PHILIPPINE UNITED TAKE THE POINTS WITH A BELOW PAR PERFORMANCE

After our founder Leo Jensen’s April Fool joke, PUFC

SORRY TO ALL OF YOU PUFC FANS BUT THIS TIME I WILL START WITH SOME BAD NEWS THAT NEIL ETHERIDGE AND CHAD GOULD WILL NOT BE PLAYING FOR PUFC AS OUR FOUNDER LEO JENSEN WROTE HERE ON APRIL THE IST. HE HAS ASKED ME TO MAKE THAT CLEAR.
AS YOU KNOW EVERYBODY LOVES TO FOOL EACH OTHER ON THAT DAY AND YOU CERTAINLY GOT FOOLED. WE HAVE ONLY GOT A POSITIVE REACTION AFTER THAT, AND LEO, CHAD, AND NEIL ALL LAUGHED ABOUT IT, SO LETS MOVE ON WITH THE MAIN ISSUE HERE WHICH IS ……PHILIPPINE UNITED’S PROGRESS.

Today Philippine United had a home game against the gritty Tring.F.C. which proved to be more difficult than it would seem on paper.
United were going into this game with a string of six straight wins, so the confidence was high to say the least.
Star player, Raymond Tordecilla was injured with a gashed eye, which gave another chance for A.J.Ross/Low to shine, as he has been doing in recent weeks.

Almost straight from the kick-off, United ended what would have been one of the goals of the season with a brilliant five man move, but only for the linesman to give us off-side.
Only minutes later United made amends with a good finish from A.J.Ross/Low, when he cut inside from the left, and crashed the ball into the Tring net, making the score 1-0 to PUFC.

The first fifteen minutes we were on fire, with telling passes from midfield, splitting the Tring defence wide open, but we could not put the finishing touch to them.

We kept pressing for the second goal, with a couple of good efforts coming from Raymond Leigh, but that second goal remained elusive throughout the first half, and that was how it stayed until the break.

I had a few harsh words to say to my players, because Tring were starting to get back into the game, which should have been rapped up in the first twenty minutes.

Jerriel Cagigas came on for the second half, for the injured A.J.Ross/Low, and immediately
made an impact straight from the kick-off, going down the left flank, using his pace, and put in a good early cross, for Aniello Mone to stab home his 34th goal of the season, taking the score line to 2-0.

After the second goal, I thought that would finish Tring off, but it was not to be, as Tring started to dictate the game from midfield, and continued to do so throughout the half.
Tring could not capitalize on their new good fortune, as they were not able to penetrate our last third of the field.
United’s midfield, who were so explosive in the first half, were sadly poor the second half, and got bullied in the air and on the ground, time after time.
Usually by the last quarter of the game, the opposition get tired of chasing our shadows, but not so this time,as Tring stuck to their task.
Even though Tring got back in the game, our keeper did not have a save to make.

Philippine United were missing talented Raymond Tordecilla, because he brings that bit of class to the team, and he can change a game with a moment of brilliance, and that is what United needed badly today.

One thing we have to stop doing is pumping high balls into the opponent’s area, because we are just not a good in that department.
We kill teams when we keep the ball ( on the carpet) but against Tring their two central defenders were having a birthday, winning every, (and I mean every) ball that was pumped into their box.
Even though we played badly in the second half, we still had chances to score again, but
2-0 is how it stayed till the end whistle was blown.

Regarding good performances, unfortunately there wasn’t many of them.
Renan Ramos, A.J.Ross/Low, Michael Cepillo, and Raymond Leigh, all had very good first half performances, but apart from injured Ross/Low, the other three were very poor in the second half, lacking fitness and strength.
The only player who played well in both halves was Jeffrey Burgin, who this week gets my Man of the Match.

Not a great performance from Philippine United today, but we still got the three points, and that’s what counts.A team can not play great football every week, and lets face it, PUFC have been playing some great stuff for months, not weeks, so I have to give the guys a breather, and get back to winning with style next week, ( hopefully).
Keep the faith all you PUFC fans, till next week, take care.

NORM PARKIN