You Never Know What You've Got Til It's Gone

KDU College vs PSC Tuesday

Adrian
Prashant - Ryan - Derek - Fajar
Kumar
Dayrion - Norman - Jimmy - Vincent
Raouf

(played on Tuesday 1st Sept)

It was a bit of a shock to see so many players come - especially some guys who I've not seen since the ICG such as Gim Wei and Kumar! Sadly though we lacked Muneer who has always been at the heart of the impressive KDU performances at PSC and it showed. With Ryan looking out of shape and unable to keep a hold of Alan it meant a very early first half change with Fajar coming inside and Ryan swapping to full back - but that was not until we were 2 goals down!

Kumar trips Alan as a posse of blue shirts gather around him inside the penalty area.

We had started off reasonably well but after Adrian just failed to push out the spot kick, it was always going to be difficult. I always feel you have to keep PSC down to as few goals as possible if you want a positive result because they give so few chances away at the other end.

Alan makes the near post run at the corner but it's Ah Tong at the far post who scores by running to the middle - which makes me ask "what was his marker doing?"

Now we were 2 goals down but strangely we managed to get back into the game as we managed to gather enough energy to muster some long range shots on the PSC goal. A lot of play went through Norman and he showed tremendous spirit to push on and pressure the defence - but this meant Jimmy was marginalised in the first 35 minutes.

But the defence let the team down again. Adrian has already made some great stops before Derek (who needed to be a lot tighter and more aggressive) capped a bad half by losing possession with a backheel to Kumar... who wasn't there - and PSC took advantage to make it 3. Fajar had impressed in central defence against the Bosnian but Alan had the last laugh after a wonderful step over allowed him inside and he neatly put the ball past Adrian in goal.

Derek wonders why he has 2 Hoongs on his paper...

Tony
Prashant - Adrian - Drew - Karthee
Viet
Gim Wei - Jimmy - Samson
Hoong - Jay

It was a completely new team for the 2nd half as he gave 10 new players and 1 old Jimmy a chance to redeem the KDU name. The half got off to a tricky start for Viet and Jay as they were told to change glasses and Hoong told to wear a proper navy blue shirt!

However PSC were a lot quieter in the 2nd half although Adrian gave them a helping hand with a sliding tackle in the penalty area without touching the ball. The penalty taker also took everyone by surprise with a very quick kick once the whistle went - Tony hadn't even had time to set himself!

But the spirit of KDU strode on (without Viet as he looked to adapt after 10 minutes of playing with no glasses!) despite the 5 goal deficit and it was encapsulated in a wonderful strike by Jimmy from all of 30 yards! His rocket of a shot into the top right hand corner would have been something Steven Gerrard would have been proud of!! Samson also showed off a nice piece of dainty footwork on the right side of the penalty area to set up Hoong for KDU's second goal of the match.

The guys applaud Jimmy's wonder strike.

We needed to be more aggressive, stronger and tighter in our next match vs the Tuesday branch of Penang Sports Club. Alternatively we could just have the Omani brick in our defensive wall...

KDU College 2 vs 5 PSC Tuesday