MiB Edge "Thriller" At Braddell

MiB FC today recorded a third successive clean sheet as they held out to beat a team of Ah Bengs 1-0 at the old abandoned Braddell-Westlake Field. To say that looking for the place was the hardest thing some players had to do all afternoon might have been pushing it, but MiB was not extended beyond its capacity in coming up with this victory.

Harvey lined up in goal while Riz and Prak continued their partnership in central defence from the last game. SK was at left back again while SK's fren, Guna, covered the right side of defence. Sat and Farhan (Maran's colleague) were in the centre of midfield while Maran and Shyam (another Maran's colleague) played on the wings. Vana partnered Munshi, yes Munshi, in attack initially, before Philbert joined the game midway through the first half. Harish was also given a run out as he was still nursing an ankle injury so it was good to see that we had some subs in the sapping heat.

Navin PP was "sick", whatever that means, and Rooban partnered him in recording the game for us to analysze and see our bellies after the game. In true cinematic brilliance, they missed the goal, and all the best moments of the game. However, they managed to get a real close up on the grill railing by the side of the field and PP even had time to join in a scuffle in the second half.

The game started off in typical slow fashion but MiB slowly started taking control of the play. The opponents only 2 dangermen was a left legged skilful player who had no support, and a Paul Dickov wannabe who went round kicking everyone but when he was tackled himself he rolled around and clutched his shoulder, knee, belly, toe etc.. In one moment of the 2nd half SK clattered him, and as the Beng stood up to confront SK, SK gave him a cold hard look, something Undertaker would have been proud of, that will surely give that short-fart some sleepless nights.

Back to the game, after Harvey had comfortably dealt with a free kick, a good through ball by Sat released Maran, but with only the keeper to beat, shot too straight at him and could not break the deadlock. The opponents poured forward with some long balls and early crosses into the box which saw the alert SK defending well. Then about 15 minutes before half time, a good move saw Maran cross the ball, for Bert to dummy, and Vana lashing in the ball near the edge of the box to give the keeper no chance. 1-0! After that MiB sustained the pressure with long range efforts from Maran and Harish, and also Munshi came close when his determination saw him reach a hopeful ball and claw his way to goal, only to be denied by a defender on the line. Just as Mib thought they were going into the half time break with a lead, the moment of the match happened. A through ball saw MiB's defence split wide open but the striker took a heavy touch and Harvey dashed out of goal. Sensing the striker was more interested in kicking him than the ball, Harvey went in feet first, only to see the ball deflect of the striker's nose and heading towards goal. The striker then chased after the ball hoping to blow it into the open goal but he slip n fell. Senthil Kumar, he deserves his full name to be mentioned here, sensed this moment and made a lung-bursting dash back to the goal line. His fellow defenders Sat and Riz had more than given up at this point already. With the striker regaining his balance and SK closing in on him, our star left back slid in and scooped the ball from under the cross bar in a miraculous challenge. This spurred Rizvi to make sure SK's efforts were not in vain and ensure the move was finally broken down. Half time 1-0 MiB survive!

The second half saw MiB adopt a formation of 4-2-4, with our wingers deciding chasing back was too unglamorous and left the defence to cope with the waves of opponent pressure. But to our defence credit, Sat and Riz held up well winning lots of important headers, and needless to say, SK was not letting a fly past him today. We had our fair chances to score again too with Maran striking the crossbar after lobbing over the onrushing goalie, but we failed to convert time and time again, and lived dangerously till the final whistle. Harvey dealt quite comfortably with most crosses into the box but the opponents did break through once, with the left-legged striker blazing over with just Harvey to beat.

So the game ended 1-0, with some heated discussions here and there. Needless to say Navin had to get his blood pressure rising (Note: Number of games Navin has played for MiB: ~ 6-7. Number of scuffles he has gotten into in those games: 67). But we saw it through and celebrated another clean sheet, setting a new MiB record of 3 clean sheets, which had not happened since the time Maran was still a virgin.

Good games from our supporting cast. Hopefully we don't have to change our names to MiB + Maran's Colleagues FC, and the likes of Puvan, KK and Chan recover to play for our humble team again.