Benedetto United F.C

Benedetto United was condemned to its first defeat in 12 games and ended our longest unbeaten run to date. It was a wake up call that has threatened to happen in recent weeks. Team performance was a shadow of its usual self, with everyone taking for granted that all we had to do was to appear and victory would drop from the sky. We rode our luck and things were looking rosy (that we were going to be let off the hook for being complacent) when Wei Jun put us infront with a clean finish. While we tried albeit without much effort to play our normal passing game, Blas came with an obvious objective - to cram the midfield and stop us from playing. Unfortunately, we allowed them to succeed. Although we showed glimpses of passing and attacking with intent, we never really got our momentum and was far from what we were capable of. Their striker robbed the ball off Wei Jie at the half way line and our high defensive line meant he was going to be one on one with our hapless goalkeeper and the half ended 1-1.

It was evident to see during half time, everyone knew we were not playing well enough for our own standards. We upped the tempo and got our reward almost immediately. Jeremy was set free down the right and like what he has been doing consistently, put in a delicious cross that made it so simple for our striker. Wei Jun got his second goal of the day, heading into the bottom corner and was well on his way to another hattrick. The third goal came soon after, almost too soon, when their defenders backed off with the ball at Wei Jun's feet thirty yards out. Brimming with confidence, he accepted their invitation and sent a thunderbolt into the roof of the goal. All Blas could do was clap. What better way to show respect and admiration for a wonder strike.

What happened after was shameful, to say the least. Thinking that we were too good for our opponents, that we deserved victory surely, the Team took its foot off the gas. We shut off as a Team defensively and somewhat became only interested in putting more into the net and thrashing our opponents. It was really not about what damage our opponents could do, they merely played long hopeful balls behind our backline and let their Jimmy Bullard look alike striker chase the stray ball. It was really about what we did not do. Put simply, we took it for granted. When they put one past us to reduce the deficit, the writing was already on the wall. The rest is history. For the record, it was the first time in nine months an opponent has put more than three goals past us, that is how much and why it hurts.

We got the defeat we truly deserved, a real kick in the backside. It was a wake up call for all of us. To put it bluntly, Benedetto was for once, shit, defensively. A real heartache for a Team that prides itself on a solid defensive base unheard of elsewhere in the amateur football circle. An extensive Team review was conducted right after it and the message was clear, we all knew we have let ourselves and the Team down. We, as a Team has let the good run of results get to our head. We are determined never to feel this way again, in Benedetto there is one thing that is very important, something most important if not as important as anything else - that no matter win or lose, we always make sure we can walk with our heads held high after every game knowing that we have given our all. On this very day, we failed. On this very day we concluded as a Team never, ever do we want to feel this way again - the feeling of letting the Team and ourselves down. We have much to learn and this was another lesson learnt, the hard way. Onwards Benedetto~!

"Every game we play, we make sure they remember.. forever, the day they played Benedetto."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recalled by: Wei Liang