By Song Sung Hai

A mere pre-season warm up game it may be but Patrick Vallee finally broke his duck against the White Swans at Queenstown Stadium yesterday with the Jaguars as his lads clawed their way up the proverbial pit of defeat to register a satisfying 2-1 win.

Albirex Niigata (s) FC started the game with aplomb as they swooshed immediately into attack mode and began overwhelming the Jaguars. Attack after attack came and it was only five minutes in when a probing Kazuki Sakamoto pass was smashed into goal by an unmarked Keisuke Ota who zipped into the box from the right side. The blistering shot left Aurelien Herisson no chance at all.

One may expect the Jaguars to be aroused from their slumber on the pitch after that goal but instead, it was followed by another ten minutes of dominance by the White Swans. Monsef Zerka then managed to evade his bogey in the 18th minute but his shot from way outside the box posed a peril to the late afternoon casual joggers on the stadium tracks instead.

That shot though, was the signal of a change in events on the field. The Jaguars suddenly came to life and they stalked the ball with such menace till the White Swans were ruffled to the point that the dictation of pace in the game swapped hands rather reluctantly.

A swift counter-attack in the 25th minute once again saw Monsef with possession of the ball and his delicate through ball was pounced on eagerly by Sebastien Etiemble. The only thing the Albirex custodian could do was pick the ball out of his net. The score was 1-1 and the game was truly on!

Hafiz Osman and Anthony Aymard, supported brilliantly on the flanks by Masrezwan Masturi and Ruzaini Zainal, marshalled the back line superbly to frustrate the Japanese side time and again. Aurelien was also at his commanding best and confidence at the back grew. The rest of the half turned into a mighty tussle for dominance in midfield and it eventually ended with no additional goals.

It was the second half though, which saw the Jaguars cementing their claim to the encounter. Patrick Vallee made no changes to the line-up, only tweaks to positions and what tweaks they were! Asraf Rashid went from left-wing to left-back, Masrezwan Masturi moved to his favoured forward position with Ruzaini Zainal taking over duties at right-back and Monsef took up Asraf’s post.

The attacking flanks of the Jaguars’ formation came into magnificent realisation straight off the whistle. It took only three minutes and Firdaus Idros’ threading pass into the box was met once again by Sebastien Etiemble in the box who tried to square the ball to the center but the stretched legs of the goalie deflected it to safety.

Firdaus Idros continued tormenting down the right flank and in the 50th minute, he lost his marker and met no match on his way to the Albirex goal. An onrushing goalie prompted Firdaus to lob the ball in and it just missed its mark.

If there was one word to describe the lads from the Albirex outfit under new coach Tatsuyuki Ikuyama, it would be “spirited”. Realising the depth of the situation they were in, they upped the aggression factor in order to rise above it. Beaks and fangs clashed at electric pace, accompanied by yellow cards flashed at a speed enough to cause epileptic seizures. Monsef Zerka, Itsuki Yamada and Nor Azli were booked in the space of 4 minutes!

Tengku Mushadad and Nor Azli Yusoff were rocks in the middle that were constantly pecked at by the White Swans to no avail. Chief tormentor Firdaus Idros once again zipped around his opponents in the 70th minute and another probing pass found Masrezwan Masturi who managed to muscle his way into the box and was promptly brought down from behind to earn a well-deserved penalty kick.
Sebastien Etiemble stepped up and made no mistake. His shot into the bottom right corner left the keeper rooted in dismay.

The game got very physical from then on but brave performances from the Jaguars showed that they were not to be cowed and Ruzaini Zainal eventually got his name taken down for a yellow card in the 78th minute. The Jaguars could have gotten more goals but misses by Firdaus Idros and Masrezwan in the 83rd and 87th minutes respectively saved the White Swans from a heavier score-line rout.
The referee soon ended the game but not before booking two frustrated Swans, namely Kazuya Okasaki and Hiroki Morisaki, to bring home a well-written book.

Line-Up:
Aurelien Herisson, Anthony Aymard, Hafiz Osman, Sebastien Etiemble, Asraf Rashid(Hanafi Salleh), Monsef Zerka, Firdaus Idros, Ruzaini Zainal, Tengku Mushadad, Masrezwan Masturi, Nor Azli Yusoff

Scorers:
Sebastien Etiemble (TPUFC) : 25’, 72’
Keisuke Ota (ANFC) : 5’