Maestro FC Secured One Point with a Spirited Display

Maestro FC 1-1 Ironfield United (GX)
Match Highlights by GX 

1. Today's opponent Ironfield United sits comfortably in 3rd place and have two NFL players in their team. MFC was badly beaten by Ironfield in the reverse fixture 5-1. All odds were stacked against the Bees who are determined to avoid relegation. 

2. Captain GX started with a defensive line up of at least 7 defenders and defensive midfielders in a 4-3-2-1 formation. Howe Yuin, Howard, Alan, Chris made up the back four, while Walter, Gerald and Wee Hian made up the 3 defensive mid. Augustine, Abhi and GX made up the starting XI, while top scorer Alywin awaits his chance. 

3. Summary of the first half is that there were no attacking chances for both sides and the half ended with no incidents - no shots on target, no saves for both keeper, which is exactly the game plan for MFC - to soak the pressure and go on the counter. 0-0 was how it ended in the first half. 

4. The second half game plan was to go slightly on the offensive. Within minutes of the second half, a loose ball was challenged by Howe Yuin as he bombarded forward with Firdaus (making his comeback after a four year absence!) covering him well at right back. A penalty was awarded as he took a heavy kick on the stomach from the Ironfield defender. GX despatched the penalty past joint MVP Ironfield goalkeeper David De Kok.

5. MFC were winning much of the possession with Wee Hian (and later on Gerald coming on for WH) in top form covering the back four. There were also some resolute defending from the regular pairing of Chris and Alan who sweep every ball away from the ironfield frontmen. 

6. A through pass from GX to Abhi nearly made it 2-0. Abhi commented after the match that he was ready to celebrate his goal. It went just wide of De Kok's left post by 5cm. Perhaps he celebrated before he managed to wrap his feet around the ball. 

7. Football is a strange game. Keeper Calvin did not have a single save to make when a free kick was awarded in favour of Ironfield  just outside the 18 yards. Ironfield first and only shot on target resulted in the equalizer. Calvin managed to get his fingertips on the ball, but not enough to keep the ball looping under the crossbar (again). 

8. MFC were still enjoying most of the possession and have several chances to score the winner. Victor did well alone up front holding up the ball and managed to cause some trouble for the Ironfield defenders. 

9. The game ended 1-1 as both sides are happy to settle for a point. 

10. CONCLUSION: Ever since Maestro got thrashed by Ironfield 5-1 in the reverse fixture, the results of MFC is 2-1 and 1-1 against Stallionz, 3-1 against  BMFS, 3-4 against Paladin (after going 3-0 up) and 1-1 against Ironfield. Think about it. It could have been 15 points out of 15. I think we lost 2 points against Stallionz and Ironfield. Could have secured 3 points against Paladin. But 8 points is a good return. Are we really a team that fights relegation every season? Or are we a team that can finish in the top half of the table, if not challenging for honors?

Football is a strange game

Paladin 4 : 3 Maestro FC (Alywin, GX, Gerald)
Review by Chris Tan

"A defense mistake?"

Maestro players did conclude the match with ease by describing it as a defence mistake. However, reviewing in details, a defense mistake is only the tip of the iceberg.

Maestro lead the goals by errors by opposition and poor goalkeeping by Paladin. Gerald, Alywin and GX with the brace in the early minutes. Maestro lead the field with great passing. However, despite these goals, I believe the defense is not conplacent. In fact, the other way round, we want to keep a clean sheet.

In subsequent minutes, possession is somehow lost for Maestro. Maestro seems to be at losing end. The defence seems to be losing to the pacy wingers and strikers. Maestro got leaky with goals on poor communication defence and goalkeeping.

Strikers and wingers can lose possession or miss an open goal without any consequences. Once defence has a mistake, we lose the game. Heroes are won by the strikers and defence often have a tough time explaining the match on how they lost it. But the game is to be won by eleven people on the field, anyone lesser will have disasterous consequences. Is the logic that simple to describe as a defense mistake?

When Alan lost the battle in the air with the striker, when the striker beat the offside trap just beside Chris, when Calvin drop the ball during the free kick, is there really a fault in there? Perhaps. Definitely, there are tell-tale signs that the crack propagate from the front to deepen the hole. Its easy to judge during this time, it is not easy to understand defintely. One thing I do know is that when players lose possession easily, it gets on my nerve to hold my anger. The frustration is because I know at the end of the day, its the defense who needs to earn that ball back.

Nobody is perfect in the game. If we are good, we would be Wayne Rooney earning big bucks. We are only amateur players who find joy in playing the game.

I am sorry for the demoralising article. Voicing unwanted opinions are my common ways to relive stress and channeling it to words. As a conqueror of my own ambition, I only seek pure perfection on my side and there is no excuse for errors.

No good points and no bad points in this match. Only freindship and pure sheer joy of soccer.

Maestro shocks high flying BMFS SC

Maestro FC 3 : 1 BMFS SC (Abhi x2, Jeramy)

Match Review by Gerald Tan

Every dog has its day and today was Maestro FC's day. Not that it is this writer's intention to link Maestro to dogs (ala Roy Hodgson and "space monkey") but this victory was nothing short of Maestro coming in as underdogs to shock BMFS SC with 3 excellent goals. In the earlier fixture with BMFS, though Maestro lost narrowly 2-1, this was a team high on confidence after coming on the back of 2 back to back wins, scoring 8 goals in the process and claiming Ironfield United as their latest scalp. Lest we forget, Ironfield thrashed Maestro 5-1. Just to stack the odds further, Maestro only had 13 players, 2 of whom are new players. The regular centreback pairing of Alan, Norris was absent, midfield maestro Hakim and striker Rong An still not fully back to action. Recent matchwinner for Maestro - Dino, was also not available. The team almost lost Calvin too, due to his grandmother being hospitalized but thankfully he still made time for the game. Captain Guo Xian partnered Chris at the heart of defence, with Walter and Howard as the wing backs. Gerald was DM, with Kartik, Abhi, Alwyn and Victor (Alwyn's friend) in the midfield 4. Jeramy led the attack. The pre-match atmosphere was low; the team knew the odds was heavily against them. BMFS had more subs, bigger players who were also skilful. There was no mention of victory, only a good game, to keep the formation tight, with more passing. Right from the first whistle, it was as if divinity's hand was at play, as Maestro somehow managed to control the game. The lack of players meant that the team kept to short passes where possible and everyone seemed to possess iron-lungs to keep closing down on the opponents. This frustrated BMFS as they tried to keep possession and launch attacks but each time they tried, Maestro managed to peg them back and regain possession. The first half ended 0-0 but the tempo was with the Bees. Freekicks, corner kicks and outstanding runs by Abhi down the left flank kept BMFS busy defending. The Bees was relieved at the goalless scoreline at half time and it seemed like everyone was just hoping for the scoreline to remain goalless for the point. Never did we expect to score 3 in the second half. It did not take long for Abhi to start the goal rout. It started from a move from the back as Guo Xian picked up a loose ball, charged forward and launched a beautiful long through ball to Abhi. Abhi was flying down the left flank by then and he latched onto the ball, beat his marker before nicely putting the ball into the bottom corner, past the keeper who came out to block his shooting angle. It sparked hope in the Bees and goal number 2 soon came as well. Abhi again was the scorer, this time he did it himself. Picking up the ball on the left flank , he dribbled past the opponent right back and cut in to a similar position he scored from. Instead of shooting past the keeper, he chose to lob the keeper instead. As the ball went in, the team was rocking and BMFS was rocked! Goal number 3 came quickly again from a set piece. This writer delivered a free kick towards the keeper and his weak punch fell to Jeramy and simply tapped in the ball. It was just rewards for him after putting a good shift upfront closing down defenders. His time off from football did not make him less fit, on the contrary he was fitter than before! "The score is 0-0!" Captain Guo Xian reminded the team as he anticipated BMFS to awake from their slumber. They did score, courtesy of a well taken direct free kick which left Calvin with no chance. At 3-1, BMFS tried to come back into the game but it's too late. Tempers flared near the end of the game when a scuffle involving Howard and a BMFS winger over sportsmanship (or the lack of it). Chris tried to defend Howard from potential punches from BMFS but he too got implicated as BMFS players charged towards them and threaten physical action. Thankfully sanity prevailed and the referee did the needful. The final whistle was met with much joy as the Bees overcame the odds to beat a strong team. The win puts Maestro up the table and further from the relegation battle. These are the moments to savour, certainly at least up to next week when we face our opponents!

High Points

1) Centre pairing of Guo Xian and Chris did well in keeping BMFS away from goal. Walter and Howard also played well
2) Abhi was truly the man of the match. His two goals aside, he was instrumental in many attacks.

3) Jeramy put up a good shift upfront and he pressured opponents to lose the ball on a few occasions. Coming down despite his exams makes his presence a lot more appreciated
4) We have 2 potentially good players to join us - Victor and Mark (Jeramy's friend)

Low Points

1) One of the BMFS player was rather unsporting on a few occasions
2) No clean sheet

Maestro FC breaks the curse of Khalsa!

Match Highlights by GX
Maestro FC 2 : 1 Stallionz FC (OG, Alywin) 

1. Today's opponent Stallionz FC was no pushover although they occupy the last spot in the league table. MFC was beaten by Stallionz 5-1 in their league meeting last season.

2. MFC chose a cautious approach by starting with the tried and tested 4-2-3-1.
Starting XI: Calvin, Walter, Norris, Alan, Howe Yuin, Gerald, Jason, Abhi, GX, August, Kartik.

3. Morning rain makes the pitch tricky for any action in the first 15 minutes. Both sides started cautiously and the wet pitch did not help.

4. Stallionz scored mid way through the first half when a well taken free kick beat keeper Calvin at his far post. Stallionz also hit the post following a corner.

5. MFC has their fair share of goalmouth action in the first half, with the front men taking shots at goal. Alan tried an audacious bicycle kick which just missed the crossbar by inches.

6. There weren't many goal attempts for both sides and Stallionz went into the break with a goal lead.

7. There weren't any instructions as to how the game should be played in the second half.

2nd half starting XI: Calvin, Walter, Chris, Alan, Eric, Eugene, GX, August, Dino, Alywin, Dennis.

9. MFC continued to play their brand of football in the second half, passing the ball and pressuring the opponent at their own half. The hardwork and pressuring the opponents in their own half finally paid off when Dino forced a mistake out of Stallionz centre back who scored an own goal after attempting a clearance.

10. From then on, it was all MFC's play. The team continued to press forward, sometimes leaving gaps behind. However, the backline marshaled by Alan and Chris coped extremely well with the stallionz big and lengthy forwards.

11. GX dipped a free kick up and over the defensive wall and forced an equally fantastic save out of the keeper. From the resulting corner, Alywin scored after some goalmouth scramble. Chris has his attempt at goal cleared off the line, but Alywin was at the right spot and the right time to score the winning goal.

12. MFC even have chances to kill off the game after Dino and Dennis went 1-on-1 with the keeper.

13. With 10 minutes to go, Capt GX played with an ultra defensive line up with a 5-3-1-1 formation. Although both Dino and Dennis played well upfront, they were sacrificed as MFC held on for their second league win of the season. And THEIR FIRST WIN AT KHALSA PITCH!

Maestro were unlucky to have conceded soft goals.

Match Highlights by Lil Eric
Maestro FC 1 : 5 Ironfield Utd (Jinde)

1. Starting line-up:
Johnny, Howard, Chris, Norris,Walter, August, Hakim, Gerald, Abhi, Kartik, Guo Xian.

2. Scorching sun causes fatigue to some of the Maestro's players although the turnout was reasonably good.

3. Maestro conceded their first goal via a goalmouth scramble when the defense failed to clear the ball of the line.

4. Jinde bring the scoreline to one a piece when he coolly scored from an indirect free kick inside the opponent's penalty box after the referee blow for a high boot challenge.

5. Ironfield then took the lead when one of their player lobbed the ball over Johnny.

6. The scoreline was stretched to 3-1 in favour of Ironfield when their player intercepted the ball from Gerald and unleashed a shot pass the outstretch Johnny.

7. With the clock ticking down for half-time, the fourth goal was soon conceded when there was a miscommunication between Norris and Johnny which ended up with Norris heading the ball into the back of its own net. The scoreline reads 4-1 in favour of Ironfield.

8. The message at half time from Guo Xian is to switch to a more attacking formation. Maestro, the comeback kings certainly felt that they could come back as Ironfield wasn't a strong team and the goals conceded were unlucky. Guo Xian decided to switched to a 4-1-3-2 formation as MFC needed goals to reduce the scoreline.

9. Second half line-up:
Johnny, Kartik, Zen, Chris, Norris, Hanwei, Jinde, Guo Xian, Hakim, Dino, Dino's friend.

10. MFC was dealt with another blow when they conceded a controversial goal which this writer believe that it was score through a side netting. The assistant referee(who as usual spotted a blur blur look throughout the entire match) awarded the goal to the opponent.

11. Match ended 5-1 in favour of Ironfield. MFC remain in 6th position on the table above USSR after they suffered a disgraceful 8-0 defeat at the hands of Primero FC.