Scorers; Shahril Zamri
by Zif;
Al- Caliph looked to extend their unbeaten run and widen their lead at the top of the table when they faced Blackfort last Sunday. Despite facing an unknown commodity, they were buoyed by the hard fought win against a top rival in the previous week.
The game started unusually slow by Al-Caliph standards. Somewhat thrown off by the lack of pace, the team struggled to string decent passes together. Still, several chances were created from the flanks with Faizal and Shahril displaying some excellent work ethics. The best opportunity of the opening exchange fell to Tyrus but he couldn’t get a good connection with his head with just the keeper to beat.
It was little reprieve for Blackfort though as they were made to pay for a static reaction to a loose ball floated in from Bob’s freekick. Zi Jian was quickest off the block and his lay-off presented Shahril with the easiest of tap-ins for his first goal of the season. Shortly after, he then turned provider as he slipped through a sublime pass that sent Zamri off to mark his debut with a goal.
Having very little to do defensively in the second half, the team was put under enormous pressure from what is effectively a different Blackfort team altogether. Expertly marshaled by Khairil, the defence repelled everything the opposing team threw at them. And on the few occasions that the defence was breached, Wan put on a brave and confident performance to help the team keep its second clean sheet of the season.