Club M 3-1 RSH : FT Report

 

 

Ecstatic win for Club M!

Clementi – The dodos affirmed their favourite status to win the Clementi Mini-League by beating one of the top contenders, Royal Sporting House, 3-1. They went into their 3 rd league game with some apprehension following the absence of a few influential players including the dodo's skipper – Dickson. The opposition was one of the 3 teams with clean sheets so far, together with Combined FC and Club M.

Sensing a potentially explosive encounter between two very competitive sides, the referee strongly affirmed his authority before the start of the match by gathering all the players and reminding them who was the Big Boss on the pitch. It worked brilliantly as it was a very fair-play match with no cards shown and no incidents.

The dodos were all focused and very determined to put pressure on the opponents, leaving them with little space to manoeuvre, from the kick-off. As expected, the battle in midfield was tough and fierce but the dodo midfielders – Ravi, Goolaup, Alister and Fardin - were up to the challenge. Club M dominated its adversaries in the first half an hour, creating numerous scoring chances. The first chance fell to Goolaup in the 10 th minute of the match. He was at the end of a cross from Fardin on the right side in the penalty box, slightly outside the six yard box, but somehow sent his free header wide of goal.

Five minutes later, Goolaup had another great chance to open the scoring when a pass, from Fardin was deflected by a defender, fell dangerously in the penalty box. Goolaup was the quickest to lash on to the loose ball and everyone in the dodo's camp thought it was a sure goal but the ball hit the bar and bounced on the line to finally fall in the path of Ravi, who could not keep the ball down and unleashed a high shoot well wide. The much-awaited first goal came in the 20 th minute scored by the outstanding Goolaup. After a nice built-up on the left between Ravi, D é sir é and Ashvin, the latter found enough space to cross the ball and Goolaup was again unmarked in the penalty area to simply tap the ball over the diving keeper. His joy was evident as he went straight to the crowd to celebrate the goal.

Five minutes after the goal, Alwyn had a clear chance to double the score for the dodos as he managed to beat the offside trap to intercept a pass from Ravi and came one-on-one with the keeper on the left side. As always, he tried to beat the keeper at his near post with a ground shot but it was well read by the keeper who deflected the shot for a corner. The dodos were getting frustrated and anxious as well because they knew that all these missed chances might come back to haunt them later in the match. The dodo's keeper was not tested at all in the first half an hour or so of the game but had to remain concentrated and focused.

In the 30 th minute, a corner taken by Ravi on the left was cleared in the direction of D é sir é, the captain of the day, who volleyed a shot past the defenders but the keeper was well placed to make the save. He was clearly the most busy for the two keepers in the first half and did very well to only concede one goal. While trying to push forward to find the second goal, which would put the dodos in the driving seat, they were caught up in a quick counter-attack led by ‘speedy Gonzales' on the left flank. A through ball was sent past the dodo's defence and the No.27 midfielder took it on his stride and sprinted towards goal. The dodo's keeper rushed out to try and cut him down but his attempt was mistimed as he was way too far from the midfielder who had time to kick the ball over the keeper for the equalizing goal.

This was a severe blow to the dodos who were omni-present in the first half with all players working extremely hard to close down fast on the opponents and the pace of the game was exhilarating in the first half. Few teams in the league would have been able to maintain this kind of rhythm for such a long time but Royal Sporting House were worthy opponents and were physically well prepared for the challenge. The dodos should have killed off the opponents in the first half with at least a three-goal advantage. No changes were made to the dodo's starting eleven at half-time as the team was functioning very well indeed and the dodos still had some juice left to last for another half.

The same could not be said for the opponents. Signs of fatigue and exhaustion were evident in the opening minutes as the dodos exploited their flaws to score two more goals. In the 50 th minute, a foul was committed on Alwyn in the penalty box after he was pulled back by the central defender, while trying to meet a cross from Rishi on the right flank. The referee was well placed to spot the foul and awarded a penalty to the dodos. Alwyn held on to his nerves and following his brother's advice at half-time, he blasted a high shot just under the bar past the keeper.

Club M still could not afford to relax as the opponents proved very dangerous in counter-attacks but the dodo defenders – D é sir é, Brian, Djamil and Rishi – were on the look-out and managed to effectively stop the opponents before they could reach the penalty area. Minutes after the second goal, Fardin went on an incredible solo run, from a few metres outside the penalty area, going past four defenders and found himself with only the keeper to beat but in a tight angle on the right side. He was unable to keep the ball on the ground and his shot flew way wide above the post.

The dodo's keeper had a much busier second half as Royal Sporting House started to add pressure on the dodo's defence after the first 10 minutes of the half. In the 60 th minute, Alister conceded a dangerous free-kick just outside the penalty box on the right side. The cross was well met by the Royal Sporting House attacker who directed his header to the far left corner of Thierry. The dodo's keeper was, however, on his guard and saved the header. Royal Sporting House tried a few shots on goal but posed little problems to the dodo's keeper.

As the opponents were pushing forward in search of the equalising goal, the dodo attackers found much more spaces at the back and with Alwyn's pace combined with Ashvin's dummy runs, they both caused some worries to Royal Sporting House's defence. Club M's third goal was scored by Alwyn, yet again. A corner taken by Ravi on the right was headed clear by the defence in the path of Rishi who instinctively sent in a cross, directed at Alwyn and Alister in the centre just outside the penalty area, who cleverly escaped the offside trap. Alwyn took the ball in his stride and slotted his second goal past the keeper at his right side.

After this goal, the dodos somehow became very disorganised and were unable to control the game as they did at the beginning stages. Moments later, an opposition attacker exploited the dodo's disorganised play to dribble his way past the defence and found himself with only the keeper to beat in the penalty area. He went for a shot and the dodo's keeper read well his intentions and dived on his left to make the save. Changes were quickly made to the dodo's line-up so as to bring in some fresh legs as the dodos were running out of steam after maintaining such a high pace game.

As the dodos were hanging on to their 2-goal cushion and heading towards victory, the unthinkable happened with 5 minutes left on the clock – they conceded a penalty following a tussle between Brian and ‘speedy gonzales' on the left side of the penalty area. Brian was judged to have pulled back the midfielder while chasing for a loose ball. Tensions rose in the dodos' camp but the dodo's keeper kept his cool and produced both an unexpected and a stunning scene, leaving the penalty taker baffled. Being a Liverpool fan and having been inspired by the heroics of Jerzey Dudek during the penalty shoot-out in the Champions League Final, the dodo's keeper tried to emulate what the Kop's keeper did to confuse the likes of AC Milan's Shevchenko. And it worked handsomely for the dodo's keeper as the penalty taker sent his ground shot just wide of the goal. By the look on his face, he was really confused and baffled after seeing the dodo's keeper dancing between his goal posts.

It was great relief for the dodos and victory was more than certain from that point and the opposition seemed to have accepted their fate after missing the penalty, which would have rekindled their hopes of salvaging a point from the game had they scored. Club M played one of its best games against Royal Sporting House and at times, the passing was so fluent that the opposition could hardly have a touch on the ball. Alister and Goolaup, deputizing for the absence of Nicolas and Dickson in midfield, did an awesome job. Every dodo player should be proud of this victory but they cannot rest on their laurels just yet as they take on weaker teams in the league next. Complacency should be the last thing in the dodos' mind and assuring victory against the minnows must be the ultimate goal before the other much awaited-clash against Combined FC on August 27.

 

Thierry

----- :: Squad