Note: For this match ada 2 match report; one by me and the other by KARUNA.
Selepas beberapa kali terpaksa cancel & menangguh permainan disebabkan ketiadaan padang bola di sekitar lembah klang, we finally got a game going petang semalam. Thanks to Raja Radzmi who had worked extra hard the whole of last week trying to secure a football field around Klang Valley. After a dozen phone calls made to "owners" of football fields as far as Subang and Bangi, he finally managed to get Padang A at PULAPOL for our last football match before UKRV calls it a break from football activities during Ramadhan which would most likely begin on Saturday next week. He would have called Stadium Bukit Jalil had Padang A at PULAPOL had been unavailable ...... seriously .... that how bad we wanted to play yesterday, gian semacam aje.
We were initially scheduled to play against a team from Taman Melawati but since our game against Maybank Veterans that was scheduled for the 14th August was cancelled due to unavailability of the Maybank superb turf in Bangi, we decided to invite them for the game yesterday, Sunday 16th August 2009. Many thanks to NIK "Messi" Aziz for arranging the game against Maybank Veterans. Nik used to work in Maybank and he played for Maybank in the FAM League during his younger days .............. not that he is old now, masih muda lagi kan Nik .... chokeng !!!!.
We would normally have around 25 players for a friendly match but this time around only 16 players managed to turn up to play as the others had prior commitments especially when yesterday was the last weekend before fasting commences on 22nd August 2009 for the muslim members.
Ramai yang mengadakan atau menunaikan jemputan kenduri arwah di rumah sendiri, neighbour, mertua etc yesterday like Azrin and OM. Some were still nursing hamstring injuries and pains in the lower back & groins like those being experienced by Garrett, Mani, Ammar and Hisham. While there were also others who have other commitments like Mizei (auditing outstation bank branches), Azrul, Chris, Abdah (attending his post graduate classes) and Venu (habiskan thesis MBA) etc etc.
Even then we had to "loan" two players to Maybank because their players did not turn up on time (lupa nak minta "loan fees" dari depa ....... mahal tu, our 2 top players Nik and Karu were on "loan" to our opponent. Lepas tu score goal against us lagi ........... Karu pass bola kat Nik and Nik had to score ...... Karu did not want to score against me). That left us with only 14 players when we started the match and we had 15 players when Fauzi managed to arrived from KLIA just in time to play at the start of the match in the 2nd half.
The match which was scheduled for a 5.00pm kick-off finally got underway at quarter to 6.00 pm and the referee blew the final whistle at 7.20pm. We were blessed with good weather yesterday. It was fortunate that it had rained earlier at 3.00 pm. For the past 3 hari, hujan lebat with thunderstorm and lightning would start at 6.00 pm and doesn't let up till half an hour later. Tapi semalam, we were blessed with clear skies and a cool temperature. The conditions was just right for a game of football. Surprisingly there weren't any haze. The rain at 3.00 pm earlier must have cleared the haze.
In the absence of Fauzi our captain, who only managed to be at the field for the 2nd half of the match (tiba di KLIA at 4.30pm and made his way directly to the field), I had requested Azhar to be the Captain of the team for the match. He decided on a 4-1-4-1 playing formation, reminding the players to play the ball to the feet and have Amin as the lone striker. Our opponents had Amin checked with their offside trap several times. But whenever Amin got through, he gave the Maybank defense a hard time. Play was well balanced with both sides attacking and defending well in the 1st half. The ball was played throughout the field; left and right, up & down the field. The half ended with the score at 2-1 in our favour. Ravin scored once and Amin added 1 goal to the score line while Nik "Messi" Aziz @ "Shaolin I keeper", scored for the opposing side. By the way, Black is now "Shaolin III keeper".
We made some changes in the 2nd half, with Shah, Azmi, Karu and Black coming in to replace me, Bab, Amir and Ravin. Karu was "released" from "loan" when one of Maybank Veteran's player turned up just before the half time break. With fresh legs, UKRV were mounting attack after attack at the opponent goal area. We soon increased our lead with a goals from Amin & Shah after several attempt at goal. Soon after, Maybak Veterans managed to reply with a goal from a shot well taken from outside our penalty box. The score then stood at 5-2 before Shah again increased his personal goal tally to 9 as a result of a beautiful pass from Amin.
The 4-1-4-1 playing formation has suddenly now turned to 3-2-5 playing formation, with all attacking UKRV players eagerly trying to get on the score sheet. Just then Ravin came in for Karu and added his personal goal tally to 3 before Shariff "Bentara Guru", who was "released" from his central defensive role when Fauzi came on in the second half, scored 2 well struck goals from outside the penalty box to give UKRV a well deserved win with a 8 goals to 3 scoreline.
All in all, I must say that we had a very good game yesterday with plenty of goals. It was a win with the 2nd biggest margin so far (we defeated PKNS Football Academy Parents Team 8 goals to 1 a couple of months ago). UKRV goals were scored by Ravin (1) and Nor Amin (2) in the first half and again from Ravin (1) , Shah (2) and Shariff (2) our central defender in the second half (Fauzi, who says defender couldn't get their name in the top scorer's table). We had more than 3 clear chances at scoring goals but we were thwart by good defensive play by the Maybank players.
I let in a goal towards the end of the 1st half, a goal scored by our "loan" player to Maybank, yes!!!!!!! Nik Aziz. It was a one-on-one situation and he slotted a grounder to the right hand side of the goal mouth. I really should have gone straight for the ball coming out from my goal line (tak ada experience ........ badan pun sudah terlalu berat and my reaction pun slow). Maybank Veterans also added a couple more goals in the second half of the match. Black was keeping goal then. He did well to make some marvelous saves during the second half.
I rasa semua players berpuas hati dapat bermain at least 40 minutes of the match and enjoyed themselves tremendously. I know I did. We played 40 minutes in each half with a 10 minutes break between halves for the total duration of the match.
I must thank Garrett and his son, Aidit Alfian and Hashim for coming to the match to give the team moral support and to cheer on the team. My gratitude to the kids of some of our players (anak2 Murti, Raja, Shariff, Nik, Bab, Azmi and the others) for giving us a helping hand with the logistics.
So buat sementara waktu ni, kita kena tangguh dulu aktiviti2 bolasepak UKRV ke suatu masa yang akan ditentukan nanti ......... seperti kata Bentara Guru, kita akan mula balik bila ketupat & lemang dah habis ........ bila tu, I tak tahu. It depends on all of you members.
I heard that the training session for the kids at UKRC would still continue every Saturday & Sunday for an hour starting from 5.30 pm during the fasting months. Maybe the parents can have a kickabout at "Wembley" while the kids are having their training. Maybe I heard wrong.
Anyway saya ucapkan selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa di bulan Ramadhan to all our Muslim brothers. Pesanan saya, carilah Lailatulqadar di malam2 Ramadhan dan janganlah cari Nasi Kandar di siang hari ...... ha! ha! ha! ha!. Siapa nak belanja buka puasa bolehlah diwar2kan di Sembang-Sembang Di Sini.
Match Report by KARU
TIGERS MAULED BY UKRV
UKRV has ended a series of football friendlies over the last 5 months with a big win over Maybank Veterans at Pulapol field yesterday evening. Our 8-3 victory was proof that our weekly training on every Sunday at “Wembley” is beginning to produce results.
The match which was supposed to kick off at 5pm was delayed due to the late arrival of players from both teams. UKRV players, as real veterans, we need to improve our punctuality in our future games. It is worse for the Maybankers as they have to call up their team members to play.
Finally, the match started at around 5.45pm, just a few minutes before the registration deadline for new players, Maybank Veterans managed to sign three players from UKRV. Nik Senior, Nik Junior and Karuna were promised a lifetime waiver on Maybank Platinum Credit Cards for playing for them.
The only notable change in our line up is that our team manager Din had to transform himself as a keeper. UKRV started the game aggressively with our players passing the ball really well. The accuracy of passes from Azhar to our players, made a huge threat to our opponents who may have underestimated our ability to play good football. A lapse in concentration in our defence has resulted in Nik Senior having a one on one opportunity with our keeper. Our keeper only had to say to Nik if you score, you’ll have to pay a monthly membership fee of RM60 instead of RM20. That’s reminder alone was good enough for Nik to kick the ball straight to Din.
UKRV realized that they needed to raise the tempo of the game and a beautiful one two one between Azhar, Amin and Ravin resulted in our first goal by Ravin. To our fans, this is not a typo error, yes Ravin scored our first goal when he placed the ball in the back of the net. As usual, we missed many opportunities before Amin added our second goal.
After the second goal it was our opponent’s turn to attack us. Din managed to save many long range attempts by their strikers and midfielders. A beautiful pass between Nik and his midfield created another opportunity for Nik to place the ball in our net. This time our manager/keeper was too late to remind Nik of the consequences of scoring goals against his own team.
UKRV will be a forming a panel to decide on any disciplinary action to be taken against Nik. If we were to follow the UKRV Football Act, Nik would have to pay a RM100,000 fine and he would be banned from playing football for the next 250 years. Nik, now you know why I decided to pass the ball to others when I had a similar opportunity. UKRV was leading 2-1 when the referee blew the whistle for half time.
It was a major boost for the team when they saw their team captain had just arrived from Tokyo in time to lead the team in the second half. It was indeed bad news for our opponents as Fauzi has strengthened our defence and the players were charged up to score more goals. Black took over the keeper’s role from our manager.
UKRV added six more goals in the second half with a brace from Shah and Sharif, Amin. Ravin (not a typo error) each bagged their second goal. Black was beaten twice by the Maybankers. Does anyone have a clue as to why our opponents like to shoot from afar every time Black is a keeper? Black kena mandi bunga lah kali ini.
Man of the Match was a tie between Sharif and Ravin. So if you would like to participate, please vote in our blog.
Till we resume our friendly match in two months time, happy fasting to all our muslims friends.
Editor's Note
Meanwhile follow the link below to view the photos taken during the match. These photos were taken by Rashidi as I had to become the goalkeeper yesterday ..... so tak berapa banyak sangat gambar yang dapat diambil because Rashidi was trying to get used to handling my camera.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallahudinar/sets/72157621934840981/
