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It's the 7th Month syndrome again and that probably explained our dismal 1st half performance (what performance???) against AFC, trailing 0-5 at the break. Yes, you didn't see wrongly. FIVE goals down!!! Listless, disorganised and in total disarray. We were shredded apart by their swift one-touch football that opened up our midfield and defence like hot knife cutting through butter. Furthermore, their right-winger tormented us, giving us nightmare to our left-back and left-midfielder. Short, sturdy and fleet-footed, his mission was to shoot on sight and he duly notched up a hat-trick, all power-packed shots that left Brandon grasping for air.
But we were a totally changed team in the 2nd half. A couple of tactical changes - Weng Khong in the central midfield role and Weng Kwan to left-back to shackle their dangerous right winger - seemed to transform the team. The aggression of both Wengs added a lot of steel and won a lot of ball. In fact, the entire team seemed to have galvanised and stepped up 2 notches. The gallant effort enabled us to be in complete control in the 2nd half and created enough chances to reverse the deficit. Poor finishing and AFC's nimble goalkeeper ruled out a possible famous comeback. No fairy-tale ending but the 2nd half play was fantastic and commendable. Gan and Chwee Leng notched in the consolation goals for us but we knew we were good enough for a draw.
Once in a while, you get people whose feet are too big for their boots. A lesson to reduce the size of those egos from elder statesmen is just the right fix towards a more humble society.
Red Chinese Team comprises players mostly younger than MS. What we lose out in youth, we more than made up in teamwork, organisation and focus. A five-man move led to Gan releasing Woon to deliver a peach of a cross for Wah to nod home. This was followed by a superb long ball from Chye to find brother Wah who turned provider with a clever through ball for Gan whose trickery left the keeper on the ground before stroking the ball into the empty goal. Two nil at half time.
The second half saw RCT playing with greater urgency and aggression. We worked hard to contain them but could not stop them scoring a consolation goal, a well-taken long range shot. As we started to regain the initiative towards the end, a coming-together between their loutish No.9 and our diminutive Ng led to a most unsportsmanlike reaction from the former as he moved to strike Ng who was on the ground. Not taking it lying down, Ng showed the young man that some old men are not to be trifled with. As usual, players and subs quickly converge onto the field to join in the action.
The ref had no choice but to end the match. It was utterly unfair that a foolish big-headed jerk had deprived our 14-year old trialist some play time. 2-1 final score.
Eight-goal thriller, seven goals scored by six different MS hotshots! The key stats in a pulsating match against Darts, a team which also plays frequently at St Wilfrid's on weekday evenings.
We started brightly with an enthusiastic pressing game. Early pressure from Mike in Darts defensive area caused a panic clearance which only found Chye lurking at the edge of the box, whose low drive beat the keeper comfortably. Continuing to take advantage of Darts' tentativeness, we dispossessed them in midfield and Chye turned provider with a sweet through ball for Mike to pick his spot at the near post. Against the run of play, Darts had a corner which caused confusion in our penalty area. The ball pinged around before it found its way trickling pass the line off Khong's attempted clearance. Soon Khong was up in midfield and his battling qualities won the ball for us on the right. His pass infield to Simon was deftly relayed on for the forward running Wah to finish expertly.
At this point, we were cruising but Darts right midfielder was also providing some threats with Beckham-like crosses. A free kick in that zone allowed him to crack a diagonal shot which cannoned off the post, but fortuitously hit our diving keeper Gan's head and rolled in. The goal inspired Darts and pressing in our half with menace, we could not get the ball out easily. Simon was pressurized into losing the ball and their loud-mouthed player drove forward and powered a shot which gave our keeper no chance. Half-time three apiece, and we had scored five.
With some reshuffle to balance play time, and YC's wise advice to us not to worry about the result, we played with renewed freedom and conviction. Both teams were attack-minded and the action swung from end to end. We seized the initiative again when Wah's corner kick was headed home by Gan. As the clock ticked away, Simon put the gloss on our victory with a long range special. The only blemish in this enthralling encounter was Mike's mild concussion suffered from a clash with a Darts' player. Final score 5-3.
Besides having similarly sounding names, both Sundays had another thing common for their first derby match. Both sides missed their regular goalkeepers, each had to call upon 2 outfield players, one for each half, to deputise in goal. Marine Sunday's stand-ins proved much superior to Sunday FC's and in case nobody noticed it, this seemingly lop-sided 6-1 win owed in no small part to our Gan and Teck Chye in goal. The gulf scoreline looked deceiving, it didn't tell any story that we were under seige for the first 25 minutes of the match. In our typical fashion, we started poorly and let the technically and physically superior Sunday FC boss around us. Gan had to produced two stunning saves, one of which a penalty, to keep Sunday FC at bay. Against the run of play, we dealt them with 3 sucker punches, all due to Teck Wah's well-timed run to beat their offside line. Teck Chye first set Teck Wah up in the box for the opening goal before the latter latched onto Melvin's superb pass to set up his elder sibling and return the earlier favour. 2-0. Sunday FC reduced the deficit when their left-winger's cross caught Gan by surprise to sail into goal. Weng Khong then threaded in another through pass for Teck Wah to easily side-foot the keeper for a healthy-looking 3-1 lead at the break.
It was Teck Chye's turn to fill in between the posts when play resumed and while he didn't produce those stunning saves of Gan, he dealt with whatever Sunday FC threw at him - low shots, thunder bolts, crosses, corners, through balls - with such ease that he made us forget who Brandon is, and the latter had to turn up to remind us of his presence! Gan, Mike and Simon produced the goods for us in the 2nd half and their keeper pulled off a superb double saves to deny Gan and then Teck Wah, gallantly blocking the latter's stiff volley with his face.
Another satisfying morning outing with the mid-lifers proving their worth over the testosterone-raging young fellas.
We lost 1-3 to ACI. Really, their first 2 goals were quite sucker punches. Despite their domination in 1st half, we created 4 on-target goal-scoring opportunities, enough to put us on an unassailable lead by the break. Yet, in the dying moments of the 1st half, a lightning-quick counter-attacker caught us totally out of position. Despite Rock's gallant effort to force their striker wide, the latter still managed to force in a shot from a very tight angle that Brandon only managed to parry and their young left-winger capitalised on our already out-of-breath defenders to tap in the rebound. 1 goal down at the break.
2nd half was more of the same. They had the possession, we carved out the chances. Chasing to overturn the 1-goal deficit, we went for what we thought the broke by deploying Gan and Chor Guan forwards with a strong midfield quartet of Simon, Yong Chua, Weng Khong and Teck Chye, only to be disrupted shortly after by the unfortunate withdrawal of Brandon, thereby forcing Gan to stand in between the posts. Again, ACI dealt us with another sucker punch when they proved youthfulness and vitality win over old limbs anytime. Weng Khong was incessantly harassed and forced to pass pack to Weng Kwan, who looked so assured to clear the ball, only to dealt with a cruel stroke of reality when ACI's alert striker robbed the ball away from him and raced on to put the ball past Gan. We shortly conceded the 3rd goal through a lapse in concentration that allowed their defender to rise unchallenged to nod in a corner.
We launched a spirited fightback in the last 10 minutes but it proved to be too little, too late. Chor Guan's tap-in was scant consolation to Marine Sunday, when we knew we were good enough for a deserving draw.
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