Match Review: Olympique Gaulois Singapore vs Singapore Football Club

• GK Fauzy Johari
• DF Andrey Akselrod
• DF Ivan Gosio
• DF Arnaud Darde
• MD Dante Marramiero
• MD Ewan Radde
• MD Wissam Adli
• MD Ghassen Chniti
• MD Cameron Abernethy
• ST Dani Pardon
• ST Rodrigo Agundez

• DF Victor Papin
• MD Unni Kazhakkumara
• MD Arthur Everard
• MD Francois Bazin

A Game to Forget

Nothing much to say in this game: Team cut in two, lack of agressive mindset, succession of mistakes, 10-11 for an hour…. It was Christmas in October and against a team like SFC this is paid cash… We shall learn from this not to repeat such performance and bounce back quickly Congrats to SFC and good luck for the title race.

• Santino Shepherd GK
• Roberto Bruce DF
• Jahan Rezai DF
• Jack Cullinane DF
• Akil Pompey DF
• Sam Gravatt MD
• Tim Walter MD
• Ryosuke Ataku MD
• Joe Claridge MD
• Liam Shotton ST
• Fazrul Nawaz ST

• Isaac Goh MD
• Wes Adeyemi MD
• Nick Marsh MD
• Matt Hulen MD
• Liam George ST

A job well done

This was a complete performance that in many ways felt like the culmination of several weeks of training and tactical discussion. Performances until now had been good, but not without some weak spots. Things started well with a slick team move. SFC were finding success moving the ball from side to side, probing gaps and pulling their opponents' defence in various directions. When the right space appeared, Joe Claridge delicately touched the ball in behind the OGS defence to Fazrul Nawaz, who unselfishly pushed the ball onto an onrushing Liam Shotton. Liam was clear on goal and made no mistake with a controlled finish into the bottom corner. The opening strike buoyed the team and set the tone for the rest of the match. Four more goals followed in the first half, including one more for Liam who finished another neat team move. The other three first-half goals were very high on quality, both in terms of build up and finishing. SFC's rotating front four of Liam, Rosuke Ataku, Faz Nawaz and Joe caused OGS huge problems with their interchanging of positions and passes. One touch football in the final third created an abundance of chances and nearly half a dozen one-on-one opportunities. One of these was calmly finished by Ataku, who slotted a bouncing ball into the bottom left-hand corner. The half was capped by a curling long-range strike from Joe and an unstoppable right-footed strike from Faz, who finished into the roof of the net from a tight angle. SFC missed almost as many chances as they scored in the first half - including a penalty for which OGS received a red card - but thankfully were never made to regret it. The only blot on the copybook was a deflected goal which, unluckily, squirmed under Santino Shepherd. 5-1 In the second half coach Matty Hulen made five changes to the personnel, but at no detriment to the system or style of play. SFC made the most of the one man advantage and more goals came, including two from new boy Liam George. First he profited from a goalkeeping mix up to curl in from a tight angle, then he found himself clean through on goal before calmly walking past the keeper and passing into an empty net. A great way to cap a highly successful debut linking defence with attack. A special mention should go to Sam Gravatt, who epitomised SFC's unwillingness to rest on their laurels. Even with the game comfortably won, he banished any thought of complacency. Until the very last minute he was constantly communicating, cajoling and cleverly moving the ball to keep the standard high. He even managed a first ever SFC goal, burying the ball in the bottom right-hand corner from 8 yards out after Faz, again, unselfishly squared the ball. A more egregious mention goes to Nick Marsh, who rode a Grab to Turf City for 10 minutes before being informed it was not, in fact, his Grab. Instead, it belonged to another passenger living in the same condo who was also on their way to Turf City (possibly an opposition player). If that person is you, soz. Thankfully, Nick subsequently decided to take a few days out of football -- both to reflect on this error of judgement as well as to ponder the game itself -- before deciding to commit pen to paper in the form of this match report. Thanks for OGS for a good game and hopefully we can continue these kind of performances in the weeks to come.