Scorers: Khai (3)
With our sponsor, Mr Dino watching from the sidelines, Al Caliph put up a good performance winning the match 3-1 against a young Bangkit team. This win is also an early birthday present from us to Mr Dino who is celebrating his 50th birthday soon.
Al Caliph started the match well with all the attacking initiatives coming from us and pegging Bangkit back in the first 15mins of the game. Deservedly, we got the breakthrough from Khai’s sweet right shot into the bottom corner of the goal. Receiving the ball in a seemingly unthreatening position on the left flank, Khai with his close dribbling got to the edge of the penalty box and let fly with his right foot. The goalkeeper stand rooted to the ground and Al Caliph was one nil up. After going one nil down, Bangkit became more dangerous in their attacks. Bangkit nearly got their equalizer when their striker was sent through on goal. The striker managed to nick the ball pass our goalkeeper, Anuar but not the goal line as ZJ managed to clear the goal bound effort away in time, the first warning sign that Bangkit is not just a piece of meat on the chopping board. Bangkit then finally got their equalizer when another through ball created havoc in Al Caliph’s penalty area. Though Anuar managed to get his hand on the striker’s shot, the ball looped into goal with ZJ trying in vain to head the ball away on the goalline. Tried as they might, both team failed to add on to the score before half time.
The second half started with a striking resemblance to the first, with Al Caliph camping in the opponent’s half and Bangkit counter attacking in their rare forays. Halfway through the second half, Al Caliph got a freekick on the edge on the penalty box. Khai’s shot was blocked by the wall but the block was deemed illegal by the referee because one of the defender handled the ball while trying to block the freekick. Up stepped Khai for the penalty. He duly drilled the ball into the net putting Al Caliph ahead for the second time in the match. Al Caliph then finally makes sure of the three points when Khai grabbed his hat-trick and Al Caliph’s third with an assist from Hasbullah. 3-1 to Al Caliph! The score remained the same till the final whistle.
Though Khai was the goalscoring hero for this match, but the man of the match award or rather men of the match awards were given to Anuar and Kennard, who is making his debut for the team. The assured performances given by these 2 new additions to the team for the season ensures that the team can press forward for goals with more freedom. Hopefully, both of them can keep up these levels of performance throughout the season.
Al Caliph will be going into the Chinese New Year break with 6 points in the bag and at the top of the table. We will be looking to make it 3 on the trot when the league resumes after the holidays break.
by Zj