Shocking Pink proved to be our bogey opponent again. The last time we met at Bowen Sec Sch, we lost the match 3 – 4 despite leading 3 – 2 at one stage. Our second meeting last Saturday was pretty similar. We had more scoring opportunities but we ended up playing catch-up throughout the match. After coming back twice to level the score, we almost gifted them the match after needlessly committing a penalty at the dying moments of the match. Brandon kept his concentration and made a brilliant save to deny them a second win over us. Simply put, we came up short in Command, Communication, Composure and Class to win this match. If Brandon could be more Commanding in the box, at least one of the two goals conceded, if not both, could have been avoided. If Chor Guan and Weng Kwan could Communicate more with each other, there would not have been the sloppy play at the back resulting in a penalty. If Mike and Teck Chye were more Composed in front of goal, either one of them, if not both, could have been our match winner. Lastly, we simply lacked Class, also known as Chua, to play the beautiful game and beat them.
But a couple of other Cs saved us the day. Brandon’s Concentration at the crucial moment left Shocking Pink with a what-if feeling if they had converted the penalty. Before Brandon’s heroics, a little Collaboration among Hwa-Chye-Wah paid off when we conjured up the 2nd equalising goal from an indirect free-kick just outside the penalty box.
The match welcomed Chor Guan’s return from a rather long layoff due to his ankle injury. Expectedly, he could not shake off the rustiness but he put up an encouraging performance that would only augur well for us.
The opening encounter was evenly matched but Shocking Pink’s first goal exposed the lack of command and communication at the back. We let a ball into the box go unchecked but none of the 3 – Brandon, Chor Guan and Weng Kwan – stepped up to clear it. SP’s striker nipped in to flick the ball over Brandon for their lead. 0 – 1. SP gained the initiative after they found the net but then our defence tightened up to foil their moves. We prodded and prodded, and our effort paid off, courtesy to Teck Chye’s combination of fine reading of the game, ball control, skill and confidence in shooting. He intercepted a poor control by SP’s defender, advanced to dribble past 2 other players before unleashing a left-foot shot from outside the box. The flight of the ball was perfect as it dipped in time to land below the bar and into the net. 1 – 1!
We stepped up a notch in the 2nd half and regained the upper hand of the match. Mike, to everybody’s astonishment, fluffed a golden opportunity in the 6-yard box with the goal mouth at his mercy. Melvin then fed Kian Hwa a fine ball down the right flank and the latter put in his trademark low, square pass into the box but Teck Chye, unlike his younger sibling, screwed the ball wide. Immediately after the horrendous miss, Teck Chye, fearing the tirade from cross provider, ran for cover. The week before, he presented Kian Hwa with a similar scoring opportunity but the latter air-balled it and earned himself tons of sneering from the provider. Now, the hero-turned-villain Teck Chye realised it was not easy after all to convert an easy-looking chance. Against the run of play, SP regained the lead when a pass towards our penalty box could have been ably dealt with. If Brandon had called for the ball this time round, he perhaps did not do it in time for Chor Guan to withdraw his sliding clearance. Guan’s clearance cannoned off Chwee Leng’s shin and the ball rolled past the stranded Brandon into goal. 1 – 2.
SP’s custodian, in contrast, was authoritative in the box and commanded every ball within his grasp. A moment of over enthusiasm and exuberance, however, landed him outside the box with the ball fully in his arms. Kian Hwa, Teck Chye and Teck Wah held a 5-minute summit meeting to plot the move. Kian Hwa served as the decoy, teeing up for a left-foot shot but Teck Chye rolled the ball instead to his left for Teck Wah to chip it over the wall. By the time SP’s keeper realised it, the ball kissed the underside of the bar before bouncing over the line for our 2nd goal! Late into the match, just when we thought we would settle for a draw, a total lack of communication between Weng Kwan and Chor Guan resulted in the loss of ball possession to them, allowing their tall striker to advance into the box before he was checked by the small Ng in the box. The referee saw it as a manhandling and blew for a contentious penalty. Justice prevailed and Brandon spared our defenders the blushes.
Final score 2 – 2.
Man of The Match: Ng (5 votes)
Though it sounded like our defence was tentative and sloppy, they actually put in a very credible performance to deny SP players who are faster and more mobile. 4 out of 5 nominees came from our rearguards and collectively they garnered 12 out of 16 votes. Those 2 facts spoke volumes of their efforts!
“Ng for his timely and amazing tackles. He was aggressive and always giving 100 percent.”
“Ng. He made at least two important tackles to deny opponents.”
“Many motm moments; Chye's stupendous solo goal, Wah's brilliant curler, Brandon's last-minute penalty save, Wen's superb defensive coverage, etc. I go for the unflinching, no nonsense man with a mission - Ng. Simply went out & gave it hard on their best player, never mind the penalty. Solid!”
“motm: toss up between Hock Leong and Ng. Both were putting in lots of hard tackles and breaking up play. Ng gets my vote cos it isn't easy for a fullback to shine, but he made a huge impact.”
“MOM: Ng - for his bone crushing tackles which helped to save us a few times from almost certain goals.”
Teck Chye was just a vote behind:
“Motm – chye, great goal and at a great time to score”
“Motm goes to teck chye. Scored a gem of a goal to put us back in the game. Was menacing and threatening when taking on players from midfield.”
“MOTM goes to Teck Chye for his tireless work in the midfield & scoring a beauty after winning a loose ball.”
“Motm: teck chye who do a solo, dribble past a few opponents, and lob in a goal.”
Our other fullback, Chung Wen, was a man on a mission that day!
“Motm: chung wen. Played simple football n hold the tall Chinese striker well”
“MOTM: Chung Wen. While T Chye and Simon were the pivots of the game, Chung Wen made more than a few timely tackles, much to opponents frustration as we saw. (T Wah - that was the best goal i've seen this year. How many goals are scored from free kick at our amateur level? - almost never)”
“MoTM to Chung Wen – The Master of Simplicity! The ball he cleared out of the field into the school compound showed his conviction. And how he later read the ball well in the box and got ahead of their striker to head it away so decisively. Simple, clean but supremely effective!”
The Rock and Brandon split the remaining 4 votes equally between them:
“hl for the hard & tenacious tackles”
“MOtM is Hock Leong. Just played brilliantly.”
“Brandon. Save the penalty cause by me so I vote him. Haha”
“MOM: Brandon for the penalty defying save - way to go”
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