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…….