Match #35 (24 Aug 08): 3-0 Sunday morning workout

the headline could have indicated a stroll but with exactly 11 and the sun deciding to punish us today, a workout was more like it. Rovers is a young all malay team, as well coordinated in their kit as we are, and they even have a manager! if not for their seemingly lack of discipline whilst waiting for their jerseys, one would have thought it was going to be a long day for us. nevertheless, we opted to start with caution and sought to have the most decent back 4 we can find since our 3 regular centre backs were unavailable. 2 minutes into the game and we knew it was a matter of maintaining our shape and keeping good possession of the ball before we'd find the breakthrough. it was an easy first half as we coasted through with goals from yc, wah and gan. in the second, they came out more forcefully and saw more of the ball than the first. we had also reorganised to have players doing their share of defensive duties and getting some rest. as such the match will be remembered more for the multiple positions that one played today, saved for brandon (gk), wen (rb) and gan (strk), more info below. the sun took its toll on the players and the second half came to nothing. overall, it was a good outcome; a clean sheet from a make shift defence and we were in control throughout, no crazy rush to pick durains. today, old cool heads triumphed over youthful directionless exuberance.

Players and their positions today:

brandon: gk
wen: rb
ng: lb, lmf / lmf, strk
st: swp / cmf
chiang: stp / rmf
yc: cmf / swp, cmf
chye: cmf / cmf, stp
wah: rmf / stp, lmf
leo: lmf, lb / lb
leng: strk / strk, lb
gan: strk

Match #34 (16 August 08): Intenses battle against Machrone ended in a draw

Marine Sunday shone brightly for 20 minutes and thereafter, similar to shooting stars in clear sky, we vanished just as fast and became largely anonymous throughout the remaining match and were fortunate to settle for a hard-fought 2-2 draw against another worthy opponent, Machrone. The last time we met, we were overrun 4-0. So, we appeared to turn it around with a 2-0 lead, only to throw the win away, somewhat unnecessarily.

Given the thin squad of 12 players against their 18, and knowing their superiority in midfield, we opted for a compact 4-5-1 to start, and we started well. We had the upperhand of the possession, as our midfield trio of Simon, Yong Chua and Teck Chye stamped their mark. Barely 10 minutes into the game and we found the net through a textbook routine. A corner was won on the right side and KH stepped up to put in a left-footed in-swinger that had the Machrone rooted. Yong Chua was left unmarked in the 6-yards box to power a header into goal.

A string of quick passes allowed to KH to break free on the left but his final square pass intending for Teck Wah on the right didn't manage to reach the target.

We continued to press and our pressure yielded another free-kick on the left flank. Teck Wah put the ball towards goal and we had See Chiang going in for a near post header. Machrone's custodian could only palm the ball out to Teck Chye lurking right in front of the goal. The latter accepted the poor clearance without 2nd invitation as he notched up our goal No 2.

Clearly shocked by our early lead, Machrone stepped up a gear or two, and began to run riot. And our tackles proved costly. Their first signal of intent came from a free kick just outside the box, which their playmaker No 14 hit it against the horizontal. We escaped. Next, a controversial penalty was awarded to them when a goal-boud effort hit Hock Leong on the thigh before richoetting to his arm. Referee ruled it was a hand-ball infringement but surprisingly, their No 14's conversion was feeble. Brandon got down onto his right to save us. We escaped again but not for long. Their right winger's trickery proved too much for Ng to handle, his sudden cut-in was too fast and Simon's leg tripped him in the box. Another penalty was awarded and Brandon almost pulled off another save but he allowed the right winger's seemingly weak kick to slip under his body. Deficit was reduced and Branded avoided an equaliser for Machrone as he pulled off another save from a goal-bound low header from their dangerous No 9. 1st half ended at 2-1 in our favour, barely just.

Machrone upped the tempo as the match resumed and they didn't take long to restore parity. We conceded another freekick near the half way line. Their No 14 whacked in from distance and just as when we thought Brandon had it covered, he stood unmoved to let the ball sail into the net. It was a cheap goal to concede but Brandon atoned for his midjudgement with another couple of top drawer saves to keep us in the game. As their long passes increasingly shredded us into pieces, we were desperately but stoutly defending our turf. Defence line held firm, with our stand-in right fullback, Mike, deserving credit, despite playing with a pulled groin.

Against the run of play, we could have stolen the match from them as Gan was put clear to face the keeper but his goal attempt was pushed out by the keeper. The stalemate was not to be further broken and the intense, absorbing match ended 2 apiece.

Match #33 (8 August 08): Red Mist bogey descends AGAIN on in SAFRA Tampines

CHOR Guan live up to his name of being “Chor” and got himself sent off since a long time (or so he claims). In a match where Ng was sorely missed as we all wanted to know if he would repeat his infamous punch up with the IBM team left back again , he was however absent (raising money in Sichuan or attending the Olympics opening ceremony).

In a match where we kept our shape quite well and where the threat from IBM/AMD was mainly from their 2 nippy wingers , MS had the upper hand once we realized how to take the wind out from their wingers. MS fell behind early in the 1st half when their No.9 winger twisted and turned on the right side and managed to send in a right curling cross into our box. Seah was not able to reach the cross and it sailed into the left top corner. Other than this error , Seah had a great game picking up lots of back passes, clearing through balls and even saving the second attempt from the opponent striker after punching the ball out straight to him.

Teck Wah was in my view the most influential player in the game as he got 2 goals and was seen helping out in defence and also made some great crosses to the others. His first goal after he latched on to a long cross from st on the left side and drilled it to the keeper’s right. It was somewhere between the keeper’s outstretched hand and his knees as he went down to stop the ball. The ball somehow managed to bounce over and into the net. The second goal came in the second half as we begin to exert some supremacy over IBM. The goal came from great free kick by Wah from the left , just outside the box, with his right foot. He had won the free kick earlier as he was fouled at the edge of the box. From the substitute’s bench where I sat , I could see the ball rise just over the wall, continued on a rising trajectory and dipped just befor going in at the top right corner, with the goalkeeper’s hands appearing near the ball after it flew past him. 2-1 to MS.

Teck Chye scored the third goal purely out of grit , anticipation and experienced reading of the game. He knew how the defenders were going to play the ball out from the penalty box from the goal kick. He pressurized the defender and managed to nick the ball from him , ran through towards the keeper and squeezed it between the near post and the keeper’s body. Other notable events were the referee flashing yellow cards for every tackle , raising the ire of both teams. A clean player like me also got a yellow card. I cannot remember when was the last time I got a card (yellow or red) . At the end of the evening , nobody took up my offer to help buy them the new adidas boots that I bought from Guangzhou at a good price. If I had scored a goal , the take up rate would have been much different...

In summary , Good Game by the Oldies but Goodies…….

Match #32 (3 August 08): Drab Draw

i forgot to ask someone to write the report before start of match. it wouldn't have mattered. scorching 3pm sun, a pitch hard as stone and young over-enthusiastic opponents (the youngest of SJI alumni, probably) meant pinball football and an inevitable stalemate. no one really got control of the ball or the situation. some got the better of themselves - a tumbling kiss-the-floor act by kh was matched by leng's exquisite air-kicking ballerina twirl. i suppose these are the moments that make the day more palatable. still, it is necessary to include the fact that we created the greater threats throughout the match despite having to adapt to a 4-5-1 formation in the second half for tactical shrewdness. that both kumar and seah kept clean sheets (yes, we're so frugal that we gave them only one half each) and were never seriously troubled spoke of the team's compactness and opponent's lack of ideas. the final statistic was however not lost on wen, who noted that 2 of our rare stalemates over the last 2 yrs had occured at SJI. perhaps SJI (International) next time.