Match #12 (28 Feb 09): Marine Sunday Diluted Orange Fluid!

Anyone remembering the likes of John Fashanu, Tony Cascarino, Brian Deane and Mick Harford would recall how football was tailored made by their respective clubs for them – long ball to them. So, when our opponent, ironically named Fluid in bright orange kit, paraded a tall ang mo who packs some dynamite in his shots, we braced ourselves up for some hard time. They sure did deploy what are now aptly referred to as Wimbledon tactics with a lot of long and direct balls targeting at their ang mo front man. Surprisingly, despite our lack of height in all our defenders, our rearguards’ fine reading of the game nullified all the high balls with relative ease. Notwithstanding the convincing 4 – 1 score line, it was the solid defending at the back that laid the foundation for the win.

And we could possibly have hit a double-digits score. Last week, the woodwork denied us four times. This week, Fluid’s custodian made at least half-a-dozen point blank saves to defy us. Factor in the half-chances, crosses that didn’t reach the intended targets and shots that went astray, we could have had the plot scripted the very way we wanted. We threatened to score early into the game but Gan, needing injections of confidence, failed to get past the keeper with his tame shot after being put through. That was the first of the many saves that Fluid’s keeper put in to avoid a potential huge embarrassment. As usual, we needed to be awakened by conceding an early goal before got our acts together. We failed to clear the ball cleanly and their striker pounced onto the loose ball to put it past Brandon. The one-of-those-days feeling dawned on us but we knew we had plenty of time to play for. We equalized not long afterwards. A clumsy challenge on Simon’s back in the box required no further thoughts from the referee, who not only pointed to the spot decisively but even took time to explain to Fluid’s defenders why the offence warranted the 12-yards spot kick, which Simon duly converted. 1 – 1 now and we moved into our top gears from then on.

Plenty of crosses and advances into Fluid’s box raised their alarms but counted nothing for us until a freak goal finally broke down their resistance. Gan did well to win back the ball and laid it to the left for Teck Wah, whose overhit cross (or rather the pitch was too narrow) evaded everyone in the box. Mike recovered the stray ball and put it back into the 6-yards box again, putting pressure on Fluid’s defender to produce a first-time clearance that hit Gan on the line, resulting in the ball diverted into goal. Gan was just too glad to claim credit for that!
We continued to push forward and further increased their misery just before the break. Yong Chua received a cross from the right at the near post and was given time to turn and lay the ball across the box. Kian Hwa came in from the left to tuck the ball into the net, wrong-footing the Fluid’s keeper in the process. 3 – 1 at the break.

2nd half was more of the same for us. The number of failed conversions began to embarrass us instead. Conversely, Fluid’s custodian stood out like a beacon guiding the lost vessels with his top drawer save after save to frustrate us. Whatever ball Fluid could get to, they launched it far and high into our half but Mark and Hock Leong were simply superb to deal with the direct balls. The odd forays down the flanks were attended to capably by Chung Wen, Ng and Weng Kwan, rotating in the full back positions. They did come close to score but even then, Brandon was on top of his game with a double-saves to maintain the 2-goals margin.

We deserved more goals but only 1 came, courtesy of Chwee Leng’s swinging left-footed shot after he brought down an outward-swerving cross from the left by Kian Hwa. As the ball sailed past their keeper to the far post, Chwee Leng raised his arms in jubilation for his first goal of the season. 4 – 1 now and we were still hunting for more but it was not to be. Fluid was saved from further margin erosion with the final whistle going off at 4 – 1 the final score.

Next come the drum-roll moment. Before coming to that, put it as my ego talking, I’m increasingly feeling vindicated that the MoTM scheme is worth implementing and it does instill the appreciation of our fellow teammates in us. This week’s highly skewed proportion of nominations, 13 out of 15 valid votes, demonstrated that we do appreciate the guys at the back. More often than not, their performance goes unmentioned and unnoticed but not this time. Despite the convincing win, our defensive colleagues were in the limelight, and for the right reason.

This was by far the keenest round of voting this season. The eventual MoTM winner literally won by just a hairline, 7 votes to 6! Trust me, I had never felt so exhilarated in tallying the nominations. Enjoy reading their nominations, they are superb stuff. Now, the MoTM. He is one of the handful few with the better footballing brain among us. Always cool on the ball and hates to rush, he prefers to look up and spread the ball. If you noticed, his performance was really not his usual style of play. Not when, just before the kick-off, he was placed under “restrain order” by Mr Ultimate Ultra Big Ego to just play simple football, i.e. just clear the balls first time. Well, it was like a seasoned warrant officer being told by an inexperienced young punk officer how to fight a battle. In this case, it was a technically sound player being told by a two-left-feet how to play football, you know how it feels. But great credit to this footballer, he put any displeasure aside and played for the team. There was hardly any of his usual hold-and-look-up-and-pass but simple and timely clearances throughout the match. The performance may not be pleasing to the eyes but the huge impact of such simple play did not go unnoticed. The MoTM was Mark!

Man of The Match: Mark (7 votes)
“Mom: Mark - sealed up the back line”
“Vote goes to Mark. Read the game very well at the back, giving procession back to us on numerous occasions.”
“Motm: mark. Swept up all the loose balls n was everywhere in defence line.”
“Motm goes to mark. Rock solid and unbeatable at the back.”
“Mark motm for gd defence against their Wimbledon strategy”
“Mark, played the offside trap well n make impt clearance”
“MOTM – Mark marshal the defence well to limit the opponent’s attack”

Hock Leong came in very close with 6 votes. Together, our central defensive pair was the cornerstone of our win!
“Opponents game plan looked simple... feed ball to ang moh, ang moh score. Hock Leong spoilt their party by diffusing all through balls to them limiting opponent strikers to only 2 shots on goal. Hock Leong MOM.” [Editor: No lah, ang mo didn’t score, the local Chinese guy did! You were so near to the action, yet you still got this wrong!]
“My MOTM goes to Hock Leong for his simple and effective play. Excellent readings of the game. Well timed tackles and calling out his teammates when necessary.”
“Motm to hock leong. Was a rock in defence. Cleared most of the long lobs and passes from opponents in the small pitch. Broke up many of their attacks and limiting them to very few shots on goal.”
“MOM to hock leong. Our solid rock in the middle of the defence together with mark, heading away most high balls with ease, intercepting opponents’ passes with confidence. Their ang mo was hardly in the game.”
“Motm to hock leong, the human ball repelling machine!”
“A 1.9m ang mo outjumped by a less-than-1.7m stocky defender – how much better could we get? Commanding in the air, sure-footed on the ground, the opponent realised that despite our lack of height in the backline, we were not to be bullied by their high balls mainly because of this chap who must have had some springs implanted in his heels! Great credit to Hock Leong! He is the MoTM!”

The against-the-grain votes went to Simon and Kian Hwa, 1 apiece:
“MOTM goes to Simon who solidly controlled the midfield & stringed passes together both for offensive & defensive moves.”

“kh – one of the most hardworking player and score a 50-50 goal” [Editor: I doubly confirmed. Kok Hock was absent, so the “kh” shouldn’t refer to him :)]