Team FATA

With no sub to play with, there is little room to play with. In their attempt to save the team from humiliation, Wee Hian decided to put on the glove while Collin partner up with GG in central defense. With seemingly little match experience shown by the 3 outside players, the rest of us managed to step up a gear despite the opposition fielding almost a whole new team (with fresh legs of course and eager to put in a performance after watching us for the first half).

In a promising free kick position to whip in a good cross, Lionel managed to find Siong Wei who seems to have the slightest contact (as claimed by him) to flick it to Yuxian who volleyed it into the net. Few minutes later, Matthew managed to got hold of the ball. He dribble towards the centre before releasing a powerful shot outside the penalty box. Their keeper parries the high ball only to let our right-back Kian Hock finish it.

The second half defense was much more compact and we hold out their attack pretty well. Our beliefs were growing that our third goal was coming. Unfortunately, Wee Hian let slip a high ball only to let their striker tap it from close range. But no fault was pointed as he has little experience playing as a keeper and it was raining at that time.

Our ever dangerous Matthew managed to get the ball at the half way line and did a sensational lob over their keeper at the half way point (just to clarify, the field was a small one :)). However, they managed to put in another goal just before the full time to make it a 3-5 loss for us.

Overall despite the loss, it was still a decent result by us with the line up we have.

The bad
- Poor turnout
- Overwhelmed by their midfielders
- Late comers in Jin Hao and his friend (luckily the ref was late too)
- Individual players lost ball easily when pressured
- Not much movement off the ball
- Our mistakes which led to 2 goals that should not have happened

The good
- Reasonable second half performance with the lineup we have
- Credits to Wee Hian for his bravery to wear the gloves and made a crucial world-class save in the second half

Thanks to those who made the effort to attend and I bet you guys did not regret coming. Hopefully there will be more headcounts for the next gathering perhaps at the end of year.

The sky darkens and rain falls. Match was almost cancelled but the rain subsided about an hour later. Credits to Maestro FC for finding a replacement referee in double quick time. With some tactical changes of employing Collin and Siong in the centre midfield, where they had a considerable amount of years playing together, it bolstered our midfield significantly. With our major attacking threat of Joel, Collin and CJ off form, we needed other players to step up a gear. With Matthew and Amos moving upfront, Collin and SW bolster the midfield, Galvin and Jin Hao on the flanks, effects were positive as we got into the game.

In one of our counterattacks, Matt got the ball with 2 defenders closing down on him. Jh managed to drag one away to allow space for him to curl the ball into the bottom right corner for the equalizer. Galv’s tactic of switching flanks with Jh is beginning to work. Jh’s quick long throw caught the opponents’ defense off guard when one of them miss the ball and hit his arm. Penalty appeals were turn down but the loose ball goes to Galv who coolly treads it to Amos for the 2nd goal. It was then he created the 1st of Team FATA’s celebration – The Champions League Final Celebration! (Of course invented by SW). Wee Hian ran all the way to hug the goal scorer much to everyone’s amaze (and to some of us, an embarrassment lol).

Then a goal was gifted to Matt as their GK scuff a clearance, with the goal at his mercy he lobbed the ball into the net to make it 3-1. A penalty conceded late in the game gives them a glimmer of hope but the match soon ends with the final score at 3-2.

The bad
- Centre Midfield was empty on few occasions in the first half. (This was actually copied and pasted from previous match review.) As you all can see, we still failed to address this major issue thus far.
- Cedric needs to be more confidence and get the ball more often because his crossing ability is sorely missed by the forwards.
- 1st half was one of the worse performance with virtually no talking, no movements and no passing.

The good
- Reasonably good 2nd half performance to compensate the 1st half.
- Thumbs up to all those who played in defence, particularly Kian Hock and Simon who are still relatively new to the team in terms of games played.
- The ever reliable Matthew for constant threat up front, notwithstanding he carried a slight fever.