Final Score: Russian Club 0 : 0 MFC
After last week's dismal performance against Kaki Bukit Hotspurs, MFCians were desperate to make amends by putting this week's opponents- the Russian Club to the sword. The expectation to win was not unachieveable; though the Russian Club thrashed last week's opponents by putting 12 goals beyond them, MFCians had the belief that they would be able to outplay and outscore the Russians.
With another large attendance of 20; it was selection headache for Captain Guo Xian but he put out the best first 11 for the first half and also reverted back to the usual 4-1-4-1 formation after last week's dismal 1st half performance against Hotspurs. The objective was to put the game beyond the Russians by half time.
The Russians started off well and MFCians had to quickly get used to the pace of the game. For their large bulk, the Russians were surprisingly quite fit and technically skillful too. Early on, MFC right back was tormented by a young Russian player who excelled in his dribbling and caused some early scares. Fortunately, the MFC defence was quick to clear any trouble.
MFC had a fair bit of chances too- most of the action happening on the left flank where Rong An and Augustine had some good interplay. The closest for MFC to score came when Rong An was clear through the defence and took the ball well beyond the Russian keeper who clearly felled Rong An. A clear cut penalty which was not given by the referee and while MFCians were left to rue the unjustified decision, Rong An received a yellow card for dissent.
MFC finished the first half the stronger of the 2 teams and it was a bit disappointing that MFC ended the half with the game in a stalemate. Guo Xian stressed for the team to take control of the midfield aerial battles especially for the long balls that the Russians love to play. He also stressed that MFC should play the ball on the ground to beat the Russians.
The second half begun with MFC again putting the Russian Club on the back foot with several half chances. The Russians also had counter attacking chances but each time, Gary was alert and off his line early to clear several of these long balls with his head, chest and feet. This was Gary at his best, commanding and confident!
MFC could have scored with 10 minutes gone in the second half when Gerald's long throw-in was miscleared by the Russian defence and the ball fell straight to Norris who blasted the ball too high when right in front of the goal. MFC were threatening with a series of free kicks just outside the Russian's penalty box but each time, the Russian Wall deflected the shots and eliminated any threats.
With the game seemingly going for a goalless draw, MFC had 2 golden opportunities which went the way of the russian keeper. First an Alex corner was brillantly met by Alan's head and his header was goal bound until the russian keeper tipped the ball over the bar. The second chance was when Norris was fouled in the penalty box. This time, the referee got it right, pointing right to the spot. Rong An, who scored last week's consolation goal from the penalty spot stood up to take the penalty. Sadly, the russian keeper had the last laugh again when he did well to deflect Rong An's well taken penalty over the bar for a corner kick.
The referee ended the match soon after and the final score was 0-0. Not that a draw was a bad result but all the MFCians felt that the game was there for the taking given that the Russians hardly proved that they were superior in the match. The team chose to see this positively though - another clean sheet for Gary and MFC lives to fight another day! (weekend to be exact).
High Points
1) Gary's Man of the Match performance and his coming of age as a good goalkeeper- commanding, alert and confident!
2) The finest moment for this writer- when Rong An danced past 3 Russian defenders in their own penalty box! It was nothing short of a Premier League moment!
3) Alan and Wee Hian did well in defence, to clear up any counter attacks
4) Another draw for MFC- against a team which put 12 goals past a helpless chinese team last week!
Low Points
1) The referee's eyesight was bad enough to miss the first penalty! His judgement was worse, to give Rong An a yellow card, not for diving but for dissent!
2) MFC should have finished off the Russians instead of waiting for the penalty in the final moments of the game
3) Captain Guo Xian's dilemma of too many MFC players is still unsolved.
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