match report contributed by kh
There were few similarities between Marine Sunday v Dell and Liverpool v Man Utd yesterday.
We were 1-goal down early in the match. Liverpool conceded before the clock hardly registered 3 minutes. We recovered to win the match, so did Liverpool. Dell gifted us an own goal; Man Utd did likewise to Liverpool. Liverpool were overdue a win over Man Utd; we were overdue a win at St Wilfrid, once our revered ground, which hasn't been favouring us in the past 2-years-plus, what with the agonising losses and horrific injuries still scarring us.
We started on a cautious note with the flavour-of-the-month 4-5-1 but perhaps a tad too cautious, leaving our lone striker, Teck Chye, lacking adequate and timely support. The lack of sharpness in Chye was quite clear for all to see, though positioning was still superb. He got in at the near post to receive a low cross from the younger Tang on the right but his first-timer shot came off the intervening defender's leg for a corner. Later, opportunity dropped from the sky but he squandered it. He could have opened the account for us when Dell's custodian horrendously cleared the ball to him just outside the box. Perhaps, our Chye was too polite to receive such generosity, or maybe he was just too kind-hearted not to embarass the keeper....he shot the ball straight at the keeper instead.
Lack of tactical discipline cost us dearly. Our supposed defensive midfielder, See Chiang, was wandering all over the pitch and on one fateful occasion, his foray upfront forced Chor Guan to advance and cover space on the right and consequently, left us exposed at the rear. Dell sent in a cross that eluded everybody, including Seah. Though KH tracked back to close down the striker, his defence naivety was too starkly clear not to notice it. He could have cleared the cross but chose to leave the ball run instead and their right winger tapped the ball at the far post to wake us up. One-nil down.
Urged on by Hock Leong's war cries of "Switch On!", Marine Sunday stepped up a gear. Tactically, we switched to a more balanced 4-4-2. First, KH capitalised on their defender's poor first touch and raced clear with the ball, before backheeling the ball onto Teck Chye's shooting path. Teck Chye's snap shot just sailed over the bar. Then, Simon and Teck Wah exchanged simple passes to break up the defence but Simon's resultant shot posed no problem for Dell's keeper.
Dell almost doubled the lead when a through ball found their striker in the box. Though KH tracked back to close the striker down, he again failed to deal with ball cleanly but did enough to cause the striker to take a hasty shot that came off the left upright. Another forward followed up but his shot sent the ball across the goal to the far side, with their right-winger waiting and looking destined to capitalise. KH atoned for his earlier defensive blunders as he dashed across the goal to block their right-winger's shot.
We were not to be denied of our equaliser when Mike passed the ball in between 2 defenders for KH coming in from the blind. Though KH failed to connect with the ball, Teck Wah's predatory instinct placed him ahead of the flat-footed defence and he slotted the ball beyond the keeper's reach into the lower right-hand corner of the goal. 1-1. We began to pass more and they started resorting to long passes.
Twice, KH could have put us ahead as he ran in between defenders to receive the passes but was denied by either the excellent defending or alert goalkeeping of Dell. First, a short pass into the box fooled Dell defence and KH's pace enabled him to break into the box and found himself facing their keeper alone. As he was positioning to shoot at goal, Dell defender recovered splendidly in a split second and tackled superbly from behind to rob the ball off KH's feet. Next, KH raced clear into the box to receive another through ball but his left-footed shot came off the keeper's face for a corner, cutting his lips in the process. The tough keeper recovered in time to flash a point-blank save to deny Mike's near post header from the resultant corner. 1-1 at half-time.
Second half largely belonged to Marine Sunday as Dell players began to wilt in the hot afternoon heat. Space was in abundance for us. The Tang brothers worked wonders again to pour more misery onto Dell. Another through ball from the older Tang caught the Dell defence dead again, the younger Tang obliged to nip the ball past the advancing keeper for our 2nd goal.
Dell had their moments of glory as well. Seah had to come off his line and got down well to block a shot from their forward. Then Chor Guan almost gifted them an own goal when his heading clearance came off our upright, with Seah desperately stretched to reach the ball. Ng was alert to react to the loose ball and booted the ball to safety.
KH almost owned the entire left side of the pitch, especially with Dell leaving their defenders to fend for themselves. For the only time in the match, KH dribbled past their defender and beat him in sheer pace before producing his trademark low diagonal cross, aiming for who else but Teck Wah lurking at the opposite end. Sensing the danger of Teck Wah, the low cross forced Dell's last man to stretch his foot to clear the ball beyond their keeper but into the net. 3-1! Teck Wah was cruelly denied of his hat-trick, you can say that. Another run-and-cross from the left picked out Mike and Teck Wah in the box unmarked. Mike's first touch left much to be desired as he failed to control the ball neatly for at least a decent shot at goal. It was evidently clear we were tormenting them on the flanks, Mike and Teck Wah giving them a torrid time on the right side. KH sent in another cross from the left but Teck Wah didn't manage to reach the ball at the near post in time. That was to be KH's last contribution in the match as he retired with another injury.
With the match slowing to a walking pace, no further action ensued and the match ended 3-1 in Marine Sunday's favour.
Injury Update:
Yes, the injury-prone me was injured again. I heard a rather loud snap in my thigh as I crossed in a ball late in the match. I'm not sure if it's just a pull or a tear but my left thigh is very stiff and sore now. I can't squad. The thigh hurts when I lift up my left foot and try to stretch. I've been working hard to improve my fitness but another injury again to sideline me....what a lousy season.
We were 1-goal down early in the match. Liverpool conceded before the clock hardly registered 3 minutes. We recovered to win the match, so did Liverpool. Dell gifted us an own goal; Man Utd did likewise to Liverpool. Liverpool were overdue a win over Man Utd; we were overdue a win at St Wilfrid, once our revered ground, which hasn't been favouring us in the past 2-years-plus, what with the agonising losses and horrific injuries still scarring us.
We started on a cautious note with the flavour-of-the-month 4-5-1 but perhaps a tad too cautious, leaving our lone striker, Teck Chye, lacking adequate and timely support. The lack of sharpness in Chye was quite clear for all to see, though positioning was still superb. He got in at the near post to receive a low cross from the younger Tang on the right but his first-timer shot came off the intervening defender's leg for a corner. Later, opportunity dropped from the sky but he squandered it. He could have opened the account for us when Dell's custodian horrendously cleared the ball to him just outside the box. Perhaps, our Chye was too polite to receive such generosity, or maybe he was just too kind-hearted not to embarass the keeper....he shot the ball straight at the keeper instead.
Lack of tactical discipline cost us dearly. Our supposed defensive midfielder, See Chiang, was wandering all over the pitch and on one fateful occasion, his foray upfront forced Chor Guan to advance and cover space on the right and consequently, left us exposed at the rear. Dell sent in a cross that eluded everybody, including Seah. Though KH tracked back to close down the striker, his defence naivety was too starkly clear not to notice it. He could have cleared the cross but chose to leave the ball run instead and their right winger tapped the ball at the far post to wake us up. One-nil down.
Urged on by Hock Leong's war cries of "Switch On!", Marine Sunday stepped up a gear. Tactically, we switched to a more balanced 4-4-2. First, KH capitalised on their defender's poor first touch and raced clear with the ball, before backheeling the ball onto Teck Chye's shooting path. Teck Chye's snap shot just sailed over the bar. Then, Simon and Teck Wah exchanged simple passes to break up the defence but Simon's resultant shot posed no problem for Dell's keeper.
Dell almost doubled the lead when a through ball found their striker in the box. Though KH tracked back to close the striker down, he again failed to deal with ball cleanly but did enough to cause the striker to take a hasty shot that came off the left upright. Another forward followed up but his shot sent the ball across the goal to the far side, with their right-winger waiting and looking destined to capitalise. KH atoned for his earlier defensive blunders as he dashed across the goal to block their right-winger's shot.
We were not to be denied of our equaliser when Mike passed the ball in between 2 defenders for KH coming in from the blind. Though KH failed to connect with the ball, Teck Wah's predatory instinct placed him ahead of the flat-footed defence and he slotted the ball beyond the keeper's reach into the lower right-hand corner of the goal. 1-1. We began to pass more and they started resorting to long passes.
Twice, KH could have put us ahead as he ran in between defenders to receive the passes but was denied by either the excellent defending or alert goalkeeping of Dell. First, a short pass into the box fooled Dell defence and KH's pace enabled him to break into the box and found himself facing their keeper alone. As he was positioning to shoot at goal, Dell defender recovered splendidly in a split second and tackled superbly from behind to rob the ball off KH's feet. Next, KH raced clear into the box to receive another through ball but his left-footed shot came off the keeper's face for a corner, cutting his lips in the process. The tough keeper recovered in time to flash a point-blank save to deny Mike's near post header from the resultant corner. 1-1 at half-time.
Second half largely belonged to Marine Sunday as Dell players began to wilt in the hot afternoon heat. Space was in abundance for us. The Tang brothers worked wonders again to pour more misery onto Dell. Another through ball from the older Tang caught the Dell defence dead again, the younger Tang obliged to nip the ball past the advancing keeper for our 2nd goal.
Dell had their moments of glory as well. Seah had to come off his line and got down well to block a shot from their forward. Then Chor Guan almost gifted them an own goal when his heading clearance came off our upright, with Seah desperately stretched to reach the ball. Ng was alert to react to the loose ball and booted the ball to safety.
KH almost owned the entire left side of the pitch, especially with Dell leaving their defenders to fend for themselves. For the only time in the match, KH dribbled past their defender and beat him in sheer pace before producing his trademark low diagonal cross, aiming for who else but Teck Wah lurking at the opposite end. Sensing the danger of Teck Wah, the low cross forced Dell's last man to stretch his foot to clear the ball beyond their keeper but into the net. 3-1! Teck Wah was cruelly denied of his hat-trick, you can say that. Another run-and-cross from the left picked out Mike and Teck Wah in the box unmarked. Mike's first touch left much to be desired as he failed to control the ball neatly for at least a decent shot at goal. It was evidently clear we were tormenting them on the flanks, Mike and Teck Wah giving them a torrid time on the right side. KH sent in another cross from the left but Teck Wah didn't manage to reach the ball at the near post in time. That was to be KH's last contribution in the match as he retired with another injury.
With the match slowing to a walking pace, no further action ensued and the match ended 3-1 in Marine Sunday's favour.
Injury Update:
Yes, the injury-prone me was injured again. I heard a rather loud snap in my thigh as I crossed in a ball late in the match. I'm not sure if it's just a pull or a tear but my left thigh is very stiff and sore now. I can't squad. The thigh hurts when I lift up my left foot and try to stretch. I've been working hard to improve my fitness but another injury again to sideline me....what a lousy season.
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