Match 2 of 3

Torrential rain nearly drowned the pitch in the early afternoon.

Many brave men looked out the window at about 3.30 and said "forget it" and watched Powder Puff Girls on Cartoon Network instead.

The tragedy of this was that as the time for action drew near, only eleven good men and true were on the pitch. A couple of players came with notes from their Mothers excusing them from playing due to 'sore leg' ,'forgot my kit' and 'my children have been missing me'. All pretty weak excuses, but the Flyboys are a tough bunch and we came to the decision that we could take on the smarties from UBD without any substitutes.

And so the referee summoned us on to the arena of glory.

Starting the game in goal for us was the mighty Zul-Afiq who keeps getting phone calls from some Scottish guy from Manchester asking him to replace Edwin Van Der Saar. ZulAfiq has been told by Aainaa not to talk to strange men so he hangs up every time the Scottish guy calls.

Our right back was Speedy Gonzales, a.k.a. Julian. Julian started the game by running very fast and winning every ball. Clearly he intended to set the standard of play.

Our two centre backs were Malek and some other guy who used to like being called Veron but now goes by the name Hj Effendy. You could tell them apart by their boots. Malek's were white, Hj Effendy's were stationary.

Left back (left back in the changing rooms) was Haydn. Haydn was nervous before the game started and was extremely relieved to know that his father would be just ahead of him on the pitch to guide him and tell him what to do. Anyone who knows teenagers will know that this is complete rubbish. Teenagers NEVER listen to their parents.

Our player with a sense of fashion was playing right midfield. The famous Hock, still basking in the glory of his goal on Monday, was the only player to turn up with the wrong colour shorts.

"It's a fashion statement", he said.

"Don't lie, you just forgot them didn't you", said Amir.

The team's two mighty power houses Hafizh and Azman took up their usual positions in the centre mid field and an overweight overaged Allan settled down to his usual spot on the left half / left wing.

Our ever potent strikeforce of Ismail and Syazwi were up front.

We had already noticed that UBD were all young and fit and could do something that some of us couldn't do. They could run. So our brilliant tactician Amir came up with a cunning plan, - Pass the ball. Make them do the running.

Guess what ? It worked !

1ST HALF:

The referee blew his whistle to start the match and battle was joined.

A smart man once said that,"Old age, wisdom and cunning will always defeat youth and enthusiasm" .

Because of this, I can now tell everyone that Amir is old, wise and cunning.

The UBD players ran and ran and ran.

The Flyboys passed the ball and for the most part kept possession. Flyboy's back four were solid in defence. Hj Effendy and Malek swapped positions as the situation demanded, while Julian and Haydn handled any fast attacks down the wings.

The wonderful thing to watch was the back four were thinking and making space and time with their tackles and passes.

No rushed kicks in just any direction.

They tackled, won possession and passed the ball in a way that gave us space and time to think. During this time the calling was constant and lots of lovely passes over the tops of the UBD back four were made for our strikers to run onto. Lots of lovely through - passes on the ground were also played. Flyboys were playing like a well oiled machine and a goal was just a matter of time.

UBD did have their chances and were always threatening a fast counter attack. We were lucky to have Hj Effendy, Julian and Haydn in our back four who were able to keep pace with the fast breaks and stop the threat becoming serious. Malek in the meantime handled the high balls with a solid heading ability that by itself, broke down many of the UBD attacks.

Our mid field boys were doing fine work. Most UBD attacks started from their goalkeeper's kick up field, but they were stopped by the brick wall that was Hafizh and Azman. The work rate of these two players cannot be over stated. They played hard and provided sterling service all game.

Allan and Hock played wide on the wings forcing the UBD defence to spread themselves out very thinly and make a breakthrough for Syazwi and Ismail more likely.

On one of UBD's few attacks, it came down to a one on one between the attacker and the goalie. Zul-Afiq dropped down quickly to his right and blocked a solid shot. He also fell into the mud puddle and got soaked.

By thirty minutes into the first half the game had settled into fast paced passing battle in the UBD half as Flyboys kept applying constant pressure. One of our raids forced a corner. As preparations for the corner were being made, Allan called Haydn to swap positions for the corner kick. As they passed each other, Allan said, "Get up there and score a goal".

A beautiful cross from the right corner caused mayhem in the 6 yard area. Eventually it fell to Haydn's left foot and he blasted it. Several players were between the ball and the goalie, so he saw the ball late.

Too late. It shot straight through his fingers. The net bulged.

Flyboys 1 - exUBD 0

As we ran back to the centre-circle, I said to Haydn, "See what happens when you do as your father says ?".

Haydn's answer was unprintable.

We now had the game by the scruff of the neck and we knew what we had to do. Only two minutes later another shot from our right midfield was blasted towards its target. Their goalie was only able to get his body in front of the ball but wasn't able to hold on to it.

It bounced off his chest into open play. Syazwi pounced like a leopard and slotted the ball neatly into the bottom far corner.

Flyboys 2 - exUBD 0

It seemed like this was going to be repeated several times over, but the smart boys from UBD knew how to play the offside trap. Several times our two forwards were stopped by the referee's whistle when they were offside by a good 5 meters.

Situational awareness is not just for the flight deck.

At this point in the game, Amir decided that a tactical substitution was in order. Hock was given a rest and Mahdini trotted onto the pitch to add fire to our attack.

Flyboys also played the offside trap well. But not well enough. On one occasion the UBD counter attack was a ball through our back line which was a long way up the pitch. A call for offside was ignored by the ref and Hj Effendy was left chasing their striker who had a 5 meter lead. Zul-Afiq moved out quickly to narrow the angles but the striker's aim was true.

Flyboys 2 - exUBD 1

Shortly after, the referee's whistle blew for half time.

A tired but delighted group of Flyboys left the field of play for a break.

Amir knew that he couldn't let the Flyboys relax. Complacency could let the UBD back into the game. So he made some masterly substitutions that kept the Flyboys buzzing. Off came Allan for a break. On went Simon to add some height and strength to the attack.

Also entering the battle was Salleh from MCC. His speed and determination was a welcome fillip to the hard work being done by Hafizh and Azman.

2ND HALF:

And so the game re started. UBD were determined to get the scores equal and their younger legs were beginning to outrun some of the older flyboys. Fortunately Julian, who has amazing dash speed was equal to their fastest on the right wing, and Haydn kept their attacks down the left wing from doing us any harm. And all the while, the power houses in the centre broke up attack after attack, then initiated our counter attacks.

One such counter attack brought forth a simple, yet stunningly effective run of play. The ball was passed out to the right. Simon collected it and took it deep and wide. Simon held the ball and forced the defender to commit to a tackle. Simon passed the ball off to Salleh who put over a superb cross that landed ever so sweetly on Ismail's head and rocketed into the goal.

Flyboys 3 - exUBD 1

The game now entered a period where the Flyboys endured attack after attack. Simon was rested when Allan returned to the fray. Haydn got a yellow card for bringing a drink (Tiger Beer) onto the field of play. After that he made a challenge that the referee considered illegal and resulted in a free kick to UBD just on the edge of our penalty area. The atmosphere was electric, but cool heads prevailed and the defence remained solid. The ball sailed harmlessly over the top of the goal.

Eventually the referee blew his whistle for the last time.

An exhausted but happy team of Flyboys retired from the arena of battle with a well earned victory.


- Written 2 hours after the game by 'Not just a hat-rack', Captain Allan Bradley.

(*Editors note: Any errors or omissions made in the report by Captain Bradley are unintentional. If there were any, forgive the man. Because we've already forgiven him for supporting Derby County. - Amir)