Surely from how we kitted ourselves and the way we turned up, got ready and waited for them, we didn’t look like we came from the same kampong as them, right? But Relak Abang somehow had the impression that we turned up just to kick around with them. So, they took their own sweet time to change, stroll into the pitch, exchanged shoulder slaps and high-fives among themselves. We had other ideas. Relak Abang were rudely awakened by our ruthless play in the 1st half and they could have been starring at a cricket scoreline at half-time if not for our toothless Kian Hwa who squandered four, read that again, four, scoring opportunities in just one half. Credit to them, when the match resumed after the break and after realising that we were not their kawan after all, they decided cukup was cukup, jangan main main lagi, jangan relak relak, must man-tan bal-lan (read: maintain balance!), they played some decent football bearing some resemblance of their heydays. 2nd half was a much closer affair but it was too late to stop us from running away a 6 – 1 winner.
Their pre-match attitude irked us and that must have spurred one of the top teachers from one of the top junior colleges, who himself is one Relax Jack, into action. Mike put in a whirlwind, devastating performance in the opening 15 minutes of the match. Though he fizzled out thereafter, he had done enough by then to conjure up the opening 2 goals for us, and not forgetting the assist within the first 60 seconds by setting Kian Hwa up in the box but the latter’s intended left-foot chip over the keeper was nowhere near Teck Chye’s class. Mike punished Relax Abang’s last man, whose touches were too tiada-apa and sloppy, and squared in a simple ball for Teck Wah to tap in. 1 – 0! Our edge in mobility brought us the 2nd goal. Kian Hwa escaped the defender’s attention and stepped up to receive a throw-in from Kok Hock and then released Mike on the right flank. Mike’s subsequent cross kissed the horizontal but Teck Wah was on hand to tidy up the loose ends and scored his 2nd goal with a stiff grounder. 2 – 0!
Kok Hock, anchoring the midfield, was commanding in breaking up Relak Abang’s play. One of his many interceptions yielded his 1st goal for the season. Winning the ball just after the mid line, he had only one look at the goal and shot from distance. The ball sailed over the keeper and landed perfectly just under the horizontal for our goal No 3. Kian Hwa then nipped in front of the keeper to get to the ball before the latter did but with an open goal in sight, KH’s left-foot shot from a tight angle met the left upright instead. See Chiang then set Kian Hwa up in the box with only the keeper to beat but KH once again screwed his effort wide off the mark.
We didn’t have to wait much longer for our 4th goal when See Chiang nodded a corner down onto the path of Chor Guan, who was given time and space in the box to trap the box and turn to shoot at goal. 4 – 0! Relak Abang almost snatched a goal against the run of play when their midfielder produced what Kok Hock did earlier with a delicate shot from distance but Gan proved to be a different class from Relak Abang’s keeper – he tipped the dipping shot over the bar. We still had time to extend our lead when an exchange between Kian Hwa and Simon put the former through in the box. Kian Hwa, clearly struggling to find his balance and short in confidence, chose to pass the ball forward to Chor Guan instead of having a go at goal. Chor Guan was duly ruled offside, thereby wasting another effort. Half-time came with Marine Sunday leading by a gulf of 4 – 0.
Relak Abang were a transformed side in the 2nd half as they began to pass the ball confidently. Whilst their diligent possession of the ball was aplenty, the penetration was found wanting. In addition, they found our backline a bit too miserly for their liking. At the same time, they continued to play suicidal football at the back with their penchant to involve their keeper in the play. Off a poor clearance by their custodian, we made them pay dearly. Teck Chye was at the receiving end of the poor clearance and passed it forward to Kian Hwa on the right. Seeing Simon unmarked in the box, KH picked him up with a measured pass. Simon didn’t waste the assist and finished it off with a trap-and-shoot to put us up at 5 – 0! As the game wore on, Relak Abang’s custodian should be performing in a circus instead of on the football pitch. Another piece of clowning clearance gifted the ball to Teck Wah but the keeper recovered to clear it for a corner. It proved to be no difference as Teck Wah’s corner was met by Weng Khong’s thumping header. 6 – 0!
Relak Abang snatched a consolation goal after we stepped off the pedal with a series of substitutions to rest key players. Their ex-S League player wriggled his way through our defence and beat Gan to reduce the deficit. 6 – 1! Weng Khong came close to get his second goal but his header, from another corner, was just an inch too high above the goal. Final score stood at 6 – 1.
Man of The Match: Chor Guan (5 votes)
The man is surely regaining his form and back to his best! 3 forays upfront, 1 goal!
- “chor guan. very stable in the defence, helping in the attack and score a beautiful goal.”
- “MOTM goes to Chor Guan for managing the right deployment of defence & taking time off to score a goal in the coolest & simplest manner.”
- “MOTM - Chor Guan, steady at the back and lethal upfront”
- “motm: chor guan. swatted the opponents time n again like flies in defense n made his mark as well upfront with an opportunistic goal.”
- “Difficult to name a MOTM. Our forwards were hardworking, created a few chances by harassing their defenders. Midfielders and defenders kept up their pace and even scored a few goals. My MOTM is a toss between Gan and Chor Guan. I will go for Chor Guan as he virtually shut their attack in the first half and he even managed to score a well executed goal.”
- “MOTM goes to mike. Exceptionally performance with good assist well taken goal."
- “Mike-unselfish assists saw a goal and number of chances.”
- “For the first 15 minutes, he was lively on the right flank, setting up 3 opportunities, 2 of which led to our first 2 goals. Unfortunately, he fizzled out. Still, it was an encouraging 15 minutes of performance.”
- “Motm to gan. Think we were all not really pushed. But he was steady throughout.”
- “MOTM to Gan. It was tough to be playing keeper today, but he kept his focus as he made some dangerous attempts look unthreatening with his calm reactions. came out quickly on a couple of occasions to snuff out threats.”
“Teck Chye. Good attacking support which made the strike counts. Also execute a necessary professional foul to prevent opponent from shooting.”
“Teck Chye for MoTM. Good control and created dominance in midfield, harassed opponents and was a threat in attack. Some well taken shots towards the end of the game.”
“Vote goes to Hock Leong. ROCK of our defence, opponents didn't stand a chance.”
“MOTM is HL for another hard tackling and solid game as stopper”
“motm- chung wen....as usual, gives no room to the left winger.....hard tackler......”
“MOTM is the Kok Hock - Supported both the defence and attack effectively”
“MOM is Simon for stabilising the midfield and creating good moves and also for scoring a great goal with 2 touches.”
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