A perfect Feb!

Records so far

Feb 08: 100% record.
Results: 4 wins out of 4
Goals Scored: 23 (5.75 per game)
Goals Conceded: 6 (1.5 per game)

Dec 07/Jan 08: Mixed
Results: 3 wins 3 losses
Goals Scored: 19 (3.17 per game)
Goals Conceded: 14 (2.33 per game)

Comments: On a 6-match winning run since we rose from the ashes at the Cool Joes match at SJI. Coincided with the (forced) introduction of the new dark blue jerseys. Keep the hot streak going!

Match #10 (22Feb 08): 4-1 demolition of IBM

the beauty of astro pitches. it was raining heavily just before the match and the rest was played in a drizzle, life goes on. it's also good to play against corporate teams, chances are you don't mean gangsterish bengs! IBM are a good mix of mainly young players, full of drive, a good number had trickery to boot. they move the ball well for a corp team and their cohesion was held together by a few skillful and intelligent ball players in midfield. they were however quite light in defence but had a brave keeper to compensate. we had our chances in the first half but failed to capitalise. then yc suffered a cut above the left high from a clash of heads and had to leave the field. IBM capitalise on our reorg to take a 1-0 lead. ms weather the rest of the first half storm. it's not over.....typical of ms, we have the resilience and discipline to grind out an opening to stage a recovery. fortune favored us for our equaliser, but everything else was a testimony of teamwork over individualism. here are the moments.

IBM's opener: our right mid left too much space for IBM to exploit and their midfielder had all the time in the whole to drive a diagonal ball through our defence. as players on both sides comically tried to clear, block, retrieve in miscued fashion, the ball eventually fell to an IBM player who just managed to toe-poke the ball past brandon who had came out well earlier to block one of the shots.

Half time 0-1: Tim came in to add bite to the defence. chiang moved from stopper to right midfield where he enjoys his marauding runs.

MS's equaliser: mark put the ball down the right in a counter-attack and as leng shaped up to cross, he delivered a weak shot which floated over the keeper. both players' only mistake of the game, which changed the overall momentum of the match.

Chye's goal: MS began to attack with greater threat in the opponents third. a sweeping move from right to left found st at the edge of the box. watched by a defender, he shifted the ball from his left to right and from the smallest opening created, curled a ball to the far corner which the keeper brilliantly tipped over. it's not over.....there was no escape from the resulting corner as IBM failed to clear and chye continued his superb form with an unstoppable volley.

Brandon's save of the match: it's not over....IBM was not giving up and continued to press knowing a breakthrough on their part could change the game. as we defended, we sometimes allowed long range shots. a thunderbolt from their central playmaker went just wide and later, another was soaring for the top right corner when brandon, seemingly a step off position, leapt like a salmon and palmed it firmly to safety. critical moment save.

Mark's long range missile: another of mark's trademark (pun not intended) goals. again steady team work was key to the build up. defence broke up an attack, ball played to chiang on the right and as defenders stepped up on him, he played a simple ball to st in the middle. good movement by mark to space and st had no difficulty placing the ball in between 2 IBM players for mark to stride on. supporting movements from our strikers pulled defenders away and mark was free to unleashed his missle from way out. too good and keeper was not to be blamed.

Wah's emphatic finish: st robbed the ball in midfield and as wah dragged a defender down the left, allowed st to play a ball wide out to mike who had more space. mike drew a player and then played the ball back to st who shaped up to shoot only for a defender to come in for cover. st then flicked the ball past the defender and for the second time, another defender came in to nick the ball away. it's not over.....it fell nicely for wah to confidently smash in a shot into the far corner.

Final score: 4-1

Fracas: Towards the end, a full blooded but completely fair tackle by ng brought down IBM's playmaker. it was alleged the IBM player had pushed ng as he was getting up and ng retaliated with a slap on the opponent's head. as players from both sides tried to stop the scuffle, opponent managed to break through and give ng a dose of his own medicine. luckily no one was hurt and the IBM fellas were all sensible. without wanting to pinpoint blame, establish flashpoint etc, may i humbly suggest we, as individuals in a respectable team should always consider how our temperament in the game affects the team as a whole. in the world of amateur football, we have heard of some serious incidents, parang chasing, broken jaw, police interference, etc. not that we are anywhere close to cheena juventus whom nobody wants to play against now. but if we respond to the slightest of provocation.... i'd rather our excellent brand of team football be our spokesman. despite a great come from behind win last night, personally, i felt it ended on a rather sour note.

it's not over.....fracas at the end notwithstanding, expect IBM to arrange a rematch.

Now you know why the title of the blog is 'it's not over' :)

Match #9 (16 Feb 08): 5-2 win over Eagles

After a week of hunting for players, we finally manage to find 12 who are have gotten over cny. nevertheless, we press on! our opponents over 40 are higher than us and with terk (guest) and gan, there's no doubt the odds were tilted in our favor. eagles had been playing together for over 15 years hence the calmness of their style. personally i regard them as worthy opponents and fairly determined, yet gentlemanly. mark and yc summed it well noting their patient and intelligent use of the ball, despite being behind. we match them better. it was close until we pulled away in the second half with some inspired finishing. here goals, i mean goes:
goal #1: patient build up from midfield found gan with the back towards goal. he lay the ball to the right for wah to whip in a delicious cross which terk met with great purpose and precision. goal! opponent were caught ball watching.

eagles equaliser: eagles played a counter attacking game and their 2 front men were very quick. we were caught over committed and a fast ball down the left found frontman #1 who played a diagonal ball into the penalty box. brandon came out to cover but frontman #2 connected first and cleanly for a simple effective finish.

goal #2: luck was on our side as wah's corner was completely misjudged by their keeper. 2 richochets from their own defenders resulted in an own goal.

half time 2-1

goal #3: chye continued his rich vein of form as evidenced by the 'shake your booty' movements that mesmerize opponents and team-mates alike. sustained pressure paid off as eagles were in 6s & 7s before wah laid the ball for chye to stretch and plant the ball cleanly into the net with the outside of his left foot.

goal #4: with terk around, he's always gunning for goals from all angles. just when we thought he had run out of angle, he managed to smashed a shot across goal with his left foot. the ball somehow found its way into the net.

goal #5: another guy who's in rich ($$$) form is chiang. last week saw him pounding down the left and this week, more of his superb over-lapping runs. his goal came when dispossessed opponent and combine with wah before knocking the ball into the far corner. a carbon copy of last week's goal!

eagle's consolation: our turn to be caught ball watching as a free kick was floated into the box. the striker was left free to nod a looping header into goal.

final score 5-2

mizuno's special: wah played with a flu but the new boots work its magic. 4 assists in the game. perhaps mizuno should sponsor us and save on advertising expenses. our record since players started using wee hock leong's name (and the intro of the blue jerseys) had been impeccable!

Match #8 (10 Feb 08): 6-2 lesson for 'got no name' team

sunday morning matches....ai, always a mixed feeling situation! for one, its not a good timing for us, then empirical evidence suggest its the best durain picking time. and the fact is founded on opponents strolling in late (probably after a night's 'chiong', then again, we old guys also got 'chiong' what), and the waiting just makes us more determined to shake the durain tree hard. and so we decided that we'll impart 'the lesson of the day'.

opponents are a bunch of youngsters (21-25yrs), mixed of chinese and malay boys wearing a terror black set. we had to switch our intended blue kit with the white tops but it would not derail our run. it took a while to find our feet and we gave away a few good chances at the beginning. then chye showed his continuance of form, and the lesson began.

goal #1: opponents tried to play the offside but fleet-footed kh sprinted down the right to retrieve a through ball and send in an incisive ball for chye to tap home.

goal #2: lakesh came in and within minutes latched onto a loose ball. as kh drew a defender away, lak powered past 2 defenders and lashed a swirling shot over the keeper into the net, with his weaker left foot.

goal #3: good pressure fr attackers forced the keeper into a hasty clearance. too bad, it found chye and his lob is unerringly accurate (just like the 2 last week).

goal #4: more frustration for opponents as they keep insisting on playing a high line. a nice through ball into space on the left and chiang silkily (no spelling error here) carried the ball towards goal before skillfully (no spelling error here either) planting the ball into the inside netting, despite keeper getting a touch.

goal #5: similar to #4 but fr a more direct angle, yc strode forward and with the keeper to beat, it's a cinch. low and to the near corner.

half time 5-0.

minor reprieve: we did not clear well and inside the box, their striker hammered an unstoppable shot.

goal#6: their most disruptive (not in a footballing sense) character came back on and we expected more loudmouth action. his own action made sure there was none. yc floated a ball into the box and loudmouth headed the ball beautifully into his own net. poetic justice?

goal fr st's student: we lost the ball in a dangerous position and jin (st's student) scored with a well-taken low shot.

final score 6-2.

The smaller pitch did wonders to ageing legs. It helps to make passing easier. Probably should play more often in such smaller pitches.

Match #7 (2 Feb 08): 8-1 win over Forex

A small field, rainy day, and 15 players all boils down to a pulsating match. after some of the exhilarating movements that found us some breathtaking goals (and some cheap ones), forex had to comment we're a young team. doesn't matter the fact. that we put in another cohesive performance to give our uptrend further momentum was what matters.

was it the urgency to finish them off and rush to gan's wedding dinner or did we over-compensated for a potential viral attack? doesn't matter. always gr8 to win like that!

mark's goal: after a couple of near misses fr ms, we finally found the opening. forex's keeper came out of his box to retrieve a ball on the left. good pressure fr 2 of us cause him to clear hastily. mark coolly strike the ball first time to lob it beautifully into the open goal.

st's goal: more pressure as forex's midfield go missing. yc found st drifting in fr the left outside the box. one touch and st let fly a rising shot to keeper's top left corner whose mere touch could not keep out.

robin the accelerator's reprieve: off one of forex's rare attacks, forex's best player found space, raced towards goal and finished it off with an accurately placed shot. ms was miffed!

wah's goal: we started regaining the initiative and chye came in to supply bro a pass. with time and space, wah let fly a shot which a forex defender tried to cover. his attempt only caused the ball to loop over his stranded keeper.

half time: 3-1

chye's 2 carbon-copy goals: ms came out even hungrier for more. before long, chye showed his class with 2 carbon copy goals. forex's keeper had to come out again to stop a shot but the rebound was loose as defenders tried to cover. chye nonchalantly chipped the ball into the net. moments later, he was to repeat the same feat fr a good passing move. this time, the keeper was a couple of steps off his line but surely, he ought to hv learnt. doesn't matter...

yc's goal: kh was now taking the corners with his $15 china snow boots that have made him the number 1 assists in the shanghai bankers league. on astro, some worked some wonked. fr his corner, forex was too demoralised to clear properly and the ball fell to yc who banged it home fr close range.

mike's goal: another kh corner, another goal. this time his floater found st whose attempt at an acrobatic volley turned into a weak half-baked pass. it found mike who didn't miss fr 3 yards.

wah's goal: the best move of the game. towards the end, we were stringing some good passes together and only some inspired goalkeeping prevented an avalanche of goals. such endeavors have its rewards with a flowing finish. 3 clever interchanges in midfield was followed by a precise diagonal ball down the left for guan to run into. he has the option of taking it but the passing momentum was so good that another sharp pass into space was the perfect choice for wah to execute the perfect finish to a (almost) perfect match!

final score: 8-1

Wishing you and your family a happy & prosperous lunar new year!