Our performance against AA United (our last encounter with them was on 31 August 2008 and I named them AA United to mean Attitude Aplenty for their tardiness and taking their own sweet time to change up. For the record, a 10-men Marine Sunday beat them 4 – 1!) was reflective of the recent weather – bright and sunny followed by flash of strong thunderstorm and lightning, then back to fine weather again. We overrun AA with two periods of thunderstorm-like performance in the first 30 minutes and last 15 minutes of the match, enough to wreak devastating havoc to flood and drown them. AA United must have wondered what hit them as they felt the full brunt of the pent-up deprivation of Marine Sunday, after their last match was called off due to well, inclement weather!
The first wave of force majeure that hit them was in the scale of a cyclone named Hwa-Chye-Wah that whacked them 5 goals in the first 30 minutes before they came to their senses. Kian Hwa had a role in all the 5 goals, from providing key assists to mere cameo to even comical! Then, Hurricane Teck Wah swept through the terrain for the last 15 minutes to aggravate their misery. In between, they enjoyed a decent spell of bright and sunny weather to even score a consolation, albeit meaningless, goal. It was a scoring spree to rack up a resounding 7 – 1 win to make up for lack of football action the week before.
The first goal came from a cleverly worked freekick just outside the box. Just when AA United were anticipating a ball into the box, Teck Chye chipped the ball over the wall for Kian Hwa lurking unmarked just behind it. The latter had plenty of time to look up and floated a measured left-foot cross into the six-yard box. Mike jumped the highest to thump in a header for our opening goal. Teck Chye then brilliantly intercepted a ball on the right, advanced unchecked into the box and picked out Kian Hwa with a low square pass. For the 2nd successive match, Kian Hwa failed to connect with the ball in front of the open goal and fluffed the ball totally. To his relief, the ball came off his left ankle onto the path of Teck Wah, who showed how a goal should be scored. 2 – 0 up! Despite the potentially disastrous miss, the rest nevertheless applauded Kian Hwa for his comical relief. The Kian Hwa-Teck Wah partnership then conjured up a pair of identical goals to double the lead, with the former more than adequately atoning for his earlier embarrassing miss. Even the runs down the left flank, the left-foot crosses from the left, the height and pace of the ball, and the eventual conversions were carbon copy of each other. The match was hardly 25% done but Teck Wah had already bagged his hattrick! 4 – 0!
Melvin, sporting a slimmer frame and more nimble feet, sent a corner from the right. Kian Hwa, a constant pest to AA United defence by now, jumped to challenge the keeper. His cameo role and brief encounter with the keeper in the air was enough to cause the keeper to spill the ball. Teck Chye followed up on the loose ball with a thunderous strike that burst the net. 5 – 0 and we were cruising. While the score line suggested a lop-sided affair, our comrades at the back kept things simple with timely clearances to frustrate AA United, with Hock Leong eventually earning his well deserved acclaim - “The Rock”. After the 5th goal, the “foul weather” died down a little, much to the relief of AA. No further goals resulted and the half-time score stood at 5 nil.
Much credit to the team, we did not take our feet off the pedal in the 2nd half. Chwee Leng and Teck Chye had efforts denied by the goal frame, after AA’s custodian was soundly beaten. We toiled but yielded nothing. We were further frustrated by the referee’s dubious offside decisions against us. AA gathered momentum and laid siege on our goal. A hesitant effort by Kok Hock failed to clear the ball away and to make matters worse, Brandon’s buttery fingers allowed the ball to slip through his grasp and AA’s striker was thankful for the unexpected gift dropping at his feet. Again, we failed to keep a clean sheet, 5 – 1! They could have narrowed the deficit when Brandon misjudged a low shot. Instead of attempting to save the shot, Brandon allowed the ball to travel unimpeded but to our relief, the ball came off the right post and Ng cleared the rebound away. Brandon then made up for his howlers with a fine effort to deny AA on a one-on-one attempt.
The re-introduction of Teck Wah in the final 15 minutes of the match rejuvenated Marine Sunday. Whereas Kian Hwa terrorised AA from the left flank in the 1st half, Teck Wah announced his presence with a hurricane-like display on the right, sweeping AA off their feet with his numerous crosses. He found See Chiang with a pinpoint cross but the latter saw his header cleared off the line. We were not to be denied for any longer. The goal of the match came from the person who started and finished it off – Leo. After stopping AA’s attack and winning back the ball, Leo sent the ball to Melvin, who superbly laid it down the right for Teck Wah. Leo continued his run forward and was hugely rewarded for his effort when he converted Teck Wah’s square pass, toe-poking the ball at the near post before the keeper could get to the ball. 6 – 1! Weng Khong then broke their offside line but his first touch was too strong, allowing their last man to recover and rob the ball away. Teck Wah got to the loose ball on time before it went over the byeline and sent in another cross but the keeper must have applied the same butter as Brandon on his gloves. He failed to hold on to the ball cleanly, spilled it over the line before desperately clawing the ball out. Though Weng Khong pushed the ball over the line just to ensure a valid goal, credit had to go to our goal machine. 7 – 1.
After suffering from the thundering goals and lightning strikes meted out by us, AA found the final whistle music to their ears.
Man of the Match: Kian Hwa (8 votes)
I am potentially in a conflict of interest position and may be perceived to “rig” the votes. But hey, you can always ask who these 8 nominators are!
I am potentially in a conflict of interest position and may be perceived to “rig” the votes. But hey, you can always ask who these 8 nominators are!
"Motm to kian hwa. Solid first half performance, lively runs down the flanks and added width to our attacks. Three assists and benitez would have been impressed with the pinpoint crosses. was a constant menance to their defence and goalie. Special mention to hock leong who was a rock in defence."
"Mom-kian hwa. Great assists...deliberate or otherwise."
"MOTM goes to Kian Hwa for his numerous assists that resulted in an early 5 goals ahead advantage in the first half...."
"Motm kian hwa. had a hand in at least 4 goals. lots of penetrating runs down the left."
"Motm kian hwa. had a hand in at least 4 goals. lots of penetrating runs down the left."
"Vote goes to kian hwa. Had more than a hand in all five goals in first half."
"Motm to lkh for his numerous assists"
"Motm today is the one who made plenty of forceful running, terrorize the defenders & creating at least a hattrick of assists, intentional or comical. No need for names ;)"
“Although Teck Wah scored a hat-trick [Ed: 4 goals, not 3], my MOTM goes to Kian Wah [Ed: Hwa, not Wah] for his effective wing play and crosses which have created 3-4 of all goals scored. He is certainly back to his best [Ed: his best is yet to be!] after the dengue infection.”
“Although Teck Wah scored a hat-trick [Ed: 4 goals, not 3], my MOTM goes to Kian Wah [Ed: Hwa, not Wah] for his effective wing play and crosses which have created 3-4 of all goals scored. He is certainly back to his best [Ed: his best is yet to be!] after the dengue infection.”
Teck Wah scored 4 goals and earned 4 votes:
"Teck wah for the double brace"
"Teck wah for the double brace"
"Motm goes to teck wah..constant threat up front, took his opportunities well."
"Teck wah. Made big difference when playing. 3 well taken goals and made at least two more"
“My vote for Teck Wah. Complete performance, brilliant crossing, strikes and mopping up of loose balls.”
“My vote for Teck Wah. Complete performance, brilliant crossing, strikes and mopping up of loose balls.”
A couple of votes went to our Rock:
"U[i.e. kh] or tw or hl? U for the number of assists, tw for the no of gd goals, hl for no of aerial n ground challenges win, hmmm. I think i will go for HL, cause not easy to play defence in the field condition n also against some of their players"
"Hock Leong aka The Rock! How he repelled off their offensive moves in the 1st half was football made simple. In the first 15 min of 2nd half, we were shaky at the back without him, and that was when we conceded the goal needlessly. A tactical change saw him back into the fray and he restored stability just like that, rather effortlessly."
"U[i.e. kh] or tw or hl? U for the number of assists, tw for the no of gd goals, hl for no of aerial n ground challenges win, hmmm. I think i will go for HL, cause not easy to play defence in the field condition n also against some of their players"
"Hock Leong aka The Rock! How he repelled off their offensive moves in the 1st half was football made simple. In the first 15 min of 2nd half, we were shaky at the back without him, and that was when we conceded the goal needlessly. A tactical change saw him back into the fray and he restored stability just like that, rather effortlessly."
1 each for Teck Chye, Leo and Brandon:
"Mom is teck chye for his ball winning and also the creation of chances for others. He was unlucky and could hv scored more."
"Mom: Leo: good connection from cross. It's excellent goal."
"Motm: Brandon. Everyone play very well, brandon play little better than others."
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