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Nothing to shout of with regards to our first draw of the season. We shouldn't have let Temasek Royal get anywhere near our goal area in the first place. 2 goal attempts and 1 foray into the box resulted in 2 goals for them. We had lion share of possession throughout but all opportunities created counted for nothing and we had to rely on 1 penalty (converted by Simon, albeit just) and a free-kick (despatched expertly by Teck Chye) to find the net. TR's keeper was in excellent form to keep us at bay, denying us all our goal attempts at him.
2-2 was the final score. No disrespect to TR but anything less than a win was injustice to us.
We put aside last week's fractious discord and went on a rampage against NEFC, an All-Malay team comprising youngsters and a few in early 20s. Despite the typical gelek-gelek and individual flair, the lack of experience in their ranks was telling. We had the upper hand in possession in the early stages but against the run of play, NEFC drew 1st blood with an innocuous shot from outside the box that the napping Brandon allowed it to go past him. KH's brace overturned the deficit and could have notched a hat-trick but NEFC's keeper's brilliant double saves denied him. The slender 2-1 lead stood at the break.
What was fairly even in the first half became lopsided after the break when NEFC apparently lost their shape and spirit to play as a team - Woon, Mike's double, Chor Guan, Gan and Kama in that sequence found the net for us. Despite the comfortable-looking scoreline, our rearguard colleagues kept thing very tight, denying NEFC space and putting in the challenges to win back the ball whenever any of the defenders was overrun by their relatively skilful midfielders.
Final score: 8 - 1.
Disharmony within the ranks in 1st half cost us this match. Yes, Sons of St Patrick's had 2 ex-internationals - Steven Tan and Amos Boon - and a few other technically better players but we were not overrun by them. Perhaps, the scorching heat in 1st half made us lose our cool and our shape resulting in our concession of 2 soft goals. We came back strongly and we showed in 2nd half that we meant business - Kama was tenacious in midfield, Chor Guan was ferocious in his harassment of their defenders, Rock put his body in the line of duty, Teck Chye showed what he could do for the team if he could focus on what he does best - football, Mike worked his socks off and won us the penalty.
Final score was a narrow 1-2 loss but we knew we could have done better.
Full of energy and running, the youngsters of Oranjino kept us at bay for a while. Simon opened accounts with another long range effort, spilled by the keeper. Oranjino equalized with an equally powerful shot from outside the box.
One all at half time, MS weathered the pressures in the early second half to post a comfortable win at the end. Mike scored one that landed in the top corner followed by Chye's exquisite beating of the keeper at the near post and Khong's header ala Chicharito. Oranjino scored a consolation at the death to bring the score to 4-2.
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