Match #9 (7 Feb 09): Marine Sunday Notched An Impressive Win!

The performance against Young Boyz was not pretty but the 3 – 0 win was nevertheless an impressive one. Firstly, Young Boyz comprise players in their early 20s, who are not only naturally superior in fitness but also technically better than us. Most of their players possess nice, nifty touches with good control of the ball. Secondly, against such a young team, we still managed to keep a clean sheet, our first of the season, despite having them running at us most of the time. That spoke so much of our disciplined defending at the back, well marshalled by Chor Guan and his able lieutenants, some good positioning of Brandon in goal, and Simon patrolling the line in front of the back four just like the warships escorting the cargo vessels off the coast of Somalia.

We could attribute our win to 2 factors – better teamwork and stronger leadership on the pitch. Individually, they are no doubt better than us. As a team, our experience counts. Moreover, we are blessed with a player like Yong Chua who naturally assumed leadership in dictating play and deployed all his experience to the fullest use. No surprise that he would later be overwhelmingly voted as MoTM for this match. Collectively, we demonstrated that experience can overcome vitality.

After the opening 5 minutes of lethargy, YB seized an upper hand in possession as they started to run the ball around us with ease. They closed us down faster, a fact that we anticipated but we just don't possess the techniques and temperament to move the ball about smoothly. We kept gifting the possession back to them. YB came close to scoring on a few occasions, the closest being a dipping shot from outside the box that came off the underside of the bar and much to our relief, the ball bounced to the welcoming arms of Brandon.

Against the run of play, we stung them with a lightning counter-attack that left them with a rude awakening as the 1st half was drawing to a close. From defending a corner, we broke free with Chor Guan leading the breakaway on the left. A quick exchanges of passes involving him, Kian Hwa and Yong Chua allowed the former to beat the offside line and, without breaking his strides, hit a snap shot on the run at goal. YB's keeper did well to palm Chor Guan's initial effort to safety but sustained pressure from us kept the ball around their penalty box. Yong Chua dictated the play outside the box before spreading the ball to KH, who pulled wide in the box to dispose his marker. KH took one step to beat the last man and squared a grounder across the 6-yards box. Chor Guan was the first man to the ball to scoop it over the keeper for our opening goal. 1 – 0. YB were visibly caught surprise by our movements despite our ageing limbs.

YB resumed the 2nd half with their confident passing and smooth movements. For all their possession, they lacked that vital penetration to breach our tight backline. We delivered the 2nd sucker punch when Kian Hwa, who re-entered into the match for Chwee Leng, raced clear on the left and hoisted a lobbing cross into the box for Yong Chua, who outjumped the keeper to head the ball into the net. 2 – 0!

We then forced a corner on the right and the resultant corner was quickly played short to Kok Hock who sent a dipping cross to the far post for Yong Chua to nod it back across the goal for Mike to tap in, leaving the keeper in despair. 3 – 0! By now, YB’s spirit was drained dry.
They found no joy playing against us when their best chance for a consolation goal was even denied by the stingy Brandon. On the rare occasion they breached our defence to face only Brandon, they found our keeper a couple of inches too wide for their liking as their shot was blocked by Brandon’s chunky feet.

We wilted in the last 10 minutes of the match as the heat sapped our limited stamina but our stout defence kept them at bay no less. 3 – 0 was the final score.

Man of The Match: Yong Chua

A superlative performance from Yong Chua garnered 8 out of 15 nominations and he breezed through comprehensively to receive the MoTM!
“The one who scored one, made another & dictated play to help create the first. YC for motm.”
“I thought yc, simon and cg played very well. CG’s run up led to our first goal and he was steady at the back. Simon is the unsung hero who covered every inch of plastic grass. But my vote goes to yc for his stylish and intelligent play. Always open for a pass and cleverly playing for free kicks when he’s outnumbered. And then he scored a stellar goal and made one with a determined header.”
“Motm to yc – instrumental in all 3 goals”
“Yong Chua for 1 goal and 1 assist”
“Yong Chua for motm. Made the difference when he came on in the first half. Scored 2nd goal and help created 3rd. Initiated some of the more threatening attacks in the second half.”
“MoM is yong chua. Did very well in holding the ball and was involved in all of the goals.”
“Yong chua is mom. 1 great goal n 1 good assist. Held up play well like berbatov”
“It didn’t look like we missed Teck Wah or Gan. With that kind of performance, Gan needs to reconsider retreating to in between posts, Teck Wah dropping back to the flanks and Kian Hwa just simply out of job. Our No 10 is perfect ten for MoTM”

Our anchor in defence, Chor Guan, was impressive no less. 4 fellow teammates voted for him
“Mom Guan. Solid at the back n great goal.”
“Chor Guan. He was a pillar in our defence and scored the all important 1st goal.”
“Chor Guan. A good run down to beat the off side track and this create a first goal chance for the team.”
“MOM to Chor Guan. Quick to support the counterattack that lead to him scoring the opening goal. He also marshall the defence so well that keeper has not much to do.”

Kok Hock, Hock Leong and See Chiang had 1 nomination each.
“MOTM is Kok Hock for his midfield presence.”
“My vote goes to Hock Leong. He stopped most of the attacks in the 2nd half.”
“Difficult for me to choose between Hock leong, See Chiang and Weng Kwan. All 3 in the zone today with their game awareness. Kwan running up and down flank. Hock Leong throwing his body weight into opponent's path. See chiang industrious as ever. Tips in favour of See Chiang. Fluid passing. If nobody to pass to, he bulldozes up the flank and game restarts in opponent's half. MOM SC for me.”