Match Review: Singapore Football Club vs TGA Rangers FC

• GK Ronnie Smollett
• DF Akil Pompey
• DF Jack Cullinane
• DF Jahan Rezai
• MD Ross Plain
• MD Tim Walter
• ST Andrew Hutcheon
• -- Simon Lloyd
• -- Dominic O'Shea
• -- Doorjoo Dashnyam
• -- Ross Macklin

• MD John Norfolk
• MD Matt Zatto
• ST Aleksandar Duric
• -- Dom Lane

Hutcho: First Blood

Since the eighties there have been many different action heroes, coming all in sorts of different guises; Major Scott McCoy, Frank Dux, John McClane, Martin Riggs, Ripley as well as Colonel John Matrix. Whilst many names have come and gone, the proprietary eponym is still “Rambo”. At Singapore Football Club they have Andrew Hutcheon aka “Hutcho”. A name synonymous with goal scoring. A highly decorated Cosmo veteran with multiple golden boots to his name. A tough and obdurate marksman that communicates in barely comprehensible grunts. He is filled with an unquenchable rage, yet he is still willing to use his skills and talent to help those close to him. Clearly the character parallels between the two men are legion. And, so it was that Hutcho quickly put those same killer instincts to work, on Saturday afternoon. It took him just six minutes, to be precise. Somerset speedster, Ross Plain, raced down the right flank after making light work of two Rangers defenders before putting in a pinpoint cross. Hutcho, arriving at the back post, headed home powerfully to make it 1-0 SFC. Five minutes late SFC doubled their lead. Plain again the danger man down the right-wing, this time he bulleted the ball to the near post where Hutcho duly executed, ruthlessly. 2-0. Eleven minutes played. TGA Rangers quickly made changes to their defence, but SFC continued to press on. Hutcho’s fellow “Baker Team” members were going for the kill. Ross Macklin and Tim Walter were controlling midfield well, with DJ Dashnyam causing further problems down the left. With 20 minutes played the third goal came. This time courtesy of some neat passing between Dashnyam and Hutcheon before Dom O’Shea finally dispatched the ball to make it 3-0. At the back, SFC remained untroubled. Pompey and Lloyd neatly cleaning up any loose balls with the minimum of fuss. Meanwhile, Ronnie Smollet, desperate to be involved in some way, decided to stop the game so he could change his boots. With five minutes of the first half remaining SFC then delivered their best passage of football. A goal kick, played short to Jack Cullinane, was the start of a patient fourteen-pass move that finally found its way to Hutcheon. The Scotsman brought the ball two yards inside the box before pulling the trigger, with his right foot. With Hutcheon’s Cosmo hatrick No.68 complete, SFC went into the break four goals to the good. The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, with Macklin and Walter continuing to control the midfield with O’Shea linking well upfront. Eventually Mo Yasin, assuming the role of Colonel Trautman for the afternoon, decided he had seen enough and unleashed John Norfolk into the fray. A few minutes later with the cushion of four goals, more changes were rung as SFC threw on their remaining subs. As Hutcho walked off to the sidelines he was heard muttering incoherently to himself, something about “First Blood” and “Mission complete". As the game wore on Matt Zatto began to make inroads. The American, found himself clean through on goal, before being hauled down with just the keeper to beat. Penalty. Tim Walter, keen to continue his goal-scoring form, promptly stepped up to convert the spot-kick. Final score 5-0. Man of the Match: Andrew Hutcheon

• Dan Ousby DF
• Fraser Anderson DF
• Jordan Laing DF
• Hiromitsu Nakaue DF
• Patrick Fox DF
• Taishi Fukuda DF
• Stephen McLaughlin MD
• Nathan Bryer MD
• Rich Sexton MD
• Tom Ruffles MD
• Mike Sharples ST

• Jonathan Lukito MD
• Victor Felicia MD
• Yuto Nagai ST

Rout of Rangers

Apologies in advance if some small details are inaccurate, still suffering from a mild bout of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as I write this. Rangers arrived looking to try to build on a run of wins, knowing that we'd be in for a tough game. The game started with both teams finding space and time on the ball, however, SFC looking the more composed. The most used play of the half by far was quarterback Tim pinging the ball into the corner for wide receiver Ross who exploited the space at every opportunity. Rangers eventually sussed out this threat but by then it was already 3-0. Two headers from Hutchey who showed his knack for being in the right place at the right time opened the scoring. Rangers will be very disappointed with positioning and the space the Striker was given, particularly for the 2nd which was a high looping cross. For the 3rd Ross won a free-kick on the right and the other Striker deftly glanced a header, helping the ball on its way into the bottom corner. Rangers were pressing to get one back and Sharples had a golden opportunity 1-on-1 with the keeper, only to dilly dally on the ball as the SFC centre-back nipped in to steal it. The 4th goal came from a 1-2 between the strikers and Hutchey struck a shot well down the middle of the goal with the movement of the ball deceiving Ousby in net. The 2nd half was a lot more even and Rangers had a few decent headed chances to get one back, as well as a convincing penalty shout. SFC got a penalty through a fast break in what was arguably a bit of a soft one. Well done to SFC who were impressive and clinical. They seem to have found a home pitch that suits them far better than Dempsey field. Looking forward to hopefully giving you a better game when we meet in the league.