Match #7 (24 Jan 09): Ended the Year of the Rat a bit Flat!

Most of the folks of Selaseh Food, our all-Malay opponent last Saturday, look more like wombats and we thought we had enough experience to more than match such gelek team. Little did we know that they possessed 2 little mice who can scurry through every nook and crevice. Their 2 livewires – No 2 and No 4, pulled the strings and carried the weight of the team. Their swift twinkle-toed movements were a joy to watch but nightmare for us to chase after and close down. Beating 3 or 4 of us at one go hardly broke any bead of sweat for them. Their support cast played simple, effective football of getting into space and passing the ball confidently, we were made to chase after the game throughout. We exchanged lead with them before both sides settled for a fair result of 3 – 3 draw. Again, our pure grit salvaged the game for us, when we should have capitalized on their vast difference in quality in their players but instead we let their pair of wizards control the match and terrorize us throughout.

The first scoring opportunity fell to the feet of Kian Hwa after Teck Wah brilliantly robbed the ball off their sweeper who was on the receiving end of a poor goal kick. Seeing the keeper retreating back to his line, Kian Hwa took a snap left-footed shot but the keeper managed to get his big foot to block the shot. Our first-time pairing of Weng Kwan-See Chiang took more than some time to settle down and SF seemed to sense the tentativeness in our backline, and they piled pressure on us non-stop. If they were clinical to capitalize on those openings, they could have easily had a handsome lead before even the 30th minute mark.

Our next goal opportunity was fluffed by the eagerness of Teck Chye to creep up the scoring chart and secure his Tang family legacy. Mike broke into space on the right and squared in a low cross into the box, Kian Hwa sold a dummy for Simon waiting in the box but Teck Chye came in for the same ball as well, resulting in a case of too many cooks spoiling the soup.
SF inevitably opened their account from the silky skills and pace of their No 4 after we shot ourselves in our feet at the back. See Chiang was caught napping in receiving a pass from Weng Kwan, allowing their No 4 to sneak in from behind and took the ball away in a flash. No 4 went on to dribble past 3 of our players, including Brandon, with such guile before burying the ball in the open goal. 0 – 1 down.

Chwee Leng came in for Teck Wah and had his first start of the season in his favoured striker role. And he didn’t disappoint with his immense contribution to our equalizer. As the half was drawing to a close, Chwee Leng called for the ball on the right and Kian Hwa duly found him in space with a reverse pass. Chwee Leng beat their big man sweeper before unleashing a shot at goal. The ball was destined going wide but SF custodian, another big and heavy chap, chose to dive low to collect the ball, only to cause a blunder by his failure to hold on to the ball cleanly. Teck Chye was at hand to scoop the ball into the net for his much-awaited goal. 1 – 1 at half-time.

Simon gamely took over Weng Kwan at the back, the latter having to retire early for a family commitment. We dug deep into our reserve of unyielding spirit and put up a much concerted and free-flowing effort in standing up to SF’s artistry and flair. With their keeper looking more like a clown ever ready to fumble, we were waiting for another early Lunar New Year hong-bao and we had him to thank for again in our 2nd goal. At the edge of the penalty box, he gifted the possession to, of all players, Teck Wah. Seeing the keeper hopelessly stranded in no man’s land, Teck Wah needed no invitation to produce a lob over him. 2 – 1 and we looked good for the money!

But No 4 had other ideas in mind and he showed us individualism can prevail. Another 2 goals from him reversed our lead into a lead for them. First, a shot coming in from the right gave Brandon no chance, with speculations that Brandon was having a snooze before realizing the shot coming in. 2 – 2. No 4 completed his hat-trick with a thunderous shot from distance. Despite his skinny frame, No 4 possesses enough tenacity and toughness just like Cesc Fabregas to pack enough punch in his shot. 2 – 3! Marine Sunday is not known for giving up until the whistle is blown and we proved to be the case again. Mike also notched his maiden goal of the season with a simple tap-in after Teck Wah brilliantly teed up the ball for him. Mike certainly deserved a goal for his improved performance. 3 – 3! The match ended in parity for both sides.

Man of the Match: See Chiang
Though tentative in the opening period, he filled in the stopper position with gutso. See Chiang is always a team player to give his 100% in whatever position he is asked to play. Here are his 5 winning votes:
“Motm was See Chiang. Good performance in an unfamiliar position. Although some mistakes were made, he got better as the game went on.”
“See Chiang for motm for good tackles on their young players”
“Motm see chiang for his overall effort”
“Motm is see chiang. Displayed good defensive play. Contained their players and was disciplined. Made important tackles”
“Motm Chiang. Cut out 50-50 balls, our most biting player to counter their flair.”

Leo did well to gather 3 nominations:
“Leo. Snuffed our numerous attacks”
“Mom to leo. Make some timely interventions including blocking one fierce volley. Some nice touches when playing as a striker.”
“Leo – though he was beaten a few times on his side but that was because their right winger possesses pace. But Leo sticked out his leg effectively a few times to break up their attacks. He was the most assured defender in that first 20+ minutes before he ran out of breath.”

The Tang brothers had 2 each and Mike, Chwee Leng and Simon had 1 each to round up 15 votes in total:
“motm: teck chye. did a lot of dirty work on the left harassing and winning the ball. plus following in from midfield into the penalty box for his durian goal - something which we need more from our midfielders to be doing.”
”Mom is teck chye. For his industrious running and follow up to score the morale boosting first goal.”

“No one stand out, so I will go for tw [i.e Teck Wah] who score the 2nd goal n create the 3rd”
“Tough choice, between simon and teck wah, will go for teck wah for scoring the second goal and initiating some of our more dangerous attacks down our right flank.”

“Chwee Leng – didn’t stop running though can see he was outpaced.”

“Mike, who make the score to 3-3”

“Mom: Simon for holding the defend [defence, he meant] well.”

Match #6 (17 Jan 09): Marine Sunday Swatted SWAT!

No doubt, Marine Sunday are not quite the same as before. After all, most of us have stepped into the 40s and that comes naturally with the inevitable decline in fitness and nimbleness of limbs. Surprisingly, SWAT were a few miles further than us off what we used to know them. Remember, at one stage, even our Mark was playing with them. The few familiar old faces are still around but their younger set of players was nowhere in sight. Call it a cheap shot on my part, but to a certain extent, it vindicates our rather stringent, albeit unwritten, policy of recruiting new players into our squad. We never place youth and vitality as our priorities in recruiting new players.

Our previous two encounters were in 2005, a hard-fought 3-3 draw on 30 Oct and before that, a closely-contested 1 – 3 loss on 9 Jul, with us conceding the 3rd goal in the dying moments after we had committed players to chase for the equalizer. It was not to be this time round. For a brief moment, we looked destined for another one-of-those-days feeling after SWAT had taken a surprise 1 – 0 lead despite our overall superior possession. Teck Wah, in the form of his life, augmented by 3 Old Amigos in the moulds of Kian Hwa, Yong Chua and Simon produced 6 goals of exquisite class to notch a convincing 6 – 1 win.

We were so determined in widening the lead not just with our attacking efforts, but our stable crew of Mr Dependables at the back defended our turf like an impenetrable fortress. Weng Kwan was constantly breathing down the neck of their striker-in-chief, hardly giving him any time or space to turn. Chung Wen, aided by his recent frequent therapy sessions in Geylang, was in his no-nonsense self and covered well to deny them a consolation 2nd goal with a goal-line clearance after Brandon superbly forced their striker wide to take a delayed shot at goal from a tight angle. Leo exuded class in halting their moves down the right flank, he made breaking-up-play like a child’s work. His coolness bore quite a resemblance of Paolo Maldini! Chwee Leng will in no time give our established full-backs a run for the money. Though tentative in the 1st half, he seemed to have undergone a thorough changeover in the 2nd half with a couple of crucial interferences to prevent SWAT from scoring. Once he recovered in time to put enough pressure on their striker to skive the shot less than 10 metres away from goal. Next, he sprinted back from the opponent half to his opposite flank to chase after a breakaway attack down their right flank, Chwee Leng did enough to force the final pass from this breakaway forward into nothing more than a misguided missile. On both occasions, Chwee Leng did not get to the ball but the willingness to fight for the cause on his part prevented any damage to us. Chor Guan sticked to his sweeper role with a disciplined display of timely interceptions and clearances. Nobody had any grouses when he was rewarded with 15 minutes of forays upfront for all his thankless job at the back. Once again, Brandon instilled confidence in us with another encouraging performance. Perhaps there weren’t many saves he was called upon but twice in the 2nd half, he came off his line quick enough to turn two 1-on-1 situations into futile forays for SWAT. He didn’t make any direct save on those 2 occasions but his imposing presence forced their forwards with no choice but to take the extra step to round him and on one of those, it allowed Chung Wen enough recovery time to clear a certain goal on the line. Their superlative performance diminished Kok Hock’s defensive contribution in the final 15 minutes of the match into mere academic mentioning.

Despite the landslide scoreline, SWAT were no pushovers. Against the run of play in the 1st half, they stole the lead. Our midfield gifted the possession to them and their forward drew Chor Guan near to him before laying the ball across to his right to his fellow forward. We called in vain for offside and SWAT punished us for our uncertainty in defending when the latter forward drilled the ball past Brandon for their opening goal. The goal punctured our belief momentarily but a quick double substitutions of Yong Chua and Simon for the first-time pairing of Weng Khong, in his ill-fitting boots, and Kok Hock put some familiarity in the command room. And the front duo of Hwa-Wah turned the deficit into a lead at half-time.

A typical hard running at the defender on the left by Kian Hwa forced a corner, which Kok Hock floated the ball into the box aiming for Yong Chua. SWAT’s keeper had the slightest of touch to the ball but it only diverted it to Teck Wah lurking at the far side of the 6-yards box. Teck Wah brought the ball nicely before unleashing a left-footed half-volley for our confidence –restoring equalizer. Gan came in for our left-flanker See Chiang, who felt the tightness on his hamstring, but Teck Wah voluntarily took over the left-midfield position. The move paid off handsomely as Gan later threaded a ball in between 2 defenders into the box. It was a deft pass, the movement of the ball fooled the defenders into thinking it would be safely dealt with by the keeper. Likewise, the keeper thought he had the ball covered but Kian Hwa’s pace startled him into inaction. The keeper was in two minds seeing the raging bull charging at the ball. Kian Hwa got ahead of the keeper by a step to squeeze the ball past him from the tightest of angle. The ball trickled to the far right-hand post and kissed it before coming to a stop just over the line. It was a morale-boosting goal to put us at 2 – 1 lead at half-time.

We expected SWAT to come back at us but we wrapped up the case with further 4 classy goals that had the neutrals on the gallery urging for more. Kian Hwa pulled the defender to the left create space for Gan to chip in a delicate ball onto the path of Simon coming in from the blind. Simon controlled the ball before deftly flicked it over the keeper to land the ball at the far right-hand corner for our 3rd goal. 3 – 1! There was still time for SWAT to recover and their illustriousness was not to be taken lightly but any remaining confidence was wiped out by the classiest of goal from Yong Chua. Picking a loose ball just over the mid-line, Yong Chua’s shot from distance landed perfectly over the keeper and into goal. Beckham had his glory with his strike against Wimbledon, Alonso’s wonder strikes from far against Newcastle and Preston North End stamped class. Whatever, we have our Yong Chua. 4 – 1. Not to be outdone by Yong Chua, Teck Wah played up to the gallery and brought the roof down with a goal that brought him the MoTM award! Gan’s cross from the left was a tad too heavy for Gan in the box but Weng Khong recovered the ball at the right to send a looping ball back into the penalty box. With his back facing the goal and a defender checking him, and sensing the spectators were gunning for something special, Teck Wah produced a spectacular mid-air overhead kick for our goal No 5. Even SWAT’s keeper was guilty of watching that goal instead of doing something to stop it! Teck Wah later conjured up our 6th goal with a measured pass onto the path of Simon, again coming in from deep. Simon waltzed past the hapless SWAT defence and placed the ball beyond the keeper into the net. 6 – 1, and that score line stayed till the final whistle.

The last 10 minutes produced further goal opportunities for both sides. SWAT had two 1-on-1 opportunities thwarted by Brandon with his superb positioning, with one of those aided by Chung Wen’s timely recovery on the line to clear a goal-bound effort. We could have added more. Kian Hwa was picked out superbly by another Teck Wah’s through pass but SWAT’s keeper interfered in time to boot the ball away. Then Kian Hwa’s left-footed freekick from the right required only the slightest of touch from anyone in the 6-yards box to convert it into a goal but the ball whisked past the left-post by a mere millimeter. Gan concocted his own scoring opportunity with a nutmeg that fooled 2 defenders. With only the keeper to beat, Gan dragged the ball to his left but the touch was a bit heavy and Gan painfully saw his effort going to waste.

MoTM: Teck Wah
A brace, white-hot scoring form and an out-of-the-world goal, any surprise that he garnered 11 out of 16 votes?
“MoM is teck wah. For good link up play and the magnificent overhead kick goal.”
“Teck Wah. Brilliant goals and made important passes too that lead to goals”
“My motm has to be teck wah for his 2 well taken opportunist goals and one assist.”
“Wah. What a goal! And many assists”
“MotM goes to teck wah. Good finishes, especially the reverse cycling kick and provided the through pass that created another of our goal.”
“Teck Wah for the spectacular goal and an assist for simon’s goal”
“Teck Wah for the equalizer bringing us back in the game, a couple of perceptive thru passes & oh what a glorious bicycle kick (right in their butt)!”
“MoM is teck wah. Wonderful overhead kick”
“Vote goes to teck wah for his second goal and his all round attacking play.”
“Mom to teck wah – 2 great goals, one or more assists”
“Cut the grandfather’s story short. MOM is Teck Wah for his spectacular goal.

The following 5 players mopped up the remaining 5 votes:
“With such an emphatic win, the scorers will no doubt grab the limelight. Those guys at the back kept it tight for us. Between Weng Kwan, Chung Wen and Leo…by the thinnest of margin, I settle for Weng Kwan. He gave no single inch of possession away!”
“Most will prob choose teck wah for that spectacular overhead kick. I’m going to vote for chung wen. He cleared a certain goal n deny the loud mouth opp[onent] of a consolation late in the game. Good defending overall as well. The team played superbly. Well done to all!”
“MOM - difficult to single out MOM this week as most got into the game well. Kok Hock tips my vote as he made himself available for a lot of the ball.”
“MoTM goes to simon for his outstanding play in midfield and scoring two good goals”
“MotM: Kian Hwa for lots of tireless running at the front and a well taken goal.”

Match #5 (10 Jan 09): Marine Sunday Fell to its Own Undoing

A couple of tactical changes proved to be suicidal to Marine Sunday against SOFA-Affiliates. Coupled with a lack of leadership on the pitch (which the self-proclaimed skipper must be hung high and dry for that) and the perennial problem of inferior fitness (lame excuse it may sound but indeed, most of us are above 40), it was a forgettable debut in our new 2009 kit.

Putting an attacking-minded Weng Khong into the right-back position is akin to fitting a square peg to a round hole. His over-zealous foray into the opponent box was calamitous move as a breakdown in our attack resulted in a quick breakaway by SOFA-A down the left flank and their eventual opening goal. We aren’t spring chickens anymore to recover that kind of distance, we forgot to remind ourselves that.

We are supposed to be wise with our age, especially relative to SOFA-A but we are foolish risk-takers at heart. Not contending to settle for a draw with 5 minutes to go, another tactical change involving advancing Chor Guan from his sweeper position to upfront and deploying Kok Hock to take over Chor Guan not only didn’t pay off but it devastatingly backfired. Chor Guan was effective in repelling their waves after waves of attacks. Don’t get me wrong, Kok Hock is a proven quality but has a different style of play in commanding the defence. Before the line could settle down to the new regime, SOFA-A punished us with a breakthrough in the dying moments of the match.

We were jaded and sluggish throughout the match. Perhaps, it was our first morning match after a long while and we just couldn’t get beyond the 1st gear in the morning sun. On the contrary, SOFA-A were lively and fluid in their movements. If there was any bright spark in our performance, it was the ever-improving Brandon who once again bailed us out of a possible landslide margin loss. Brandon, showing his willingness to play for the cause of the team, stepped up when most of us failed miserably with his numerous quick off-the-line shutdowns that thwarted several certain goals.

SOFA-A, with their majority in play possession and a few close opportunities, got their opening goal they richly deserved late in the 1st half. Ironically, it came from a nice build-up of our rare offensive move. Gan threaded in a through ball down the right, which Kian Hwa did well to run behind the full back to cut the ball back to Weng Khong, then as our right full-back, in the box. Weng Khong air-balled his shot and SOFA-A retrieved the loose ball and launched a quick counter-attack that exposed the big gap we left behind. A few quick moves allowed their forward to chip the ball from outside the box. Brandon barely got his fingers on the ball as it sailed over him into the net. 0 – 1.

Despite trailing at half-time, we were confident that we were able to get back into the game. Shortly after the match resumed, Gan was fouled in the box after Melvin sent in a cross that caused a goalmouth melee. Gan picked himself up to convert the spot-kick. 1 – 1.
But our tail wind didn’t last long to propel us further and SOFA-A took over the command. We managed to keep them at bay with our stout defending from Chor Guan, Hock Leong, Weng Kwan and Chung Wen , later replaced by Mike. Where our defensive line was breached, we had our Brandon to call upon. The dam eventually caved in to the non-stop onslaught by SOFA-A.

Their forward cleverly drew Hock Leong and Kok Hock to him before releasing the ball to their playmaker No 8, who raced clear with the ball. With Brandon out to narrow the angle and Kian Hwa chasing after him, No 8 demonstrated the coolest of footballing brain by slotting the ball through Brandon’s legs to seal the game at 2 – 1. By then, we were thoroughly sapped, both physically and mentally, with hardly any ounce of energy to recover lost ground. An unhappy ending for us but SOFA-A didn’t deserve anything other than a win.

Man of the Match (for Marine Sunday): Brandon
Any surprise? By miles again, similar to his first MoTM on New Year’s Eve, Brandon came out top with 8 votes out of 14. With his new found confidence, we definitely hope he could continue to command and impose in the box. However, one thing is of concern to the us. There is an inverse relationship between him winning MoTM and us winning the match. We do hope that the next time he gets MoTM, we are the winning side J

Brandon (8 votes)
- “I actually heard him shouting out at the players to cover positions. Fantastic! Showed marked improvements in positioning but really need to be more confident in handling and distributing balls.”
- “My MoM is Brandon. We didn’t play particularly well. But he made important saves and was steady throughout.”
- “Vote goes to Brandon. Great saves and a much improved performance.”
- “Brandon. Thanks to a few 1-to-1 saves.”
- “Brandon. Solid display”
- “Brandon. Did very well in goal.”
- “MotM: Brandon for keeping the score respectable with a few saves.”
- “MOTM Brandon for a few fine saves”

Kok Hock, Hock Leong and Weng Kwan had 2 votes each”
- “MotM = kok hock. Show his versatility. Play well as a central mid, left wing, last man”
- “MotM goes to kok hock. Most lively among group of jaded marine sunday players. Controlled ball well and also broke up some of opponents attack.”
- “My vote to hock leong for some timely interceptions and good overall defensive work.”
- “MotM is hock leong for holding the defence”
- “Weng Kwan MoM – slightly slow but makes up with determination. Gave opponents very little room today”
- “MotT: kwan – sound defending & oh what solid spot on crunching tackles to make a statement!”

Match #4 (4 Jan 09): Marine Sunday Laboured to a 7 - 3 Win!

Looking at the composition of the opponent and how they kitted themselves, we thought it could be a stroll in the park or in our reference, durian picking. They, hereafter referred to as Blue & Green Thunderbolts, proved to be a much tougher nut, or rather durian, to crack. The eventual score line suggested a durian picking session, but that must be after trekking through thick forest to get to the durian trees. They are a bunch of young and energtic, and we suspect, ex-rugby players naturally full of fitness and possessing a decent level of skill but are lacking only in team cohesion and understanding among the players. After a few games in the bag, BGT will be a team to reckon with.

It was a record turnout of 19 players, with a couple of injured players sportingly joined in the pre-match team shot to capture probably our last turnout in the all-white kit.

We started confidently but the final passes didn’t do justice to the build-up. Our early possession of the play was not converted into goals and we needed a fumble by their keeper to gift us our 1st goal. BGT’s keeper somehow spilled Teck Chye’s feeble shot from outside the box and the predatory Teck Wah pounced on the loose ball to tap it home. 1 – 0.

We produced a few nice moves that were just pleasing to the eyes but yielded no result and BGT made us pay for our bluntness upfront and slack marking at the back. A corner from the right found their bespectacled last man to lose Simon’s marking and head the ball in for the equaliser before Brandon could get his fingers to the ball. 1 – 1.

The equalising goal boosted BGT’s confidence considerably and they began to gain the upperhand of the play. But a lack of understanding among their back four conceded their 2nd goal to us. Melvin swang in a quick free-kick from the right. The ball evaded everyone in the box but See Chiang at the far post. He stooped low to head the ball into goal to regain a 2 – 1 lead. And that was how it stood at the break.

Realising that we simply looked organised but were far from imposing, BGT began the 2nd half with a new found fluency in their movement and passing. The slack defending alternated between both sides and it was our turn next. We left their left winger plenty of space and time to swing in a difficult cross for Brandon to deal with and BGT’s bald eagle nipped in front of the out-of-position Brandon to poke the ball into the open goal to restore parity for the 2nd time. 2 – 2

Mike, back after a considerable layoff, was clearly short of fitness but he positioned himself well a few times to pose threat on the right flank. Gan nodded a high ball down into the path of Mike on the right and the latter’s square pass across the box required only a simple tap-in from Teck Wah, who looked suspiciously offside, for his 2nd goal and our 3rd. 3 – 2. Mike even had a later effort denied by the bar when he climbed well at the far post to meet a beautifully floated free-kick from Teck Wah. Before that, Teck Wah was denied of a goal when the keeper brilliantly dived to his left to push away a direct free-kick effort from him against the post.

We were then given a torrid 10-minutes spell by BGT, during which they reigned supreme and could have turned the game around with unbelievably 4 scoring opportunities. They squandered all and missed converting the gilt-edged opportunities into goals, which might have been pivotal to the outcome of the match. A series of swift passing put through their forward but with only Brandon to beat, he shot straight at Brandon instead. Another goal-scoring opportunity came a short moment later. Again, their mobility exposed our defence and they found themselves another go at our goal. We had Brandon to thank for, as he quickly advanced off his line to cut down space and parry the shot away. Then, twice, BGT’s forwards scooped the ball over the bar when they could have simply tapped in but the nerves must have gotten the better of them. We were simply thankful they were formerly rugby players!

Being so close to get their 3rd equaliser, they were visibly disappointed and were somehow affected by the misses. They then lost their cool and the plot, and things began to fall apart. They were further made to rue their misses with the introduction of Chor Guan and Kian Hwa to replace Teck Wah and an overworked Gan. After failing to find the net when he was presented with a couple of season-opening chances in the box, the jury was still out on whether Chor Guan could make it as a striker. But he proved his doubters wrong with a brace. The first came from an intelligent run in between the advancing keeper and the back-pedaling last man to meet an inch-perfect ball from Melvin on the right. Chor Guan chested the ball past the two and made no mistake with his right-footed effort that saw the ball trickling into the open goal, with our reserves on the sideline providing the rapturous cheers for his beautifully taken goal. He was then presented the simplest of task of another tap-in goal after Kian Hwa ran behind BGT’s left fullback to meet a defence-splitting pass from Yong Chua. With the keeper out to close down space, Kian Hwa unselfishly squared the ball to his strike partner for the latter’s 2nd goal. Before these 2 goals, the CG-KH partnership proved promising as a quick one-two between both released Kian Hwa into the box. KH’s miscued shot landed into the net nevertheless.

All of a sudden, BGT found themselves facing a 3 – 6 score line when they could have earlier grabbed the lead, if not of all those misses. More misery was to follow as we still had business to finish off. It was See Chiang’s turn to be the lucky recipient of another tap-in goal. He had Teck Chye to thank for after Chye overlapped from his right-back position to burst into the box, again drawing the keeper out of his position before passing the ball to his left for See Chiang to pick up another durian. 7 – 3!

We were on a roll and gunning for a durian harvest but the referee decided that the harvesting should stop. Final score stood at the score line that only told half the story.

Man of The Match: Chor Guan
With such a big turnout, it was quite a task for everyone to pick out his choice of MoTM but it also spurred us to think hard and recollect the proceeding of the match. Unfortunately, quite a number still got several facts wrong that this reporter-cum-editor had a busier time than before to straighten out the nominations. Furthermore, looking at the number of players nominated and the number of ties to break, I should have engaged an intern to run the statistics for me.

Out of 18 votes,
- Chor Guan had 4
- 5 players had 2 votes each – Yong Chua, Brandon, Teck Chye, Melvin and Kian Hwa (really, I didn’t manipulate!) – Now you know I had had a mammoth task at hand to break the tie!
- See Chiang, Weng Khong, Leo and Hock Leong garnered 1 nomination each.

Chor Guan (4 votes)
- “Again a number of players to choose from. My choice is chor guan. Good in defence, effective in attack. He looked fresh, can defend, can score, can assist. Maybe his only weakness is he can’t be a goalkeeper.”
- “MoM chor guan – steady at the back, lethal upfront”
- “MOM: Guan: showed his prowess both back and front”
- “…it is Chor Guan for me…” But no reason why so?

Yong Chua (2)
- “Yong Chua for MOM. Open up the play.”
- “MOTM – Yong Chua for slotting thru’ 2 beautiful passes, one to Kian Hwa which he redeemly crossed in for See Chiang to score & the other thru’ to Teck Chye which he directed a cross into the penalty box, again converted by the thankful durian picker, See Chiang J” Again, I had to correct the error…I fed the ball to Chor Guan not See Chiang. Nevertheless, this doesn’t take away the fact that See Chiang is confirmed a durian picker!

Melvin (2)
- “Melvin : no player really stood out in the game today. Giving the MOTM accolade to Melvin for trying hard despite a lack of match fitness, and rallying the others to stay calm when there were a few potential heated moments (a change isn't it since Melvin is usually the aggressor). And for the free kick which contributed to one of the goals.” For once, I didn’t need to correct any errors. Melvin is indeed usually the aggressor! J
- “MoTM. Melvin. Still far from getting match fitness but slowly regaining his touches. 2 assists. One from a quick-thinking free-kick and another was a pinpoint, intelligent ball in between the keeper and the defender that created confusion between them, allowing Chor Guan to sneak in.”

Brandon (2)
- “MotM is brendon for the few point blank saves.” Hello, Brandon, not Brendon!
- “MotM is Brandon for a vital save, otherwise they would have equalized and confidence boosted”

Teck Chye (2)
- “In the first half that i saw, MoTM goes to Tech Chye, for linking up play, helping in defence and spearheading some of the attacks”
- “…my nomination for teck chye. Made 3 goals and was a constant threat throughout”

Kian Hwa (2)
- “motm to you! hard work, created havoc for opponents, especially those you tripped, shoved and unmentionable (something to do with going in from behind!). not only that, created opportunities for team mates with incessant running and some very effective dummies in the box. deserve the goal too!” No doubt that the nominator was referring to this hard-at-work reporter-cum-editor J
- “[KW]. A pretty rough team and his muscling them down has helped Marine Sunday as opponent has lost their cool to play wisely.” This reporter-cum-editor had to verify with the nominator to confirm his choice. After some thorough questioning, he reluctantly admitted he meant KH….I supposed he wanted to acknowledge my feat but grudgingly. So he tried to confuse everyone with a smoke bomb, KW instead of KH J

I had to break the tie…..2nd to Yong Chua and 3rd to Melvin.

1 each for See Chiang, Weng Khong, Leo and Hock Leong
- “My motm=see chiang. Good overlapping work down the left flank and scored 1 goal. (Not sure 1 or 2 goals)” After being pointed out by this reporter-cum-editor that See Chiang scored 2 goals, here’s the follow-up “OK gd…goal poacher instinct. Right place at the right time.” I supposed this nominator meant SC is a good durian picker! J
- “MoM is weng kong. For a great performance dancing in the middle and spraying the passes to spark the attacks” Very disappointed with this nominator. Having played in the team for so long, he still cannot differentiate Weng Kong from Weng Khong.
- “MOM - Leo for his all round solid game.” All round, he meant.
- “Motm - Hock Leong, was running all over the field to cover the midfield, supporting the strikers and still played well in defence making important tackles.”

Match #3 (31 Dec 08): Marine Sunday Slammed Hard Against Brick Wall!

We wanted to end the calendar year 2008 with a grand slam but we were instead slammed hard against Brickwork Boys, a team comprising several ex-national players in the moulds of Tan Kim Leng, Tan Sio Beng, Lim Soon Seng, who was reportedly part of 1998 Tiger Cup winning team. The rest of the team was no lightweight, easily must have paraded their skills in S-League or the NFL at one point in time of their footballing life. On the contrary, nobody would believe by any stretch of imagination that our Melvin used to play for Police SA in the old NFL in the 90s. And out 2nd noteworthy war story is a former varsity player in the shape of Teck Chye. As for me, I turned up for trial in primary school and I recalled Cikgu barking at me “If you are any good in football to represent any school, I’ll eat pork!” I went on to represent my primary school in mixed netball team but that didn’t count.

The difference in the quality between both sides is not Malacca Straits, not Persian Gulf, not South China Sea but an Indian Ocean apart. If there were any positive takeaways from the match, it must be the fact that the match organizer thought rather highly of us to pit us against BB. Take it as a compliment then.

I can’t help but to, again, draw comparisons against the Newcastle-Liverpool match on 28 Dec. Except that this time round, we were like Newcastle United, totally dominated by the opponent. Another similarity is that Shay Given was the Man of the Match in that match; Brickwork Boys would not argue that our Brandon stood up to the onslaught. However, much as we were hardly in possession of the ball, we managed to keep the loss to a mere 2 – 0.

For what we come up short, real short, in techniques, skills and fitness, we valiantly made up for the shortcomings with a lion-hearted spirit and steadfastness. We knew what we were up against but we didn’t start out to be defensive and park a bus in front of the goal. Naturally, and not surprisingly, we were simply pinned back against the wall. Half the time, we defended in desperation, throwing bodies and limbs to block the shots. The other 50% of the time, we simply defended stoutly, especially if you had looked at the facial lines of Mark, the overstretched hamstrings of Tim, the injured thigh of Weng Kwan, the huff-and-puff of our full backs in Joe, Leo and Chwee Leng. Not forgetting the over-worked midfielders who had to drop deep to cut down space. Of course, we had our Brandon who, time and again, bailed us out.

BB must have been equally frustrated that given their embarrassingly near total domination, they could only muster 2 goals, each a class act in itself. A through ball, one of the many throughout the match, evaded the last-ditch outstretched leg of our left fullback, Joe, and allowed BB’s lanky forward cut into the box. Seeing a string of white lilies lined up across the penalty box, this forward unleashed a shot out of the blue from the outside of his right foot that Brandon, slightly out of position, must have thought the lightning just flashed across the evening sky. 1 – 0 to BB.

Our only shot at goal in the 1st half came unexpectedly from a rebound off Weng Khong’s shin when Kian Hwa harassed the BB defender to clear the ball but defender was a tad over confident, choosing to pass out instead of clearance. The ball came off Weng Khong but landed harmlessly at the feet of BB keeper.

2nd half was more of the same for BB – domination and control, spraying passes and switching the ball from flank to flank effortlessly. Whilst it was painful for us to chase after the ball, it was pleasing to the eyes of the neutral to see how Brandon executed a few vital saves. Whilst his handling of the ball still leaves much to be desired, the saves and his coming-off-the-line to narrow the angle deserved huge plaudits. 2 balls bound for the top corner of the goal were parried away, 2 came off his body after he alertly charged out and bravely put himself in the firing line.

But we eventually conceded the 2nd goal. Superb close control of the ball enabled BB to breach our defence. Brandon again came off the line to narrow the angle but their forward rounded our No 1 with ease. Anticipating him to shoot at the open goal, Mark and Kian Hwa threw themselves at his flight path, only for him to intelligently cut the ball back across the penalty box for a simple tap-in by the same lanky forward who scored the 1st goal. 2 – 0.

Much to the credit of both sides, BB did not step off the pedal and they continued to pound at our goal; and we did not give up. In fact, we had a couple of half chances – See Chiang won a high ball in their box but his header went wide; then Gan did brilliantly to out muscle 2 defenders on the left but Teck Chye’s effort to meet Gan’s cross was smothered by their left fullback.

2 – 0 was the final score, and a respectable one.

And yes, there was a 2nd positive takeaway from the match, or rather, mismatch. Having played such quality opponent and held our own admirably, without meaning to sound cocky, we should have no fear for other opponents.

Man of The Match: Brandon
Given such a lop-sided match and our defence constantly under the spotlight, it wasn’t surprising that from which department the MoTM came. In fact, there were only 2 nominees – Brandon and Mark. And Brandon walked away with the MoTM, with miles to spare.

Out of a total 14 votes, including guest player Tim but excluding the other guest player Joe, Brandon had a lion share of 11 votes! There you go:
- “MOM for SAFRA game - Brandon for his good saves”
- “Brandon. Multiple saves and kept us in the game”
- “MoM between Brandon n mark. Think vote Brandon for keeping our score down.”
- “Brandon. Superb goalkeeping and some excellent saves”
- “My MoTM goes to Brandon. This had to be one of his best games. Good teamwork overall and I would also like to mention that there are some real hardworking players tonite that spur us on.”
- “Brandon for an inspirational performance”
- “MoM Brandon. His saves kept us in the game and withstood the range of long shots, one on ones, corners, goalmouth melees etc.”
- “Significant moments of the match? Those stops from Brandon, especially a couple of times coming out of his line to unsettle opponents. That’s motm!”
- “MotM = Brandon. Outstanding & confident goal keeping. We don’t seem to miss Seah… J”
- “MoM – Brandon. Countless saves”
- “The saves didn’t go unnoticed but I believe most will state the obvious. My choice of Brandon as MoTM is simply for the vast improvement and immense confidence he has shown. But please brush up the ball handling and distribution!”

And for Mark:
- “Mark MoM – marshaled def, only beaten once in 60 mins” [Nominator, why 60 mins?]
- “MotM Mark. Commanding presence against tough opponents”
- “MoM: mark for holding the defence very well”

Keep it up, Marine Sunday!

Match #2 (28 Dec 08): 28 December 2008: Marine Sunday flattered by a 6-2 win!

I can't help but to draw comparisons of our emphatic-looking win over OVA with Liverpool's thrashing of Newcastle United on 28 December 2008. Liverpool should have finished Newcastle off by half-time but instead they only managed a slim 2 – 1 lead by the break. Similarly, we should have buried OVA by the break but the slender half-time 2 – 1 lead defied logic. Liverpool eventually won by a 4-goals margin, 5 – 1. So did we, 6 – 2. Their skipper scored, so did ours, though the latter's contribution was only 50% of Gerrard's 2 goals. The English press described Liverpool's win as a "mauling of the hapless Newcastle". Out of respect for OVA, I wouldn't use such degrading words. OVA's only disadvantage against us is that, on average, they are about 10 years older than us. The facts that such veterans could still kick and run, scored 2 goals against us and at times were controlling possession and dictating the pace of play are very admirable. Putting things in perspective, the win, though looked emphatic, was at best flattering to us.

Teck Wah had half a dozen of scoring opportunities but converted 2. Similarly, Kian Hwa had 6 but managed only 1 goal. Simon had a goal disallowed. Melvin had one golden chance on a through ball but he thought he was playing hockey, scoring into the hockey goal besides the real goal mouth. Teck Chye's 2nd audacious chip over the keeper went astray. Plus several others, almost 20 opportunities to rack up a rout but we managed only 6 goals.

It was a lively encounter between both sides with all the 1st half goals coming in the opening 25 minutes of the half. Simon brilliantly intercepted a ball in midfield and threaded a through ball in between 2 OVA defenders for Teck Wah to finish the job, though the latter still had work to do by rounding the keeper before slotting the ball into goal. 1 – 0. The Tang brothers conjured up the 2nd goal soon afterwards. Teck Chye, superb on the right, picked out his younger brother at the far post with a perfect cross. Teck Wah, left unmarked, nodded the ball past the hapless OVA custodian. 2 - 0. Teck Wah then pulled wide to the right to further stretch OVA defence and a couple of crosses from him threatened to extend the lead, one of which leading to Simon's tap-in at the far post but his goal was ruled offside.

Our attacks were incessant that even Chwee Leng, now establishing himself as a fullback, missed his offensive role so much that he joined in the attack. He came close to meeting a cross from the left. Teck Wah then flashed a thunderbolt that was parried away by OVA keeper. A couple of substitutions were made, Hock Leong for Leo and Yong Chua for Simon, but before we could hardly settle down to the tactical changes, we conceded a goal. A poorly-executed offside call put our own defence on standstill, allowing the OVA winger to continue advancing into the box and smartly slot the ball past Brandon's left to reduce the deficit. 2 – 1. Melvin and Kian Hwa then came into play for See Chiang and Weng Khong respectively and both had opportunities to put themselves on the score sheet when each was put through brilliantly by Teck Chye to face the OVA keeper. The latter did superbly to deny both by quickly narrowing the angle. The first heroic act was to block Kian Hwa's shot with his feet and later force Melvin to take a hurried shot that did go into goal, but it was the hockey goal post besides the real goal post that matters. Before these misses, KH shot skyward from a tight angle when he was first to react to a loose ball after OVA defence failed to clear a low cross from the right.Teck Wah had further couple of efforts at goal but earned the wrath of the elder Tang who chided the former for not passing to team mates in better position. 1st half ended at 2 – 1.

OVA started the 2nd half with a higher sense of urgency, constantly urging the players to close us down. They fell prey to a long punting ball from our defence which pitted a duel between our Yong Chua and their last man, Henry. Henry failed to clear the high ball and allowed Yong Chua to muscle in to lob the bouncing ball over their keeper, who was for once in 2 minds whether to stay on the line or come forward to meet the ball. 3 – 1. True veterans they are. OVA recovered to reduce the deficit again. Their right winger sold a dummy that caught Leo flat-footed. The winger broke free to the byeline and sent a low cross across the 6-yards box for his Botak forward to tap in. 3 – 2, and they appeared revitalized again.

Things appeared to swing to their favour but See Chiang restored our 2-goals lead with a confident, crisp shot that left the OVA keeper wonder what zipped past him. 4 - 2
KH had further 3 scoring opportunities in the 2nd half gone begging – one was denied by a last-ditch world-class tackle from their full-back to deny him a certain goal, then KH sent another shot skyward from his left-footed effort to meet a low cross from the right, and the last being a solo effort starting from the left flank that saw him beating 3 defenders along the way but be was denied by a combination of the keeper's bravery and the defender's desperate challenge. But eventually, he was not to be denied of a goal. Weng Khong won the ball on the right and laid it off to See Chiang at the opposite flank. Again, the visibly exhausted OVA defence left See Chiang a free rein to run at goal. With the keeper advancing out to narrow space, See Chiang unselfishly picked out KH and laid the ball across the penalty box for a simple tap-in by the latter. 5 - 2

By now, OVA were sapped and another careless and feeble back pass was intercepted by Teck Chye on the left and after taking a look where the keeper was, Teck Chye produced an audacious chip over the keeper for our goal No 6. Teck Chye almost made it a carbon copy later when Teck Wah robbed their last man's demotivated control of the ball. Teck Wah fed his elder brother and the latter chipped over the advancing keeper but the ball went just wide.
The whistle was perhaps a relief for OVA as they were running out of spare limbs to carry on further. 6 -2 was the final score.

Man of The Match: Teck Chye At the rate this is going, the MoTM has become a Tang family affair! :) But well done, Teck Chye, we hope to see you producing such performance week in, week out.

Here are the nominations:

1. Teck Chye (5 votes)

"MoM is teck chye. Made important passes and scored fantastic goal" -

"Teck Chye for MoM" [Nominator: Next time, write a bit more lah, more interesting! :)]

"MoM is teck chye for controlling midfield"

"Teck Chye 4 his hardworking harassing role of opponents' offensive approach in the right midfield area & winning the ball back [2] provide some pretty good assists"

"MoM Chye - was 12 vs 11 today with chye's double work rate"

Both See Chiang and Mark obtained 3 nominations each.

2. See Chiang (3 votes)

"Tough call for MoM. My vote to see chiang for the beautifully taken goal, 1 unselfish assist n working tirelessly along the flank."

"MoM: see chiang. His wonder goal turn the game around, opponent sort of gave up after that. Good set up for the 5th goal also. Overall good game for him"

"Torn between Teck Chye and See Chiang. Both scored brilliant goals, both provided assists, both patrolled respective flanks well. But SC's goal sailed through the grasp of the keeper, leaving him clutching for thin air, a real power-packed shot...that slightly edged over Teck Chye..."

3. Mark (3 votes)

"MoM is mark. Controlled the center well."

"MOM: Mark. the control of the midfield in 1H was almost authoritarian. we could feel the missing giant piece of the puzzle when he went off."

"MotM: mark. controlled centre midfield when he played. lost our shape n conceded play to opponent when he went off, n conceded two goals. held the midfield well n won alot of balls"

Chor Guan garnered 2 votes and both Simon and Chwee Leng had 1 each.

"MOTM - Chor Guan" [Nominator: Next time, put in some encouraging words leh]

"Chor Guan – Doing a good job at the defence area"

"Simon tan: when simon came in in the later 2nd half, the game turned our way."

"Leng deserves a commendation for consistent dependable performances as fullback. Another solid game today."

Match #1 (25 Dec 08): Tentative Opening - 2-2 draw with Kampung Kawan

We concluded the 2008 season with a long overdue win, albeit against a fairly veteran team. A win is a win, regardless the quality of the opponent. To instill some positive vibes into the 2009 season, which started on Christmas Day of 08, we kicked it off on an unbeaten note! OK, we did not win but we were far from losing it.

Another positive takeaway from the season's opener was Teck Wah starting the new season in similar fashion to how he ended 2008's – scoring goals.

Thirdly, we have unearthed a full-back in the mould of Chwee Leng! That can only be good for us, given that Chung Wen is plagued by his persistent back injury, Ng is restricted by his groin problem (how on earth did he sustain the groin injury?), and Leo's flourishing corporate career has earned him a feature article in a national newspaper (Berita Harian to be precise!). All those mean lesser time on the pitch for us. We have been and will be deprived of our dependable full backs' services! So far, encouragingly, Chwee Leng has been deputizing admirably for us, including another sterling performance in our opening match on Christmas Day. That also speaks depth of our squad and perhaps, versatility of our players.

From the opening match, we also managed to confirm the correlation between scoring prowess on the pitch and the other raunchy scoring prowess. In fact, both are directly related to each other. It's not an inverse relationship as what our old folks told us, and what I earlier chastised in my previous match reports. Firstly, Teck Wah, refuting the claims of his loss in scoring form, hit half a dozen in last 2 matches! Obviously, his new "training ground" has enabled him to launch more live firing, especially after he boldly boasted that he is past the BMT stage. If this can keep him firing on all cylinders for us, we have no complains if he has multiple "training fields" just like our SAF has in Australia, Brunei, India, Taiwan…. On the other hand, the mystery was lifted why Gan has not been scoring. You see, I wrote that he is lethal in the bedroom as he gearing up for his debut fatherhood but we didn't realize how lethal he is until he told us in the post-match Carlsberg-and-kopi session. He is expecting a pair of twins! Now, isn't that lethal? But that's not just it. What really has been causing his poor scoring form is that he confided in us that when his Mrs' pregnancy was 6-weeks old, he was ordered by the doc not to engage in My-Hump-My-Hump with his dearie. Now the theory is proven on both sides – active in humping, you score goals; no humping, cannot score J

Mr Humping made up for Mr No-Humping last night as he notched a brace in the 2-2 draw with Kampung Kawan United. A match arranged on Christmas Day in Singapore, what opponent can you expect? Certainly the kawan kawan and abang-ade gang lah! Even the match before us pitted 2 Malay teams against each other. Frankly, we hardly encounter an All-Malay team that is so organized. Firstly, most of them arrived together in a lorry. Secondly, the team kit was laid out neatly awaiting the arrivals of the stars. And we knew we would be in for a hard time, and we weren't surprised.

True enough, they were fluid in movements, faster than us by a handful of notches and slick in passing the ball and covering the ground, something that we are all well aware of against such opponent.

A poor giveaway by See Chiang almost gifted them a goal within 5 minutes from the kick-off. KK Utd's forward, after weaving his way through to face Brandon in goal, shot at the side netting instead. That was a mighty close call for us.

The Wah-and-Hwa partnership almost paid off as the former flicked the ball onto the path of the latter. KH brought the ball into the box but he couldn't do what Robbie Keane did to Arsenal. KH didn't connect well with the bouncing ball and the resultant shot was a tame effort that posed no threat to KK Utd's custodian. KH attributed his lack of clinical conversion to his "old training ground" that breeds familiarity and no challenging terrain for tactical maneuvers. Now idolizing Wah The Humping, KH will be searching for virgin forest soon.

Our game plan was to keep it tight and wear them down as we expected such opponent to tire in the later part of the match but KK Utd's fluidity stretched us and we had our ourselves to blame for conceding the 1st goal too soon. A needless back heel pass by Teck Wah proved disastrous and KK Utd's sweeper picked up the loose ball and launched a series of passes and dribbling that put our defence in sixes and sevens. Just as when we expected their forward to tee up a shot, he instead laid the ball wide to his kaki on the right, who then floated in a nicely-weighted ball for the former to head past Brandon. 0 - 1.

Whilst we were no match for their technical skills, we made it up with our pure grit. A quickly-taken free-kick by Yong Chua found Teck Chye beating the offside line on the left. Teck Chye controlled the ball superbly and quickly squared it to his younger sibling in the box. Teck Wah showed Kian Hwa how to connect not only with boobs but also a bouncing ball in the box. His left-footed half volley was sweeter than putting your tongue near the source of the flowing nectar! KK Utd's custodian had no answer to Teck Wah's voluptuous, sorry I meant venomous strike. Now, we were tied at 1 - 1.

Though KK Utd was superior in possession, it was Marine Sunday that proved to be more dangerous in the attacks throughout the match.

With nothing much to offer to the team, Kian Hwa can only rely on his enterprising movements to secure his squad number and another one of his trademark gritty run down the wide to the bye-line followed by a square pass into the box almost gained him folklore status. But the pass was a tad too strong for Yong Chua to control and his subsequent flick over his body almost reached Teck Wah lurking at the far post but KK Utd's keeper intercepted the high ball with ease.

We made 3 substitutions (Gan, Benny and Kok Hock for Kian Hwa, Chwee Leng and Yong Chua respectively) and a few positional changes at one go, and these would prove to be bitter-sweet for us. The sweet part surfaced first. One of the 3 substitutes, Kok Hock, slotted into the holding midfielder role and discharged his duty like a maestro. A killer pass from him to Teck Chye led to our eventual 2nd goal. Teck Chye then laid the ball into the box between the keeper and Gan, who got ahead of the keeper by a split second but the keeper still managed to get a hand at the ball resulting in a pin-ball situation. Teck Wah then popped up to ram the loose ball into the open goal to put us in the lead. 2 – 1.

The bitter part was to follow. With Weng Kwan switching to right fullback, Hock Leong took over as last man, partnering Benny. The pairing didn't pay off as the unfamiliarity between the two failed to clear a ball cleanly. When Benny regained his balance to clear the ball 2nd time, it was a second too late as by then, KK Utd's forward had descended on him and Benny's clearance cannoned off the latter's shin and in between Brandon's legs into goal. Parity was restored for them, 2 – 2.

Kok Hock then dropped back to as last man, with Hock Leong reverting to his favoured stopper role, and Benny taking over the defensive midfielder role. That provided more balance to the team as we went on to carve out a couple of scoring opportunities. First, Teck Chye's well placed shot was pushed out for a corner by the keeper. The keeper then flapped at the resulting corner, allowing Simon to connect with a firm header but the goal bound effort was booted away by the defender before any damage was done.

We ended the 1st half riding on the tail wind but the score stood at 2 – 2.

2nd half was the exact replica of the earlier half, with KK Utd showcasing the fluid movements and slick passes and Marine Sunday chasing and closing down space but more threatening in attacks. We were more compact in the 2nd half, with Kok Hock marshalling the defence to the perfect T and Brandon more commanding in the box.

KK Utd only had 1 opportunity to increase their lead. That was when their forward beat the offside line to face Brandon, who advanced timely to close down the angle. KK Utd's forward rounded Brandon but the extra second of effort allowed Chwee Leng to recover in time to clear the ball away for a corner.

On the contrary, we should have converted any one of our handful of chances. A well-worked free kick saw Teck Wah beating the offside trap and receiving the ball at the far post. Seeing Gan at the other end of the goal, he cleverly headed the ball across the 6-yards box but Gan's header sailed over the bar when he had only the keeper to beat.

Gan then had a goal contentiously ruled offside. He received a fine cross from Weng Kwan from the right, turned well to fire from a tight angle but the rare goal was cruelly denied by the referee, when Gan appeared to be in a perfectly legitimate position.

Teck Chye had a firm volley that the keeper couldn't hold on to but nobody followed up to the 2nd ball, much to the fury of Teck Chye.

Kian Hwa then produced a flashing cross from the left that missed Teck Chye's head by a whisker.

KK Utd's keeper was found wanting in crosses as he flapped at another corner, leaving Gan free to head the ball but instead of directing the ball towards the open goal, it went past the post. As we later realized that Gan was so power-packed in his semen to produce a pair of twins, his shooting (in whichever sense) is a shot-gun mode rather than a sniper fire. That perhaps explains his accuracy on the pitch.

The half saw no further goals and the match ended 2 apiece.

Man of The Match: Teck Wah

The 1st MoM of the new season went off on an encouraging start with all 13, excluding the 2 guest players, players responding timely with their nominations. The eventual MoM was not a surprising choice but from the number of players nominated, it reflected a balanced contribution from the team.

Here are the nominations:
1. Teck Wah (5 votes) - "Teck Wah for 2 goals" - "MoM goes to Teck Wah. Lethal finish with 2 goals" - "MoM to Teck Wah for taking his chances well and always getting into goal scoring positions. He is versatile too, moving to the wings to support play as well. Hope he continues to play this way"
- "My choice of MoM wud b Teck [Hua]. 2 goals & quite a lot of assists" - "MoM Teck Wah for his clinical finish"

2. Kok Hock (3 votes) - "[Yock] Hock. Made [the] goal and later defended stoutly to keep us in the game" - "Kok Hock – for gamely volunteering to take over sweeper position but more importantly marshalling the defence and keeping the opponent forwards at bay. Simply masterful and certainly regaining his old self!"

3. Teck Chye (2 votes) - "I will vote Chye for fighting hard not just for attacking but also assisting the defence frequently. Can't find any midfielder who will do just that"
- "Made 2 great passes that led to the goals"

Weng Kwan, Brandon and Chwee Leng garnering 1 vote each, making in total 13 votes
- "CL, played well at left back, clear a few danger situation, could easily take over ng n make left back his permanent position"
- "Brandon. For a commanding performance which will give much assurance for the defence in future"
- "Kwan steady n water tight tdy"

You deserve the plaudits! Keep up the performance! For those not nominated, don't be disheartened, we play as a team.

As you can see, some of you still get the names of your fellow team mates wrong. I deliberately listed them in the manner you spelt them. Hope you are more mindful of their name spellings.

Season 2009

A new season brings new approaches! kh is back for good (we reckon) and so he takes back the reins, running most parts of the show mainly (phew!). you'll see his signature style of match reports, much more meat and certainly juicier. what's in store for the team? A tantilising light-weight new kit in a blend of very agreeable colors to provide added arsenal (pun intended) to our waning powers as evidenced in last season's poor showing? what else with the new (or old, depending how you see it) man in charge? MOTM is back after a year's absence. An intriguing and exciting year ahead, surely!

Keep this page bookmarked, you wouldn't want to miss a thing! Happy New Year to one and all!

st