report contributed by kh
Marine Sunday defended valiantly for 87 or so minutes but the writing was on the wall, the goal just had to come for Shocking Pink after we failed to close them down. Thereafter, there was not much time for us to recover though we had the last scoring opportunity but it was not to be. Final whistle went....Marine Sunday trooped off the pitch.....with a 3-4 losing margin!
Where Marine Sunday was once fearlessly known for the fight back against the odds, we are nothing more than a sparkler nowadays - it burns brightly and colourfully for a short while and then suddenly, it fizzles off and extinguishes. We tend to take the lead but concede the goals later. And the loss to Shocking Pink was another classic case, with us twice leading but eventually throwing the match away.
Again, the non-availability of key players required us to deploy certain players, on an emergency basis, not in their usual positions. Teck Chye and Mark gamely took up sweeping and stopping roles respectively, and they accounted for themselves admirably. Teck Wah had to start and end the match as a central midfielder, and KH again on left midfield.
Shocking Pink had their central midfielder and striker-in-chief, both possessing bags of tricks in their sleeves, pulling the strings and the supporting cast proved their competency, playing simply and assuredly, passing the ball around quickly.
Their defence proved to be the weakest link in the 1st half as its tentativeness allowed us to snatch an early 2-0 lead. The first came from a cross from KH on the left (FIFA subsequently clarified that because the field was so small, that cross cannot be classified as a cross, it was more like a short-distance mid-air pass....) that had the defence calling wrongly for an offside. Teck Wah nipped in to hoist the ball over the stranded keeper for our opening goal. The Hwa-Wah combination was put to effective use again as Teck Wah wriggled in from the right before side-footing a defence-splitting through ball. This time round, it was KH nipping in from the blind, with the defence still dazed by Teck Wah's sudden switch of direction, to put the ball past the keeper. 2-0 and we were not even one-quarter of the match done!
Gan was guilty of show-boating on 2 occassions that could have settled the match. Each time, he was placed in one-on-one position, each time he side-dragged the ball one touch too many instead of shooting at goal, each time it resulted in the defender having sufficient time to recover and and rob the ball from him.
Seah was introduced into the match and he proved menacing with his first run with the ball, beating 2 defenders on the right but his final cross packed too much punch for a small pitch.
We were duly punished for our lack of potency upfront. Their striker-in-chief proved too slippery to handle and close down as he successfully drew Mark and Teck Chye to him before releasing the ball to his strike partner in the box. His partner-in-crime showed clinical simplicity instead of fancy footwork with his turn-and-shoot, though Brandon was already out closing the angle. 2-1.
We had the final goal attempt of the half when another cross from KH on the left resulted in both Yong Chua and Teck Wah, both unmarked in the 6-yards box, going for the same ball and we did them a favour by our own failure to convert the cross into goal.
Shocking Pink introduced a few pairs of fresh, young legs to bolster their increasing confidence in the 2nd half. They equalised from a quick counter-attack. Our free-kick from the middle of the pitch was cut out and a quick long pass caught our defence out of place. Their striker-in-chief outpaced Leo to the ball and the situation was worsened by the hesitant Brandon in mixed mind to close him down. He rounded Brandon with ease and tucked the ball into the open goal. 2-2 now and they knew they had the match in their hands.
For a brief moment, we showed glimpse of our famous past when we restored the lead. Gan got to the byeline to receive a quick throw-in by Chwee Leng from the right. Without breaking his strides, Gan hooked the ball across goal for Teck Wah to tap the ball in for our 3rd goal. 3-2 and we saw hope but it was not to be as tiredness set in.
Anyone who watched last season's Champions League 2nd-leg semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool would have lamented how Liverpool conceded the penalty. Sami Hyppia could have cleared the ball first-time in the box. Instead, he chose to trap the ball but failed to do so cleanly. The ball went to Drogba and in his attempt to recover the lost ball, Hyppia tripped Drogba and the rest, well, you knew it. Shocking Pink got their equalising goal from almost similar circumstances. Mark could have cleared the ball simply but he chose to trap the ball but gave it away to, of all players, their striker-in-chief. The latter ran rings around our defenders and caused a goal mouth melee in the box. SP benefitted from our comical clearances in the box and scored with a tap-in. 3-3!
We thought we could run down the clock but Shocking Pink had other ideas. They continued to press forward. KH failed to close down on their right-midfielder and the latter took a speculative long shot that dropped beyond the outstretched hand of Brandon into goal. 3-4!
It was a match that we threw it away and it could be attributed to 3 factors:
1. Where we could have played simply, we chose to do the extra step that finely borderlined between brilliance and stupidity, depending on what the outcome was. Or in the classic Chinese saying: Adding legs to the snake after finished drawing it. No names need to be mentioned here, the point was made clear after the match.
2. Fitness. The team, in general, lacks fitness but quite clearly, minimum 3 players need to shore up their fitness, and do it quickly - Kian Hwa, Chwee Leng and Mike.
3. Positions. Quite clearly, a few players are not suitable to play in their usual or preferred positions. They need to accept to play in other positions, otherwise the alternative is to settle for (much) lesser play time.
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