No Shame In Defeat

KDU vs USM

A match at USM's stadium is always a pleasure because of the mint condition of the pitch and the feel of professionalism with stadium overlooking the green turf. Sadly the running track makes every long clearance difficult to recover but it turned out to work in our favour as it turned out our opponents were Malaysian Cup competitors - otherwise known as a fully professional squad!

With this in mind, it was a good thing that Ramblers players (and our Butterfly goalkeeping coach, Tony) were there to bolster the playing squad because USM were the real thing. Their two touch passes left us feeling dizzy and they attacked both sides of our defence with vigour and energy. Whilst Viet was 'coping' on the right, his fellow Vietnamese player Duc was struggling on the left with the absurd pace that the right winger had. This meant that Fajar had to work overtime to cover his fellow international player. However the international coach, Derek, was doing his own share of hard work in midfield with the Langkawi boy, Poay alongside him. Whilst they were able to string a neat set of passes together, they were unable to get near striking distance of the goal.

Whilst Vick and Henrik were unsuprisingly struggling up front to get any service, it was less of a surprise to see USM take the lead. A poor clearance saw the ball curled back into the centre for the striker to sidefoot from the penalty spot with plenty of space. It was a soft goal to concede and it didn't get any better when the left winger hit the accelerator to move past the speedy Keong and Adrian to cut the ball back for the deep running midfielder to slot home after the coach was caught standing and shouting. However a two goal loss after 35 minutes against a team of such quality was nothing to be ashamed of. Indeed they should have had more were it not for inaccurate finishing and excellent goalkeeping.

The second half saw Heng & Jimmy join the fold upfront and for the first time in the game, we were able to make headway into the USM defensive third with some element of control. After neat interplay between Jimmy, Heng and Derek, the best KDU chance of the match fell to our right winger Chern (see photo above). Sadly he put the ball wide and with it our only decent chance of the match.

With more changes than an England friendly, the match saw a completely different team finish the game but strikingly with only one more goal conceded. A corner was swung in and Jimmy's attacking instincts were switched on to nod the ball past his own goalkeeper! Whilst the rest of the match was concentrated in the navy part of the field, the boys in blue were able to hold on for a very credible three goal loss as they defended for their lives.

KDU 0 vs 3 USM

We Outnumbered but they Outscored

KDU College vs Bayview City Hotel

First Half Team:

Hung
Katiee - Viet - Ryan - Lam
Vincent - Jimmy - Gim Wei - Fajar
Samson - Hong

The first half team had a very solid look to it with a strong spine of Viet, Jimmy and Samson ably accompanied by experienced players such as Lam, Fajar, Vincent and Hong. We are able to give a debut to Katiee at full back after his previous game was rained off several weeks ago with our only problem position being goalkeeper. Hung was gladly volunteered by the coach for the said position. It should have been a fairly easy match for the team in blue but it turned out to be anything but that.

Samson spent most of his time like this - i.e. without the ball as the midfielders struggled to provide any service to one of the number 10s and his partner Hung. Whilst he was attempting to make runs and drift into open areas, a very energetic City Bayview team managed to stifle the passes from the centre to their defending third.

Fajar provided most of the attacking highlights, from the left wing, with his usual mazy runs whilst Vincent looked for more direct through balls from the right. The Indonesian came closest through a direct free kick which was on target but it was easily gathered by the goalkeeper and whilst he managed to get the ball in the net on another occasion, he was given offside by the referee.

Jimmy also had his chances as he just failed to beat the goalkeeper to this through ball when running from midfield. Indeed most of the attacking threat came from runners coming from the middle third of the pitch whilst the strikers tired to play them in. But for all their hard work, the KDU team in the first half struggled to make the orange clad goalkeeper worry about the ball crossing the line.

Sadly the red shirted Hung had more work to do as he bent down to pick the ball out of the net three times in the first 35 minutes. Twice the offside trap failed and the third goal came straight through the middle of the defence as City Bayview exploited the lack of understanding between Ryan and Katiee. Strangely the KDU goal wasn't under immense pressure but they were able to take their opportunities when they came.

2nd half team

Hong/Vincent/Ryan (yes, 3 goalkeepers!)

Adam - Derek - Bill - Mikez
Henrik - Feri - Ren - Vick
Hung - Chern

The second half team saw a slightly concerned coach as he changed the whole of the first XI and put in a weakened second XI. However it turned out that a combination of tired opponents and fresh legs were able to pile on the pressure on the green shirts. Chances came thick and fast as Hung and Chern worked tirelessly to put pressure on the defensive line and their efforts were rewarded with the interception of several passes and tackles.

Chern managed to grab a goal back for the blue shirts but was unable to add to his tally despite two other excellent chances. Other exciting opportunities also fell to Hung and Ren but they were unable to keep the ball on target despite being free in the penalty area. Vick played well on the right to combine with Feri and Chern/Hung to open up the defence but the lack of another goal to inspire an Istanbul-esque comeback just wouldn't arrive. Bill and Derek were aghast at the back as they saw chance after chance spurned in front of them.

However that wasn't the only thing that they had to do as City Bayview decided to play a 5-0-5 strategy which meant when they weren't defending horrifically, they were outnumbering the defence. When at first, they realised they couldn't get past a determined Mikez on the right hand side, they decided to overload a tiring Henrik and inexperienced Adam on the left. Fortunately when Adam couldn't deal with the situation, he had Bill & Derek sliding in to save the day.

Indeed it seemed to be turning into a mini competition between the two centre backs but Bill managed to come out on top with a 3:1 tackle ratio although Derek might have got the award for the best slide tackle as he slid in, knocked the guy over and still managed to keep the ball - all in the penalty area. The unnecessary hack from behind after the award winning tackle nearly sparked a fight but KDU players were to control their emotions well. Sadly a bad clearance from the coach several minutes led to the striker expertly lobbing goalkeeper Vincent from the edge of the penalty area.

However this wasn't the worst fate to befall a goalkeeper - Hong collided with a striker whilst going for a 50/50 ball and came off with grave concerns about his knee. Happily he was able to walk and drive home later on in the evening but it was not a happy scoreline for the college team.

Final Score: KDU College 1 vs 4 Bayview City Hotel