RSC 9s Hockey Tournament 2004 Reports

 

Saturday

 

Game 1            v  Royal Selangor Club Dogs    1  -  1

 

Following a torrential downpour the night before the pitches were officially rated as ‘heavy’ and pools of water soon became little mud baths.  Dressed in our Aphrodite t-shirts (lots of people asked where “the Aphrodite team” came from) we did the team photo thing and looked good until the spots of mud made us look like Dalmatians.  For the first five minutes we were all over them and created several good chances.  But it was quickly obvious that these boys were serious (a number of ‘nationals’ and professionals playing). Denny dived around a lot at the back sliding 10 meters on his bum at one stage and coming up looking like a drowned rat. RSC scored first and Markus had a bit of work to do to keep them out.  A short corner saw Sudesh lay off to George who steamed onto the ball from his right wing and crashed it home across the keeper’s pads.

 

This team didn’t lose a game and eventually won the whole tournament.  We were the only ones to get a draw (which pissed them off no end).

 

Game 2            v  St Michael    4  -  0

 

Feeling pretty good after a great first game performance the lads took to Pitch 2 (not quite as wet as Pitch 1) with great confidence and proceeded to dominate the game.  Lots of good basic stuff, short passes, running off the ball, with Ken latching onto a loose ball at the top of the ‘D’ and firing across the keeper to give us some reward for all the possession.  Then the flood gates opened with the midfield in command and Ichang involved in every forward move setting up Marin for 3 well taken goals.  Banksy (HKFC) deputized in this game and provided width down the right side.  Sudesh and Markus had little to do with Deny getting jealous of all our possession and trying to come forward at every opportunity.

 

Game 3            v  PBPHP        0  -  0

 

These guys had come to play and made their intentions known by running through Deny and bouncing off Ken to attract a couple of warnings from the ref’s.  They became increasingly frustrated because they could not penetrate a tough defense orchestrated by Sudesh and Deny with Flem (Valley) and Desmond keeping them honest and Markus making 2 great saves.  We still had the best and more numerous chances but a couple of shots wide of the target by Marin illustrated the high quality of the game and the pressure we were under.  An honourable draw.

 

Sunday

 

Game 4            v  MAS            0  -  0

 

With George sidelined with a crook back and a 9 am start (i.e. no-one around to fill the position) we had the usual ISCI scramble when we found out that Marin and Desmond (Sudesh’s mates) would arrive late.  In the end Marin got there in time and Dave Fargus (SCC but former ISCI legend) filled in, and Flem made the great personal sacrifice to drag himself down to the pitch for the 9am kick-off when his team wasn’t starting until 10.40.  Looking resplendent in our black Bugils t-shirts (albeit a bit hot !) we stretched and warmed up so that at least we were awake.

 

Another tough game against quality opposition made even harder by Ichang being out of sorts and seemingly unable to stop, hit, dribble, pass or run, using George’s Malik stick as Ichang had ‘forgotten’ his stick (left in the back of his car at the airport !).  We still had the best chances with Ken alone at the top of the D late in the game electing to draw the player and pass off to Marin but the lone defender got a stick to it and our quest for victory died.  Marin had many good chances and several shots at goal just going wide.  Eric (HKFC) cameo’d towards the end to give Fargus a rest.

 

After 4 games, no defeats and a positive goal difference, mathematics majors calculated that with the final pool game to be played by people we had beaten we were in no danger of missing out on second spot in the Group, which meant a Cup Quarter Final. Unfortunately we didn’t read the fine print and it turned out they were awarding 4 points for a win, not the usual 3 and we eventually finished 3rd in the Group and headed for the Plate.

 

Game 5            v  HKFC          (0 – 0) 1  -  3 on penalties

 

This was the Plate Quarter Final against our old rivals HKFC and plans were drawn up to take Lincoln Churchill (Clubs paid hockey ace) out of the game.  We had 70% of the play and created some great chances including 3 short corners but could not score.  Deny took on Lincoln at one stage and took the ball the length of the field having lost and retrieved the ball several times.  At full time it was 0-0 so a dribble off resulted.  Banksy insisted that only “ISCI” players should take the penalties, so Ichang, Deny and Sudesh stepped forward.  Lincoln goaled first getting around Markus.  Ichang lead off for ISCI and after a brief scare buried the goal. Robyn then lobbed over Markus after Ken and Deny told Markus you only need to come out and meet him, don’t have to beat him to the top of the ‘D’. Sudesh (subsequently to be known as either ‘Armo’ or ‘Beckham’) attempted to go around the keepers right but managed to carry the ball over the by-line. Eric then lobbed over Markus again and the ball-game was all over without Deny having to show his stuff.

 

The Team – Ken Allan, Deny Fahruddin, George Demel, Mohamad Ichsan, Sudesh Nair, Marin, Desmond (KL local juniors), Ian Fleming (Valley), David Fargus (SCC), Eric the Clog, John Banks (HKFC).

 

5 games, 1 loss on penalties, 6 goals scored, 4 against.