Team Walking Wounded

TeamCuzz went into the match against Supernova with an air of excitement as they are facing new opponenta for the 1st time in a long time. That excitement quickly evaporated as only 4 Supernova players were present by the time the referee came. In the spirit of the game, TeamCuzz requested the referee to give Supernova extended time to await their players' arrival while they had a good kickabout session. Supernova managed to conjure sufficient players before the stipulated deadline and the match kicked off as it should (credit to the ref for bringing extra shin pads for the opponents).

TeamCuzz had the lion's share of possession from the word go as Supernova sat back in their own half to soak the pressure and await more reinforcements. They passed the ball around to get their opponents to push forward but to no avail. As such, there were hardly any goal-bound chances as fans grew frustrated with the seemingly lacklustre show put up by TeamCuzz.

But it changed in the 12th minute, when Imran finally got some reward after forcing the opposing defender into an error. Collecting the ball from his own hardwork, he moved forward like a certain El-Nino, evaded the desperate challenge of the guilty defender and slotted the ball home. It was the midfielder's first goal this season.

Supernova finally got out of their own half, and was duly rewarded soon after. Having controversially elbowed Fazlon which left the fullback gasping for air, Supernova's star forward gave himself room to shoot and scored from a tight angle. A wonder strike that deserved a resounding applause, even from TeamCuzz.

The goal brought some life into TeamCuzz, in particular, Shahrudin. Having been largely anonymous in the early exchanges, the TeamCuzz forward somehow managed to hold off the challenge of a humongous defender before tapping it in the path of Syafiq, who gleefully scored from 3 yards out. The winger's rich vein of form continues, with a goal and an assist to his name in the past 2 games. Shahrudin also won a penalty for TeamCuzz towards the end of the half.

Syafiq's goal turned out to be the winner as TeamCuzz clinged on for dear life, defending competently as Supernova went forward in search of the equalizer. Well probably a little exaggerated there, but TeamCuzz did have no less than 5 players leaving the pitch in less than perfect condition. But they somehow marched on, wounded or not, with 3 points in the bag.

Note:
1) Syukri is out with a knee injury and will likely need to visit the doc and x-ray machine in the coming weeks. That said, I hope we can make some monetary contribution just to take some load off his young shoulders.
2) Thanks to the supporters who came down, in particular 2 of our very own who will likely return to TeamCuzz after a year-long stint with a certain blue team.
3) We gotta learn to finish teams off. Let's finish strongly!!!