FOOTBALL CLUB WORLD

Our team in D2D league
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Pei Hwa Sec 5pm - Kambing FC let a 2-0 lead overturned into a 2-3 defeat at the hands of 10-men Kentridge Rangers. The painful defeat again showcased our lack of quality at this level, highlighted by the fact that we had failed to protect our lead despite playing with an extra man for almost the entire match. The way KR pegged us back to win made you wonder which team had the extra man and we also have to ask ourselves how we conceded the goals, which were all defensible.

Bobos was a debutant in goal and was our 4th goalkeeper this season, while Shahreen and Farhan returned in the absences of Rahman and Nas.

It was only mere minutes into the game when KR were rightly reduced to 10 men after the KR GK fouled Farhan outside the penalty box, who was destined to score the opening goal. The freekick led to a corner for us. Farhan was involved again when an opponent was deemed to have handled in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. I duly converted to score my 2nd goal of the season.

We doubled our lead minutes later after Azman provided a wonderful lobbed assist for Farhan, whose return was giving us crucial impetus already. Farhan scored with a lobbed effort after the replacement KR GK futilely rushed out to clear Azman's pass.

Farhan was wrongly ruled out for offside after he was released from my through pass and Shahreen and Azman wasted a couple of freekick efforts as KR seized initiative to press us back deep in our half. We struggled with the onslaught but survived until naive defending finally saw KR pulled a goal back. KR had the ball on the byline in our penalty box but none of us seemed determined to wipe out the imminent danger. When the ball was played across the goalmouth area, a KR player pounced to score.

We defended better after that with Shahril and Azmi ably leading the defence. But they were being stretched and it was the team's failure that we did not help to lighten their load, such as failing to string more than two passes, opting to punt the ball out of danger. This caused unnecessary pressure deep in our half. Yet, I could have regained our two-goal advantage just before the break when Shafi and I double-teamed to win the ball off KR and I was through on goal. The defender recovered to put in a challenge and I could only tamely shoot on goal.

We reshuffled our line-up for the 2nd half but KR was not peturbed as they continued to press in search of an equalizer. Rahman's aggressive presence was being sorely felt in midfield while I sat out to nurse a strain. Azman was looking off-colour today for some reason. As a result, our midfield lost the battle despite our numerical superiority.

KR finally equalized with a wicked curled effort around our wall from a freekick and they completed their remarkable turnaround to score their 3rd goal that gave them the lead for the first time in the match.

Farhan came close to score a equalizer but his header off Azmi's teasing freekick sailed over the bar. I then went for the jugular to send on Shafi, Omar and myself into the fray. KR was tiring and we finally found ourselves with some breathing space but our passing was very shoddy and did not help our cause. Try as we might, we only had Azman's effort from a freekick to show for, which spun agonizingly wide of goal, at the death.

We are now into the 2nd half of the season and while relegation is a distinct possibility, we should show more grit than we did today. Forget about results, let us get back to basics and strive to cut out the sloppy passing and naive defending.

Akim