Scorers (assists)
Rafeeq (Amin (d))
Man Of The Match
Muhammad (4) - Our best all-around player, charting high on both goals and assist department, got this award for the first time this season
Azman (3) - made his return after 3 games and was always looking to release the final pass
Akim (1)
Amin (d) (1) - assisted Rafeeq's goal
Omar (1)
Rahman (1)
Yellow card:
Rahman (2nd half)
Akim (GK)
Rahman - Amin (d) - Shafirul - Shafi
Farhan - Azman - Muhammad - Omar
Kelvin - Rafeeq
Subs:
-
Kambing FC and Redbacks played out another 1-1 draw that did little to move both teams further up the table. An earlier encounter this season also resulted in the same scoreline and as in that match, both goals were scored in the first half. Alas, as in that same match, we again failed to defend our lead. Yet, given the crisis on the players' availability that happened before and on matchday itself, I am sure our players were more than happy with a share of the spoils in what was a real match fitness test.
The crisis in question were two-fold; Firstly, pre-match, Amin, Mubarak and Rashid were all recovering from injuries and a few other players including Fazli, Imran and Helmi had other commitments to fulfill. Secondly, especially with Omar and Muhammad still nursing injuries, we had no substitutes on matchday when Calvin and our No.1 custodian Danial both withdrew to attend to a family emergency and Azhari fell out due to illness.
Danial's withdrawal meant I stood in as GK. Our tactics were obvious; soak the pressure if any, especially in the first half, keep possession as best as we could and hit on the counter when we have the chance.
We had the ideal start when we took an early lead about ten minutes into the match through Rafeeq's 2nd league goal of the season. Amin (d)'s lobbed through pass inside our half set up Rafeeq who was sandwiched in between two opponents but managed to evade them before running at the Redbacks' goal with the ball. As the GK challenged Rafeeq who was coming into the penalty box, our striker was able to slide the ball under his hands and though the shot looked soft, there was just enough power on it to cross the goal-line. Interestingly or not, Amin (d) was also involved in our only goal against the Redbacks in our previous encounter.
The deja vu signs did not end there. As in that earlier encounter, Redbacks equalized mere minutes later. The manner of that goal was disappointing, we failed to clear the ball just outside our penalty box after being pressured within the confines of our half for some period of time. As a half-clearance fell to a Redbacks player just outside the 'D' of our penalty box, we tried to close him down. He managed to maintain his composure to retain possession and sent a left-footed lob over me to level the score. On hindsight, I had anticipated that shot and should have probably dealt with it better.
We then took turns to execute set-pieces from dangerous positions. Kelvin, arguably, had the best chance of the match when Azman's through pass cleverly set him up but our co-striker opted to go around the GK instead of shooting it earlier. Omar was very lively on the left flank too, combining well with Shafi and the rest of our midfielders and he had chances and half-chances as well. Muhammad was also posing an enormous threat with his darting dribbles that on one occasion saw him scythed down by no less than three Redbacks players. Azman was another viable creative option in our midfield and was always looking to release that final pass including the one he set up for Kelvin.
On the flipside, the Redbacks did not carve out any real chances as we compensated for our toothless attack with a convincing defence led by Amin (d) and Shafirul. They had trouble pushing men up to support their attack but our defence still had to snuff out their long balls. One such long ball led to a massive chance inside our penalty box for a Redback player, but surrounded by Firul and Amin (d), his soft shot hit my grateful outstretched right hand. Despite their superior height, the opponents also did not make use of their corners and free-kicks. In goal, I had to deal with the long shots and undeniably, I sometimes had trouble coping with them and was more than relieved as the score remained at 1-1 at half-time.
After the break, the game opened up and space became a luxury. I had a far more comfortable outing although I had to deal with more long shots including making a unnecessary one-handed save which led to another corner. However, KFC stayed focused on regaining the lead too.
Tempers threatened to flare midway through the game between Kelvin and the Redbacks' right-back but common sense and mutual unspoken goodwill prevailed as both sides did not let the incident bring the game into disrepute. Instead, both teams were positive and clearly hellbent on playing football instead, which, after all, happens only once a week for most players.
In the last quarter of the match, I felt we picked up steam a bit more, as planned during the break. However, we failed to translate our obvious desire for more goals into reality as both teams eventually played out another fair result.
I have to credit the mentality of our players to seize the day and bracing themselves physically to last an entire match. I quipped after the game that we probably played a little better than usual without any substitutes this time around. I cannot recall the most recent game that we did not have any substitutes for a match, much less its result but of course, I am not willing to put our players' mentality and physicality to the test again anytime soon. We now take a break from league football next week but hopefully the week after that sees us maintain a decent run of results that has marked our 2010 so far.
Redbacks review of the match
Our team in D2D league
Rest of results
Akim
The crisis in question were two-fold; Firstly, pre-match, Amin, Mubarak and Rashid were all recovering from injuries and a few other players including Fazli, Imran and Helmi had other commitments to fulfill. Secondly, especially with Omar and Muhammad still nursing injuries, we had no substitutes on matchday when Calvin and our No.1 custodian Danial both withdrew to attend to a family emergency and Azhari fell out due to illness.
Danial's withdrawal meant I stood in as GK. Our tactics were obvious; soak the pressure if any, especially in the first half, keep possession as best as we could and hit on the counter when we have the chance.
We had the ideal start when we took an early lead about ten minutes into the match through Rafeeq's 2nd league goal of the season. Amin (d)'s lobbed through pass inside our half set up Rafeeq who was sandwiched in between two opponents but managed to evade them before running at the Redbacks' goal with the ball. As the GK challenged Rafeeq who was coming into the penalty box, our striker was able to slide the ball under his hands and though the shot looked soft, there was just enough power on it to cross the goal-line. Interestingly or not, Amin (d) was also involved in our only goal against the Redbacks in our previous encounter.
The deja vu signs did not end there. As in that earlier encounter, Redbacks equalized mere minutes later. The manner of that goal was disappointing, we failed to clear the ball just outside our penalty box after being pressured within the confines of our half for some period of time. As a half-clearance fell to a Redbacks player just outside the 'D' of our penalty box, we tried to close him down. He managed to maintain his composure to retain possession and sent a left-footed lob over me to level the score. On hindsight, I had anticipated that shot and should have probably dealt with it better.
We then took turns to execute set-pieces from dangerous positions. Kelvin, arguably, had the best chance of the match when Azman's through pass cleverly set him up but our co-striker opted to go around the GK instead of shooting it earlier. Omar was very lively on the left flank too, combining well with Shafi and the rest of our midfielders and he had chances and half-chances as well. Muhammad was also posing an enormous threat with his darting dribbles that on one occasion saw him scythed down by no less than three Redbacks players. Azman was another viable creative option in our midfield and was always looking to release that final pass including the one he set up for Kelvin.
On the flipside, the Redbacks did not carve out any real chances as we compensated for our toothless attack with a convincing defence led by Amin (d) and Shafirul. They had trouble pushing men up to support their attack but our defence still had to snuff out their long balls. One such long ball led to a massive chance inside our penalty box for a Redback player, but surrounded by Firul and Amin (d), his soft shot hit my grateful outstretched right hand. Despite their superior height, the opponents also did not make use of their corners and free-kicks. In goal, I had to deal with the long shots and undeniably, I sometimes had trouble coping with them and was more than relieved as the score remained at 1-1 at half-time.
After the break, the game opened up and space became a luxury. I had a far more comfortable outing although I had to deal with more long shots including making a unnecessary one-handed save which led to another corner. However, KFC stayed focused on regaining the lead too.
Tempers threatened to flare midway through the game between Kelvin and the Redbacks' right-back but common sense and mutual unspoken goodwill prevailed as both sides did not let the incident bring the game into disrepute. Instead, both teams were positive and clearly hellbent on playing football instead, which, after all, happens only once a week for most players.
In the last quarter of the match, I felt we picked up steam a bit more, as planned during the break. However, we failed to translate our obvious desire for more goals into reality as both teams eventually played out another fair result.
I have to credit the mentality of our players to seize the day and bracing themselves physically to last an entire match. I quipped after the game that we probably played a little better than usual without any substitutes this time around. I cannot recall the most recent game that we did not have any substitutes for a match, much less its result but of course, I am not willing to put our players' mentality and physicality to the test again anytime soon. We now take a break from league football next week but hopefully the week after that sees us maintain a decent run of results that has marked our 2010 so far.
Redbacks review of the match
Our team in D2D league
Rest of results
Akim