Match #48 (18 Oct 09): The Most Undeserving Win Ever!

We had two previous encounters with Oxford United FC, which I referred them as AA United then. Our first encounter was in August 2008 and then, a 10-men Marine Sunday steamrolled over them 4 – 1. Then, in April this year, we whitewashed them 7 – 1! So, the inevitable durian-picking mentality seeped into our minds when we saw them, as usual, slowly trooping into the pitch on last Sunday ultra-hot afternoon.

Their infamous tardiness made them start the match with 2 men short and within 5 minutes, we were a goal up, courtesy of a well-worked move down the right and then Teck Wah sent in a measured cross for Gan to head past the static keeper. That further fuelled the durian-harvesting thoughts but from then, we lost our shape.

Oxford players consistently display these attributes in all the 3 matches we played – tardiness, players take their own sweet time to change up even though they are late, start off slowly but surely regain the momentum of the match and come back strongly at us. The difference for this time round was that they should have won this match convincingly but luck simply deserted them. 2 efforts came off the underside of the horizontal, one spot kick brilliantly saved by Brandon, another one-on-one effort denied by Brandon and then cleared off the line by Seah. These were enough to bury us alive. Sure, we created enough threats as well but nothing as threatening as them. Kian Hwa’s numerous crosses from the left always came up short in reaching the intended targets in the box. On the contrary, Teck Wah’s and Seah’s deliveries from the right tended to over hit. Teck Wah and Kian Hwa did deliver just one successful cross each, and each was converted into goal. Teck Wah did it early in the game and Kian Hwa left it in the dying moments of the match.

Oxford slowly seized the upperhand of the match. A long shot from their playmaker came off the underside of the bar and Brandon had to be alert later to tip over his another long-range effort from a free-kick. Their equaliser eventually came. We failed to clear their corner cleanly and the heat must have numbed our reflex and reaction as we were guilty of ball-watching the 2nd cross into the box. Their striker put the ball convincingly past Brandon with a left-foot volley. 1 – 1 stood at the much awaited half-time break.

Oxford missed 3 more gilt-edged chances in the 2nd half. Their forward swept past Chwee Leng and Seah down the left and his cross into the box came off Weng Kwan’s left arm. The referee pointed to the spot without hesitation but their playmaker again failed to put the ball past Brandon, who produced his trademark penalty save. Is Brandon better than Pepe Reina now? Brandon came to our rescue again when he came off his line to block Oxford’s striker’s advance into a one-on-one attempt. The rebound ball was trickling into the open goal but Seah was at the right place to clear the ball for a corner. Oxford’s playmaker was left cursing at his luck later when another of his left-foot shots failed to get past the goal frame again.

With energy sapped by the searing heat, we managed to garner the last ounce of energy in the last 5 minutes to get at them. Kian Hwa sped down the left flank to retrieve a long pass from Simon. He managed to return a pass to Simon but the latter failed to pick out the exact spot to beat the out-of-position keeper. Our last attacking effort involving our front trio of Kian Hwa-Gan-Teck Wah finally came to the good. Kian Hwa exchanged a one-two with Gan and broke free into the box to receive the return pass. KH finally produced a decent cross to reach Teck Wah, who stretched his hamstring to the limit to tuck the ball into the net. Unbelievably, Oxford found themselves 2 – 1 down and eventually an agonising defeat.

Man of The Match: Brandon (7 out of 11 votes)

We owed the win to this man – the one in goal!

1. “MOM: got to be Brandon. world class penalty save.”

2. “brandon. did few good save during the game, the main reason we go home with a WIN.”

3. “MOTM on 181009 - Brandon, he got a few good save today and especially he save the penalty shot out.”

4. “motm: brandon gets my vote for the pk save n couple of other saves keeping us in the game. seah did well filling in on the lower right and din give them much space.”

5. “What a penalty save! And a solid performance throughout - tip overs, blocks, dives & assured handling. Motm to brandon!”

6. “Run out of superlatives to describe his performance. Breathtaking goalkeeping but the bar also saved 2 certain goals for us. So, between Brandon and the goalpost, I go for Brandon since he is a man and we are voting for Man of the Match. I can’t be certain whether the goalpost is male or female….So, Brandon lor!”

7. “MOTM is Brandon for a great performance between the post in keeping us in the game with some great saves , especially the penalty. His command and control of the penalty box is also getting better.”

Old Man Leo was a cool dude in such a hot day. He stuck out his leg at the right time on a few occasions to break up Oxford United’s attacks. 2 votes placed him in 2nd position:

1. “3pm sun battered all but Leo found hidden reserves to battle on. Very consistent the whole game and even stamped his authority on the right when they needed help. MOTM Leo.”

2. “On a hot day that made most of us underperformed, MOTM goes to Leo for subduing opponent’s offensive effort on numerous occasions.”

Recently, both Wah and Hwa kept locking horns with each other in MoTM nominations. This time round, both had 1 vote each. For a goal and an assist, these are more than enough to break the tie. 3rd spot goes to Teck Wah:

1. “MOTM for 18th oct game goes to teck wah. Ran his lungs out. Made many threatening run down the flank and was involve in both goals. 1st, he set up gan for the opening goal with a beautiful cross and scored the decisive winner in the dying minutes.”

Consolation vote for Kian Hwa:

1. “MOTM for 18 Oct game. It has to be KH for this game. Although it was a very hot afternoon when everyone almost got a heatstroke, KH burst of speed resulted in our equalising goal.”