Match #30 (20 July 08): 4-2 back-to basics win over Blue Chinese Team

report contributed by mark

This was yet another young team that looked promising to take on MS on a bright sunny Sunday morning. Like MS, they too had a Ah Lau look-a-like who was there early doing his warm up flexing his 8 packs of muscle. A few of his teammates were down at the pitch warming up and whacking their powerful shots at goal. They certainly looked intimidating with some having tattoos on their bodies while our guys were busy putting on our shin pads and boots on......

A min before the kick off, Simon gave a 'clear the air' or should i say a pep talk to the team. It was clear that the team needed that to get our unity in place and our act together again after the previous match. So off the whistle went and the match was on! The talk by Simon seemed to work well as MS started the game brightly with plenty of passing and runnings .... Lakesh was clearly the man in the centre as he was stringing passes every where and soon the breakthrough came when Simon was first to react to a long clearance from Keeper Brandon. He produced an excellent first time pass which put Leng through down the right flank. Leng latch on to the ball, held off the oncoming defender and put in a beautiful cross which was met first time by Gan with a volley pass the on rushing goalie. 1-0! MS appeared to shrug off the lethargy of the previous match and they continued to play cohesively as an unit and Simon continued to motivate and gave directions constantly. The 2nd goal as expected did not take too long. A long cross from just before the halfway line found chye on the left of the field, suspiciously in an offside position. Referee allowed play to continue and so chye controlled the ball, rounded a defender and scored from outside of the box. .....Goal 2-0! It was a wake up call to the Blues and by now they knew they had to push their players forward before MS killed off the game. In the process, they became physical and abusive at times, especially with the introduction of a rather obnoxious number 21. Referee was in control of the game and had no hesitation in giving a verbal warning to him. The Blues fought gallantly and they began to have their share of possession. With some slick passing and quick counter moves, they soon found one such opportunity on the right. It was not clear whether it was a cross or a shot but the floater from their right winger was well executed and it gave Brandon no chance of reaching for the ball, which landed perfectly on the left of the side netting Goal! 2-1. Undoubtedly, the goal inspired the Blues significantly and for the remaining of the half, they looked the better side. Half time score : MS 2 Blue 1....

After finishing strongly in the 1st half, the Blues were expected to continue its dominance in the 2nd half. But surprisingly, they let MS take control at the start of the half allowing MS to get back into its passing game. Lakesh took the initiative by hitting a long shot across the goal mouth. It was with our slick passing and movements between players that brought about the 3rd goal. Lakesh had possession of the ball in the MS defensive third and was looking around for someone to relay the ball to. Teck Wah dropped into the hole in the middle of the pitch and Lakesh found him with a quick release. Wah then proceeded to bring the ball forward and seeing that Gan was ready for a pass, laid a diagonal pass for him to run pass the last man and head off with a one-on-one dash to the ball with the goalie. Gan was fastest to the ball and cleverly tapped the ball passed the goalie, albeit bringing the ball too wide for a clear shot at goal. At this point, Wah had continued his run into the box and called out for Gan, who did not disappoint with a pin-point cross which sailed over the head of the last man who had tracked back, and Wah had the simplest task of heading the ball into the empty net. Goal! 3-1! MS seemed to kill off the game effectively after the 3rd goal but there was still plenty of time left. We did what we should by not resting our laurel and continue our possession play, hoping to take advantage once the Blues gave away an opening and that opening came when a long ball from midfield found Teck Wah on the left flank. Gan went forward to support and received the ball. 2 defenders were quickly closing Gan down. Gan managed to skip past one tackle and use his speed to get pass another defender before blasting the ball into the top corner. Goal 4-1! The game was as good as over but credit to the Blues who did not give up completely. Off one rare attack and after some fine work from their right winger again, the ball was sent across to the centre outside the box. With MS caught napping, their oncoming midfielder took one hard shot outside the box and indeed it was a good shot that went straight in to the left side the goal. Goal 4-2! Amazingly, the Blues only seemed to play their free flowing soccer for the last 10 mins and they started pressing in search for the 3rd goal. Despite showing signs of tiredness, MS did enough to hold on to victory in the end with Ah Chye taking the last shot of the match!

Final score 4 -2!