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.
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.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment