A hot, hot Saturday for our first friendly match back in Singapore after our off-season cup tour in Bangkok.
We ended our tour of BKK with 2 wins out of 2 matches and considering the heat and the tough matches in which we had to dig deep to come back from both games to win it, we were a tad bit worried that those games may have taken a toll on our players. Luckily no major injuries were sustained.
Perhaps it was playing the two hot tough games in BKK that had gotten us used to the heat and we started off brightly against the SSSC (Singapore Spurs Supporters Club).
First Half
A nervy start in which the ball was pinged around quite abit in midfield without much penetration by both parties. We slowly started getting a foothold into the game, winning the ball and setting up our attacks. One such ball was played by Benny into the path of henry who took a shot in the box across the keeper. Opponent's keeper failed to deal with it and it came across an empty goal for the on rushing benny to tap into an empty net. 1-0 Inception leads.
A counter attack in which we won the ball in the midfield and pat played the ball into Colin who toepoked the ball onto the onrushing keeper. Keeper failed to hold it and spilled it and Harold sidefooted the ball into an unguarded net. 2-0 Inception!
5 minutes later and it was 3-0 to inception. A corner kick was cleared by SSSC and dropped to pat who played it out to Harold on the wings. Cutting in past two players and firing a shot that flicked slightly off a defenders head and into goal.
We were well and truly in control now for the first half!
An unfortunate freekick was lost to the opponent and from the resulting free kick, their player managed to hit it with enough power that just slipped through the grasp of Sherman. 3-1 Incepcion.
2nd Half
Being truly in control, our complancy had us take the foot off the pedal and we were stroking the ball sideways and not winning much. A quick counter attack let their midfield slip a slide rule pass into their forwards and a simple finish to the side of keeprs reach. 3-2 and it felt like game on for them.
We stepped it up abit but lacked the clinical finish as Pat clipped the top of the bar from a lob and a beauty of a volley from Ron with his left foot hit the axis of the top left upright and rebounded to safety for SSSC.
We decided to push on further to save guard the game and put on more attacking players to curb opponents presssure.
An unfortunate incident and outburst (perhaps was growing already...) had our Player/Manager exchanging blows with their right back young punk. Colin Pacquaio threw a phanthom punch in a blow up to an off the ball stepping incident and all hell nearly broke loose with players from both sides pushing and shoving. The players and referee managed to diffuse it and when play resumed, called on to both players and both were off. We were down to 10 men each.
We were always the better team and even when down to 10, perhaps it was always destiny for an Arsenal supporter against the Spurs Supporters, Harold scored his third goal and hat-trick to make it 4-2 and deflated the fightback. A freekick was won on the left just outside the edge of the box, Benny floated a cross into the box which was controlled and volleyed into goal.
Shortly after, the whistle blowed and the game was secured. 4-2 Incepcion Victory and a first friendly win back on home soil.
End Game Report
A well deserved win and as mentioned, surprisingly the heat did not affect us as much as we thought although we complained throughout on the sunny afternoon pitch. Must have been the tour in BKK that toughened us up and lets keep up this momentum to win more than we should. Colin Pacquaio apologised for trying to show off his boxing skills and have graciously paid the fine as well as the additionals from the BKK trip..all thanks to our manager and...Hail Lord Colin! But standard rules still apply and he will be banned for 1 match for the straight red. For all those new to the team..please note: A red card warrants a fine and a 1 match ban.
Till next week!
