End of Season 2008

Season 2008 started on 29 Dec 2007 and ended on 20 Dec 2008. The timings are such as to enable the collation of statistics and its presentation for the 'AGM'. Of course it was a proper AGM with RSM back to lead business decisions. In any case, statistics are interesting things of what it purports to tell and more significantly, what it can't tell which we still, nevertheless try to foretell. Accountants and footballers should love the 2008 Review consisting of 6 sheets of easily laid out information. It's found nestled in the right side bar 'Records and More Reports'. Enjoy!

Match #52 (20 Dec 08): Desperately Seeking Simon ........

the title was meant to intrigue (and borrowed from a madonna's movie), and certainly the events leading to and the outcome itself was quite extraordinary. we manage to conjure up a team made up of 12 players of which 4 were guests (benny, daniel and yan song and joe playing for us the first time, oh what fabulous contributions from them!). then under such circumstances to break the almost 2-month winless streak (since 26 Oct), ah that's quite unexpected. how we did, there can be no empirical evidence on any kind of formula for the future. the possibilities are endless. just read on and enjoy Wordsmith's entertaining piece below.

match report by mel

Change, we can. Change, we must. That was Marine Sunday's war-cry as the team trooped out to meet their opponents after a winless streak that stretched longer than a camel's phallus. Perhaps Obama could heal us, we lamented and so the team formed a circle for a pre-match pow-wow. What does being Obama mean? So we broke it down:

1. O-B-A-M-A: Old Balls Are Mindless Accessories. We agreed it sounded right but enough about what our wives own.
2. Our Best Act Means Aggression. ...Yes, we must be aggressive and combat that deadly virus that has plagued us, the infamous KH69 virus which has killed a number of chickens (as in the Geylang variety), and some poultry too.

WHO had given us our shots and for a short while at least, we were free of the KH 69 virus and so MS attacked with wild abandonement, like VS boys when they see SAC girls on service 148. Teck Wah grabbed four goals, Mark had an easy tap in and Chua finished with immaculate class. Just to prove a point, Wah also intentionally hit the bar four times but missed the vertical on two other occassions. Can't blame him lah, the post is thin compared to the goal.

The game: MS was slow to settle down and our opponents seized the chance to steal a goal. 1-0. Oh, we could feel KH 69 deadly breath on our necks. But MS fought back brilliantly with neat passing game. So neat, our opponents relaxed so they could catch the action. One after another MS pounded our opponent's goal. Wah, with time on his hands, aimed for the horizontal after dancing his way around the defenders. Still, the goals flowed. Two quick goals from Wah put us back in the lead. The second was a well-plcaed header which sailed into the top corner. 1-2.

Then after neat interpassing on the left, Leng played a neat pass to Mark who had the easiest of tap ins. 1-3. Just before half-time, Wah grabbed his hat-trick. 1-4.

At half-tim MS decided to take it easy. Big mistake. It allowed our opponents back into the game, especially Mohd Ronaldo, the number 7 who did so many crossovers with his skinny legs, he began to resemble one of those dancers at Crazy Horse cabaret. But his trickery led to a second goal for our opponents. 2-4. Any hope of a recovery faded when Wah headed his fourth pass the keeper and then Chua finished with a well-placed shot which left the keeper rooted. 2-6.

Now we may have broken the winless streak thanks to WHO's antidote but I think it was the return of Kwan, the shot in the arm doctors prescribed. He defended stoutly and is as fit as ever. Or it could be Melvin, who marked his second game but marking the ref out of the game. Mel set a new record for standing still at a single spot but that strategy proved useful as three defenders thought he had opened a sarabat stall and stood around him waiting for teh tarik.

On to the next game and don forget your KH 69 shots. Unfortunately, the shots can only be administered in the rump so get ready to bend over guys. Merry X'mas!

Match #51 (13 Dec 08): Marine Sunday Decides Not to End Winless Streak

match report by kh

There are a few options to start this report.

I could have drawn parallel with Liverpool's result against Hull on same day.
Liverpool should have won but drew. Like us.
They came from behind to snatch a draw. Like us.
That matched ended 2 - 2. Like us.
Their skipper, Gerrard, scored both goals. Like us.
But such report will draw flaks form you readers, especially from a certain Chwee Leng, whose ego has been bruised incessantly by this reporter-cum-editor.

The other option is to continue highlighting our winless streak. Against last Saturday's opponent, AC Milan Version N, we could and should have won but we threw the game away. Perhaps, we have forgotten what it is like to win. Perhaps, we have lost the winning feeling. Perhaps, we are no longer thrilled to win. So, we might as well continue the winless run. But this theme is wearing thin on the pitiful few readers.

A third option is to keep zooming our radar on the form of one fellow. Putting the result aside, what had us worried was the continuing bluntness of our only remaining predator. Why only remaining? How about KH? Forget him, a pale shadow of his old self. Chwee Leng? Not even a shadow! Gan? Considering that he has scored well in bedroom (he's gearing up for fatherhood, mind you), his lack of pace, slow-mo action on the pitch is forgiveable. But Teck Wah?

At the rate TW is going, we will soon have no more strikers. For the second successive match, he missed the goal from his trademark lob. Based on this empirical evidence, the Council of Highest Order, made up entirely of Elders > 40 years of age, deduced that his off-pitch new-found whatever might have blunted his on-pitch conversion, although we reluctantly (and gleefully) agreed that if we had the same "firing field" like he has, we would probably be spending our time "charging the mountains, engaging in bush warfare and doing a lot of river crossing"! But not everything is bleak. We are at least encouraged that his intensive "commando" training has enhanced his mental sharpness and brightness, given how his quick-mindedness created our first goal.

We had to again sign two players on-loan for this match - Benny and Kok Hock, only for the attendance to be further boosted by last-minute responses from Mark, Melvin (yes, that round one from Down Under) and Hock Leong. From hardly able to assemble 13, including 2 on-loan players, to suddenly 16 players created some selection headache.

1st half was largely an even affair. Both sides created a couple of scoring opportunities but none really threated each other's goal. The big pitch further stretched the physical constraints of our players as we were too cautious not to be caught out by committing ourselves in too advanced positions. The half was coming to an end when a fantastic piece of play starting from the defence broke the deadlock. Brandon, tenative when he first came into play, was brilliant in robbing the ball from ACMVX's left winger and quickly passed the ball to Melvin on the right. From the mid line, Melvin attempted to rekindle his college intimate link with Yong Chua on football field when he sent in a long ball to the latter just outside the box. ACMVX's keeper was quick off the line to pluck the high ball from the air before YC could do any damage but his right foot landed just outside the penalty box, resulting in an indirect freekick for us. Teck Wah's awareness prompted him to take a quick free kick and rolled the ball back to Kian Hwa, whose left-footed shot floated the ball over the bewildered ACMVX's players and sailed into the unguarded goal. They had no complaints against our goal as it was legitimately executed to perfection. Superb work from the defender (Brandon) to midfielder (Melvin) to forward (Teck Wah)! 1 - 0 to our advantage at half-time.

We were caught out by 2 sloppy defending in the 2nd half, allowing them to reverse the deficit. But we could have extended the lead beyond any issue before that. Yet, we missed 2 glorious scoring opportunities. First was TW's miss. After being put through, he executed his perfect lob over the advancing keeper, only to see the ball bouncing agonisingly 2 cm wide off the left upright! Then, it was Gan who emulated TW's earlier miss. Similarly put through to face the keeper, Gan chose to shoot instead of lobbing the keeper, and the keeper parried the stiff shot away for a corner, but not before the ball hitting the post.

ACMVX duly punished us. Their first real attack of the half resulted in the equaliser. Ng and Mark failed to clear the ball cleanly and that moment of hesitation allowed their forward to nip in and squared the ball across the box for a tap-in. Then, a speculative shot from the right caught our defence by surprise and Seah could do nothing to prevent the goal, despite his outstretched arm in the air. From 1 - 0 up to 1 - 2 down!

All looked too familiar again until KH re-entered into play and beat the offside line to receive Weng Khong's brilliant reverse pass that fooled ACMVX rearguard. KH did not choose to lob the keeper or shoot at goal but rounded the keeper instead before placing the ball in the net for the last-grasp equaliser. A point gained but it looked more like 2 points lost for Marine Sunday, as we continued to sing our winless blues.

Match #50 (8 Dec 08): Winless Streak Continues

match report by kh

Old ties rekindled but there was no love lost shown by Dons. Where our past encounters were always tight and edgy, nobody by any streak of imagination would have expected a shocking 0 - 4 scoreline against them. The scoreline was quite flattering to them, nobody would argue with us that the loss was certainly not reflective of our capability. We were far from dismal overall but admittedly, our final one-third was two notches below satisfactory and the defence could certainly do better, notwithstanding an encouraging performance from Chwee Leng as emergency full-back.

With both sides robbed of their regulars, guest players made up the numbers. Dons called up three Malay players, who would to be the match winners for them. But our guest players were not without their pedigree - Lak, Terk, Kok Hock and Yap were not lightweights in their own rights. But those three Malay folks, perhaps inspired by Haji prayers in the morning, were lively and mobile throughout the match, calling the shots and ever willing to receive the ball and dictate the play. Perhaps, we were more subdued in this aspect.

We had the majority of the possession in 1st half, with numerous forays down the left flank by the lively KH. We did carve out a handful of chances but each went begging. Gan was put through on a one-on-one his lack of pace failed to capitalise on this opening. He later picked up a square pass in the box from the left but his subsequent effort was a balloon over the bar instead of troubling the keeper. Earlier before that, Simon also fetched another low cross from the left and did trouble the keeper with his half-volley but the keeper held firm to the ball. In the 2nd half, Simon had two more efforts - a goal bound header was cleared and later a thunderbolt shot that cannoned off the bar. But the dubious honour of the miss of the match went to Teck Wah. Picked out perfectly by Lak's diagonal pass, Teck Wah raced clear of the pack to face the onrushing keeper. He produced his trademark lob, no doubt. We were holding our breath for a goal but the ball bounced wide. Many thoughts went though our minds how he could have missed this, given his clinical conversion rate. Our queries were answered in the post-match debrief. Well, all we could say is that we better adjust our expectation of Teck Wah's on-pitch performance downward for the 2009 season. Expect his knees to go soft.....In the words of stock analyst, expect underperform market....on the pitch, I mean.

Dons opened the account against the run of play with a swift counter-attack, a dummy that fooled Yap and a quick flick by their ever-dangerous Segar to their Gelek King that beat Chor Guan. Gelek King went on to plant the ball beyond Brandon. The half ended 0 - 1 in their favour.

We were again in control for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half until the 3 Malay Kawans and Segar came back into play again. The four of them shredded us apart with their off-the-ball running and short passes. Mid-way through 2nd half, Dons sent us another of goals for souvenirs and extend the lead to 3 nil.

With nothing to lose, Chor Guan was pushed up and we were duly punished for exposing the gap behind. Yap was beaten on pace by their Kawan Kawan, who was very much in-tune with Chinese preference for even number, his goal made it 2 pairs....or if you are mathematically challenged, that was 4 nil!

And our miserable, winless streak continues..........

Ouch! Winless in November

November was a wet wretched winless month! 2 losses which was caused mainly by poor turnouts and i admit it, arising from operational difficulties and lapses (like giving guest players wrong timing!). the bright spots were the spirited fightbacks against a very strong opponent (XSRCNFLTR) and impossible circumstances (fr 1-5 down to Gombak Rangers). As the match reports indicated, there were things to laughed abt as well.

the year is coming to an end, so one last spurt everyone to avoid the worst ever record in MS history! and don't forget to make yourself available for our annual year end get-together!

Match #49 (29 Nov 08): To call or not to call.....

To call or not to call, that is the question. the turnout numbers was fluctuating the whole week right up to the morning of the match. with chye took our team name too seriously this week, khong remaining trapped in the warm hospitality of bangcock and mike suffering an inexplicable bout of food poisoning, we have only 9 players for the day (which includes guests yap and benny)! our opponents were a good mix of malays, indians and chinese youngsters, with what looks like a few coaching staff by the sidelines. yet for one looking like a seriously drilled outfit, they didn't have a team name. in any case, it was going to be a long day.

we started with 2 more guest players for MIC Red Team. Ref blew for kick-off assisted by 1 linesman. MRT was all over us at the beginning but the difficult field reduced their fine approach play to end tamely for goal kicks. they had to pepper shots from outside which posed no problem for seah. however, there endeavor was rewarded as a powerful cross deflected off st's shins and their midfielder thumped in the loose ball. the ref was one of those fresh young trainee types who went by the book all too literally. a punted through ball was received by a clearly-offside player, and he ran through to score. in response to our protest, the ref said the linesman didn't flag. of course, he didn't....he was still walking around the perimeter of the field to get to his position! to call or not to call.....

second half was a lot better as we defended the bumpier side of the pitch. we knew it would be difficult to size up shots so we concentrate on our shape. with mark providing industrious work to shield the defence of benny, yap, ng and brandon, we staved off many dangerous moves. even then, MRT tried to get into the mud-caked box a number of times and seah produced superb stops to deny them. we had a few chances but it wasn't for us to score. Wah got a deserved straight red for telling the ref and linesman what he thought abt the size of their brains and appendages. his view was truely vindicated as he returned to the pitch after 12 minutes in an act of defiance which the ref and linesman had no answer to (the ref has piontedly refused to grant my request when i politely asked for wah to be allowed back to play after 10 minutes of cooling off has passed). in the last 5 minutes, we went all out to get a goal and was richly rewarded. a clever through ball from st forced the keeper to fumble outside his box when challenged by our guest player from MRT, who duly rounded him to slot into goal.

final score 1-2. doesn't feel at all like a MS match. so to call or not to call......

Match #48 (23 Nov 08): Another draw, another comedy

match report by the comedic kh

The winless streak continues. But the comical index remains high.

Perhaps, life is never dull with KH in goal. One thing for certain, he is never quiet. You can either find him commanding in the box or from the body language of Weng Khong, irritating. Secondly, he never keeps clean sheet - he has let in 10 goals in the 3 matches he kept goal. He has conceded more goals than he scored throughout the season. Thirdly, and more memorably in whatever sense you choose to, he lets in a silly goal in every match. But this time round, he added a huge dosage of self-directed, and self-inflicted drama to the silliness. And that silly goal allowed Orange United to snatch a hard-earned 3-3 draw in the dying moments of the match, when they should been staring at an embarassing defeat.

Orange United must have found us a worthy opponent. They are younger, technically better and more organised on the pitch than us. Yet they had to come back 3 times to equalise. That spoke volume of our resilience, if there is anything noteworthy of us. (Oh, for that matter, they needed a silly goal conceded by us, or rather by KH, to avoid a defeat. That spoke volume of our ahem.....man in goal.)

Orange United stamped their intent from the opening whistle and in less than 10 touches of the ball, they created the first offensive foray with a through ball when our defense was holding a high line. Credit to this shameless reporter, he was alert to rush off the line to meet the through ball before their striker did. It was hardly surprising thereafter that they dominated the proceedings but our defensive quartet, especially the 2 old warhorses in Ng and Leo, kept them at bay.

Against the run of play, we stole the lead in a rather hotly-contested situation. Chor Guan was allegedly infringing with his high foot to win the ball in the box but the man in the middle ignored the opponent's cries for an offence. CG left the rooted Orange United defence fuming as he coolly slotted the ball past their keeper.

Then the sky opened up and the heavy downpour turned the match into a water polo match with both sides struggling to get the ball going on the water-logged pitch. The rain stopped in time as the whistle went for half-time with us holding a slender 1-0 lead.

When the match resumed, the superb pitch drainage restored the playing surface to its glittering best. And that suited Orange United with their blend of slick passing and technical skills. And they didn't take long to equalise. Their nippy striker (short, a bit plump but trust me, fast and skillful) eluded the attention of both Hock Leong and Chor Guan and nipped in between them to meet a delicate chip with a perfect header to place the ball into the lower left-hand corner of the goal, beyond the desperate reach of KH's under-length hands.

We regained the lead through who else but Teck Wah. Where he and Gan were very much restricted in the open play, Teck Wah proved he was just as clinical with dead ball situations. From a free kick outside the box, he whacked a low ball through the wall that took a wicked deflection. Much as the Orange United custodian tried, his dive was an inch short to reach the ball. 2-1.

Nippy striker again punished us when he capitalised on the miscommunication, or rather lack of communication, between our central defensive duo to zoom in from nowhere to meet a free kick. His faintest connection with ball was enough to divert the ball past the stranded KH.

Parity restored but Orange United must have marvelled at our third goal, undoubtedly the goal of the match. Teck Wah raced to the left flank to recover an overweight cross from the right. His subsequent cross into the box was converted superbly by See Chiang's hardly reliable left foot and the first-time volley left everybody in awe. 3-2.

Then KH discovered his talent in comedy with his first comical act - he unceremoniously slipped and fell onto the drain grille when recovering a ball. The second comical act was played out in the final moments, with him in the thick of action from beginning to the end, writing the script, producing the act and directing the play. Firstly, a poorly executed goal kick by him sent the ball directly to their forward on the one-third line. Seeing KH out of position, Orange United forward hit a high ball towards goal. Every Marine Sunday player stood rooted on the ground as the goal-bound effort looked destined to embarass KH's lack of height. Surprisingly, KH recovered in time to palm the ball away but it came off the right vertical. Marine Sunday still remained motionless and failed to react to the rebound as they couldn't believe KH could reach out to the ball. As KH came to his senses and desperately recovered to cover the loose ball, another Orange United forward followed up with no one in tow, evaded the hopeless stretch of KH's arms, and tucked the ball into the open goal. Ng's laughter went off, just like he did in the last match.

So, it was supposed to be an overdue win we were looking at but it ended up with another draw, one that was conceded by our eccentric clown, henceforth referred to as BG.....Bruce Grobbelar....or Ga-bra?

Match #47 (15 Nov 08): We were cushioned by SOFA!

match report by kh

After two splendid successive matches of come-from-behind draws, we were certainly up for any opponents on 15 Nov. But before a ball was even kicked, what could go wrong went wrong for us, leaving us with a molehill, which would later turn into a mountain, to climb before squaring up with SOFA.

Non-availability of many first-choice players left us depleted, rendering us to call up a record five guest players. One pulled out on the 11th hour, one was erroneously informed of the kick-off time and thus missed the match. Two could not find the way to the pitch and arrived late, and we started the match short of two men and conceded an early goal before these two guest players, Terk and Kok Hock, arrived to make up 11. And the ultimate straw of bad luck was cast upon us mid way through first half. Leo, rumoured to be on the bookies' payroll, raised further suspicion when he took our custodian, Brandon, out by stamping onto the latter's wrist. So KH had to fill in between the posts on an emergency basis and swapped with Brandon, who had to later resume play as an outfield player to make up the number. Then Weng Khong had to withdraw from the 2nd half due to a romantic rekindling with ex-flame, leaving us short in quantity again, when we were already deficient in the quality department. So, there you had it, somebody must have encountered a black cat the night before.

Let's be honest. We don't think much of Brandon as an outfield player. Then again, Kian Hwa was worse as a goalkeeper. Shortly after we gained the lead, he conceded one of those goalkeeping howlers that could potentially wreck a goalkeeper's career - he let a tame, innocuous-looking shot from outside the box slip under his body for SOFA's equaliser. If Seah or Brandon had conceded this goal, you would have first heard KH yelling from the other end of the pitch. Yet, the defence line comprising Weng Kwan, Kok Hock, Ng and Leo kept the frustration to themselves. But when KH conceded his 5th and our 6th goal - a typical looping ball exposing his deficiency in height, Ng couldn't help laughing!

Well, if there was any consolation, Tottenham Hotspurs' Gomes came up even worse in how he conceded the first goal against Fulham later in the evening. Moreover, even though KH conceded five out of our six goals, he also pulled off five saves in the 2nd half. One of which was a typical Peter Schmichael quick-off-the-line to block a shot in the 6-yards box. And not forgetting his drop kicks posed quite a fair bit of threat to the opposing keeper. So, KH's damage was mitigated, there is still a bit of hope for him to retain a place in the team :)

OK, enough of shameless self-praise. For the record, Terk equalised for us at 1-1, then we gained the lead through Mike after SOFA could not clear our corner. Then the rest, refer to preceding paragraphs.

Terk led the front line well, most of the time on his own and chasing after the long punting ball from KH's drop kick. He even created an opportunity in the 2nd half for Kok Hock, who smacked the ball against the horizontal. The other 2 guest players, Alex and Kok Hock, gamely shouldered on a lost cause for us. Brandon gave his best, though obviously not comfortable in an outfield position. Weng Khong was regaining his form with his work rate. Yong Chua led by example and played through the pain barrier due to his swollen toe. Mike, despite the rustiness, gave what his sore back could afford. And the defensive trio of Weng Kwan, Leo and Ng, their indomitable spirit despite facing endless onslaughts from SOFA was simply admirable. And you only need to listen to Ng's laughter when we conceded goal No 6 that well, all is still OK....notwithstanding the 2-6 score line!

Match #46 (9 Nov 08): Mother of All Comebacks!

an excellently written match report by KH - must read!

For whatever he had inflicted onto his people and the world order, which could not be condoned in the eyes of many, I must at least thank Saddam Hussein for coining the term Mother of All Wars. Since then "Mother of Whatever" has become to signify the ultimate, the pinnacle, the never-before, the greatest ever kind of thing. Lest I unknowingly caused grief to the those who suffered, I must reiterate that I am no fan of SH ("for I AM KH": ed).

Really, if anyone had witnessed any team fighting back from 5-1 down with less than 15 minutes left to snatch a draw, he would thank himself for having a strong heart and no asthma. Arsenal-Tottenham Hotspurs 4-4 thrilling draw and Marine Sunday's twice-from-2-goals-down unbelievable 3-3 draw last week against XSRCNFLTR paled in comparison to this match against Gombak Rangers, although many felt that last week's comeback was more satisfying than this latest comeback.

Without any disrespect to Gombak Rangers, we should not have put ourselves in such precarious position in the first place - an immobile frontline, an overrun midfield, a porous defence, and of course the usual few static players, all presented GR with a flattering 5-1 lead with less than 15 minutes to go. Even Rafa Benitez, with his now famous half-time dressing room pep talk in the 2005 Champions League Final against AC Milan, would have struggled to summon any positive words to urge us on. But huge credits to Hock Leong and Leo, they did. And I analysed post-match where they gathered that last ounce of mental strength and strong belief. I found out the possible reason. One is in insurance line, one is in MLM business and people in these 2 fields are huge (also read, blind) fans of Anthony Robbins - they believe they could walk on fire!

In about 10 crazy minutes, we left Gombak Rangers shell shocked as they left the pitch wondering what hit them. Call it football tsunami, we hit real hard, and the outcome was devastating, to state the least. Nobody should be denied of the immense satisfaction of snatching a result against all odds. Similarly, we should pull up our socks, tighten up and shape up ourselves. How we let them overrun us with such ease, to the extent that it was embarassing, needs to be addressed with immediate priority. GR was far inferior compared to XSRCNFLTR, but Marine Sunday on 9 Nov was 10 times worse than Marine Sunday on 1 Nov!

For the record, Chor Guan levelled the game at 1-1 after we conceded a sloppy opening goal. CG raced through to pick up Teck Chye's high through ball and lobbed over the keeper for the equaliser. Thereafter, more sloppiness ensued and fast forward, we were 5-1 down and all looked hopeless.

Hock Leong and Leo stepped up and uttered what could possibly become even more famous than Rafa Benitez's words. Leo's simple "C'mon, Marine Sunday, we can do it!", Hock Leong's war cry "Guys, just get 1 more goal!" did the tricks. After GR's keeper pulled a splendid top-drawer tip-over save to deny Teck Chye's point-blank header, his heroic counted for nothing as the resultant corner produced our goal No 2. Teck Chye couldn't connect with the corner but his brother did, with his trademark half volley.

So, 1 more goal, we did. But we are lousy mathematicians, I suppose. Either that, we are plain greedy. 1 became 4. We didn't know when to stop. And we reckoned losing 2-5 or 2-7 would have made no difference. We boldly played 3 at the back - Weng Kwan, Hock Leong and Ng, and pushed Chor Guan up to add more bite in attacks. And in the process, we wrote a new chapter of history for Marine Sunday.

Another corner from KH, another goal. GR's clearance looked destined for an own goal until their defender intervened on the line to head the ball out. As we were crying for a goal, as the ball had seemingly crossed the line, Chor Guan followed up with a thumping header to put away any doubt. 3-5!

Gan, we suspect he was a Military Policeman in his NS days as he could really stood still without moving much in the match, decided to desert his stiffness and produced a delicate chip from the left flank that exposed GR keeper's deficiency in dealing with high balls. Suddenly, a shocking result looked not too far away with 4-5!

Teck Chye was then put through, he rounded 2 defenders but his final shot was too straight at the keeper. KH then missed the Mother of All Sitters as his header in front of the gaping goal was, well, Mother of All Misses! This was after Leo put in some fine work on the left to whip in a measured left-footed cross.

Fittingly, for all his encouragement and earlier fine work on the flank, Leo deservedly gained the limelight as he beat the offside trap to receive Teck Chye's through ball. Seeing the keeping rushing out to narrow the angle, Leo lobbed the keeper and the ball took a bounce, then hit the underside of the horizontal before crossing over the line. Amazing 5-5 now.

And there was still enough time for more drama as GR mustered enough strenghth and sanity to launch one final attack. Brandon blocked the initial shot in the box but the follow-up to the loose ball was just 2 inches wide off the left upright. If that had gone in, it surely would have been such a dampener! But we left the fun at that, 5-5 draw!

For the record, this was not the first time we recovered from a huge deficit. Those among us who have played with Marine Sunday long enough, the last time we fought back from a forlorn lost cause to snatch a, coincidentally, 5-5 draw was on 2 May 2005 at St Wilfred. I suppose we are Veterans of All Comebacks!

Match #45 (1 Nov 08): Spurred!

match report contributed by kh.

For those who couldn't wake up to watch the pulsating north-London derby on Thursday morning that ended in an incredible 4-4 draw, today's match against XSRCNFLTR was just as adrenalin pumping. The match ended in parity but not before Marine Sunday recovered twice from 2 goals down to force the last minute equaliser to 3-3.

Despite starting the match with 2 men short, XSRCNFLTR kept possession and stroked the ball around the pitch patiently. They were clearly in an opportunistic mode, not pressing too hard forward but looking for breakthrough. The opening 5 minutes were an yawning affair until they striked. A momentarily lapse in concentration by Mike failed to track their nippy left winger, who ghosted in from the blank and beat Weng Kwan to the ball before unleashing a half volley from outside the box. Stand-in keeper, Kian Hwa got his finger tips to the ball but the feeble touch was only enough to divert the ball onto the right upright and into goal. It certainly wasn't an auspicious start for KH, who has not stand in between posts for years and his first real action was to pick the ball from the net.

Marine Sunday was stung into action but found XSRCNFLTR an even tougher nut to crack as their late arrivals made up the number. We carved up a few half chances but didn't really cause a bead of sweat to their custodian. Neither did we give them much space in our half as well, as See Chiang, Mark and Simon worked their socks off to break up their play, and Mike and Ng exerted influence in their fullback roles to add robustness in our defence. Clearly superior in techniques and movement, XSRCNFLTR threatened to breach our defence on several occasions but our defence held them at bay. However, we didn't manage to hold out before the half-time. A poorly cleared free-kick allowed their midfielder to whack in another half-volley that sailed across the box and fooled KH along the way. Just as his first piece action of the match was to pick up the ball from the net, KH's last piece of action before the 1st half ended was just as similar and miserable. 2-nil down at half-time.

Marine Sunday showed enhanced urgency as the match resumed. Brandon came in for the rusty KH. We gained upperhand in the early moments. Working to plan, we pulled a goal back. As much as he is a lazy player, Teck Wah time and again bail us out with his predatory and clinical strikes. It wasn't at all surprising that he added to his tally. A through ball found him on the right and he slotted the ball low to the keeper's left side to reduce the deficit.

The goal added spring to our strides. We countered their fluency in movements and passing with our robustness and spirit. XSRCNFLTR being what they are, they punctured our new found confidence with their 3rd goal. A ball deep into our box wasn't fully cleared by Weng Khong and their right winger pounced onto the loose ball to square to his fellow striker to tap it home.

Again we were 2 goals down but we didn't let our heads down. Ng added bite to the attack and his right-footed shot from outside the box, after cutting in from the left, saw the keeper fumbling with the ball. Our seemingly lazy-looking Teck Wah was at his most alert mode and he was the quickest to follow up to the loose ball with his left-footed volley, beating the keeper comprehensively. Again, we were just 1 goal away to force a tie.

Teck Wah almost snatched his hat trick as he beat the offside trap to receive another through ball but his intended lob over the keeper failed to materialise.

Despite having our influential Yong Chua and Mark out of play in the closing stages, Simon and Teck Chye stepped up to orchestrate our midfield with Weng Khong and Mike on the flank and Chwee Leng sportingly offered to drop back into right full back.

Teck Wah, clearly enjoying himself upfront than playing as a wide man, made space for himself on the right to receive a through pass. He had all the time in the world to tee up a cross to the far post. Simon's header forced a superb reflex save from the keeper. Just as we held our heads in disbelief by the reflex save, our anguish extinguished immediately and was replaced by ecstacy as the ball dropped into goal. The equalising goal proved to hit their raw nerves as it caused an internal strife between two XSRCNFLTR players. Whereas, Marine Sunday players were jubilant and not to be bothered by their embarassing internal scuffle. We couldn't wait for the referee to restart the game as we were clearly having the tail wind with us and riding on the crest. Sensing more volatilty in XSRCNFLTR, the referee sensibly blew for the final whistle.

3-3...a fantastic match not for the faint hearted...and certainly not the weak-spirited like XSRCNFLTR.

By the way, XSRCNFLTR stands for Ex-SRC NFL Team....Rejects. Even then, they are still much superior than us in techniques, movement, fitness but I can't say much on the teamwork and spirit aspects. Well done, Marine Sunday! Despite the half-time heated exchange among us, we carried ourselves superbly on the pitch to snatch the game away from under their nose!

Match #44 (26 Oct 08): Drab 1-1 draw at MJC

MJC, the venue of our abject humiliation! a 3pm fixture added to our foreboding. the sun had hidden behind the clouds all day but upon kick-off, it duly came to greet us with its warm smile

:( Team 89 consists of a motley bunch. there are youngsters with speed and flash, and there are some looking like misfits but could do the basics. in terms of personnel, quantity or otherwise, they ought to benefit from the conditions.

both teams took their time on the wide expanse of the pitch, spraying ball back and forth but without much penetration. therefore, the first breakthrough came from a set piece. off a corner viciously swung in by Team 89, MS players, like Arsenal were guilty of slack marking, allowing an easy stab home. the cat and mouse game continued as the humidity took its toll. sensing a static defence and wah ready wide out on the left, st clipped a delicious chip into the box. wah pounced with his lefty, keeper looked dazzled as the ball looped across him, and gan sneaked in from the right to slot the ball into the far corner.

and those were mainly the action. not much drama except the inconsequential (to us) vehement arguments amongst some Team 89 players over nothing that we could fathom. a rather unsatisfying afternoon was undelined by the fact that Team 89 immediately placed us for a rematch in nov at FTPSS. both sides probably thought their glass was half empty.

Match #43 (18 Oct 08): Roma Orange Crush

on a super hot day, that's what we need! opponent's name is Orange and they wore Roma's jerseys. being crushed was simply not the expected outcome, but it was. the first 5 minutes didn't give us much encouragement. simply put, in that space of time, they had 2 simple shots on goal which give seah no bother at all. thankfully, seah was to continue picking up simple shots the rest of the day. soon, our defence was simply imposing themselves with chiang meeting any dangers spot on, leo & wen stepping up on their wide men and kwan providing solid cover. surprising in the narrow orchid park pitch, there was space and time in the middle for us. st took advantage of that, measured a cross field ball over the defender and teck wah's endeavor earned a corner. his simple but accurate cross was emphatically met by yc's head into the far corner. both teams then simply labored in the hot sun and the half time whistle was most welcomed.

we simply got off to a quick start in the second half. wah measured a simple ball into the path of terk and continued his run into the box. terk, not simply had to fight off 2 defenders to nick the ball across goal causing confusion. wah needed no invitation to slam the ball home with his left foot. then more perserverance from terk on the right to square a simply dangerous ball into box for gan was met by a thumping 'clearance' from their skipper. oh what a simple way to score a goal without needing to aim! by now, Orange seemed a little demoralised and out of juice. they played a high line, simply hoping for the best. tony the ref, famed for simply giving offsites had saved them a couple of times to the chagrin of wah and mike. but we were not to be denied. off another superb interception in our half, we sprayed the ball to the right for our guy to put a teasing through ball across to the left. st chased down the ball and with one defender to beat, he go for the simple. a neat rolled pass to wah in the middle presented him an easy one on one. He simply rolled it in for his double.

and that's a simple and effective 4-0 win. keep it simple!

Match #42 (11 Sep 08): Clash of the Water

report contributed by kh

With a name like Ocean 15, we could not be faulted for our initial apprehension. We thought we would be facing a bunch of footballers with some scheming tactics. Even their mastermind captain oozes the charm of George Clooney. But given their turnout, they should have just sticked to the original movie title, Ocean 11 or even, perhaps Only 11.
The match could have been billed as the clash of the water. C'mon, after all, it was Ocean v Marine. In the end, the results portrayed a journey down the water slide for O15, 7-1! That was after we were awakened by the splash of cold water by them for having conceded an early goal to them. It was not durian picking for Marine Sunday, more like oyster harvesting with such score line.

Before we could string 20 passes, we let their playmaker, No 5, have too much room to weave through us like a slippery eel. His low cross across the 6-yards box had Seah fully stretched to cover but our keeper only managed to divert the ball into the path of their awaiting striker. By then, the covering Weng Kwan was unfortunately caught flatfooted by the diversion and O15's striker put the ball past him for a shocking lead.

It was a rude awakening and Chor Guan chided at our impotency upfront and began to ski forward. Despite his archilles tendon injury, his swift movements equalized for us. Gan did not give up chasing after what looked like a lost cause. O15's last man seemingly had the ball covered but under pressure exerted by Gan, he could have cleared the ball away instead of waiting for his keeper to do so. The keeper's clearance was poor, and Chor Guan picked up the loose ball and shot past the stranded keeper. 1-1.

Even Chwee Leng had a resurgent of form, or shall we say, luck? We all know how hard it is to open up an oyster but in this case, the oyster literally opened itself in front of Chwee Leng for him to caress! An innocuous-looking hanging ball should be easy for the keeper to at least punch it away. Chwee Leng, sandwiched between the keeper and a defender, looked up trying to avoid the fist of the keeper but could not avoid the ball, resulting in the ball cannoning off his head into the open goal. Chwee Leng of course vehemently protested to this version of report and sought the Dubious Goal Committee for mediation. After viewing the replay, it was agreed to digitalize the action and showed that Chwee Leng outjumped the keeper and defender to head the ball into the net. 2–1. The dam began to creak.

Gan had 2 soft headers to account for but each posed no threat to O15 until Simon put things in perspective with one of his 101-ways to score a goal simply. Even then, his goal came with a fair measure of luck again. No, the oyster did not spread itself open but it was quite similar to fishing in the river and out of nowhere, a dumb fish just jumped out of the water onto the boat. Again, O15's custodian needs to master the art of punching the ball away. This time round, he did but he needs to punch the ball away out of danger, not across into the box and worse to an opponent player! This was what he did, punching the ball to Simon in the box. What did the keeper expect us to do? Returned the ball to him? Actually, Simon did. He passed the ball back to keeper but it was a tad too hard that the keeper could not reach it in time. 3–1! And the score stayed that way till half-time.

O15 resumed the 2nd half with the same slickness as they did in the early stages of 1st half. After shooting wide in an early foray into our box, they began to lose steam. Despite our possession, we could not extend our lead until the last 20 minutes of the match. Tiredness set in for O15 and floodgate opened. After seeing his earlier shot saved by the keeper, Teck Wah attempted the same wallop at goal. Again, O15 custodian was up to it and palmed the ball, only for Gan heading the rebound into the net. 4-1. With 1 player down due to injury, the numerical disadvantage further exacerbated the situation for O15. Gan pounced onto the tentative defending of their sweeper and managed to rob the ball away from him. With only the keeper at his disposal, Gan shot past the keeper with relative ease. 5-1. Gan then intercepted a ball that was bound for the safety hands of their keeper. Gan clawed the ball back to Yong Chua, less than 6-yards from goal, but the latter's left-footed shot skied the ball. But YC atoned for that embarrassing miss when he took it into his own hands to conjure up goal No 6 – produced, directed and acted by himself! He intercepted a poor goal-kick just outside the box, beat a defender and this time round, his left-footed attempt recorded a success! Third-time-lucky was the theme in our 7th goal. Whilst Teck Wah failed to convert with his earlier 2 attempts, his 3rd try paid off. Chwee Leng, yes, Chwee Leng indeed, accurately picked out Chor Guan with his throw-in and Guan's header landed at Teck Wah's feet, whose half volley finally got past the keeper.

We were hunting for more oysters but by now, even the crabs had gone into hiding in the seabed. The tides began to recede and it was wise that O15's vessels decided to dock at the port for overhaul.

Match #41 (4 Oct 2008): We trailed for the 4 consecutive match and .....

sep had started with a loss to shocking pink after a comfortable lead. then we reverse the trend by winning the rest of the month with come-from-behind wins for each of the matches. yesterday, we followed the same pattern of falling behind. the question was whether we could reverse Sep's record of starting with a loss with the same come-from-behind approach (i didn't mean anwar).

VS teachers has always been difficult to beat. we lost more to them over the course of our encounters, but each time, we seemed to have the measure of them. this time was no different. we had more of the possession and movements in the first 30mins and a win seemed probable. our cross field balls into the box caused problems for their defence. we peppered a couple of shots which showed our superiority. wah whipped in a cross from the left and st, coming in from right mid controlled the ball neatly with his thigh but fired over under no pressure. then VS pushed up on our freekick, but leo cleverly beat the trap. alas the ball just wouldn't come down fast enough for leo to connect and the opportunity was snuffed. and so the old adage had to be fulfilled. you get punished if you don't take your chances. on a counter-attack (how often we hear that!), VS had the ball pumped into our box. seah came out and the ball decided to shy away from him and nifty 'bowser' ran past seah and squared the ball into space. despite wen's valiant effort to cover from his right back position, the striker had an easy task of tucking in the sitter. soon, 'bowser' strikes again. his special skill of bouncing off opponents before getting to the ball was not punished by the ref. with his shorter height and low cg, he found hleong's soft spot and attacked it good. hleong tussled but was no match for the pro. 'bowser' left hleong to lick his wounds on the green turf and proceeded to square the ball for gelek skinny to score with a scuffed volley. half time 0-2 down. any comeback on the cards?

second half resumed and within minutes, the question was more or less answered. you've got to give it to VS for their teamwork for all their goals was scored because they knew where to put the ball without trying too hard to be precise in picking up any specific person. they know what to do when they have the ball and when they don't have the ball. and so goal number 3 came. adding to our misery, the coup de grace goal number 4 was classy. botak sng had come on in the second half and in our previous encounters, he had always caused damage. this time, his whole team cheered the way he jiggled his hips, leaving seah on the floor before rolling the ball into the empty net. at this point, the ref thought we were going to get nothing from this match. but ms being ms, things suddenly clicked but a little too late. perhaps VS took their feet off the pedals and we pressed more at the same time. we got 2 carbon-copy tang brothers' specials with elder feeding through balls for younger to run into and applied his usual reliable finish.

and so it finished 2-4 for oct. a similar start to sep. end of a superb come-from-behind run. the question is: "what's next?"

Arsène Wenger's Motivational Handout

the man who create stars out of unknowns and on a shoestring budget, makes football pleasing to the eye ..............

The full text of Arsène Wenger's motivational handout

• guardian.co.uk,
• Tuesday September 23 2008 13:33 BST
• Article history

Confidential
Team meeting 19th September 2008-09-23

The team:

A team is as strong as the relationships within it.

The driving force of a team is its member's (sic) ability to create and maintain excellent relationships within the team that can add an extra dimension and robustness to the team dynamic.

This attitude can be used by our team to focus on the gratitude and the vitally important benefits that the team brings to our own lives. It can be used to strengthen and deepen the relationships with it and maximise the opportunities that await a strong and united team.

Our team becomes stronger by:

Displaying a positive attitude on and off the pitch.

Everyone making the right decisions for the team.

Have an unshakeable belief that we can achieve our target.

Believe in the strength of the team.

Always want more – always give more.

Focus on our communication.

Be demanding with yourself.

Be fresh and prepared to win.

Focus on being mentally stronger and always keep going until the end.

When we play away from home, believe in our identity and play the football we love to play at home.

Stick together.

Stay grounded and humble as a player and as a person.

Show the desire to win in all that you do.

Enjoy and contribute to all that is special about being in a team – don't take it for granted.

Match #40 (28 Sep 08): Third consecutive come-from-behind win

in case the F in JC starts to conjure wild images, FJC actually stands for FitJazzClub. FJC were neither fit nor jazzy, so perhaps the only relevance was club, but not meaning football club. nevertheless, there was a lot of buzz at the start with both teams trying to find some passing rhythm on the small Xin Min field. instead there were a good deal of pinballing around until people started to get tired of pinging around. it was inevitable we started playing the better football after a while when the tang princes took control in the middle of the park with their understanding. indeed the tang dynasty of football is well and truly existent with big brother teck hong helping out MS today as guest player. too bad, young prince wasn't around to form a triumvirate, instead choosing to play golf somewhere un-chinese.

back to the match. despite us clearly playing better football than thinking abt driving hondas, we fell behind to a route one tactic. a long ball from FJC eluded everyone and as seah came to claim it, he slipped on debris and their striker gleefully ran through to slot the ball in. but their joy was shortlived as MS continued to pound on them with another guest terk constantly terrorizing them down the side. gan could have put us twice in front after good work from terk and the other cleverly created by himself, but his finishing deserted him. then elder tang found some time to line up a shot and duly smashed a powerful angled grounder to draw us level. soon after, it was half time.

second half was all MS. as FJC continued their love affair of holding a high line, we changed game plan to put ball into spaces instead of playing ball to feet. terk ran on a through ball and dispatched it with confidence to put us into the lead. then the tangs combined in the middle again before elder released a peach of a ball for leng to stride into and complete the job just as terk did. as FJC continued to play aimlessly, they made more mistakes and they gifted possession to chye in the box who unselfishly squared to big bro for an easy tap-in. then gan, finding more joy in right midfield send an inch-perfect corner for terk to nod a looping header into the far corner. for their endeavor, FJC got another goal but it was small consolation.

it was an easy match and the statistics will show that we missed more than we scored. still a rather good result considering we were short of our regulars. that completes an incredible month for us with 3 consecutive come-from-behind wins since that kick-from-behind loss at Bowen.

Tips Towards Better Fitness 4 Gr8 Football

A sharing by kh

Guys,
I don't profess to be a fitness guru but I think I can share a couple of time-effective fitness regime to ramp up your fitness. We are aged folks, I'm not asking everyone to be Speedy Gonzalez but really, at least get some decent fitness. Whilst some of you may counter-argue that we're just playing social, weekend games and that we need not take it so seriously, I would suggest that you think wider for the team and for the betterment of the team. Football is after all a team game. Minimally, don't be a liability to the team. If you are think of strolling on the pitch, your play time will have no choice but to be reduced. Besides, an improved fitness also benefits you as it reduces injuries and helps you enjoy the game better.

1. For those staying on high-floor
Walk up the stairs to your apartment twice a week, 2 steps of stairs at a time.
Start with brisk walk, then progress to slow jog.

2. For those who have convenient access to treadmill.
Running on treadmill is boring and if you jog, you need to jog minimally 30 min to get some fitness. I have a quick 10-minutes regime:
a. 1st minute: Start with brisk walk on speed 6km/h at 6% gradient for minute.
b. 2nd minute: Brisk walk at speed 6km/h at 8% gradient for 1 minute.
c. 3rd minute: Brisk walk at speed 6km/h at 10% gradient for 1 minute.
d. 4th minute: Brisk walk at speed 7km/h at 10% gradient for 1 minute.
e. 5th minute: Brisk walk at speed 7km/h at 12% gradient for 1 minute.
f. 6th-10th minutes: Slow jog at speed 8km/h at 12% gradient for 5 minutes
You will be thoroughly drenched at end of this 10 minutes workout. This is better than 30 minutes slow jog!

Do it twice a week. You will see the difference after 2 weeks!

I admit I lost my pace, I haven't been able to do my past regime of starting at 10km/h and increasing by 1km/h after 3 minutes to complete a 21-minutes run, reaching the final speed at 16km/h. Those were the days... but I'm trying to get it back.

Match #39 (19 Sep 08): Another come-from-behind win over MUSB

match report by kh

St Wilfred remains a not-too-happy ground for us. Weng Kong was forced to retire from football on this ground, Kian Hwa suffered a near knock-out on this pitch (and not forgetting he pulled his left thigh muscle last week, first time he ever suffered such injury), and Gan was hospitalised after last Friday's match after coming worse off from a clash of heads with the opponent's keeper. In terms of results, there appear to be a reverse correlation. We beat arch rival, Italia Dons, when Weng Kong suffered the horrendous injury; we were leading another worthy rival, Techwood, with a few minutes left before they decided enough was enough, they finished KH off before finishing the match; and last Friday, the loss of Gan did not impede us from registering the most satisfying win of the season.

But hold on, lest I be misunderstood, we would rather lose the matches than our players.

Yes, Marine Sunday registered a shocking come-from-behind 4-3 win over Manchester United Singapore Branch (unofficial one lah, but they wanted to dress like one what). We were clearly inferior in so many aspects - vitality (as in they were packed with so many young players), fitness (naturally, given their young age), techniques and quantity. As for the last aspect, they had about 6 or 7 substitutes on the sideline and we had only 13 to start with. After losing Gan late in 1st half, and considering Weng Khong making his first appearance after a lengthy lay-off, KH had his pulled left thigh flared up again 1 min into the match and that rendered him becoming a one-dimensional player throughout, and Chwee Leng discounted by two-third as usual, we had effectively only 11 players. Yet, we came from 2 goals down, not once but twice.

Perhaps, the players had a point to prove after being written off as sparklers by the acid-tongue armchair critic (that's me!).

We did not have the most desired line-up to start off with Chor Guan turning up at the wrong venue. Teck Chye gamely filled in the sweeper's position. MUSB were firing on all cylinders the moment the whistle went off. Within 2 minutes, they opened the account when half of Marine Sunday had not even had the first touch of the ball. The limping KH failed to track back to close down their left winger and the latter's cross whizzed past everybody's head. Their right winger brought the ball down and unleashed a thunderbolt that Brandon could not hold on to the ball. 0-1 down.

Our passing went astray most of the times and MUSB would be forgiven even if they had thought it was a joke to play against us. Within minutes, they doubled the lead after we gave the ball cheaply on the left. Again, their right winger proved too hot to handle as he flashed past Hock Leong effortlessly, then outpaced Teck Chye to the ball before delivering a precise cross for his centre forward to head the ball past the exposed Brandon. 0-2 down.

But we were not without our chances, if only Gan had been sharper. First, when put through, his snap shot went wide. Then, he squandered another opportunity as he took 1 second too long to wait for the ball to settle onto his scoring foot, with the keeper way off his line. That 1 second proved to be sufficent for the keeper to clear the danger away.

Where Gan came up short, Teck Wah amply made up for it as he had a hand in all the goals we scored. He reduced the deficit when he broke free into the box and shot low past the keeper. 1-2.

MUSB extended the 2-goals lead again shortly after. Our overrun midfield exposed the fragile defence again and their midfielder had ample time to tee up a shot from outside the box that came off the left upright for their 3rd goal. 1-3.

Chor Guan arrived and came straight into action, and the subsequent reshuffling of line-up restored some semblance of order and stability in the team. Gan had his 3rd golden opportunity when he was put through on a one-on-one. Not only he failed to convert, that also signalled to be his last kick of the match when the clash of heads with the advancing keeper took him out. The keeper was first to reach the ball and cleared it for a corner but he could not avoid clashing onto Gan. After a lengthy period attending to Gan, we reduced the deficit again from the resultant corner. The Tang brothers conjured up another act of brotherly love as Teck Wah's corner found the older Tang in the 6-yards box. Teck Chye, unattended, powered a header past the keeper, who was probably still feeling the effect from the earlier knock. And we did not appear far off at the half-time whistle. 2-3.

Whilst we were clearly overrun in the 1st one-third of the match, Marine Sunday stepped up in the 2nd half, with many heroes deserving credit. Teck Wah was no doubt the livewire of the team but the supporting cast was superb. Chor Guan and Hock Leong tightened up the defence and fended off one offensive move after another from MUSB. Leo and Ng totally rendered their wingers useless with some robust defending, much to the complaints of MUSB. Teck Chye and Simon took over the control in midfield and hustled non-stop to win the first ball or at least destablise their control of the ball. Weng Khong, clearly short of match fitness, made up with his positional play.

Parity was restored early in the 2nd half. The Tang brothers played a big role in the equalising goal. Teck Wah threaded a ball onto the path of Teck Chye, who was easily cut out by the defender. Teck Chye refused to give up and continued to apply pressure on the defender, forcing the latter to pass the ball back to his keeper, whose complacency in clearing ball proved to be fatal. The custodian's weak left-footed clearance sent the ball to Simon lurking on the edge of the box and Simon's quick-thinking grounder sent the ball into the open net. 3-3. MUSB were visibly shaken.

Chwee Leng forced a corner on the left. Teck Wah's delicate delivery found See Chiang at the far post and MUSB were again sloppy in defending, allowing SC to head in for our 4th goal. 4-3.

MUSB pressed forward and forced a double-save from Brandon but that was the closest they could get in the 2nd half. Running short of ideas and certainly short in accuracy in delivering their passes, MUSB were found wanting. Marine Sunday came off with a shocking 4-3 score line to leave MUSB scratching their heads.

Match #38 (13 Sep 08): 3-1 come-from-behind win over Dell

match report contributed by kh

There were few similarities between Marine Sunday v Dell and Liverpool v Man Utd yesterday.

We were 1-goal down early in the match. Liverpool conceded before the clock hardly registered 3 minutes. We recovered to win the match, so did Liverpool. Dell gifted us an own goal; Man Utd did likewise to Liverpool. Liverpool were overdue a win over Man Utd; we were overdue a win at St Wilfrid, once our revered ground, which hasn't been favouring us in the past 2-years-plus, what with the agonising losses and horrific injuries still scarring us.

We started on a cautious note with the flavour-of-the-month 4-5-1 but perhaps a tad too cautious, leaving our lone striker, Teck Chye, lacking adequate and timely support. The lack of sharpness in Chye was quite clear for all to see, though positioning was still superb. He got in at the near post to receive a low cross from the younger Tang on the right but his first-timer shot came off the intervening defender's leg for a corner. Later, opportunity dropped from the sky but he squandered it. He could have opened the account for us when Dell's custodian horrendously cleared the ball to him just outside the box. Perhaps, our Chye was too polite to receive such generosity, or maybe he was just too kind-hearted not to embarass the keeper....he shot the ball straight at the keeper instead.

Lack of tactical discipline cost us dearly. Our supposed defensive midfielder, See Chiang, was wandering all over the pitch and on one fateful occasion, his foray upfront forced Chor Guan to advance and cover space on the right and consequently, left us exposed at the rear. Dell sent in a cross that eluded everybody, including Seah. Though KH tracked back to close down the striker, his defence naivety was too starkly clear not to notice it. He could have cleared the cross but chose to leave the ball run instead and their right winger tapped the ball at the far post to wake us up. One-nil down.

Urged on by Hock Leong's war cries of "Switch On!", Marine Sunday stepped up a gear. Tactically, we switched to a more balanced 4-4-2. First, KH capitalised on their defender's poor first touch and raced clear with the ball, before backheeling the ball onto Teck Chye's shooting path. Teck Chye's snap shot just sailed over the bar. Then, Simon and Teck Wah exchanged simple passes to break up the defence but Simon's resultant shot posed no problem for Dell's keeper.

Dell almost doubled the lead when a through ball found their striker in the box. Though KH tracked back to close the striker down, he again failed to deal with ball cleanly but did enough to cause the striker to take a hasty shot that came off the left upright. Another forward followed up but his shot sent the ball across the goal to the far side, with their right-winger waiting and looking destined to capitalise. KH atoned for his earlier defensive blunders as he dashed across the goal to block their right-winger's shot.

We were not to be denied of our equaliser when Mike passed the ball in between 2 defenders for KH coming in from the blind. Though KH failed to connect with the ball, Teck Wah's predatory instinct placed him ahead of the flat-footed defence and he slotted the ball beyond the keeper's reach into the lower right-hand corner of the goal. 1-1. We began to pass more and they started resorting to long passes.

Twice, KH could have put us ahead as he ran in between defenders to receive the passes but was denied by either the excellent defending or alert goalkeeping of Dell. First, a short pass into the box fooled Dell defence and KH's pace enabled him to break into the box and found himself facing their keeper alone. As he was positioning to shoot at goal, Dell defender recovered splendidly in a split second and tackled superbly from behind to rob the ball off KH's feet. Next, KH raced clear into the box to receive another through ball but his left-footed shot came off the keeper's face for a corner, cutting his lips in the process. The tough keeper recovered in time to flash a point-blank save to deny Mike's near post header from the resultant corner. 1-1 at half-time.

Second half largely belonged to Marine Sunday as Dell players began to wilt in the hot afternoon heat. Space was in abundance for us. The Tang brothers worked wonders again to pour more misery onto Dell. Another through ball from the older Tang caught the Dell defence dead again, the younger Tang obliged to nip the ball past the advancing keeper for our 2nd goal.

Dell had their moments of glory as well. Seah had to come off his line and got down well to block a shot from their forward. Then Chor Guan almost gifted them an own goal when his heading clearance came off our upright, with Seah desperately stretched to reach the ball. Ng was alert to react to the loose ball and booted the ball to safety.

KH almost owned the entire left side of the pitch, especially with Dell leaving their defenders to fend for themselves. For the only time in the match, KH dribbled past their defender and beat him in sheer pace before producing his trademark low diagonal cross, aiming for who else but Teck Wah lurking at the opposite end. Sensing the danger of Teck Wah, the low cross forced Dell's last man to stretch his foot to clear the ball beyond their keeper but into the net. 3-1! Teck Wah was cruelly denied of his hat-trick, you can say that. Another run-and-cross from the left picked out Mike and Teck Wah in the box unmarked. Mike's first touch left much to be desired as he failed to control the ball neatly for at least a decent shot at goal. It was evidently clear we were tormenting them on the flanks, Mike and Teck Wah giving them a torrid time on the right side. KH sent in another cross from the left but Teck Wah didn't manage to reach the ball at the near post in time. That was to be KH's last contribution in the match as he retired with another injury.

With the match slowing to a walking pace, no further action ensued and the match ended 3-1 in Marine Sunday's favour.

Injury Update:
Yes, the injury-prone me was injured again. I heard a rather loud snap in my thigh as I crossed in a ball late in the match. I'm not sure if it's just a pull or a tear but my left thigh is very stiff and sore now. I can't squad. The thigh hurts when I lift up my left foot and try to stretch. I've been working hard to improve my fitness but another injury again to sideline me....what a lousy season.

Match #37 (6 Sep 08): Marine Sunday Eventually Conceded THE Goal

report contributed by kh

Marine Sunday defended valiantly for 87 or so minutes but the writing was on the wall, the goal just had to come for Shocking Pink after we failed to close them down. Thereafter, there was not much time for us to recover though we had the last scoring opportunity but it was not to be. Final whistle went....Marine Sunday trooped off the pitch.....with a 3-4 losing margin!

Where Marine Sunday was once fearlessly known for the fight back against the odds, we are nothing more than a sparkler nowadays - it burns brightly and colourfully for a short while and then suddenly, it fizzles off and extinguishes. We tend to take the lead but concede the goals later. And the loss to Shocking Pink was another classic case, with us twice leading but eventually throwing the match away.

Again, the non-availability of key players required us to deploy certain players, on an emergency basis, not in their usual positions. Teck Chye and Mark gamely took up sweeping and stopping roles respectively, and they accounted for themselves admirably. Teck Wah had to start and end the match as a central midfielder, and KH again on left midfield.

Shocking Pink had their central midfielder and striker-in-chief, both possessing bags of tricks in their sleeves, pulling the strings and the supporting cast proved their competency, playing simply and assuredly, passing the ball around quickly.

Their defence proved to be the weakest link in the 1st half as its tentativeness allowed us to snatch an early 2-0 lead. The first came from a cross from KH on the left (FIFA subsequently clarified that because the field was so small, that cross cannot be classified as a cross, it was more like a short-distance mid-air pass....) that had the defence calling wrongly for an offside. Teck Wah nipped in to hoist the ball over the stranded keeper for our opening goal. The Hwa-Wah combination was put to effective use again as Teck Wah wriggled in from the right before side-footing a defence-splitting through ball. This time round, it was KH nipping in from the blind, with the defence still dazed by Teck Wah's sudden switch of direction, to put the ball past the keeper. 2-0 and we were not even one-quarter of the match done!

Gan was guilty of show-boating on 2 occassions that could have settled the match. Each time, he was placed in one-on-one position, each time he side-dragged the ball one touch too many instead of shooting at goal, each time it resulted in the defender having sufficient time to recover and and rob the ball from him.

Seah was introduced into the match and he proved menacing with his first run with the ball, beating 2 defenders on the right but his final cross packed too much punch for a small pitch.

We were duly punished for our lack of potency upfront. Their striker-in-chief proved too slippery to handle and close down as he successfully drew Mark and Teck Chye to him before releasing the ball to his strike partner in the box. His partner-in-crime showed clinical simplicity instead of fancy footwork with his turn-and-shoot, though Brandon was already out closing the angle. 2-1.

We had the final goal attempt of the half when another cross from KH on the left resulted in both Yong Chua and Teck Wah, both unmarked in the 6-yards box, going for the same ball and we did them a favour by our own failure to convert the cross into goal.

Shocking Pink introduced a few pairs of fresh, young legs to bolster their increasing confidence in the 2nd half. They equalised from a quick counter-attack. Our free-kick from the middle of the pitch was cut out and a quick long pass caught our defence out of place. Their striker-in-chief outpaced Leo to the ball and the situation was worsened by the hesitant Brandon in mixed mind to close him down. He rounded Brandon with ease and tucked the ball into the open goal. 2-2 now and they knew they had the match in their hands.

For a brief moment, we showed glimpse of our famous past when we restored the lead. Gan got to the byeline to receive a quick throw-in by Chwee Leng from the right. Without breaking his strides, Gan hooked the ball across goal for Teck Wah to tap the ball in for our 3rd goal. 3-2 and we saw hope but it was not to be as tiredness set in.

Anyone who watched last season's Champions League 2nd-leg semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool would have lamented how Liverpool conceded the penalty. Sami Hyppia could have cleared the ball first-time in the box. Instead, he chose to trap the ball but failed to do so cleanly. The ball went to Drogba and in his attempt to recover the lost ball, Hyppia tripped Drogba and the rest, well, you knew it. Shocking Pink got their equalising goal from almost similar circumstances. Mark could have cleared the ball simply but he chose to trap the ball but gave it away to, of all players, their striker-in-chief. The latter ran rings around our defenders and caused a goal mouth melee in the box. SP benefitted from our comical clearances in the box and scored with a tap-in. 3-3!

We thought we could run down the clock but Shocking Pink had other ideas. They continued to press forward. KH failed to close down on their right-midfielder and the latter took a speculative long shot that dropped beyond the outstretched hand of Brandon into goal. 3-4!

It was a match that we threw it away and it could be attributed to 3 factors:
1. Where we could have played simply, we chose to do the extra step that finely borderlined between brilliance and stupidity, depending on what the outcome was. Or in the classic Chinese saying: Adding legs to the snake after finished drawing it. No names need to be mentioned here, the point was made clear after the match.

2. Fitness. The team, in general, lacks fitness but quite clearly, minimum 3 players need to shore up their fitness, and do it quickly - Kian Hwa, Chwee Leng and Mike.

3. Positions. Quite clearly, a few players are not suitable to play in their usual or preferred positions. They need to accept to play in other positions, otherwise the alternative is to settle for (much) lesser play time.

Match #36 (31 Aug 08): 10-men Marine Sunday Eventually Conceded the Goal....

match report contributed by kh

Marine Sunday defended well for 75 or so minutes but the writing was on the wall, the goal just had to come for AA United (oh, it stands for Attitude Aplenty!) after we failed to clear a corner cleanly. Thereafter, AA United laid seige on our goal with 2 further attempts hitting the upright. We were made to sweat badly in the last 10 minutes of the match, holding our ground tenaciously as we literally played with 9-men, KH being a mere walking soldier. Final whistle went....Marine Sunday trooped off the pitch.....with a 4-1 winning margin!

A depleted and incomplete squad, due to non-availability of players and 11th-hour withdrawals of 2 guest players, of only 10 players required some tactical deployment of resources. Kumar was recalled into goal, Seah had to fill in the right full-back position, guest player Benny as the emergency stopper and KH on left-mid, with Gan the only forward. Who would have gambled that we managed to stretch AA United on the flanks and 3 of our goals came from wide? And we could have been more productive if KH were fitter and sharper as he failed to deliver at least 4 good crosses with Gan and Yong Chua in good scoring positions in the box.

We had to start cautiously, not to exhaust ourselves unnecessarily. Despite AA United not being a pressing team, we were tentative in the opening 10 minutes and kept giving away the ball cheaply when we were under no real pressure. AA United almost drew first blood when a momentarily lapse from our rearguard allowed their striker to face Kumar on a one-on-one but our custodian managed to block the shot out for a corner. AA United continued to pepper at our goal with a couple of shots but none was on target.

Things looked quite even when our central midfield duo of Yong Chua and Simon started to grab hold of the rhythm. We had our 1st chance at goal when KH broke free into space in the box to latch onto YC's precise pass but a hasty first-timed left-footed shot skewed the ball wide off the left upright. We did not wait very long for our first goal thereafter. A neat exchange of passes involving KH, Gan and YC eventually released KH free on the left flank. Spotting Chor Guan galloping upfield, KH put in a diagional grounder across the box. Chor Guan outpaced the defenders and his timing was perfect to tap the ball, which Teck Wah usually relished, past the hapless keeper. 1-0 up!

Seah was just as effective on the right as he beat 2 defenders on the flank before delivering a low cross. KH and Gan were lining up in the box in great anticipation to convert the cross but it was timely intercepted by AA's sweeper. Somehow, AA ignored the signs that we were using the flanks and they paid dearly for it. Seah and Teck Chye worked well with a throw-in on the right before the latter squared the ball into the box, Yong Chua brilliantly sold the defenders with a dummy for Gan to whack in a half-volley for our 2nd goal.

With Benny sturdy and steady and Chor Guan composed at the rear, AA United could only try from outside the box but they did not really threaten our goal much. They almost reduced the deficit when we failed to track their right winger at the far post when defending a free kick. Luckily he headed the ball into the side netting. Half-time stood at 2-0, surprisingly.

Our intention in the 2nd half was to consolidate our ground in view of the lack of substitutes. But we piled more misery onto AA United with our 3rd goal shortly after the match resumed. It was a case of sloppiness on their part more than anything else. Thinking that we were not pouring men forward, they were casual in passing the ball in their penalty area when out of the blue, KH charged in to harass the defender and robbed the ball from him. AA custodian was rudely awakened from his daze but by then it was too late as KH slotted the ball into the open goal. YC and Ng were more relieved than KH was elated to have the goal, as they revealed that from where they stood, they could see that it was another chicken-leg trying to kick the ball. With the goal so wide and the keeper at the right post, somehow I chose to use my left foot to shoot the ball which veered towards the keeper!

AA United found us a tough nut to crack at the back. When our defence line was breached, Kumar was there to bail us out as he brilliantly tipped a certain goal at the top right-hand corner over for a corner. The ball from the resulting corner sailed over all the heads and Kumar's outstretched arms and their forward connected the ball with a firm header but Benny was on the line to boot the ball clear, keeping the clean sheet intact.

Goal No 4 came, again from the flank. KH beat 2 defenders to square in another grounder across the box and Teck Chye was left unattended to pick up the pieces and wrapped up the loose ends. His left-footer easily beat the keeper.

AA snatched a consolation goal, and a deserving one, when we failed to clear a corner cleanly. The ball came back into the 6-yards box and their forward connected it with a first-time volley. Deficit was reduced and the margin could have been further narrowed. They then came close with 2 long-range efforts that cannoned off the right post, each time due to KH losing possession in the middle of the pitch.

By then, it was too late to launch any come back. A 10-men team pulled off an upset win against a full team, who had a couple of reserves on the sideline.

By the way, the header was incomplete, it should read "10-men Marine Sunday Eventually Conceded the Goal....But Not the Match!" :)

Match #35 (24 Aug 08): 3-0 Sunday morning workout

the headline could have indicated a stroll but with exactly 11 and the sun deciding to punish us today, a workout was more like it. Rovers is a young all malay team, as well coordinated in their kit as we are, and they even have a manager! if not for their seemingly lack of discipline whilst waiting for their jerseys, one would have thought it was going to be a long day for us. nevertheless, we opted to start with caution and sought to have the most decent back 4 we can find since our 3 regular centre backs were unavailable. 2 minutes into the game and we knew it was a matter of maintaining our shape and keeping good possession of the ball before we'd find the breakthrough. it was an easy first half as we coasted through with goals from yc, wah and gan. in the second, they came out more forcefully and saw more of the ball than the first. we had also reorganised to have players doing their share of defensive duties and getting some rest. as such the match will be remembered more for the multiple positions that one played today, saved for brandon (gk), wen (rb) and gan (strk), more info below. the sun took its toll on the players and the second half came to nothing. overall, it was a good outcome; a clean sheet from a make shift defence and we were in control throughout, no crazy rush to pick durains. today, old cool heads triumphed over youthful directionless exuberance.

Players and their positions today:

brandon: gk
wen: rb
ng: lb, lmf / lmf, strk
st: swp / cmf
chiang: stp / rmf
yc: cmf / swp, cmf
chye: cmf / cmf, stp
wah: rmf / stp, lmf
leo: lmf, lb / lb
leng: strk / strk, lb
gan: strk

Match #34 (16 August 08): Intenses battle against Machrone ended in a draw

Marine Sunday shone brightly for 20 minutes and thereafter, similar to shooting stars in clear sky, we vanished just as fast and became largely anonymous throughout the remaining match and were fortunate to settle for a hard-fought 2-2 draw against another worthy opponent, Machrone. The last time we met, we were overrun 4-0. So, we appeared to turn it around with a 2-0 lead, only to throw the win away, somewhat unnecessarily.

Given the thin squad of 12 players against their 18, and knowing their superiority in midfield, we opted for a compact 4-5-1 to start, and we started well. We had the upperhand of the possession, as our midfield trio of Simon, Yong Chua and Teck Chye stamped their mark. Barely 10 minutes into the game and we found the net through a textbook routine. A corner was won on the right side and KH stepped up to put in a left-footed in-swinger that had the Machrone rooted. Yong Chua was left unmarked in the 6-yards box to power a header into goal.

A string of quick passes allowed to KH to break free on the left but his final square pass intending for Teck Wah on the right didn't manage to reach the target.

We continued to press and our pressure yielded another free-kick on the left flank. Teck Wah put the ball towards goal and we had See Chiang going in for a near post header. Machrone's custodian could only palm the ball out to Teck Chye lurking right in front of the goal. The latter accepted the poor clearance without 2nd invitation as he notched up our goal No 2.

Clearly shocked by our early lead, Machrone stepped up a gear or two, and began to run riot. And our tackles proved costly. Their first signal of intent came from a free kick just outside the box, which their playmaker No 14 hit it against the horizontal. We escaped. Next, a controversial penalty was awarded to them when a goal-boud effort hit Hock Leong on the thigh before richoetting to his arm. Referee ruled it was a hand-ball infringement but surprisingly, their No 14's conversion was feeble. Brandon got down onto his right to save us. We escaped again but not for long. Their right winger's trickery proved too much for Ng to handle, his sudden cut-in was too fast and Simon's leg tripped him in the box. Another penalty was awarded and Brandon almost pulled off another save but he allowed the right winger's seemingly weak kick to slip under his body. Deficit was reduced and Branded avoided an equaliser for Machrone as he pulled off another save from a goal-bound low header from their dangerous No 9. 1st half ended at 2-1 in our favour, barely just.

Machrone upped the tempo as the match resumed and they didn't take long to restore parity. We conceded another freekick near the half way line. Their No 14 whacked in from distance and just as when we thought Brandon had it covered, he stood unmoved to let the ball sail into the net. It was a cheap goal to concede but Brandon atoned for his midjudgement with another couple of top drawer saves to keep us in the game. As their long passes increasingly shredded us into pieces, we were desperately but stoutly defending our turf. Defence line held firm, with our stand-in right fullback, Mike, deserving credit, despite playing with a pulled groin.

Against the run of play, we could have stolen the match from them as Gan was put clear to face the keeper but his goal attempt was pushed out by the keeper. The stalemate was not to be further broken and the intense, absorbing match ended 2 apiece.

Match #33 (8 August 08): Red Mist bogey descends AGAIN on in SAFRA Tampines

CHOR Guan live up to his name of being “Chor” and got himself sent off since a long time (or so he claims). In a match where Ng was sorely missed as we all wanted to know if he would repeat his infamous punch up with the IBM team left back again , he was however absent (raising money in Sichuan or attending the Olympics opening ceremony).

In a match where we kept our shape quite well and where the threat from IBM/AMD was mainly from their 2 nippy wingers , MS had the upper hand once we realized how to take the wind out from their wingers. MS fell behind early in the 1st half when their No.9 winger twisted and turned on the right side and managed to send in a right curling cross into our box. Seah was not able to reach the cross and it sailed into the left top corner. Other than this error , Seah had a great game picking up lots of back passes, clearing through balls and even saving the second attempt from the opponent striker after punching the ball out straight to him.

Teck Wah was in my view the most influential player in the game as he got 2 goals and was seen helping out in defence and also made some great crosses to the others. His first goal after he latched on to a long cross from st on the left side and drilled it to the keeper’s right. It was somewhere between the keeper’s outstretched hand and his knees as he went down to stop the ball. The ball somehow managed to bounce over and into the net. The second goal came in the second half as we begin to exert some supremacy over IBM. The goal came from great free kick by Wah from the left , just outside the box, with his right foot. He had won the free kick earlier as he was fouled at the edge of the box. From the substitute’s bench where I sat , I could see the ball rise just over the wall, continued on a rising trajectory and dipped just befor going in at the top right corner, with the goalkeeper’s hands appearing near the ball after it flew past him. 2-1 to MS.

Teck Chye scored the third goal purely out of grit , anticipation and experienced reading of the game. He knew how the defenders were going to play the ball out from the penalty box from the goal kick. He pressurized the defender and managed to nick the ball from him , ran through towards the keeper and squeezed it between the near post and the keeper’s body. Other notable events were the referee flashing yellow cards for every tackle , raising the ire of both teams. A clean player like me also got a yellow card. I cannot remember when was the last time I got a card (yellow or red) . At the end of the evening , nobody took up my offer to help buy them the new adidas boots that I bought from Guangzhou at a good price. If I had scored a goal , the take up rate would have been much different...

In summary , Good Game by the Oldies but Goodies…….

Match #32 (3 August 08): Drab Draw

i forgot to ask someone to write the report before start of match. it wouldn't have mattered. scorching 3pm sun, a pitch hard as stone and young over-enthusiastic opponents (the youngest of SJI alumni, probably) meant pinball football and an inevitable stalemate. no one really got control of the ball or the situation. some got the better of themselves - a tumbling kiss-the-floor act by kh was matched by leng's exquisite air-kicking ballerina twirl. i suppose these are the moments that make the day more palatable. still, it is necessary to include the fact that we created the greater threats throughout the match despite having to adapt to a 4-5-1 formation in the second half for tactical shrewdness. that both kumar and seah kept clean sheets (yes, we're so frugal that we gave them only one half each) and were never seriously troubled spoke of the team's compactness and opponent's lack of ideas. the final statistic was however not lost on wen, who noted that 2 of our rare stalemates over the last 2 yrs had occured at SJI. perhaps SJI (International) next time.

Match #31 (27 July 08): 5-2 lessons for budding Cornerstones

report contributed by kh

Chor Guan must have befriended Lady Luck the night before the match. In fact, we suspected that he might have been in a compromising position when dealing with her. Now, those whip marks on his back and those handcuff bruises on his wrists made sense. Otherwise, how else would you explain his hat-trick? He is not exactly a prolific marksman, neither does his scoring prowess strike fear in any opponents. We know that durians are cheap in the current durian season, but even then, they do not drop in front of you, right? Chor Guan literally had durians delivered to his door step!

Cornerstone did not look like pushovers. They certainly had youth and vitality as their advantages over us! Perhaps, football neutrals, being sentimentalists at heart, favoured us for our experience and discipline. The outcome was experience triumphing over youth, teamwork outlasting individualism with a 5-2 score line in our favour.

We certainly found the hard pitch a bit too unkind to our creaking limbs and stiff back. Our movements were laden, though passing was as assured as we could. Cornerstone did not fare much better than us but they were full of running.

KH had a shot hitting the side netting, Chor Guan also came close to connect a cross from the right but nothing really looked too threatening. Things were rather even and possession was of parity until Lady Luck and Butter Fingers combined to gift us a goal. KH was impeded in his advancement and Chor Guan lifted the resultant free kick high towards Cornerstone’s custodian. Seriously, our elephant feet were rooted to the ground and were only ball-watching but to our surprise, and to Cornerstone’s horror, the keeper let the high ball slipped through his fumbling fingers when he was under no threat at all. It was the lousiest of ways to concede such a goal. We had nothing but thanked Chor Guan for bedding Lady Luck the night before.

Cornerstone equalized just before the break though moments of hesitation among the rear rank of Marine Sunday. They won a free kick in a similar position to our earlier free kick. The ball into the 6-yards box resulted in serious miscommunication between the Tang brothers – Chye defending the ball and Wah in goal (well, it confirmed our suspicion that the 2 brothers don’t even talk to each other at home!). The ball rebounded off Chye’s head and high into the air. Cornerstone’s defender took advantage of the short and inexperienced KH defending him, and outjumped the latter to head the ball into goal. 1-1, and that stood at half-time.

Cornerstone resumed the match full-blooded, with the introduction of one fleet-footed Sundram lookalike player, who would later torment us (but to no avail). But it was Marine Sunday that seized the initiatives. Chye demonstrated that he could be the shit attracting the houseflies as he kept the ball well outside the box and attracted 4 defenders to wrestle the ball away from him. Just like the experienced lap dancer who teases, Chye weaved his way among the 4 defenders with his trickery before releasing the ball to Chor Guan waiting on the left flank. Chor Guan’s first-time cross had the ball high and close to the keeper. Well, they say lightning never strikes twice but it did. The keeper again was caught flapping in the air and let the ball slip through his buttery fingers to put us in the lead. 2 – 1. Much as we attributed the goal to luck, we still had to credit the goal to Mr Blessed, Chor Guan.

We were certainly uplifted by Gift No 2 and Simon upped his ante to control the midfield. With the hard ground restricting any decent ball control, first-time passes became the call of the day. One such pass from the middle of the pitch freed KH into space. KH raced clear ahead of the chasing pack before squaring a grounder to Chye waiting in the box. Chye controlled the ball superbly before unleashing a thunderbolt to crack the egg again. 3 – 1 and we were in control. Chye continued to flourish. Another trick out of his bag left the right fullback dead and his left-footed cross into the box picked out Chwee Leng at the far post. Chwee Leng connected well with a header but it went narrowly wide off the right upright.

We continued to capitalize on the tentative right back and another attack from the left flank paid off. See Chiang, taking over Teck Chye on the left, put in the only decent cross from his left leg and this time round, Gan showed Chwee Leng what a header should be and where the ball should land – into the net. 4 – 1.

Cornerstone had a glorious chance to narrow the deficit when their Sundram lookalike almost emulated the legendary Maradona in 1986 World Cup against England. He took the ball from midfield and with his speed, guile and skill, beat 4 of our players along the way. With the ball at his favoured and lethal left foot, and our goal at his mercy, he walloped a stiffer that the only justice should have been a goal. But Wah denied him the glory with a stupendous dive to his left to palm way the certain goal-bound effort.

Cornerstone held their heads in disbelief but we had no time for sympathy. Another first-time through ball from Simon sailed over the defence line. Gan broke the offside trap and did just enough to reach the ball first before the advancing keeper did. Gan toe-poked the ball past the keeper for Chor Guan to have the simplest of task to tap the ball into the open goal. By now, the lead looked unassailable at 5-1.

To Cornerstone’s credit, they continued to fight back and they did. With out spine tiring, they found space down the middle. They breached our defence line with ease and tucked the ball past Wah for their 2ng goal. Time was not on their side to catch up, and they could only watch in dismay to concede a defeat against the older folks. Final score: 5 – 2. And Chor Guan was grinning, for whatever reasons.

Match #30 (20 July 08): 4-2 back-to basics win over Blue Chinese Team

report contributed by mark

This was yet another young team that looked promising to take on MS on a bright sunny Sunday morning. Like MS, they too had a Ah Lau look-a-like who was there early doing his warm up flexing his 8 packs of muscle. A few of his teammates were down at the pitch warming up and whacking their powerful shots at goal. They certainly looked intimidating with some having tattoos on their bodies while our guys were busy putting on our shin pads and boots on......

A min before the kick off, Simon gave a 'clear the air' or should i say a pep talk to the team. It was clear that the team needed that to get our unity in place and our act together again after the previous match. So off the whistle went and the match was on! The talk by Simon seemed to work well as MS started the game brightly with plenty of passing and runnings .... Lakesh was clearly the man in the centre as he was stringing passes every where and soon the breakthrough came when Simon was first to react to a long clearance from Keeper Brandon. He produced an excellent first time pass which put Leng through down the right flank. Leng latch on to the ball, held off the oncoming defender and put in a beautiful cross which was met first time by Gan with a volley pass the on rushing goalie. 1-0! MS appeared to shrug off the lethargy of the previous match and they continued to play cohesively as an unit and Simon continued to motivate and gave directions constantly. The 2nd goal as expected did not take too long. A long cross from just before the halfway line found chye on the left of the field, suspiciously in an offside position. Referee allowed play to continue and so chye controlled the ball, rounded a defender and scored from outside of the box. .....Goal 2-0! It was a wake up call to the Blues and by now they knew they had to push their players forward before MS killed off the game. In the process, they became physical and abusive at times, especially with the introduction of a rather obnoxious number 21. Referee was in control of the game and had no hesitation in giving a verbal warning to him. The Blues fought gallantly and they began to have their share of possession. With some slick passing and quick counter moves, they soon found one such opportunity on the right. It was not clear whether it was a cross or a shot but the floater from their right winger was well executed and it gave Brandon no chance of reaching for the ball, which landed perfectly on the left of the side netting Goal! 2-1. Undoubtedly, the goal inspired the Blues significantly and for the remaining of the half, they looked the better side. Half time score : MS 2 Blue 1....

After finishing strongly in the 1st half, the Blues were expected to continue its dominance in the 2nd half. But surprisingly, they let MS take control at the start of the half allowing MS to get back into its passing game. Lakesh took the initiative by hitting a long shot across the goal mouth. It was with our slick passing and movements between players that brought about the 3rd goal. Lakesh had possession of the ball in the MS defensive third and was looking around for someone to relay the ball to. Teck Wah dropped into the hole in the middle of the pitch and Lakesh found him with a quick release. Wah then proceeded to bring the ball forward and seeing that Gan was ready for a pass, laid a diagonal pass for him to run pass the last man and head off with a one-on-one dash to the ball with the goalie. Gan was fastest to the ball and cleverly tapped the ball passed the goalie, albeit bringing the ball too wide for a clear shot at goal. At this point, Wah had continued his run into the box and called out for Gan, who did not disappoint with a pin-point cross which sailed over the head of the last man who had tracked back, and Wah had the simplest task of heading the ball into the empty net. Goal! 3-1! MS seemed to kill off the game effectively after the 3rd goal but there was still plenty of time left. We did what we should by not resting our laurel and continue our possession play, hoping to take advantage once the Blues gave away an opening and that opening came when a long ball from midfield found Teck Wah on the left flank. Gan went forward to support and received the ball. 2 defenders were quickly closing Gan down. Gan managed to skip past one tackle and use his speed to get pass another defender before blasting the ball into the top corner. Goal 4-1! The game was as good as over but credit to the Blues who did not give up completely. Off one rare attack and after some fine work from their right winger again, the ball was sent across to the centre outside the box. With MS caught napping, their oncoming midfielder took one hard shot outside the box and indeed it was a good shot that went straight in to the left side the goal. Goal 4-2! Amazingly, the Blues only seemed to play their free flowing soccer for the last 10 mins and they started pressing in search for the 3rd goal. Despite showing signs of tiredness, MS did enough to hold on to victory in the end with Ah Chye taking the last shot of the match!

Final score 4 -2!