Maran Nets a Hat Trick as MiB Romp to 5-1 Win

After a few tight affairs, MiB FC met an opponent at Commonwealth Secondary that could not even keep to the 3pm kick off time. It was a sign of things to come when MiB was ready to play and so was the ref, but only 2 of the opponents were at the field desperately trying to contact their teammates. Luckily enough, they showed up and the game kicked off at about 340pm.

The field was quite small and very narrow. That was a potential banana skin but MiB soon settled down and started to create chances. We only started the game with 10 players despite the promise of having up to 4 reserves before the match. Thanks to last minute cancellations, we started the match a man down. Harvey was in goal whilst a defence of Harish, Navin PP, Riz and SK made up the backline. Chan, Vana, Sat and Shyam were in midfield while Maran ploughed the line up front. Indeed it was Maran who had a couple of early chances with Chan doing well to switch the play. The opponents had a couple of decent opportunities but obviously forgot to learn the offside rule.

Around the 12th minute mark, a good move found Vana and he set up Maran who finished first time to give MiB the lead. A few minutes later Prak answered a late call to join the defence and so we were back to full strength. We continued to enjoy the possession and chances but there was a feeling MiB was playing according to the opponents tempo, which was to be slow and dreary. It was a scrappy affair and the score remained the same till half time.

The opponents came out in the second half with gusto and forced a couple of scares for our defence. A corner kick sailed straight through and from another set piece, the ball was only half-punched by Harvey, which resulted in the opponents capitalising and making it 1-1. This seemed to wake MiB up and ditch the tempo which we had been playing in. We stepped it up and off a free kick, beautifully floated in by Chan, Maran headed the ball into the bottom corner to leave the keeper with no chance. Then off a long range shot dealt with by Harvey, his long kick found Maran who set up Chan. A swivel and typical rasping shot made it 3-1.

The opponents tried to hit back with some long balls causing confusion in the MiB defence. Riz tried to be clever and dribble his way from defence but was caught in possession. The opponents striker banged in a shot that Harvey managed to get a fingertip to. The ball cannonned off the cross bar and on the line, but thankfully for MiB did not go in.

With another breakaway, Chan found Maran, who made mee goreng- kway teow of the defence before claiming his hat trick in style. There was also time for Vana to miss an open goal that a stray dog might have scored. And finally a couple of minutes before the end, a good move by MiB saw Sat break away and score after a long absence in the goal scoring charts.

All in all a good win for MiB. Heartening to see the goals fly in and if we had played to our tempo from the start, Riz could have left for Block 88 and come back and nobody would have noticed. The only disappointment was the last minute pull outs. I understand that everyone has a lot of other commitments, but if you say yes to a game, please try to make it. Sat even put his exam on the line to play the game so big heads up to him.

We will now take a break with Harvey on holiday in Malacca. Time to give your knees and wallet a breather. Next game will be coming up soon. Till then, please try to keep fit and drink less.=)