Nick's helmet day

Belchers End of Season Dinner Winter 2010

This time we held the dinner at 遊食吟嚷居酒屋 Yushoku Japanese Dining Bar in Sheung Wan - btw, nice choice, Graham. Nice environment, decent all you can eat sashimi, sushi, shabu shabu. The best part of it was that there was no time limit! Anyhow, I hope the gang had heaps of fun.

And the highlight of the night - end of season awards. Well, it finished as follows:

- Most Improved Player:

1. Roger (10 votes)

2. Nick (7 votes)

3. Dovan (5 votes)

Roger now gets a chance to play for a Gigasports $200 cash voucher - BUT he will need to score 3 or more MVP points at his next outing to show that he has really improved. Or else, it's a $100 payment to the pot! Go Roger - we will be supporting you (in mind only, unless we are on the same team).

Roger - so tell me.... which team will you be supporting at the World Cup - Australia or New Zealand?

- The Trashtalker:

1. Leslie (16 votes)

2. Linus (3 votes)

3. Varley (2 votes)

I don't think there was ever a doubt... for those who have played against (or even with) Leslie will see this as no surprise. It is a surprise he didn't win all the votes though. We now await Leslie play in a full size rubbish bag in his next game! (yes, literally... we mean it)

Leslie - remember to cut out two holes for your eyes!

- Most One Footed Player:

1. Eddy (20 votes)
2. Nick (1 vote)
2. Master (1 vote)

The most one sided result of the night (excuse the punt!)... again, need no further explanation and no element of surprise. Eddy - we will give you a shoe for now. You will need to earn the other shoe by scoring with your other foot.

Eddy - please keep this in good condition since we suspect it could be some time before you get to claim the other shoe!

- Player that uses his Head Least (aka least head award)

1. Nick (15 votes)
2. Ricky (4 votes)
3. Eddy (2 votes)

Nick - we know your head is precious but I tell ya, I have to give it to you for having survive Belchers all these years without having to head the ball, and still be regarded as one of the best defenders (and truly the transformer) of the game. Well, let's hope you only head the ball and not other people in your next game with the helmet on!

Nick - no need to look up. It's perfect fit.

And finally, the All Star elect team of the Season and the Second V team:

All Star:

- Dovan

- Kelvin

- Andy

- Linus

- Big Jer

Second V:

- Master

- Chickenbun

- Apple

- BJ Tank

- Eddy

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (27 Feb)

3 pts - Big Jer - who was really big on the day...unstoppable in the air with a hat trick of headed goals and a Rooney like performance. Can't see anyone stopping him from winning the golden boot (or golden head??).

2 pts - Chickenbun - solid performance and was the only defender skillful enough to match Big Jer. Great duel.

1 pt - Varley - the quiet achiever of the day (I know... hard to associate Varlz with that q word) but his goals carried his team through yet again. He just can't stop scoring.

Honourable mentions for SS Andy and Ben, who created plenty of chances for their teams but just weren't able to squeeze into the top 3.

Belchers Committee

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (20 Feb)

3 pts. Roger - Consecutive 3 pts for Roger in another brilliant team performance, in attack and defence. Opened the floodgates with his brilliant opener in the first game, and led by example with 頭頂腳踢. The in form player.

2 pts. SS Andy - Under difficult circumstances but carried his team with 9 points, coming alive in the second half.

1 pt. Ricky - A flawless first half performance with goals and assists, but fatigue played a part in a less brillliant second half. Nonetheless his contribution to the team was significant and made the difference between the teams.

Belchers Committee

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (13 Feb)

3 pts: Roger. A flawless performance arguably in his more preferred Fabregas role, Roger was superb in making interceptions and dictating play from the back, allowing teammates to attack more freely, and in the process of reminding us that he is more than the Didier Roger we know. Brilliant.

2 pts: Varley. The half court volley was worth the trip to Belchers alone. And on either side of that were two ferocious and unstoppable long range efforts, making him one of the most feared strikers in Hong Kong at the moment.

1 pt: Big Jer. Entertaining link up play with zizu (who narrowly missed out on the points) and ending some of the moves with precise finishing, also excelled when asked to play in a more unfamiliar defensive position.

Belchers Committee

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (6 Feb CUP GAME)

We had our first game cup this season, the Belchers Role Playing Game with the following three teams to pick from:

Team Lifesavers (aka Baywatch)


Team Bond (James Bond)

and Team Victoria Park Grandpas (don't you just love those tight see through singlets?)






In the end, the teams were no match for the grandpas, who made up for their lack of speed with all their years of experience to win the first Cup of the season. The final results were:


Team Lifesavers: 2W6D2L, 12 points
Team Bond: 0W5D3L, 5 points
Team Victoria Park Grandpas: 4W, 3D, 1L, 15 points


Congrats to the grandpas!


And the B&F are:


3 pts: Eddy. It was a great team effort from the grandpas but it was Eddy with the crucial goals that sealed the cup victory for the team. Raw power and lethal accuracy is a tough combination to defend against.


2 pts: Master. Made countless brilliant saves to keep his team in the game. An error which gifted Leslie his goal was hard to forget, however.


1 pt: Andy. With Eddy in attack and Dezza (who narrowly missed out on the points) in defence, SS was the one who pulled it all together with a great captain's display in midfield, urging his team on and was for once extremely vocal on the court.



Belchers Committee

Match Review 28 Jan 2010 (Australia 0 - 3 Sierra Leone)

Match Review

Well done all to those who turned up yesterday (esp. Gordon and Andy, who were ill/recovering from illness and Shiuy, who was carrying a toe injury) - we mustered 7 player at the end and put up a real fight. The final score was 0-3 (we lost to Sierra Leone) but that is totally misleading. We started the match at 7:40, and it was still 0-0 at 8:40. It was unfortunate that we lost a late goal, and because we had to chase an equaliser, we lost another two quick goals. Our defence was rock solid, and we all worked very hard to track our men. Special mention to Chris and Patrick especially for tracking men very closely and never gave up. We made a lot of interceptions, espcially Chris in anticipating passes. We made it very difficult for them, and really they didn't have much goal opportunities in the first hour. We had a few very good chances throughout the match (esp. a couple late in the game when Neil made his typical dashes late in the game, I think Shiuy had at least one 1-on-1 and Andy had a good volley opportunity), but again we were not able to finish clinically. Gordon had a good game and made few (usual by his standard now) heroic 1-on-1 saves, but I thought it was his reading of the game (i.e. quick thinking to dash out of goal to cut/intercept plays) that made the impression. I felt had we got another sub - especially a player who can control the play and take the ball up and/or an in-form striker, we would have either drew the match or won the game - the team who scored first would have taken the game I think. It was that close and we felt this team was beatable. They are a good side, but certainly not at the same level as Spain/France/Peru. Let's aim to beat them in the final round.

The side note is that it is really great to see we really do have the fighting spirit and never gave up. We are improving in many areas - tracking-back, communication (calling for the ball/taking ownership of marking/calling man-on etc.), even attacking plays are improving though it is clear that this is the area we need to work on most. Final round starts next week and we are on level points with Nauru and Taiwan (equal 5th). We are well positioned to fight for 5th place (i.e. the crown in the "lower league").

Man of the match - Chris (a.k.a. makelele) for stepping up a gear on this game. Excellent work rate and truck loads of steals/interceptions.
Patrick deserves a special mention too for excellent work rate as well and also for coming to the match to rescue the rest of the squad. You made a huge difference. It is quite clear that Patrick is comfortable with the size of the pitch. Great all-round play.

Squad 1. Nick 2. Chris 3. Andy 4. Gordon 5. Shiuy 6. Neil 7. Patrick

What we did well?
1. Defensive play was exceptional. I don't recall they had any open goal opporunties as we marked them very tightly, and even if we were beaten one-on-one on dribble, we either tracked back to recover or had another player to cover. We anticipated many of their passes and intercepted. Very very few defensive errors (whether individually or as a team).

2. We created good chances. Especially later in the game when we made more through-passes and had the forwards holding the ball to wait for support (rather than go alone for a speculative shot).

What we could do better?
1. Finishing needs more practice.

2. Ball control (esp in air)/dribbling still need more work again. We lost most high balls - we either need a lot more practice/experience or perhaps we should making these passes. When we boot the ball up, we can try to keep the lower and towards the corners (or even hit against the wall).All comments/suggestions welcomed.

Match Review 4 Feb 2010 (Australia 3 - 13 Peru)

Match Review

Well done all to those who turned up yesterday - as usual, it's very difficult to make it to a 7:30 game on a weekday. We only had 6 players against a better side (and who also had more subs than us). The scoreline looks pretty bad - we lost 13-3, but let's put this in context. We lost to Peru 10-0 in 1st round and 11-1 in 2nd round. So I guess 13-3 can probably be considered an improvement (not sure how we skipped 12-2!). Even Sierra Leone lost 13-1 to Peru in the last round, so arguably we did better than Sierra Leone! Not only that, of the 13 goals (we weren't sure whether it was 13 goals, but whatever), probably 10 or so of them were conceded in first half - i.e. the scoreline was about 10-0 or so in the 1st half. It was quite discouraging in the 1st half when we conceded a number of goals by our own errors - e.g. poor passing in the back, being overlapped etc. etc. They played their usual passing game and as expected was very efficient in their cutting in and team attack. They had a very good left footed player - very quick and has power shots (albeit very left foot dominated), but individually Peru probably doesn't have the individual flare/talents found in some players in Spain/France. We had a very rough/rocky 1st half and concded the first goal early, so there probably weren't much positives to comment on in relation to the 1st half.
At halftime, we decided to change our tactics (imput from our star tactician Rafa-Linus-Benitez).
- 1st observation was that in for most of 1st half we were 4 defenders against 5 attackers when we defended because their keeper played outfield as a fullback. We decided to match that with Gordon dribbling upfield (who incidently took a shot or two actually) and bouncing balls to and fro with the left/right backs. Their strikers didn't bother to chase these bounce passes so in most cases, we were able to slowly move the game in their half. I think we did lose maybe a goal because our passes were intercepted, but this tactic probably brought more advantages than disadvantages on balance. Because we spent a lot more time in their half and involved Gordon in the passing game, I think it helped Gordon to settle back into the game and made many excellent saves in the 2nd half.

- 2nd observation was that when we have the ball, people generally ran away from the ball which made it harder for make a pass (i.e. passes were mostly intercepted). Instead, we have more runners running towards the person with the ball, so we were able to make more short passes/return passes (as well as back passes to Gordon).

- 3rd observation was that we were losing the ball too easily upfield. To counter this, when we do have the ball, we had Chris, Andy, Dovan and Linus all holding/shielding the ball well when they win the ball and wait for the runners before making a pass. It probably also helped that because Peru team knew they were winning by a lot, they didn't really bother to chase the ball/run back so we had a lot of space upfield. Our (short/easy) passes were much more accurate than before.
Because of these, I think we played significantly better (certainly with a lot of more confidence) in 2nd half. The score was probably about even in second half. Amazingly, although we only had one sub, we ran hard both offensively and defensively - I think our work rate was probably higher than Peru (who was just lazy to track back at times to be honest). We created loads of chances - probably at least 1-2 good chance for each of us and it was our star striker, hat-trick hero, Dovan who scored 3 for us.

Man of the match - Dovan (a.k.a. Rooney) for clinical finishing and impressive work rate both offensively and defensively. Special mention to Linus for the game-turning tactical analysis as well as good midfield play.

Squad 1. Nick 2. Chris 3. Andy 4. Gordon 5. Linus 6. Dovan

What we did well?
1. Compared to the preceding weeks, our attack was more fluid and our passes were generally more accurate. Back passes were good in general.

2. We showed our progress - I think all of us are getting more used to the size of the pitch and our fitness level in general is improving.

3. Our ability to hold/shield the ball was better than before.

What we could do better?

1. Perhaps only Dovan excepted, all of us need to continue working on our finishing or even final pass.

2. We could be faster in tracking back - perhaps against Peru specifically - they were good at overlapping - i.e. playing a through-pass and have a quick runner running past our slower player. I think we will either have to work harder in running back or sit deeper in defence so that there's a "buffer".

3. We are still losing probably most/all high balls, and will need to remember playing the ball on the ground even if we are trying to do a longer pass.
Not really something we can just do better easily - we all struggled to get there on time this week and I think this is perhaps the main contributor to our shaky start/first half. Obviously it's beyond our control whether we can get there on time and certainly there's no absolutely blame on anyone, but I think it would help us settling in a lot quicker and make a material difference in our performance if we do manage to get there early.
All comments/suggestions welcomed.

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (23 Jan)

3 pts: Nick Rooney - a 4 goal performance from the great Man U fan. Brilliant support play. Was most unfortunate with 2 own goals but otherwise a perfect day.

2 pts: Chickenbun - showing us why he was the most improved player last season and was superb in the air and offensively. A huge thunderous goal from almost half way, and was genuinely dangerous throughout with half way shots off corners/side balls.

1 pt: Ken - a very influential player in the team, despite not used to the indoor game. Had huge presence - was everywhere on the court. Caused lots of troubles to the opposition and capped it off with an unstoppable keeper goal from half way (having dribbled it around the park).

Belchers Committee

Graham makes the headline again

This time for serving his penalty for being the worst dressed player last sentence. Well... I don't know what you call this position but it ain't any better my friend...

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (16 Jan)

3 pts Leslie: a hard working display combined with skill and Inzaghi striker instinct meant a bag of goals for Leslie which carried his team through. A brilliant volley from a Dezza full court pass was worth the entry ticket and one B&F point in itself.

2 pts Varley: maintaining his good form of late in a workman's like effort and yet another multiple goal return. Definitely the man to watch in coming weeks with his new bright pink headband.

1 pt Graham: put in an admirable Makelele type performance - you wouldn't notice him much in the scoring department but was the backbone of his team linking defence and attack, capped it off with a great toe poke assist thanks to his long (and glassy) legs.

Belchers Committee

Match Review - Australia v Taiwan (4-2) 20 Jan 2010

Match Review - Australia v Taiwan (4-2) 20 Jan 2010

Excellent work to those who turned up yesterday. We won (in my view, convincingly) 4-2 agaist Taiwan, and it should hopefully shoot us up in the league table. It was an even game - nil all at the end of the first half. I think we had slighly more opportunities, but it was a fair result at half time. Shortly after half time, we conceded a goal, but we then got a goal back quickly and pretty much led the game with more goals right til the end. It was very exciting. We had the man of the match performance from Jeff in goal - he was absolutely amazing, saved a number of shots, including at least one or two one-on-ones (one of those shots was at bottom left corner, I was told). We were very tight at the back and man-tracking was generally good. Praises to the likes of Varley, Chris and Shiuy who made a number of interceptions in midfield and for tirelessly pushing forward. It was probably our best night so far in terms of attacking plays (as in the fowards creating chances for each other) - we are no Peru/Spain of course, but we should working on creating simpe goal scoring opportunties. I think we were even with them in terms of ball technique (and indeed none of us was as good as the afro guy they had - he was very good), but the main difference which won us the game was our stronger desire to win and the effort we put in to chase the ball/man (special mention to Neil in that regard). Kelvin was rock solid at the back and was good in keeping possession and made a number of great through-passes. If only our finishing were better, we could have scored perhaps 10 goals. They had more subs than us but we outrun them in the second half (and esp. the last 15 minutes - we had many 2on1, 3on1 opportunities). I can't recall, but I think the scorers were Varley and Shiuy (not sure if Chris/Neil had a goal). If only Graham didn't get injured, we would have more attacking options and no doubt the scoreline would be even better. Bottomline is we played and fought as a team - we very much deserved the victory. Well done all!

Man of the match - Jeff (but Varley would not be far behind)

ps- just been told that Jeff injured his arm from his heroic saves - thank you Jeff for doing this for the team!!

Squad
1. Nick
2. Graham
3. Shiuy
4. Chris
5. Jeff
6. Neil
7. Varley
8. Kelvin

What we did well?
1. We ran, ran and ran. Never once we gave up. We pushed forward and almost without exception tracked back. We punished them when their passes were weak.
2. Our ball control was improving - we made very few defensive error (in terms of marking and also possession at the back)
3. We took the time to pass it around and taking close shots rather than speculative shots.

What we could do better?
1. Sometimes forwards are too far forward for an easy pass. It woud be better if they drop back a bit and chase a through-pass.
2. Finishing could be better - we had many 1-on-1s and we should be converting more of these. Perhaps we should practise these next time.
3. Ball control (esp in air)/dribbling still need more work - we are starting to get used to the ball, but we are still not there yet.

Match review (Australia 1 - Spain 7) - 14 Jan 2010

The squad below turned up. We had a good run but (expectedly) lost to Spain 7-1. We welcomed Graham to the squad, and I think he played especially well in keeping possession and taking the ball up from the back. Almost scored a goal and gave an assist to Dezza (if I remember correctly). We had a handful of chances, many saved by their keeper. Of the 7 goals we conceded, a fair few of them were caused by defensive error (esp. poor quality passes at the back). We fixed that problem half-way when we either have Gordon botted upfield or have Graham taking the ball up. We should avoid conceding goals due to these errors in future games. Credit to Spain - they could have scored more than 7 however, we were saved by the post/frame many times (although a couple of those bounced back to their player who then scored). They also scored one or two spectacular goals through sheer individual brilliance. It was an equal game in the last 10-15 minutes when we played more offensively with Dezza, Graham, Varley and Leslie taking turns to push forward.

Another observation is that the solitary goal we scored was again from shot from very close ranger - our long range efforts weren't much threatening. We were most threatening when we took the ball up the wings and have a striker inside the box to receive the ball and shoot. Strikers would do a lot better had they been able to execute the shot quicker - This delay I think is due to the time taken to take control of the ball and we can improve this by passing on the ground (rather than bouncing/high passes) as much as possible.

Player of the week - Graham

1. Nick
2. Chris
3. Graham
4. Varley
5. Dezza
6. Gordon
7. PKM
8. Kelvin
9. Leslie

What we did well
1. We defended well as a team and when we had 4 players behind the ball, we made it very difficult for them. The goals we conceded were largely on counterattacks (esp. due to defenders (me included) losing the ball through bad passes).
2. Every one of us worked dman hard even if some of us may not be in form. I think this was evident in that we weren't beaten one-on-one on dribble much (but we were more beaten by fast counters/accurate passings).

What we could do better
1. Substitutions could be coordinated better - There were (long) periods of time when we played well and did not concede any goal but there were also periods when we leaked many goals quickly. Welcome any suggestions to fix this.
2. Passing at the back were too error prone. Perhaps we should reduce the number of passing at the back and distribute the ball quicker upfield.
3. When we have possession at the back, the forwards were too far forward, making it very difficult to pass (long passes were almost, without exception, intercepted) since none of us were good at control this type of ball in the air. We would be better off having the forwards more towards the half-way line, and give through-passes on the ground to be chased.

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (9 Jan)

3 pts - Chickenbun. Amazing defensive game with both strength and great positioning. Even beating Big Jer in the air on multiple occasions - now that takes some beating.

2 pts - Kelvin. Simply brilliant. Not even a fly got passed him. And he capped it off with a great solo goal having stolen the ball from own half and finished with a ferocious goal that gave the keeper no chance.

1 pt - Varley. First game of the new year and he has lost little of his brilliance. The main man for his team with 4 goals. He did say to me he will focus on his defence today and will not cross the opposition half. The dishonesty cost him 2 points.

Belchers Committee

Outdoor friendly game (2 Jan 2010)

Team - thanks to those who came for the match and a special thanks to Calvin who gave us much needed encouragement and instructions from the sideline - we hope you can come back soon and share the action with us on the pitch.

Final score was 4-1 to us and it could've been a lot more. The goal we conceded was an unfortunate own goal in the first minute of the game. Since then we virtually dictated play with a commanding display - we played some beautiful possession football. Let's hope we can keep it up for the next game.

Man of the match - David Dovan with a goal, an assist and whipped in a dangerous cross which resulted in an own goal. Super.

Belchers Committee

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (2 Jan)

3 pts: Patrick - very solid defensive work and hard working as ever. He was everywhere today.

2 pts: Ben - dictated play very well despite under pressure and play a commanding quarterback role. Would have been 3 points but for the lack of goals and assists.

1 pt: Kelvin - held a very tight defensive line and is showing everyone why he is the defender of the season in 2009.

Belchers Committee

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (26 Dec)

3 points - Nick. Impressive attacking play and at times even camping in opposition half, and being rewarded with 2 goals. With better finishing it could've easily been a double hat trick, but all credit for getting in the right position in the first place.

2 points - Kelvin. Solid as ever. We find ourselves having to repeat our comments week in week out, so we won't bother this time.

1 point - Graham. Sacrificed his points scoring for the benefit of this team with a commanding display in the defensive half of the team. If he keeps on going like this he could easily sacrifice his glass legs (again).

Belchers Committee

Belchers Indoor League - Best and Fairest (19 Dec)

3 pts - Julian. I think we lost count how many points he scored. It was a record. Being in a strong team helps but he took his chances very well and was full of running.

2 pts -Kelvin. Unlucky with a huge amount of posters - and could've challenged for 3 pts if half of those went in. Solid in defence and provided great support up front.

1 pt - Linus. Showed great composure under difficult circumstances.

Belchers Committee