Match #26 (07 June 09): Marine Sunday Showed Strategy Can Win Over Skills

report contributed by mel

It was so hot on Sunday, Ng's green Honda turned brown from over cooking. But the sweltering heat was no match for Gan's super hot performance. He turned, sprinted, danced and shouldered his way to a wonderful hat-trick in a match in which Marine Sunday showed strategy can win over skills. Sure, player for player our opponents were more skillful with wonderful touches, great dribbling skills and speedy wingers. We had 12, 7 short of what we really needed on Sunday. It was that hot. So hot KH wouldn't have had to take his shirt off for his moobs (aka man boobs) to be covered with salty perspiration. Ng told me it was salty.

The game started with both sides trying to come from wide positions but our opponents' speedy right winger proved a handful for in-form Ng. He twisted and turned Ng each time and when that failed, he toe-poked his way past our defence. But he had a striker who failed to understand the offside rule and was standing so close to Brandon, our keeper was tempted to file a report against him as a stalker. At the other end, Mike and Weng Khong stretched their full-backs like dirty old men let loose in a room full of virgins, before playing low passes in the middle for Gan. But they had a last man who was confident and speedy too. It looked like it was going to be a close contest until one clever ball from the left saw Gan in a shoulder to shoulder barge against the last man. Gan showed he was all muscle and speed and shoved his way through before meeting the keeper in a one-to-one situation. Our striker coolly slotted the ball under the onrushing keeper for an early lead. 0-1. Until then MS was holding defence well except for Ng who had a torrid time. Our left back brought down the winger several times but on his final tackle, Ng introduced the young boy to his hairy chest. Down he went and up came the Hokkien vulgarities from their second striker. However the run from left wing to right wing to help his friend took too long and by then he had calmed down. The free kick was played wide before our defence headed it back out of the penalty box. Their central midfielder brought it down with one touch and volleyed the ball home past Brandon. It was a well-taken goal. 1-1.

MS controlled the pace of the game. Instead of pumping needlessly (think KH in Shanghai), MS played from defence with simple passes wide. It took just five touches for Gan to be set free again and our speedy striker once again rolled the ball pass the keeper for another well-taken goal. 1-2. By now Melvin was playing as the walking wounded having stretched his flabby thighs again. Oh how we needed KH to shout out instructions if only to hear his voice. But Kim Jong Ill needed to choose his successor and our beloved leader had to travel to North Korea for the short-listing. KH fulfilled the two criteria. He is short and he lists to his right. So MS had little choice but to soldier on for fear of severe punishment should KH become the next North Korean madman, another two criteria KH fulfills. Teck Wah came in for Mike and soon our triathlete was causing havoc playing neat passes with Gan. Both could have grabbed more goals but the final touch eluded them. Off one pass from Wah on the left, Gan came sliding in only to see his shot sail over the bar. Chye, obviously feeling threatened by his brother, robbed the defence of the ball after a poor kick by the keeper and stroll towards the box before putting it wide of the keeper. 3 - 1 up at half-time.

The second half saw the re-introduction of their speedy winger now to face Leo. Leo knew he couldn't match the boy for speed. Instead he refused to give up space forcing the winger wide with no one to aim for. While our opponents, who had more than 16 players to choose from, picked up the pace, MS slowed down the game every time we were in possession. Chye and Simon were brilliant in simply knocking the ball around and waiting for opportunities. With See Chiang and Weng Khong flying down the flanks to create openings, their defence had a harrowing time containing the attacks. Wah was in fine form as usual running all over the pitch to create space for Gan. Off one flowing move down the ride, a Chwee Leng through pass had their left back panicking. He knocked the ball back to his keeper but it sailed over the custodian before rolling in for a 4-1 lead. The attacks continued with Wah sending a wonderful volley just over the bar and a few other close calls. No we can't blame KH for those misses although he was there in spirit. Then Gan stepped up again, this time turning a half-volley goalwards for a 1-5 lead. With 20 minutes still to play, MS slowed the game down, content to knock it around. Chye dropped deep in support of the central defenders while Simon shouldered duties in the middle of the park. The strategy worked with our opponents being forced to shoot from way outside the box. Brandon had all of one real save to make and that too was rolling out for a goal-kick. He was that bored.

The game then ended for a satisfying MS victory.

Man of The Match: Gan (5 votes, out of 12)
Another match-winning performance to walk away with MoTM:
“Motm has to be gan. Well taken goals. Well deserved hat trick. His confidence is back though on a few occasions he should have passed to wah.”
“gan. hold the ball well and never miss the chances to score 3 goals.”
“Vote goes to Gan. Good finishing to grab a hat-trick.”
“Gan. Superb hat-trick and all are individual solo attempt.”
“MOTM: Gan for a swivel and shoot goal in the 2nd half to complete the hattrick”

Melvin’s gallant effort in filling in the last man’s position came close with a vote less. But based on pure number of words in the nominations, he won by a big margin :)
“MOM is Melvin. He played the entire game with a muscle pull which restricted him to only using his left leg. He was able to still keep the opponents at bay with his quick thinking and positional play , and showed us how to play football with the speed of thought.”
“MOTM: See Chiang proved again he can play anywhere on the pitch but I vote for Melvin today for the way he soldiered on in the gunfight armed with only his penknife.”
“motm: Melvin. Performed remarkably well at last man with one good leg. Good composure as well as a calming influence throughout.”
“MOTM to Mel. Stood firm (not literally, of course) as last man throughout the match despite groin pain from early on. Great improvisations to clear dangers despite the handicap.”

The workhorse See Chiang garnered 2 votes for his workhorse-like high-energy display:
“MOTM - With only 12 players, 5-1 win against a Malay team, and a hatrick, many votes may go to the striker. However, as mentioned post match, opponent has only one shot on target. My MOTM goes to See Chiang who break up many of their moves. Towards the end of the first half, his excellent overlapping and cut back for Gan almost resulted in a goal. One of his better game in recent weeks. Maybe he should cycle more to the games in future.”
“See Chiang. most hardworking player of the team. You can find in anywhere, defence, midfield, striker, left, right, centre. Endless running and play well as a stopper.”

Very rare that our top scorer did not score, but he still scored with a consolation vote:
"MOTM = Teck Wah. Despite not scoring for this game, his off the ball running is a constant threat to the opposition defence. Provide two great assists for gan to scores his 2 of 3 goals."