ISCI
Hockey
KLTour
Report
16-18
July 2010
For some,
training before a big match starts months, certainly weeks, and maybe days,
before the main event. For Ken it was a
flash dinner followed by a karaoke night in
All went fairly well and the first beer was had at about 1pm. Then Ken left his backpack, passport, etc., in the café and things spiraled downwards for the rest of the tour really (an honest staff member chased him and gave it back).
After departing on AirDelaysia, late as usual, and hitting horrendous Friday-nite traffic, Deny, Nigel and Ken headed to Jalan Alor for stingray, cockles, big beers and a curry, while Drew, Andy and Thomas sipped after-work drinks in much nicer places. We picked up Vic McCloskey and his mate Robert in Havana (Bukit Bintang) then rode Vic Mc’s monster truck into Beach Club where Vicneswaran had arranged for Black (resident DJ) to provide free entrance and 4 buckets of beer at happy hour prices. The boys were the envy of all those within eye-shot, for an instant anyway. Leong kept tables for us and everything looked set for a good night out.
Then the previous night’s alcohol and lack of sleep cut in over the current day’s imbibement and Ken cannot remember meeting Stu Balfour (ex Jakarta) and not much of seeing Andy and Thomas either ! We did get to wish Frenchy (Mucha Caliente) a happy birthday though.
Only 4 people made it to the Team Breakfast on Saturday morning, so carefully laid plans for a flipchart and Powerpoint ‘Art of War’ hockey strategy presentation went down the porcelain.
Game 1 v Fins 3-0 (Deny 2, Andy)
We started keen with everyone warming up. Vic’s young goalie, Snazy (Armed Forces keeper), looked the goods, and even Otong and Vic stretched before the game ! ISCI were instantly on top and we rarely had to wander into our defensive half. Deny hit 2 good goals, the second a great backstick stop (pretty hard on grass) to a ball flashing across the goals. Andy also scored and the Fins were out of their depth.
After the euphoria of the first game win Ken visited Vic’s Hockey-shop and acquired the latest Gryphon Venom’s leaving his virtually new, latest style adidas for Drew to twinkle-toe around in. That worked a treat apart from Drew’s bleeding blisters.
Game 2 v Chakde 2-0(Andy, Ken)
ISCI were once again keen to warm up and were out of the blocks quicker that Shervo with a job-offer in front of him, with Andy dribbling into the D and angling a back stick past their keeper. 1-0 in 15 seconds. Unfortunately that woke the sleeping tiger and we spent the next 5 minutes without touching the ball as Chakde tried everything to even the score. Eventually we regrouped and got some of the ball but were really on the back foot for a long time until getting a short corner with a minute to go. Deny hit the ball hard and on target, it popped up of the keeper and Ken tapped it home with 15 seconds to spare. It may look on paper like an easy win, but in reality was a lot of hard work by Otong, Nigel, Thomas and Deny to keep them out for the period between our scores.
Game 3 v Wild Hogs W.O.
Disappointing not to have a game and this left a gaping hole in the afternoon that could only be filled with Indian curry and Carlsberg beer, in quantity. Thomas at least had a run with the Viet Tornados.
Game 4 v Vietnam Tornado’s 3-0 (Andy, Deny, Drew)
Thomas was a poofter and couldn’t work out where his allegiances lay, so initially elected to not to play ! Eventually agreeing that the Tornado’s had enough fire power with Pepe (Spanish International with 133 caps), and a German lady (58 International caps) plus about 14 young Vietnamese lads, compared to our 8 half-pissed Jakarta expats (and Vic and Snazy, neither of whom touched the ball this game !). ISCI leapt out of the blocks and had a goal on the board early through Andy, then Deny and Drew chipped in at regular intervals to complete the dominance.
Saturday night was the usual rush back to the Club for dinner and ‘show’. Dressed in our fashionable and quite becoming, black ISCI 2010 tour shirts, on an Hawaiian Night theme, little did we know that the emailed taunts to RSC organisers re previous Lady-Boy shows would result in a He-She giving Ken a lap dance and him ending up on stage wearing a snorkel and mask ! But what a spectacular show it was with the LB’s in their finery and a music and dance show to liven the night. We followed that with a bit of dancing (no LB’s involved) and then headed for Rum Jungle. Where Ken managed an argument about ‘not being a racist’ with an enormous African lady who demanded white wine by the glass as compensation for feeling affronted. Flem would later claim that this was a Tranny but we think this was just the power of suggestion after the earlier ‘show’.
Ken missed breakfast yet again and was only awakened by Nigel calling to ask what time we were leaving. A hurried exit from the room ensured toothbrush and shampoo were left in the room on check-out (and unused that morning) !
We managed the 10am start with every one eager to continue the good form of the previous day. The fact that we were playing Chua (ex Malaysia captain) and a team consists of Malaysian National and ex-National player that had not lost a game, did not overawe anyone (much).
Game 5 v KLHC 1-2 (Deny)
With Nigel picking up Chua, ISCI took the game on and created heaps of chances. Thomas running through the middle veered to the left of the D and set up Drew with a great pass across the keeper, but it was just out of reach (read- Drew fluffed it). Andy was busy and flipped an excellent pass across the D but Martha, in perfect position, failed to connect (not always easy on grass). KLHC went 2 up with Chua scoring, but ISCI kept coming. Deny scored a goal, lobbed over the keeper who thought Deny’s first swing (air-shot) was a miss and not a sighter. Deny had another great chance with a back-stick attempt that forced a good save from their keeper, but we could not get the second goal.
Unfortunately Andy pulled a hamstring in the dying minutes and that was the end of his tournament. Knowing that meant more running, Ken elected to take break and was photographed asleep, mouth open, drooling, under the ISCI table. Martha on the other hand decided it would mean more sweat so she started drinking (precautionary hydration) at 11am !
Game 6 v RSC 0-0
We had to win or draw to make it through to the Cup Semi-final given our superior goal difference. With a big crowd watching (and mostly supporting ISCI) we started well but could not get into the D. Martha was getting plenty of ball, Drew was busy out wide right, with Thomas working through the middle, but we lacked bite. Ken tackled one of their older guys and hit his stick, to which he took great offence and lifted his stick into Ken’s face. With blood pouring out of his nose Ken was encouraged to leave the field but realizing we only had 9 fit players he held back the tears and played on. For a short while anyway, as the same old fart tackled Nigel with a heavy stick and in the ensuing melee he and Ken exchanged words, and middle-fingers, and were sin-binned for 2 minutes. ISCI held on and an honorable draw saw us into the Semi’s.
Game 7 v UniKL 0-2
We watched the UniKL kids (the team Vic coaches) beat all other teams and we knew this would be a tough match without Andy’s run and skill. We started unsurely and were under pressure. Otong, Nigel and Vic worked hard but were often outnumbered and the kids just got more confident. Martha was left alone a lot out left and created a target, and Deny played a lone hand up front usually against 2-3 opponents. Everyone else tried hard but the faster kids made it difficult and one of their goals was a tap in. We left the pitch to a great many of the crowd slapping hands and congratulating us on a good showing (it would have been a popular win as we were the only non-Malaysia team in the Cup).
All in all a
great ‘team’ effort. You can’t get to the Cup Semi’s in
The team – Deny, Ken, Thomas, Andy, Drew, Otong, Nigel, Martha, Vic and Snazy, Leong (manager), Jasmine (Drew’s bagman).
PS Chris’ stick remains a tour virgin after our Tour Virgin failed to score.