Much is written and broadcast these days of the moral malaise at the core of world football – bungs, kickbacks, multi-million dollar paychecks, dodgy agents – but die-hard BC fans will have been thoroughly sickened at the sight of many of their pampered idols revelling the night away at the Singapore Oktoberfest – dancing on the tables, glugging giant German steins of Erdinger Dunkel and other generally inappropriate misbehaviour more likely to feed the tabloids than garner respect -- just hours after a sorry display saw the BC crash to a second straight EFL league defeat.
Surely the order of the day should have been a video replay of the game, an early bed, followed by light training on Sunday morning and a more vigorous warm-down in the afternoon, focusing on tactics, strategy, ball retention, shooting, tackling, passing – all the basics that were so lamentably absent on Saturday against a fairly ordinary Buona Vista Saints (aka Norwegians). The BC players should have spent the rest of the weekend wearing the hair shirt of public remorse rather than nursing hangovers from a night out on the town.
The now customary sluggish start saw the BC fall two goals behind early in the first half. The first came after a defensive lapse and was punished with stand-in keeper JL given little chance. A second arrived shortly afterwards as IB, incensed by an earlier decision by the referee not to blow for offside, exchanged harsh words with one BVS striker and then crashed into a second inside the penalty area. Again, the luckless JL could only pluck the ball out of the net.
The early deficit finally sparked the BC into life and for much of the rest of the first half only one side was playing any football. UN and MB offered width on either flank, GT and JR provided skill and guile in the middle. The defence tightened up and makeshift striker AP ran and harried as ably as a frollicking young CA in the 1970s.
GT halved the deficit, latching on to a loose ball in the box to beat the BVS’s large but unconvincing keeper. Well on top, the BC carved out more chances, with AP going close and heading agonisingly wide from a teasing near-post cross. But, on the stroke of half-time, JL looked to kick long but his clearance fell to a BVS striker who calmly lobbed into an empty net. 3-1 down at the break, but far from out of it.
MJ, left out to accommodate a cameo appearance by the ageless JG, allowed to travel for the weekend by the Thai military, gave an honest assessment during the interval – the BC were playing the better football and needed to be patient and stick to the basics to get back into a game that certainly remained winnable.
The second period followed the pattern of the first, with the BC dominating possession but struggling to overcome a dogged BVS defence. MB stretched his marker on the left and AP shot inches over from the edge of the box as the BC piled on the pressure. GT also blasted over the bar before pulling another goal back with a clever bit of jinking in a crowded penalty area, but the visitors extended their lead (to 4-2) with a fluent attacking move that saw the ball swept out to the right and then floated in for their unmarked striker to glance home a near-post header.
GT grabbed his third, squeezing home from a tight angle after UN and AP caused havoc in the defence from an attacking throw-in on the right. But, as the clock wound down and the home side pressed for an equaliser, the BVS broke and scored a fifth, killer, goal to give them a win in their EFL opener.
Yellow cards for IG for a deliberate handball and AP for the usual mix of grinning thuggery. Apparently, no card for IB, which is a mystery to most of us.
GT undisputed Man of the Match for an opportunistic hat-trick. But the BC are second bottom of the 10-side EFL, with nul point and a -3 goal tally, ahead only of Rajinoh FC, who have lost both their games and have a goal difference of -10. We probably need to play them next.
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