Match #42 (13 Oct 2013): Family United Lost But They Won Big-Time In Family Spirit. They Remain Family United!

I was told post-match that there were 7 brothers among the Opponent and those 4 women at the sideline were their sisters! Wow, 11 siblings and they still remain so close at their age. Very admirable. Sure, they lost the match big time to us. 10-nil....but they had won big, very big in terms of family tie.

Simon (3), Chor Guan (2), Kama, Mike, Teck Chye, Kian Hwa, Woon scored the 10 goals but no way did we dent the love among their 11 siblings :)

Match #37 (8 Sep 2013): Boon Lay Old Boys Slaughtered By Old Men

Marine Sunday refused to get intimidated by the impressive looking Boon Lay Old Boys who were decked out in pristine all-white. We started confidently and ended the match impressively. Their keeper seemed to have a split personality - a bundle of nerves and spilled every ball in the air in the first half; but was so full of confidence and plucked every ball in the air like harvesting mango with ease in the second half. But his dismal first-half performance allowed us to surge to a commanding 4-0 lead at the break, and could have been more if Alex had been alert to react to an open goal and Gan would have been credited with a goal after his long clearance bounced over the keeper into the net but the goal was disallowed for a dubious offside call on Teck Chye.

Still Mike, Teck Wah, Alex and Teck Chye, in that order, got us the goals. Our fluidity stretched their defence with ease and they must be relieved to hear the whistle for the break.

Boon Lay Old Boys came back with a heightened sense of purpose when the match resumed and began to impose themselves but without real threat to us. We were pinned back for the first 15 minutes and it took a poor clearance from their keeper and the brilliance of Teck Chye to put the ball beyond the stranded keeper for our 5th. Then Alex set up Teck Wah nicely for the latter to place the ball beyond the despairing dive of their keeper for our 6th. And that was the last touch of the match and the referee's final whistle ended the slaughter.

You could say that we reduced Boon Lay Old Boys to literally a....BLOB.

Match #36 (1 Sep 2013): Enciks Spank The Young Guns 3 - 0

What could be more satisfying for a bunch of mostly mid-40s uncles when facing a crew of young guns in some fearsome-looking outfit? Just stand up to them and dish out some disciplined and effective football without all the fanciful footwork. Result? A handsome 3 - 0 win, which the young guys, Lutador FC also could not quite figure it out.

We did labour in the early stage before Teck Wah opened the account after receiving a brilliant cross-field pass from Kama. Teck Wah finished it, just another day in the office. Woon then added to our scoreline after he reacted quickest to a loose ball that cannoned off the post and put in the rebound. Second half did not produce much cutting edge but a quick movement involving KH, Weng Khong set up Gan to score from just outside the box. 3 - 0

Match #31 (4 Aug 2013): A Disjointed Performance But Worthy 2-0 Winner

It seems like we are gearing ourselves up for the annual lunar 7th Month syndrome where, for whatever reason, our results tend to go haywire during this lunar month :D

Our recent performance, especially against seemingly easy opponents and teams who started the match with 1-man short, has been patchy. Against Team Orange, we were disjointed in the first half - misplaced passes, hasty lay-offs, heavy touches, miscommunication in the backline and to sum up in Chwee Leng's words, we were simply slow to every ball and not robust enough. We presented them with two howlers but fortunately, they failed to capitalize and thankfully, on each occasion, the sleeping Brandon woke up in time to smother their goal-scoring opportunities. We suspect it was his desire for showmanship :) At the other hand, Teck Wah had a close-range effort blocked by the defender on the line and their keeper brilliantly denied KH and Chor Guan on two one-on-one situations. Teck Chye had another clean break-through to face only the keeper but uncharacteristically, the ball did not find the intended net despite wrong-footing the keeper. Match ended in stalemate at the break.

Despite their younger age, Team Orange appeared tired and jaded in the 2nd half. We cranked up our machinery to good effect. Our opening goal came from a textbook-style defence-to-attack-in-1-second. Weng Khong cleared the ball down the right strip to set off Chor Guan a lung-bursting run down the right. After a swift cut-in, he set up KH flying down from the opposite flank for a decisive finish past their rooted keeper, who was perhaps mesmerized by how swiftly we moved the ball from our half to their half. Weng Khong again had a hand, or rather a head, in our 2nd goal goal. His powerful header from our half found Chor Guan in the opposite box (geez...that was quite a header!). CG brushed off their defender's marking like sweeping dandruff off his shoulder before planting a left-footed shot past their keeper. 2-0 and we were cruising. They were struggling and this was further compounded by their lack of reserves. When they saw we made another wave of 4 substitutions on the 75th-minute mark, they must be wondering if we had a life apart from football :)

Match #22 (2 Jun 2013): Marine Sunday 3 : Mizuno Reds 0

Just to illustrate how good Mizuno Reds, a team well blended with a handful of veterans but plentiful of early-20s youngsters, are. It is very rare for KH to beef up the defence as the match, especially when it is still a draw or when we are trailing, wears on. As we all know, he will usually go for broke to get the match. But such was the menace that Mizuno Reds' young, nippy forwards posed to us that Chor Guan, deployed as a striker in 1st half, had to replace Melvin as sweeper 15 minutes into the 2nd half in order to contain them.

1st half was fairly even with both sides carving out a handful of half chances but nothing really threatening. But 2nd half was pulsating, to say the least. Mizuno Reds could have opened the account right from the restart when they capitalized on our messy play at the back but their effort came off the upright and the couple of subsequent rebounds were blocked by our bodies in the line of fire. After brushing off that close shave, we started imposing, with Mark beginning to find his footing and Simon illustrious down our right flank. Still, their speedy forwards stretched our backline to the extent that Melvin had his right hamstring flared up. Cued in Chor Guan to replace him to keep those young boys at bay.

Gan brought out a superb reflex save from their keeper but the resultant corner settled the issue. Simon whipped in a wicked corner and Gan forced the ball through to break the duck for us. Gan then sent in a delicious looking cross, only for their right fullback, with Ng breathing down his neck, to handle the ball in mid-air. Referee was spot on to point to the spot and Chor Guan coolly converted it. 2-0. Kama's header from Mark's corner kissed the horizontal but a sweet 1-2 play between KH and Weng Khong saw KH crudely brought down in the box. Another clear-cut penalty and Weng Khong beat Mizuno Reds' custodian without any fuss. Both Weng Khong and KH could have further added to the tally but their keeper brilliantly denied Weng Khong at point blank and KH hit the side-netting after another wonderful 1-2 with Weng Khong.

Whatever Mizuno Reds threw at us with their individual flair, we neutralised them with bodies. On so many occasions we threw in the first man to disrupt their play and our back end colleagues were ever ready to deal with the 2nd or 3rd ball, much to the frustration of MR's youngsters. That's what experience is all about...no need to look pretty, just be effective, the end result counts :)

Match #8 (24 Feb 2013): Old School Rock n Roll Reigns Supreme

With a name like Santana, we were bracing ourselves for some Latin American samba from opponent but the old school rock-n-roll in us emerged triumph in this rather feisty encounter. Nowadays, opponents do not surprise us anymore if they are quicker to the ball, closes us down in a second, are more fleet-footed and twinkle-toed...and of course, are more inclined to show-boat. Veteran teams like us are rare to come by.

We carved out a few half chances and Simon had an effort kissing the horizontal in the first half. All came to nothing at the break, 0-0.

Santana then gifted us with three moments of horrendous defending and we ruthlessly punished them and richly reaped rewards out of them. While defending against a free-kick from Teck Chye, Santana's defender in the wall raised his arm to block Teck Chye's effort but the penalty decision was rather dubious as the wall was outside the box. Nevertheless, Teck Chye benefitted from the defender's moment of indiscretion and the referee's moment of ill-judgment and converted the spot kick. 1-0.

Kian Hwa, in his 3rd comeback match, came close on two efforts - a snap shot from outside the box that whisked past the left post and a lob over the keeper that went just over the bar. Then, the moment of god-send arrived when Santana's keeper poorly sent his goal-kick straight to KH, who composed himself to coolly despatch the ball into the open goal for a 2-0 lead before calling for an early retirement from the match. Chor Guan and See Chiang had further chances to put the issue beyond doubt but fluffed their opportunities. The moment of glory came from the other KH - Kok Hock, when he intercepted Santana's play from just after the mid-line and, spotting the keeper out of position, whacked in a ferocious left-footed long-range shot that went beyond the back-pedalling keeper. 3-0.

At our rear end, the defending was stout and made life difficult for Santana. Gan, standing in goal, made a couple of fine blocks with his feet when facing one-on-one with Santana's strikers. In the dying moment, Santana could have scored a consolation goal but when their striker rounded Gan and could have shot at the open goal, but instead indulged in some one-man-ship and showing off his twinkle-toes. Our defenders closed him down to deny him that wee bit of a consolation.

3-0 was the final score.

Match #3 (20 Jan 2013): Of Desserts and Desserters (sic)

This weekend' match has sufficient twist and turns starting from the moment KH announced the line-up. Here's the drama as it happened!

16/1, 2259h: Line-up for 20 Jan - Yes = 13 = ng, leo, simon, chwee leng, teck wah (2H), mike, melvin, chor guan, gan, brandon, kama, rock, woon.
16/1, 2345h: Marathoner came to the rescue, added 2H to the strength. Now 12 plus 2 second halfers.

Matchday - 20 Jan 2013: A lovely cloudy cloudy day since yesterday ....
0601h: Manager dropped a bombshell - he wouldn't be coming, guys on their own. No Benitez today .... argh sorry, got mixed up, B is now miserable at C, I mean no Rodgers today.
0805h: On-fire Mike SMSed - pulled out due to illness. (Still owes the team half a carton of beer, or one dozen, or two six packs to be clear). Strength down to 11 plus 2 second halfers.
0824h: Leng texted that youngster Leng Jr might be coming. Strength update - 11.5 plus 2 second halfers.
1404h: Rock thought it was going to be a shagged game, assuming we were having 12 plus 2. He would be proven right in 7 minutes.
1411h: Leng confirmed Jr was coming! Heng ah!
1417h: Wah texted that lunch only started at 1400h, hoped to make second half as planned.
1435h: Khong helpfully commanded the Tangs to 'eat faster!'.
1440h: Oeste FC showed up, they had more than our complement at that time. All-Malay team, young and raring to go - eye of the tiger stuff. Plus a manager wearing red Liverpool jersey, prowling on the touch lines looking super intelligent. Jeez, didn't Liverpool just hammered Norwich 5-0 last night? Where's our Rodgers? Bad omen...
1458h: Stand-in captain for the day named the line-up. Unfamiliar midfield with Jr on the right and fixedly right-footed Woon on the left. An interesting, ambitious pairing of Gan and Guan up front. Gonna be a long day, nevertheless.
1459h: Back at the restaurant, Tang bros had consumed cold dish, shark fins, and a whole abalone each.
1500h: Ref blew the whistle for KO. Oeste started super confidently, knocking the ball around on the ground and mixing it up with some probing high balls to test our defence. No 17, tall big and strong was a constant menace with his physical prowess and stocky 19, no slouch either, was very mobile in linking defence and attack.
1518h: Goal! It was only a matter of time, No 19 fed No 17 a precise through-ball who outmuscled the challenge and strode forward to score confidently.
1525h: Goal! That same combination again sprung the defence and nailed it. It was looking a stroll in the park!
1537h: Goal! Pressure from attackers forced keeper to clear but it found No 11 way out who first-timed the return with his instep as if he had been doing it all his life. The Exocet stayed true to the intended trajectory and left the keeper on the deck as he fumbled trying to get back to his line. The shot was teasing to say the least (tease what is up to your imagination!).
1545h: Half time. MS players trudged back to the stands, hoping that reinforcements would arrive soon.
1547h: MS players remained positive through the team talk. Still looking towards the gate.
1552h: Bombshell #2 - Text received: "Guys we are still here. Doubt we will be going down. Sorry cant play. We just finished (the Orh Née)".
1553h: Ok then, we just had to continue concocting our brand of Durain pudding, having played so damn well to go three up. One more and we could consider this a Durain-picking match (by our long-adopted definition).
1555h: Some reshuffling to spread energy consumption. Leng swapped with Guan, Woon took a break, Alex returned to right mid. Second half kicked off.
1615h: Good disciplined football from MS, kept things simple and safe. Limited resources called for breakthrough solutions. Woon came back in to give Gan a tactical rest, paving the way for the first ever father-son strike force in the history of MS!
1625h: Alex fought and won the ball in the penalty area, lays off for Leng who smashed it low and hard! Goal! Alas that was all in my imagination :)
1640h: Game petered out to a goalless second half. Peep! Peep! Peep!

Post game thoughts: What might have been? First ever father-son combination goal? Another 6 goals scored if only....Perhaps, Orh Née will always triumph over Durain pudding!

Match #1 (6 Jan 2013): So Much Joy For Our Opening Match!

Against another team of young players, an organised one at that, at 3pm type of miserable heat, hit half a dozen, conceded nothing...couldn't ask for any better start to the new season. But wait, there is better news, our next carton of beer is sponsored, thanks to our No 15 who left his jersey behind :)

The match was barely 5-minutes old when Court FC's keeper was caught woefully napping. Mark, playing in unfamiliar right-back position, took what looked like a harmless shot from just outside the box but to the horror of Court FC players, their keeper remained solidly rooted to the ground without even battling his eyelids and Mark grabbed our opening goal of the season! The ploy of fielding our newly wed sweeper, Chor Guan, as a striker to let him continue enjoying his 'goal-scoring' exploits paid off handsomely. Leo brilliantly intercepted Court's play in our half and sent a high through ball for Chor Guan to lob over Court's keeper, who was at fault again for our 3rd goal. Under pressure from See Chiang, their right back sent a back pass to his keeper who only made a mess of his clearance and the ball went into his own goal instead. 3-0 at the break but we continued to be alert at resumption of play.

The same thing happened again in the 2nd half, which was only in its 3rd minutes when Weng Khong turned and shot at goal from outside the box. Again, the keeper allowed the ball to squirm through his palms for our 4th goal. Teck Wah then brilliantly set up Kama, who raced half the pitch to meet Teck Wah's cross-field pass and coolly slot the ball home for goal No 5. We were not done yet. Simon, for all his miscued shots in the 1st half, finally zeroed his right foot and despatched his trademark long range shot for half-a-dozen.

We couldn't ask for a better start. Happy New Year!

Match #48 (11 Nov 2012): We Removed The Sting Out of Venom

Against one of our regular opponents, Venom, which comprises mostly a bunch of ex-Commandos and hence the team name with a scorpion as insignia, with the unbearable heat, and absence of a few regular players, we were mostly at the receiving end throughout the match. But for all their lion share of the possession, they only managed to get into our box twice and each time they were close to scoring. Apart from those couple of golden chances, they resorted to shooting from distance which Brandon had no real issue dealing with them. Then we dished out a couple of sucker punches in 2nd half from our hotshot Teck Wah - one directly from a corner and his second went through keeper's legs - and Venom knew it just wasn't their day. Very certain they have revenge in their mind when we meet again next week.

Marine Sunday 2: Venom 0

Match #46 (27 Oct 2012): Dug Deep To Carve Out A Fantastic Victory

With only 12 players (including one with 2 left feet, one with 'handicapped' right foot and one 14-years old boy), we dug deep to score a fantastic 3-0 win over Orangee, who had 17 turnouts and half the team comprising young Malay players to augment the older Chinese (but still younger than us) folks, and in the process, we certainly stood heads and shoulders above them.

Mike broke the duck early in the match when he latched onto KH's knockdown and whipped a shot past Orangee's keeper. Teck Wah and Mike had further chances to threaten Orangee's goal but Mike was the greater culprit. With the keeper on the ground and an empty goal, Mike chose to pass instead of attempting a shot at goal. Our backline was rock solid, despite playing without any backup. Rock, Chwee Leng, Chung Wen and Ng marshalled the line superbly and dealt with Orangee's forays comfortably. We ended the half with a slender 1-0 lead.

Expecting an onslaught from them and mindful of our limited and depleted resources, we opted for a defensive lineup in the 2nd half, depending on the 14-years old boy, Alex's energy to trouble whatever he could. Our 2nd goal came from a typical counter-attack with just 3 players up front. Teck Wah, on the right, reacted to KH's call and sent the ball across the pitch to the opposite flank, with KH galloping down to meet the ball but his cross was handled by Orangee's clumsy defender and referee had no hesitation to point to the spot. Weng Khong coolly made it count, despite having to retake it after his first attempt was disallowed by the referee.

We sat back to absorb and relied on counter-attack to trouble them. Teck Wah got our 3rd goal, his first attempt at point-blank was blocked by their keeper but he followed up on the rebound for our 3rd goal. Alex had a glorious chance to score our 4th but, in order not to out-score and embarrass his father, he chose to fluff the golden opportunity and so he remains 1-goal behind his father on our scoring chart.

Final score: Marine Sunday 3 : Orangee 0

Match #44 (14 Oct 2012): Vintage Wine On Display; So A Vintage Performance And A Vintage Win

It was a rare sight that a younger opponent turned up earlier than us but still, when it comes to getting ready on the pitch for the match, nobody could square up to our discipline. Blaze certainly took ages for their pre-match lineup talk but whatever plans they might have laid out for us, we dug deep to punish them for making us wait for them. We didn't take long to open the account and Mike was the final beneficiary of a fine build-up resulting in a cross from the right. Mike broke free from his marker to tap-in a first-timer beyond the despairing dive of Blaze's keeper. A couple of our players got into their complacency and were dreaming of a durian harvest but it wasn't to be. Blaze's youthful dynamism and vitality soon gained the advantage for them as they laid seige on our goal. They just lacked the cutting edge to seriously threaten Brandon and we finished the half with a slender one-goal lead.

As in the 1st half, we scored our 2nd goal soon after the match resumed. Again, a series of simple passes disrupted their concentration and KH pressured their right-back to concede possession before whipping in a cross for Mike, again getting in front of the defender, to nod home. Blaze's inexperience conceded a penalty. Teck Chye mustered his charm to invite Blaze's defender to his bum and the Blaze's defender duly fell for his trick and in a moment of eagerness to hump Teck Chye, pushed him down in the attempt to pin him on the ground. Before Teck Chye could cry he "was forced to take it in", the referee pointed to the spot. Teck Chye lustfully picked himself up to convert the penalty for our 3rd goal, before wiping that drop of fluid from his mouth and flicking it onto that defender's face.

3-0 and a rare clean sheet for us :)

Match #31 (15 July 2012): Marine Sunday Hit 5 and Kept a Clean Sheet!

Kop is a good opponent with a balanced mix of veterans and youngsters to boost the lung power :) And we did find them quite a hard nut to crack until the last 15 minutes of 1st half. Kama's perseverance set up 2 goals for Teck Wah, one of which was a spectacular overhead kick. Then Kama's intelligent through pass set up Kian Hwa (you didn't read wrongly, yes, Kian Hwa), who made his appearance after a long-term knee injury, who went on to register a memorable goal on his comeback. The goal of the match must be from Teck Chye's left foot. No, he didn't score but what a cool mind he demonstrated. When he could have taken a shot at goal, he set up Gan with a delightful, perfectly weighted cross from his left foot that Gan had the simplest of task to head it in. Teck Wah rounded up the misery of Kop with a blistering shot.

It was good to see players who had not appeared for a while, namely Weng Kwan, Mark and ahem........ :) I believe I overheard Kop players on the sideline complimented on our team work. Well done, Marine Sunday!

Match #9 (18 Feb 2012): A Disciplined Marine Sunday; A Fine Win

We put up a very disciplined performance to beat Team Orange 7-0 and kept our second clean sheet so far. No doubt, our strikers should grab the limelight but credit to our defence line, impressively marshalled by Melvin and fine performance from Rock and Chung Wen, both back after a spell on the sidelines through injury. Our guest player, Daniel, put in a fine shift of duty as left-back. Teck Chye (3), Teck Wah (2) and one each from Kama and Mike completed the rout.

Match #7 (4 Feb 2012): 8-nil Romp

The one-sided scoreline was not reflective of ACME's quality. We know them, our past few encounters were close and evenly contested. For this match, they were not only deprived of their regular players but were also short in number, starting and ending the match with 10 players. We were in similar situation and had to call up 2 guest players.

We were disciplined throughout the match. Even with a 4-0 lead at half-time, we continued to press them hard and continued to breach their high defence line with our overlapping runs to find space.

Teck Wah (3 goals), Teck Chye (2, and he missed 4 other glorious opportunities in the 1st half!), Mike (2) and Kama completed the rout of ACME. And KH had 4.....assists :)

Match #36 (10 Sep 11): We Kept The Momentum Going

We notched up another convincing win over CJC Old Boys with a 4-0 margin. Goals from Weng Khong, Kian Hwa (direct from a corner-kick) and Teck Wah set the tone at the break. KH then got his brace and our 4th goal in the 2nd half from a well-worked passing move involving Yong Chua and Simon. Brandon's determination to keep a clean sheet was evident when going full-stretched to make 2 big saves as the match was coming to an end. Before that, our well-marshalled defence kept CJC Old Boys largely at bay.

Match #15 (16 Apr 11); Stalemate

....

Match #12 (26 Mar 11): Poor MS Trounced Rich MS 8 - 0!

Exactly a year ago at Yio Chu Kang Sec Sch, where we first and last played against Morgan Stanley, it was a bruising come-from-behind narrow 4 - 3 win. We expected some stiff opposition but we managed to secure the first clean sheet of the season instead. 6 different scorers - Gan (2), Kian Hwa (2), Simon, Chwee Leng, Yong Chua and Leo got into the scoring act. They found our backline - Chor Guan, Weng Kwan, Rock, Leo and Ng - a bit too miserly to their liking.

Simon opened the scoring by with an adroit steal off the keeper's spill, followed by Leng notching one with his lefty on a rare (nowadays) promotion to frontline.  Gan tapped in a sitter off a wonderfully-executed layoff from the unselfish Kama and KH outsped everyone to score from a tight angle.  The scoring continued in the second half with Gan benefitting from Simon's challenge of the last man to score one on one with keeper, KH notching his second with another lung-bursting dash, YC slotting with typical composure off a route one kick from brandon and leo scuttling all the way up from right back to score a scientifically-measured and executed shot which ricocheted off the post and keeper.

Poor (relatively) but rich (figuratively) all the same :)

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 :)

Match #30 (15 Aug 10): Marine Sunday Held On To A Narrow 1-0 Win

Whilst it was uncharacteristic of us to throw away a 3-0 lead last week, it was unusual of us this week that we were able to hold on to an early goal for a narrow 1-0 win over Shades of Blue. Credit to our defenders - Chung Wen, Leo, Ng, Kok Hock and anchored by the Rock - for repelling SoB, which clearly enjoyed the majority of possession. Brandon saved us on a couple of occasions and SoB's poor finishing was their biggest culprit in not winning this match. Teck Wah notched the early within 5 minutes of the match. And that was it for us.

Match #19 (22 May 10): Whitewashing day

We played one of our best games in a long while against Mixes of White. We set out to contain their playmaker, No 8, and then to deploy Chor Guan to play behind our striker in the 2nd half to help shore up our midfield in the absence of Teck Chye and YC. We couldn't ask for a better outcome, with Chor Guan almost grabbing a hat-trick. Their No 8 was no doubt a class act and true enough, he gave us a couple of moments of fright early in the game, came close to score on two occasions and was their only threat to us throughout the match. But we did well to contain him and frustrate him to the extent that he called it quit mid way through the 2nd half.

I would not have described the result as a durian harvest season, despite the whitewash scoreline. We thoroughly deserved this win. Sure, Mixes of White had their chances, all except one came from their No 8. Whereas, several of us came close to add on to our tally. Of course, they brought out 2 stupendous saves from Seah in the 2nd half - a tip-over of a ball that was destined for the top right-hand corner and a point-blank save from a header. But we had Teck Wah hitting the frame early in the game, Gan's close-range header met a reflex save from their keeper, Kian Hwa's half-volley found the side netting and later saw his left-footed effort rattle the upright after a flowing move of football. Chor Guan completely missed a sitter that could have notched his hat-trick.

As commented by YC, all our goals were scored by our Young Guns. It was a match where the Young Guns were the Princesses and the Old Cocks played the Bridesmaids. The first 3 goals scored by Gan, Chor Guan and Teck Wah in that order were set up by Kian Hwa, Meng Hock and Weng Khong respectively. Then the Princesses decided they could do it without the Bridesmaids. Teck Wah picked up an overhit cross from KH and crossed in from the opposite flank for Chor Guan to head in his 2nd goal and our 4th. Teck Wah upped the ante and elevated his Princess status to a Queen with THE goal of the match - a brilliant solo effort to break the static defence line and beat their keeper with ease to complete his brace.