Match #4 (30 Jan 11): High-Scoring 3-3 Draw With Mat Gaya Banyak

The heavy downpour deprived us of playing the Beautiful Game the beautiful way, especially in the 2nd half when the pitch was severely water-logged. Credit to both sides for the endeavour to finish the match without any incident. In the true spirit of Lunar New Year, both sides exchanged "a pair of mandarin oranges" as greeting. Mat Gaya Banyak couldn't cope with our 2 corners and scored own goals instead of clearing them. In return, our backline gifted them 2 soft goals, with both goals almost identical to each other. That was the cordial mood in the 1st half, 2-2. Both sides stepped up 2 gears to cope with the water-logged pitch in the 2nd half. Teck Wah restored the lead for us with a crisp grounder that slipped under Mat Gaya Banyak's keeper's body. In the dying seconds of the match, literally the last kick of the match, MGB ensured parity with also a crisp grounder from outside the box after we failed to clear the ball cleanly.

Nobody deserved to lose in this kind of condition. A fair result.

Match #3 (22 Jan 11): Draw against Blue Chinese team

The St Wilfrid ground offers BC team a good opportunity to avenge a 2009 defeat at the smaller Bedok Green pitch. Good understanding amongst the BC players was evident and we worked hard to contain them with first half ending goalless.

We had more possession in the second half and took the lead with a swift attack from the right and YC laying the ball across the edge of the penalty box for Simon to sweep a curler into the net. BC picked up the tempo and pressed hard and they equalized with an astute ball into the danger area which their striker took a chance to slip a low grounder into the net.

Probably a fair result for both combative teams.

Match #2 (15 Jan 11): Reversal of Fortune

We threw the opening match away after leading 2-0 at the break. Today, we reversed the fortune by overturning a 0-2 deficit to win the match 4-2 against a worthy opponent, SOFA. We showed the mettle and the kind of spirit that Marine Sunday possess. After a disappointing 1st half where we were a goal down, we went firing at the restart only to be caught out by a fast SOFA's counter-attack that led to their 2-0 lead.

All things looked gloomy but we dug in. Chor Guan's perseverance reduced the deficit and YC equalised with a typical poacher goal after a knock-down by a revitalised Teck Chye. Teck Wah established the lead for us with a stiff grounder and Leo back-heeled the ball into the net in a goal-mouth melee. Not forgetting the other occasions where we came so close to scoring - Teck Chye was mere millimetres away from tucking the ball in, Simon's effort kissed the horizontal, KH failed to connect cleanly with his first-time effort - we richly deserved the win. Well done, lads!

Match #1 (9 Jan 11): Bright Start - One Half

Just like the 1st encounter with them, we took the sting out of Venom in the 1st half, going into the break with a 2 - 0 lead, with Gan notching both goals. But Chor Guan committed the cardinal sin by remarking before 2H that the 2-0 lead should be safe. That was it, we went toothless in the 2nd half. Sloppy defending allowed them to equalise within 7 minutes of restart. With renewed confidence, it wasn't surprising that they went on to snatch the 3rd and the winning goal. We came close but fell short. Final score: a 2 - 3 loss

Match 47 (25 Dec 10): Ended 2010 with a Bang!

KH set the KPI before the match - to score minumum 2 goals in order not to end up having the worst goal-scoring season. And you guys responded marvellously - you doubled the tally to register an emphatic 4-0 win over Singapore Lions Lookalikes, an All-Malay team whom we first played against them on 2 May 2005. Then it was a nail-biting and awe-inspiring comeback-from-behind 5-5 draw. Both sides have aged and we will always remain older than them, but we have maintained our shape (in all sense) better than them. Our past encounters with them had always been close but today, we stamped our mark. Credit to our disciplined play. We didn't park any bus in front of our goal but our compactness at the back nullified their forays and stopped them in the final one-third. The fact that they had only 1 shot at goal spoke volume of our solid backline. And that only shot? Brandon showed why he's been our No 1 this season.

YC imposed so much pressure on their defender to cause the latter to turn an innocuous cross from KH into an own goal. That was how it stood at the break - 1-0! Then in 2H, our defenders showed our strikers how goals are scored. Kok Hock broke the offside line to half-volley in our 2nd goal. Then in the last 10 minutes, Chor Guan was pushed upfront and duly converted 2 through-balls. Before that, our left-back Chwee Leng had a brilliant one-on-one opportunity, only to be denied by the toes of their keeper.

4 goals, clean sheet. Perfect greetings for Merry Christmas.

Hope you guys enjoyed the 2010 season and had derived much fun and satisfaction from playing with Marine Sunday. See you in 2011 :)