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.
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.
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