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Opponent     : The White Indians (Working name.. until I can get the proper team name)
Place            : SMK St. John's
Time            : 6pm
Date             : 9th June 2002
Referee        : Good
Conditions    : Good
Result           : 0(0) - 2(0) (Number in parentheses denote scores at halftime)

Teamsheet
GK Imran
RB Adam
LB Kevin Wee
CB Adrian Sia 
CB Chris 
DM Alfred Sia
DM Boon
LM Yao Yen
RM Darren
CM Johnathan Sia
S Shaun Khee

Ratings (Followed by short comments):-
 
Name
Rating
Comments
Imran
7
Couldn't do much about the goals but was safe in the box.
Kevin Wee
6
Looked jittery in the first half, giving the ball away. Had a weak effort easily saved by the keeper.
Adam
6
A decent first half performance was undone by a very jittery 2nd half performance.
Adrian Sia
7
Good hard running and was relatively solid throughout
Chris
7
Some intelligent ball work and good runs to hold the defence firm. Had some trouble with his lack of body size against the far bigger opponents.
Yao Yen
7
Very good 1st half performance but seemed to drift in the 2nd half apart from his glorious chance to give Zer0 the lead.
Darren
7
Looked dangerous with his crosses and ability to beat his man. Almost contributed to a Zer0 goal when his through pass was met by Shaun but the shot was well saved. .
Boon
6
Good hard running in the first half but seemed too eager in the 2nd half, leaving large gaps behind him.
Alfred Sia
7
Good passing and support play. Seemed to let the frustration get to him towards the end
Johnathan Sia
0

Unrated
Shaun Khee
6
Harassed the defenders into making several mistakes and almost had a goal to break his scoring duck but the keeper was equal to his efforts.
Subs


Nazri
6

Didn't settle quick enough and gave the ball away needlessly a few times in midfield, leaving the team stranded.
Stanley
6

Didn't settle in quickly enough.
Chee Heng
6

A mixed performance where his pace and acceleration got him out of several scrapes some of which was self-created.

It threatened to be a dreary game under thunder & lightning but somehow the rain never materialized. It was the same story with Zer0's attempts to score a goal, despite the amount of pressure applied in the first half which led to to no less than 4 shots on goal. Though one of the chances should have been put away, especially one by John who undoubtedly had the best chance of the first half when some good running on the left by Yao Yen gave him the space to slot a pass to John but the shot went straight at the keeper from 15yards out.

Kevin had a shot on target too but it was too weak to pose much of a threat to their keeper. Yao Yen looked dangerous on the left and Darren on the right was busy causing problems of his own for the left back entrusted with the job of keeping him quiet. Shaun had a couple of shots well saved by the keeper, one of which was deflected back to John but his effort went wide of the post.

Except for a couple of dodgy moments, the Zer0 defence looked firm throughout the half. One chance in particular though left the opposing team wondering how they failed to put it in. After some good work on the left by their left winger, skinning Adam, he lofted a pass over the rest of the defence to the right on to the onrushing right winger but his shot sailed high and wide. John, Alfred & Boon were doing a decent job of keeping the ball and passing it around intelligently, creating space for Darren and Yao to run at the defence.

In the end, the first half ended all square at 0-0. In the second half, Chee Heng came in to replace the slightly nervy Kevin. The second half saw the Zer0 players playing with much less cohesion and composure, with several players losing the ball unneccessarily and playing very nervously, as if they felt that the opportunity to win the match had came and went. Yao Yen carved himself the best chance of the half with a surging run down the left beating 2 defenders and faking a pass to Boon, but his shot went just wide of the post.

Alfred even had a hopeful lob come off the post with the keeper slow to react to the dropping ball. Another chance went away when the resultant corner was well cleared by their defence. Chris had a similiar effort well saved by the keeper, who got back just in time to punch the ball over the goal. The tiring Shaun and eventually Darren as well were subsituted for Stanley and Nazri respectively but both failed to contribute much to the proceedings though Stanley's pace looked to make him a threat.

Sloppy Zer0 defending finally broke the deadlock when a seemingly harmless ball on the right side of the Zer0 defence was hastily cleared under pressure. Dropping about 10 yards past the halfway line, the ball was won in the air by the opposing player and after a series of passes and an admittedly lucky bounce of Adrian's legs, the opposing striker went through and despite the physical presence of Chris, managed to slot the ball past the onrushing Imran for their goal. It was a blow for Imran as well as up til then, he looked to have earned his clean sheet with a solid performance between the sticks.

After that goal Zer0 just seemed to fold with the midfielders trying hard to create scoring chances but inevitably leaving large gaps in midfield to be exploited. It was no suprise when the 2nd goal came, their left winger skinning Adam again and skipping past the challenge of Adrian to slot the ball past Imran.

Zer0 could have ended the game 0-3 down but for the sterling efforts of Imran who came out to narrow the angle after their striker had been put through. After saving the initial effort, he did enough to pressure the striker into a bad miss whilst the Zer0 players seemed rooted to their spots, already resigned to conceding a third goal.

Final score: 0-2. A game for Zer0 to look back on as a game given away after good work and pressure in the first half was completely undone by a poor team performance in the 2nd half.

End Of Match Report
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