Match #36 (9 Aug 09): Totally Outclassed But No Complains on Our Effort

The sight of Babylon trooping in dampened our festive mood of the long weekend. It was not so much of the fear for them but rather the extent of shadow-chasing that we knew we needed to put ourselves through against such quality opponent. True enough, their superior fitness and mobility, and of course not forgetting their technical skills, threatened to overrun us from the whistle. We managed to hold on but not for long. The inevitable breakthrough came when Kian Hwa, who so often chides at our defenders for poor marking, had a taste of his own medicine when he failed to track their right winger. Chor Guan retreated into the box to cover for KH's sloppiness but got himself entangled with the right winger instead. The referee saw it as an impediment and pointed to the spot. Despite the brave attempts by Ng to disrupt their penalty-taker, it was to no avail as Babylon's playmaker coolly converted the spot-kick. 1 – 0.

We should have been wise enough not to commit too many players upfront against such quick players but we did, and we were duly punished. They broke up our advance with ease and it took them only 3 passes to get the ball from their box to our box. Their right winger, who was on the receiving end of Ng's numerous hacking, had the last laugh as he raced miles ahead of the chasing Kian Hwa to receive a cross and tap the ball past Brandon. 2 – 0.

Babylon could have extended their lead but their left winger, perhaps due to complacency, blasted a sitter high over the bar even when Brandon was already beaten by the square pass prior to his shot. Brandon then came to the rescue of Marine Sunday with 2 brave blocks to limit the damage to 2 - 0 at half-time. We only came to life in the last 5 minutes of the half. First, Teck Wah managed to squeeze in a shot from a very tight angle and with their keeper closing down on him but his shot came off the right post. Then a decent move allowed Gan to make our only 2nd attempt at goal but it didn't really threaten.

We played a tighter game in the 2nd half, literally parking a bus in front of our box and restricting them to short passes. Our 2 full-backs did well to track their wingers and Babylon's various attempts to thread the ball through the middle were frustrated firstly by Simon and Melvin, and when they were beaten, Weng Kwan and Chor Guan mopped up the loose balls. Babylon also decided to ease off their closing down on us and that allowed us some breathing space to hold on to the ball. Simon shot directly at the keeper from outside the box after being set up by Kian Hwa. See Chiang hit the post once but he was well placed to score our consolation goal. A heavy challenge on Gan in the box spun the ball loose and See Chiang possessed all the predatory instincts to pounce on it. 2 – 1. A moment of static defending allowed Babylon to extend their lead when an offside call backfired at our own players. Thinking the ball would be out of play, our defenders stood to watch the ball rolling out but Babylon's tall striker had other idea. He raced to recover the ball before it went over the line and squared it low for his supporting forward to tap in, all the while our defenders were standing there rooted and perhaps admiring their movement. 3 - 1!

The Tang brothers came back into the game and they added extra impetus into our play. Teck Chye gallantly took them on with his close ball control. Teck Wah then missed a perfect opportunity to register himself in the score sheet. The industrious Gan turned his marker well and put in a low cross for Teck Wah, who got ahead of the defender to receive the ball but could not connect with it cleanly. The ball came off his shin and went agonisingly wide off the right post. In the process, Teck Wah's shin also took out their goalkeeper. Simon had another attempt at goal when he controlled the ball well outside the box and produced a delicate lob over the replacement keeper but the ball was just a couple of inches too high above the bar. At the other end, Brandon produced another couple of fine saves to keep them at bay – an audacious one-handed scoop of the looping ball after it ricocheted off Weng Kwan’s foot and then diving well to his left to block a low shot.

Undoubtedly, Babylon had the lion share of the possession but our effort could not be undermined. Final score: 3 - 1.

Man of The Team: Chor Guan (3 out of 14 votes)
Competition for the MoTT was very tight and 12 out of 14 votes went to our defence line, including keeper. Chor Guan’s never-say-die attitude won him the plaudits:
“3 players were in contention for my vote – Brandon, Chor Guan & Gan. Brandon’s in-form continued into this match and I would love to see more consistency in his form. Gan is just like Dirk Kuyt, working non-stop upfront and most of the times on his own. If he could beef up a bit, defenders would find him harder to handle. Chor Guan is a cool cucumber with a level-headed mind. He was eager to get back something despite the odds. His request to play stopper in 2nd half aided our sporadic attack but also showed how sure-footed he is. Deliberated in past 24 hours, MoTM goes to Chor Guan!”
“Chor Guan - outstanding performance supporting the attack and defends. Special mention to See Chiang, if he have score the goal when we were 2-0 down, the score line might be different.”
“motm = chor guan. Solid at the back and cut down opposition chances to minimum. Occasionally join in the attack and make quite a few dangerous runs in opposition half.”

4 players – Chwee Leng, Leo, Brandon and See Chiang had 2 votes each. I put our 2 full-backs in the top 3. 2nd position goes to Chwee Leng for stepping up to instill some confidence and direct play at the back. He tracked the left winger well. On the opposite full-back, Leo was just as assuring in his clearances and interceptions. Overall, great credits to our defence!

2nd: Chwee Leng
“Motm to leng for another perceptive performance at right back throughout the match. Leo's 15min in the second half was absolutely impressive, full of conviction & read babylon's moves spot on.”
“Motm was Chwee Leng. Consistent performance in this game, few who are not overawed by the fancied opponents.”

3rd: Leo
“one of the many games this year where it gets really difficult to choose a motm cos probably the whole team didn't play well nor did any single player shine. I'll go for Leo since when he played the 20 minutes or so in each half, the opponents did not score.”
“leo. defend and read the game well, make few good clearance”

Brandon, See Chiang, Ng, Teck Chye and Gan mopped up the remaining 7 votes:
“MOM : The team worked hard and had a sense of tactical discipline during some parts of the game during which we had some good breakaways . My MOM is Brandon for some of the great saves he made to keep the scoreline respectable and gave us a chance to close the gap.”
“MOM for 9 Aug-Brandon: could not blame him for the goals but the stops were top class.”
“MOtM is See Chiang - good effort running the channels on the wing.”
“MOTM for 9 Aug game - See Chiang, for his all round play as stopper and then at left mid culmulating with the consolation goal and one hitting the post. Good job!!!”
“Ng has my vote. You can see he desperately wanted to stamp his presence against a tricky winger who never got past him while Ng was at left back. If anybody, he set the mood and the opponent winger was seen pushing Ng in the back in frustration and even played in a different position in the second half. Ng, just a 10% less aggressive play would have been perfect. And where did Mel find his running legs these past few games?”
“TC stood out for me. He fought hard and the few chance we had started with him”
“This was the game where everyone needed to play extra hard and with discipline in order to stand some winning chances. My MOM would be Gan as he did show both qualities despite some chances that he missed.”