan and Omar on the flanks were instrumental in us creating our chances. Macheda opted to go for the counter-attack and at times, they were very dangerous indeed, perhaps looking to tell us that the last game, which we won 3-0, was a fluke and that they are much better. Not to be denied by this reviewer, Macheda is a good team.
The 2nd half began with a very positive KFC display again. Unfortunately, we found ourselves with a very uphill task to climb after Bay fumbled a free-kick straight to an opponent inside our penalty box, who took the gift and finished well for a 2-0 lead and a corner later on was headed with much aplomb at the back post that made it 3-0.
We were quite deflated but we soldiered on manfully. Omar's cut-back pass from the left flank found its way across the penalty box towards Muhammad. Our playmaker was fortuitious with his effort which contrived to chip over the GK and Muhammad had his 1st goal for the team. 1-3.
We had a brief ray of hope when Muhammad's solo run into the penalty box, again from the left flank, saw him beat the GK at the near post to make it 2-3. While the goals motivated us for a fightback, it was very much too late to snare any sort of results from a well-organized Macheda team.
As we head into our last league game of the season against Sporting Goras, presumably after Hari Raya, we will regroup and take stock of what KFC has achieved so far. A mid-table league finish at the moment does not look that bad considering the set of results that could have gone our way this season. However, when there no league games, we were pretty naive during our friendly games and that is something we must buck up and look to enjoy each game but play to win with style as well. The next few months, heading into KFC's 2nd year, brings much promise and that is something I hope the players will look forward to.
Against a strong Macheda team, which was played on quite a narrow pitch, due to renovation works, we were left to ponder what could have been after going into half-time with a 0-1 deficit to overcome despite producing some gutsy display of football though it was not pretty at times.
Missing a host of players especially in defence, namely Imran, Rashid and Firul, Fazli, Mubarak and I were shuffled in the centre of defence while Shafi, Firdaus, Shahid and Fazli (again) patrolled the full-back positions. Our midfield was typically as strong as it can get with strikers Huang and Rafeeq tasked to supply the goals. Even on the bench, there is some strength in depth with Rahman, Azhari, Helmi and Kelvin good for first-team action and Karim and Joharie, the former enjoying a hungry role up front yet again and the latter still fighting for match fitness.
It was with some disappointment that we went 1-0 down midway through the match. A very nervy Shahid failed to cope with the Macheda left winger and after we botched the opponents throw-in down the left flank, the Macheda player found himself clear en route to goal. While Bay could have done better to save the player's shot at the near post, we could have pre-empt the danger much earlier.
We did not shy away from the challenge as we had shots of our own too. Our passing was patchy at times but the dual threat of Farhan and Omar on the flanks were instrumental in us creating our chances. Macheda opted to go for the counter-attack and at times, they were very dangerous indeed, perhaps looking to tell us that the last game, which we won 3-0, was a fluke and that they are much better. Not to be denied by this reviewer, Macheda is a good team.
The 2nd half began with a very positive KFC display again. Unfortunately, we found ourselves with a very uphill task to climb after Bay fumbled a free-kick straight to an opponent inside our penalty box, who took the gift and finished well for a 2-0 lead and a corner later on was headed with much aplomb at the back post that made it 3-0.
We were quite deflated but we soldiered on manfully. Omar's cut-back pass from the left flank found its way across the penalty box towards Muhammad. Our playmaker was fortuitious with his effort which contrived to chip over the GK and Muhammad had his 1st goal for the team. 1-3.
We had a brief ray of hope when Muhammad's solo run into the penalty box, again from the left flank, saw him beat the GK at the near post to make it 2-3. While the goals motivated us for a fightback, it was very much too late to snare any sort of results from a well-organized Macheda team.
As we head into our last league game of the season against Sporting Goras, presumably after Hari Raya, we will regroup and take stock of what KFC has achieved so far. A mid-table league finish at the moment does not look that bad considering the set of results that could have gone our way this season. However, when there no league games, we were pretty naive during our friendly games and that is something we must buck up and look to enjoy each game but play to win with style as well. The next few months, heading into KFC's 2nd year, brings much promise and that is something I hope the players will look forward to.