FOOTBALL CLUB WORLD

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Naval Base Sec 3pm - Kambing FC sampled a familiar, enjoyable taste of a lower division with an overdue 2-1 friendly win against Platinum FC, who are thriving in Div 6 in the current season and are on course for automatic promotion. All 3 goals came in the first half. The matchday squad featured 3 debutants including Shouzi who orchestrated and influenced our play like no other player has since Muhammad. However, Yazier was almost certainly the man of the match with an outstanding performance in goal especially when we were defending desperately.

Fairuz was a notable change in defence while Syafiq was poised to add width and pace on the right flank. It was Shouzi who fitted in seamlessly from the start to link up well with Rahman and Nas, both of whom provided the required midfield presence to allow Shouzi to exert his influence on the game. Time and again, he kept looking to spread play at both flanks but the opponents' defence did well to catch us offside often in the early part of the 1st half. Meanwhile, our defence stuck to their tasks well and kept the opponents' attacks at bay with Fairuz displaying his versatility at the heart of defence alongside Azmi. Kevin and Farid, and Alim later on, displayed the kind of necessary aggression to limit the threats from the opponents' flanks as best as they could. It was Platinum FC that took the lead however when we finally committed a defensive lapse and failed to clear our lines convincingly. With our defence in a shamble, an unmarked opponent rifled in a low shot from just inside our penalty box. There was a controversial decision minutes later after the referee overruled my goal to whistle on a foul on Syafiq on the edge of the penalty box just before my goal. My personal take was that the referee should have allowed play to continue to see if there was any advantage in our favour, which there was. Fairuz's goalbound effort from the resulting freekick saw the GK tipping away a potential goal and it remained 0-1 to the opponents.

We enjoyed a dominant spell from then on in search of a equalizer, and with Yazier a very safe pair of hands in goal, we finally equalized. Syafiq freed a surging Rahman with a pass down the right flank. Rahman attempted to find me with a low cross and while an opponent's heel deflected the ball away, it rolled perfectly into the path of Shouzi's run outside the penalty box. Shouzi took it on and finished with a brilliant left footed shot into the low corner of the goal to score on his debut. We took the lead as half-time loomed and when I felt our dominance was close to its peak in the game. Nas, who is already our key player in the short time he has played for us, continued his effervescent form to explode into life at the right time. There had seemed to be no imminent danger when he dribbled forward towards the opponents' goal. However, a sudden exchange of one-twos with Huang on the edge of the penalty box caught out the opponents' defence and Nas found himself free in the box. He kept his composure to finish off a well-worked goal to give us a 2-1 lead at the break although he, Syafiq and Shouzi all sustained slight knocks.

The game see-sawed after the restart as chances opened up one after another in an open game. Yongsheng and Azman, having came on for Rahman and Nas before half-time, were more than adequate replacements to continue as foils for the tireless Shouzi. Ben and Ler started on the flanks for the 2nd half, with the former especially impressing on the right side of attack. I continued to link up well with Shouzi and should have extended our lead after Shouzi played a slide-rule pass for me. With all the time in the world, I opted for a lobbed shot that was atrocious in its execution. I then had the ball in the net for the 2nd time in the game after Shouzi had threaded another fine through pass. The referee's call was again questionable when he disallowed the goal. We could only guess that the call was on Ler who was offside when the ball was played because I certainly was not in an offside position. Syafiq, who came on to replace me, and Nas, on for Shouzi who finally succumbed to yet another knock, also had sniffs at goal as we did well to pass the ball and retain decent possession.

We did find ourselves in a desperate situation in the closing stages of the game when the opponents pressed for their own equalizer. Yazier came to the fore and bailed us out with a few key saves to preserve our lead. The opponents' desperation showed too as they attempted harmless long punts which Azmi and Fairuz calmly intercepted repeatedly even as Kevin and Farid, and Alim later, continued to shut down the flanks when other teams might have caved in to the pressure. While we could have perhaps defended from the front instead of deep in our half, nonetheless it was the type of defending that we all could have asked for especially when we rallied one another towards a deserved victory at the final whistle. Such a performance bodes well for us as I looked forward to life in a lower division.

Akim