Friday night under the lights at Turf City v GSAS and Hotspurs needed some goals and points. Again, the squad ravaged by injury and holidays (we did welcome back Hearney from his 2 month Honeymoon), was light on numbers and cosmo experience - 2 x 16 year olds and a nearly 16 year old in the squad. The first half went by fairly evenly with few chances for either team until just before the HT whistle, a mistake in the Hotspurs defence allowed a very soft goal to be scored by GSAS. Into the second half and much the same, Hotspurs beginning to look more dangerous when another error at the back made it 2-0 to GSAS. A fine free kick made it 3-0. Hotspurs got a consolation through Hugo Ritch who at 15 years old could be the youngest scorer in Hotspurs (Cosmoleague?) history. A great header to cap a fine 45 minute debut. We must regroup, get some injured players back in and pick up some points! Well played to GSAS for a solid performance and a match played in good spirits. MOM for Hotspurs. Ross Cumming who didn't stop all game long, no matter what position i moved him to. MOM for GSAS. Hamza, who scored a fantastic free kick and was in great form in defence.
The flood flights were on at Turf city for a Friday evening encounter with currently sitting bottom of the table Hotspurs FC. A 9:00pm kick-off, after a day of rain in Singapore set the stage for a what turned out to be a 2nd successive win for GSAS after beating Vikings FC the week before. The goal for this game was clear, anything less than 3 points would be a disappointment. GSAS had to make two changes compared to the winning team the week before against Hotspurs FC due to the absence of top scorer Mark, and Nik in central defense but Hamza was back in the lineup. GSAS was able to control the game a ball well for the first 30min, though without being able to get into the final third of Hotspurs FC due to too passing inaccuracies and lost balls. After the first 30min Julian had his first shot on goal which was blocked by a defender. This was a wake-up call for GSAS to increase the pace and pressure which resulted in a goal right before half-time. After a great low cross from Luca, Diyar was alone in front of the goal and slotted home for the lead. At half time the coaches encouraged the team to keep the pace high, to be patient in the buildup-up from the back and for the wingers and strikers to make these runs into the opponents channels to create scoring opportunities. That’s exactly what the team did 2nd half, and after 64 minutes Till, with some help of the Hotspurs goalkeeper, was able to increase the lead to 2:0. GSAS was now on the front foot and it was only a matter of time for the 3rd goal to be scored. That happened after Hamza buried the ball into the top corner with a screamer from a 25 meter free kick – goal of the season contender. GSAS conceded an unnecessary goal after a standard because of miss communication on the man marking which allowed a Hotspurs player to head in for the 3:1. GSAS had two more good changes to score and to complete kill the game. All in all, a solid team performance and a deserved win which puts the GSAS team into the top half of the league table.