The Final Game of 2007

KDU College vs Bayern Baru Community College

I arrived at Technic College at 5pm and saw no-one. No opposition. No KDU players. It was just my 4 balls and me so I thought I came to the wrong place because the opponents said they wanted to start at 5.30pm. Slight panic set in as I made 2 phone calls to Jacob but eventually everyone turned up (a la Malaysia time).

The opposition were really hospitable. They not only booked the pitch, but paid for the referee and bought us bottles of isotonic drink, 100+. I think it was a rare match for them too. They took an official team photo with a pennant. They might have even given it to us if they didn't realise we were a team that err looked slightly less organised and didn't look like we were going to give them a momento of the day!

However by the end of the day, we did leave them with a present - a 4-1 drubbing. They were a team that kept possession well in their half but couldn't find the decisive ball for their strikers. It was always a little bit long ball for them and with the long legged Kugan covering at the back of defence, it wasn't a problem. It speaks a lot for their equaliser just before half time was a header from a corner which floated over our short goalkeeper.

The 2nd half was a different setting altogether as we strengthened our midfield to have a Christopher - Xabit - Cher Wei - Derek quartet allied to an attack that included the pacy & an experienced Heng. And we added to Christopher's first half goal as Keon grabbed one, I walked around the goalkeeper for the third with Heng putting on the lip gloss for the fourth. It was a fun way to end the year with KDU football team.

Where are Our Players?!?

KDU College vs GMC Hospital

Only 7 players turned up at the start. We had to borrow 4. Three nil down at half time although 2 of our own did finally turned up!

Of course, we would pull a 4 all draw out of the fire with new boy Keon bagging 2, Samson slotting one in and finally our borrowed player shot one in the darkness (all the other borrowed players were useless - no positional sense whatsoever!).

KDU 1 vs Tanjong Tokong 3

Running From My Team!

KDU College 1 vs 3 Dalat School

A dire performance by KDU College - however Heng & I went to play for the opposition! I even managed to score one too!!

Eight Goal Thriller

KDU vs OSA

Tony
Vincent - Chan - Muneer - Julius
Michael - Jason - Samson - Neoh
Derek - Mahir

A very eventful match which kicked off late featured a strong KDU line up with Muneer, Chan, Derek, Neoh and Mahir (along with imported players: Tony (keeper) & Jason). With such a strong spine, I was confident of getting a good result against a good OSA team despite the fact that we had no substitutes. Actually we only started with 10 players until Samson borrowed a pair of shorts and a shirt from Jason and my astroturf boots - that's how short we were! It'd never happen at Chelsea.

It seemed my confidence was not misplaced as we raced into a 4-2 half time lead. Mahir scored a stunning first goal with a lightening turn and shot from such an acute angle that it stunned everyone apart from him. OSA were limited to playing long balls from midfield and defence to their willing strikers but Mahir and Tony the goalkeeper were not caused many problems. Indeed I scored the second with my trusty left foot to increase our lead before they pulled one back.

OSA then tried to attack Julius and Vincent (who were playing as full backs) but they were struck by swift counterattacks as Mahir rounded the goalkeeper twice to walk the ball into the net to complete his hat trick. However this was not to be the end of the goal feast as OSA scored from a dubious penalty - dubious because their goalkeeper caught the ball five yards outside his own penalty area 20 seconds before they got their penalty. When will video evidence be available on the polo field?

Half Time: KDU College 4 vs 2 OSA

Normally at half time, I spend most of the time worrying about substitutes but I spent most of half time trying not to vomit as I was feeling rather ill. My managerial mind was also concerned with the fact that several of our players (Samson, Neoh, Chan, Derek) were playing their 3 third full game in 4 days & Muneer and Mahir were fasting - could we keep up the energy levels to control the midfield and thus hang onto the win?

The second half was very different from the first as OSA dominated the possession and forced most of the play into our half with a determination not seen normally in friendlies. We were unable to keep the ball as well as we did in the first half and it was from our mistake in midfield that they secured the ball and scored in a counterattack. Then a strategic move by the manager to swap Julius with myself helped make the defence a little more solid. Indeed our best chance of the half came down the left as Neoh latched onto a lofted pass and danced around 3 players before shooting narrowly wide. Neoh was also the victim of a 8 metre sliding tackle from a rather tubby midfielder - ouch.

Sadly KDU College were unable to hang onto the lead as they were caught on the break. Derek tried to play offside, the linesman wasn't having it and Tony could only tip the ball into the far corner as OSA caught an equalising goal in the dying seconds of the game. I was gutted but overall it was probably a fair result as they had battered us to submission after dominating midfield in the second 35 minutes. It was strange to think that 7 hours later, Spurs would rescue a match in similar circumstances against Aston Villa.

Final Score: KDU College 4 vs 4 OSA

KDU + Black Falcon = ???

Citibank 4 vs 4 KDU

Only 5 KDU players turned up (Q, Murad, Vincent, Tony & myself) so we borrowed a few Black Falcon players. 2 more KDU players came on the 20 minute mark, Christopher & Mekan. Actually Christopher came on in the first half because Vincent was exhausted and immediately took it past one defender and scored! So with a team that have never played together it was going to be obvious that we would go 3 nil up by half time! However with my good self playing in a Rio Ferdinand role (and defending like him), the final score was 4-4! The midfield collapsed due to exhaustion as we had no subs and all their better players had arrived by this stage too. However not being able to defend a 3 nil lead is a bit disappointing. Even if their first goal was over the dead ball line before the cross came in.

Even

OSA vs KDU

3 letters in each team name. A bumpy bobbly pitch. 25 players turned up. Nil nil all over.

Multi-Tasking

Timoran 3 vs 2 KDU

Kugan backheels the ball to their striker. Goal. Derek runs through the defence to latch onto a Q through ball and touch it past the keeper. In off the post. Goal. Derek becomes referee and sees the college team go down by a further 2 goals before Mahir rifles in a late consolation at Westlands Stadium.

Playing with 3 Spectators

KDU vs Gleneagles Medical Centre

SMS to Derek: How did you get on?

SMS to Jason: Only 7 players turned up. So I roped in 3 spectators 2 be goalie, left back & right midfield. I got our goalie to play right back & started with 10 men. Final score: 4-1.

SMS to Jason: Obviously it was 4-1 to us! We scored just before half time, 3 players came arrived and I bagged 2 goals. Lovely stuff! The ref even denied me a penny coz... we were leading!

SMS to Derek: No way I thought you lost. Well done mate

International Friendly?

PSC 3 vs 1 KDU

One nil at half time - to US via a very nicely flicked goal by Samson! Then I made more changes that Sven would have been proud of and voila - a 3-1 defeat.

Golden Nuggets

KDU College 1 vs 4 Gold Team

What looked like a good college team fell apart when we came across the experienced gold team once more. The first half was quite even and as usual the youngsters failed to take our chances with Prem being the most guilty of culprits missing a header from err 2 yards. We were made to pay for this as they scored 1 to take the lead at half time. However things looked up again as Tong hit a high swirling cross which turned into a high swirling shot which turned into a high swirling goal! Sadly it was to be the last piece of luck we would have as Gold Team took advantage of our inexperienced defence and put three goals past our Vietnamese goalkeeper, Duc. He actually had a good game stopping 3 other clear shots but was given no protection by his defenders.

Chequed Out

KDU 2 vs 4 Citibank

A well fought match in which KDU tried their hardest but sadly couldn't get a result. It was a very fast first half with both teams going hard at each other but with few subs, it wasn't going to last. I managed to blast one in from outside the box and slide in another for the second but to no avail as Citibank looped several goals over our goalkeeper's head. The boys need to get a) fitter & b) stronger.

KDU vs Korea

In a fit of patriotism, I joined the Koreans as they were a man down and to see if the boys could organise themselves. Sadly I didn't score against them as much as I wanted to but I did get to test out the defence - which was lacking somewhat. However I did get to set up the goals with some delightful passes. But the Koreans were not only lacking in numbers but lacked speed too so KDU overran their defence but couldn't convert their chances. Instead of a close 3-2, it could easily have been a runaway 10-2 win. 6 one on ones... missed. (Coach shakes head)

Learning at KDU College

KDU College 3 vs 5 Tanjong Tokong

We had the chances and we couldn't put them away. All their best players came in the 2nd half and finished us off. I hope the youngsters learned their lesson.

Six of the Best

KDU COLLEGE 6 vs 1 CROWN PRINCE HOTEL

Lots of goals for our team as KDU College football team made their debut at the General College pitch. Mahir and Q bagged a double with the often offside Samson & Neoh also boosting their confidence with one each. Crown Prince were mighty generous as they missed two one on ones too. As did we (cough including myself cough).

I know Heng got six by himself but let's forget about him for one post eh?

Biggest Win So Far!

KDU College 4 vs 0 Berjaya Hotel

They were terrible. We played 3-5-2 for the first time and went 3 nil up in the first half. Not much more to be said!

A Downpour of Goals

Penang Sports Club 5 vs 3 KDU College

This game was memorable for driving rain, Muneer's appearance and subsequent goals (two of them!) and my collision with the goalkeeper's studs. That hurt a lot.

KDU College vs IPG College

KDU College vs IPG College

This was a game I was fairly confident of winning. We had played many matches and done some training together so we were knowledgeable about each other's games and our own limits. And IPG hadn't. The first half was totally ours too - we controlled the game by passing the ball fairly neatly, creating chances whilst restricting IPG to very few chances. I slipped on a few occasions (short studs on a muddy pitch!) but our keeper Duc did well to block two one on ones - and it was a good test for him too. Sadly we didn't convert any of our chances, Goo hit a rocket of a shot onto the crossbar, so we came into the break goalless.

Treating the match like a full international, I changed the full first XI by the 55 minute mark. Sadly this meant that we seemed to lose a bit of momentum and we failed to dominate as well as we did in the first half. We lost 2 goals through careless defensive lapses of not marking properly at a free kick and corner and this cost us dearly. However I liked the way our Christopher linked up with his friends - I feel that he is an excellent player and just needs to commit himself to training and getting to know the rest of the team. Whether he is prepared to do this, is a whole different matter...

It also occurred to me that I will have to allow a first choice team to play a whole match together to enable to get to know each other. The start of two friendlies a week? I better get the football society money sorted out ASAP!

Terrible Goals

JAPAN 2 vs 1 KDU

It didn't look good as we only had 9 KDU players at the start of the game but we searched for a goalkeeper and a random player. It was an amazing start as we got a very early penalty with our first shot on goal. Goo put it away but terrible defending (our random player let the ball go under his foot = one on one chance for their striker) meant we leaked in 2 goals.

Score Draw

KDU 3 vs 3 GOLD TEAM

3 goals, one from Raolf and two from myself help salvage a draw when we looked good for a win. My goals were a one on one and a sidefoot lob to the far post.

KDU College 0 vs 1 St Xavier's