Match Review: Singapore Football Club vs FC Nippon

• GK Santino Shepherd
• DF Daniel Bennett
• DF Akil Pompey
• MD Sam Balls
• MD Anthony Garreau
• MD Michael Campion
• MD Charlie Heth
• MD Joe Claridge
• ST Liam Shotton
• ST Tom Phillips
• ST Patrick Beckford

• MD John Norfolk
• MD Matt Hulen
• MD Ryosuke Ataku
• -- Josh Jones

Title Chase

SFC came into the evening trying to keep pace with 1TM knowing that 3 points was a must, but also with an eye on goal difference. We started the match brightly going up 2-0 through a fantastic long range strike from Michael Campion and another from Tom Phillips through the high press and work rate of Charlie Heth. After the break we scored our third from the counterattack with a tidy 2v1 with Liam feeding Patrick for his first goal on the evening. 3-0 up and we were cruising with a positive goal differential. But you can't cruise vs Nippon. They make you work and we learned a very harsh lesson in a span of 15 minutes as they quickly pulled back all three goals. Their first came from some very composed footwork from Kike and a quick strike to give them their first and make it 3-1. Then about 5 minutes later they got their second from a long range effort outside the box that Santino couldn't quite manage to tip over the bar. Finally they equalized through a Kike penalty to bring the match back to 3-3. You could see our disappointment, but credit to the boy for getting back in the match. Charlie Heth subbed back on at striker and got out 4th from an early cross from Josh Jones. Not long after Josh served another great ball in and Patrick Beckford clipped a left footed strike up and over the GK into the side netting using the momentum of the cross. The match ended 5-3 and though we were frustrated at letting Nippon back in, we showed the character to get back in the match and get the most important result which was the 3 points. Credit to Nippon for a competitive match and we wish them all the best in their season finale against 1TM...a result would be lovely gents ;).