The Rock’s instructions were not entirely adhered to. Simon did step in to call the line-up but his order for Melvin to handle the referee with Chwee Leng purportedly to hold him back was somehow not executed. Melvin and Kian Hwa kissed and made up and the referee-handling was handed to the latter, who tried his best throughout the match and a short while after the match ended but truth be told, he lacked the finesse of the Grand Master Mel in working up the referee.
By and large, the 4-2-3-1 tactic survived the big field except for the last 10 minutes where we somewhat lost the compactness due primarily to fatigue seeping into some of our players. We assembled a rather thin squad of only 13 players, among us were Mike and Ng who both returned from a rather lengthy spell of absence due to illness and injury respectively, and Brandon who had to fill in an unfamiliar left-back position. The absence of several regular players forced a rather significant reshuffling to the line-up. Apart from Chung Wen, Weng Khong, Kian Hwa and Gan who started in their usual positions, Melvin again had to man the defence line and he put all his weighty experience in his sparkling performance. Chor Guan filled in the void left by The Rock and he might have just earned a name for himself – Rolling Stone. Just as astute as the The Rock in shielding the defence, Chor Guan showed mobility and anticipation by nipping in front of Modello’s forwards time and again to cut off the danger. Chung Wen, running a fever, slotted into his usual position and was supposedly able to last only one half but he ran the entire match boosted by the couple of Panadol taken before the match. We couldn’t help but suspected that he popped in some performance-enhancing substance, perhaps Viagra? Leng, by now, had no issue to start anywhere on the pitch and left-back was just as fine. And did you notice his fitness recently? Also enhanced by V? Simon had to vacate his usual advanced position to drop back and partner Weng Khong in the lower midfield. Both worked their socks off to contain Modello’s advances. Teck Wah played behind Gan and was a livewire throughout the match, dropping back to help out in defending, stringing the passes and supporting Gan. Mike, though short of match fitness and sharpness, launched a couple of encouraging runs down the right side into space to receive passes but his final delivery could do better, and he promised to step up on this. Gan, as usual, led the line well on his own and was again just so unlucky to break his barren spell. He played a huge part in our goal but was cruelly denied a potential goal by the incompetent referee’s wrong call. Ng later came in as one of the defensive midfield duo and Brandon slotted into the left fullback position and both put in an assured performance to more than just making up the number. And finally, Seah in goal, he may be dusty but certainly not rusty.
Modello, though not as formidable as our last opponent, Redhill Old Boyz, were certainly no pushovers. Their players were mostly confident of calling for and receiving the ball. While their passing was assured, they were just short of the final cutting edge to break us down. We played our usual compact game but our advances were simply hampered by the referee’s incessant calls for offside, half of which were dubious and the other half ridiculous. The proceedings were tight and fairly even with neither of both sides having a dominant share of the ball. Gan was in the thick of action whenever we surged forward. First, he had our first opportunity to open the account but Teck Wah’s delicate delivery from the freekick just at the edge of the box skimmed off his head at the far post. The freekick came after Modello’s right back hacked down Kian Hwa to stop the latter’s cut-in into the box. A step further, Kian Hwa would have earned a penalty but his left ankle gave in a step early. Gan then had a superb long-range effort that sailed just centimetres above the bar. He was then unbelievably flashed a yellow card after he was seemingly manhandled by Modello’s defender outside the box. And the reason for the yellow card? Gan shouted for attention! Could you beat that?
The closest we came to scoring was when Teck Wah slammed the ball onto the bar. Kian Hwa capitalised on Modello’s last man’s uncharacteristic sloppy pass, not unlike Rio Ferdinand against Manchester City, and launched a solo run, bypassing their last man and evading another challenge from their right fullback, into the box. With their keeper refusing to commit, Kian Hwa cut across the face of the goal and Teck Wah took over from him and had a go at goal. We only heard the goal post rattling from Teck Wah’s fierce left-foot effort but no eventual joy prevailed for us. Then the moment of injustice came when Modello’s attempted back pass reached Gan instead. Gan must be thinking it was his day to pick durian but the referee hated durian and our gel-infused man-in-the-middle blew for an offside, though he subsequently apologised for his error, claiming his line of vision was blocked. But by whom? Nobody is as tall as him!
Seah was hardly stretched in goal. This was partly due to his timely calls to gather the ball but a large part was due to the well-marshalled defence. Mr Now-I-Know-Why-It’s-Good-To-Turn-Up-Early played simply but at times indulged himself with a few body feints to fool their forwards. Thank goodness we weren’t playing against Babylon United, who wouldn’t have allowed anyone of us the luxury of time and space to take another step. Half-time came and it was a scoreless stalemate.
Modello refused to take heed that Kian Hwa can run and continued to push their line high up and for once, we managed to breach their high line, thanks to Gan’s quick-thinking and vision. Picking up the ball just after the half-line, he swerved and sent a diagonal pass to the left into the empty space, unleashing Kian Hwa like a bloodhound chasing after the hare. Well, this bloodhound is an ageing dog, he was still slow compared to Modello’s keeper who reached the ball first but Kian Hwa must be wearing red panty that day, he had the better dosage of luck. Modello’s keeper’s clearance came off the charging Kian Hwa’s artificially-endowed chest but the latter still managed to keep his sense of direction to tap the rebound into the empty net. 1 – 0! Gan must be cursing his luck, or the lack of it, when he fluffed another header at the far post, after leaping well above the rest to receive the cross from the left.
Modello continued to press hard at us but mostly to no avail. Lack of adequate backup stretched our limbs and Modello equalised through a fortuitous goal late in the game. Their scorer was in a clear offside position in the box when he received the pass but strangely, the referee allowed play to carry on and Modello benefitted from this advantage. 1 – 1 and it stood right to the end, which was less than 10 minutes to go.
Man of The Match: Melvin (4 out of 13 votes)
The “warring” duo – Melvin and Kian Hwa – came in at 4 votes each. Since, for once, Melvin turned up early and he lasted the entire match, these broke the tie. Now, Mr I-know-KH-Is-Right-But-I-Don’t-Want-To-Say-It, take a bow:
1. “Melvin - Communicating with the guys and also Control well in the defence line.”
2. “MOTM: Melvin for a reasonably assured game as last man. Held the line well though a little unlucky that the opponent manage to steal in from a lucky rebound for the equaliser.”
3. “Melvin for MOTM - was commanding at the back”
4. “MOTM: Melvin, marshalled the back line and good coordination with the keeper.”
KH’s nominations were quite “heavy weights”, given the number of words used:
1. “Thought KH played a super game on the left. Many telling runs and good passes. We were let down by our final touch. Lone striker has a tough job of holding play to wait for support. KH was there in support each time Gan got the ball. One super run had him go from left to right and if not for his stretch, he would have walked the ball into the goal. The goal was brave and screams of his persistence. Super game.”
2. “In this cat & mouse match today, we need someone to make a lot of running. KH did it so well til he suffered cramps, not before scoring our goal. A deserving motm, edging out the composed mel, imposing guan, hardworking wah & persevering gan. Brandon gave a solid statement of intent on his intro as left back & covered well.”
3. “kian hwa all players play very well, vote go to kh for scoring the 1st goal.”
4. “Ok motm for 10 oct game goes to lkh for your endless, tireless running”
The lively Teck Wah pulled in 3 votes to come in 3rd:
1. “MOTM was Teck Wah. He was perfect playing in the middle of the three players in our 4-2-3-1 system. He ran back and defended, won and broke up so many attacks from the opponents and launch so many of our own attacks. Was unlucky not to score after Kian Hwa's run acoss the goalmouth.”
2. “A number of excellent perfomers for MOTM at Safra. Kian Hwa that did the tough running and harassed their players all night, and most importantly, scored the only goal, Melvin that did a fantastic job in defence with them hardly testing Seah, but given there's only one MOTM, Tech Wah gets my vote. Besides covering the whole length of the field, did an excellent job covering midfield in the new formation. Intercepted, controlled and distributed with ease, confidence and style.”
3. “MOTM Teck Wah. While the 4-2-3-1 formation survived the big field test, Wah took some the initiative to roam up front left and right side, making himself available for passes, always looking ahead to string the passes towards their penalty box. I like the way Kian Hwa tracked back to cover the left back and yet found the energy to push forward, rewarding himself with a tap in. I also like the way Seah comfortably slots into the keeper duties, not looking rusty at all.”
Remaining 2 votes went to Brandon and Simon:
1. “MoTM goes to Brandon for a very encouraging performance in his first outing as a left fullback. He didn’t give their right wide man much of space to manoeuvre.”
2. “MOTM = Simon. Tireless battle at the middle of the park. Support the attack well and gave extra cover to the defend.”
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