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There are times when what you see is not what you get. In fact, it was twice what we saw! The ball had clearly crossed the goal line before it was scrambled out only to be knocked back in crossing the line but the ref was oblivious and so the second frantic clearance saved CJC old boys (a misnomer really).
The other key highlights of the match was a gift from their right back and keeper combining to provide comic relief with that own goal, a moment's madness on our part to return the favor of a penalty which was duly converted and then a late sucker punch to register their first 'win' over us.
The only consolation as pointed out by KH was that the chance of us being invited again would be better now that their losing streak against us was over.
For 3rd consecutive match, we conceded unnecessary goals but we scored more than opponents did, we won although performance wise, it had been patchy at best.
We found Soccermaniacs hard to break down until the introduction of the Tang brothers. Chwee Leng's determination won the ball for us in our half and from there, a swift attacking move saw Teck Wah setting up his elder brother to find the net for us. We came close on a couple of occasions but ended the half with only a 1-goal lead to show.
The opening 15 minutes of the 2nd half were a torrid time for us as Soccermaniacs found the extra impetus to pile tremendous pressure on us. They could have comfortably reversed the deficit but were superbly denied by Brandon twice and even more astonishingly, Chung Wen produced a last-ditch on-the-line clearance with his outstretched right foot to deny Soccermaniacs a certain goal. Against the run of play, we put in 2 goals to ease the pressure. YC's long ball into the box looked heading for nowhere but Teck Chye still managed to conjure up a beauty with his left foot from a tight angle. Then Soccermaniacs' keeper gifted us the 3rd goal as he allowed YC's harmless looking long shot from outside the box to slip through his arms and legs. Kian Hwa then floated in a measured cross from the left for Teck Wah to nod in our 4th.
We looked to be cruising but Soccermaniacs found their 2nd wind and notched 2 quick goals set up a potentially tensed finishing but Teck Wah put the issue beyond doubt with his 2nd goal, again courtesy of their keeper's poor handling of the ball. 5-2 final score.
It was certainly one of the most satisfying wins, against a younger and technically better team. Our determination won us this match and Reds' playmaker, the No 18 with the elegant touches and commanding presence in the middle of the park, remarked likewise :)
Despite starting the match with only 8 players for the opening 5 minutes, Reds had almost 90% of possession with their movement of the ball. Ironically, we got into the lead when they had their full 11, with Woon producing an Andy Carroll's style of header to meet Teck Wah's corner on the 11th minute. 1-0. Things evened out thereafter. Reds' keeper gifted us our 2nd goal when he wrong-footed himself to let a harmless-looking freekick from Teck Wah to go past him. A nice build-up involving Mike and Teck Wah set up Teck Chye for our 3rd goal. We could have our 4th but Kian Hwa's left-footed volley was acrobatically denied by Reds' custodian. 3-0 at the break.
Reds' 3 goals in the 2nd half owed much to Kian Hwa's couple of blunders. At the kick-off for 2nd half, KH's poor giveaway let them counter-attack down their left flank and earn a free-kick, from which they opened their account, with the clock hardly registering 1 minute. Another swift counter-attack got them their 2nd goal and the half wasn't even 15-minutes old. Things looked shaky for us but we dealt them with the same medicine. A rare counter-attack freed up Gan and his pace shook off their defender and for once, Gan didn't dilly-dally and he planted a stiff grounder past their keeper. 4-2. KH then produced a Rory Delap-like throw-in that caught Reds' last man out of position and Gan lobbed over Reds' keeper for his brace.
Another horrific blunder from KH allowed them to notch their 3rd goal. KH could have cleared their corner with ease but he completely air-balled, leading to a scrambled clearance from the back. Reds' winger followed with a shot that cannoned off KH's and then Weng Kwan's backs to sail past Brandon. The resultant screaming from Weng Kwan and Teck Chye's spontaneous call for a substitution spelt the end of KH's presence on the pitch, deservedly so. We held on gallantly to deny Reds of any comeback, though. 5-3 :)
Oranjee probably lamented they didn't deserve to lose this match, after all they forced an extraordinary triple-saves out of and were denied twice on one-on-one by our brilliant Brandon in the 2nd half. But our custodian can be a clown at times as he gifted Oranjee their 1st two goals. And not forgetting, we were denied thrice by their 2nd-half keeper, whose agility was quite astonishing. So, fair and square, they had nothing to complain.
It was a match of 2 halves: we had the 1st half, they had the 2nd. We were 2-0 up in 8 minutes with Chor Guan, as a striker in 1st half, opened the scoring followed by Kama's wonderful volley from outside the box. Oranjee reduced the deficit but Gan and Mike put us in a comfortable 4-1 lead at the break. Alex rounded up the scoring with a cool tap-in at the far post after their keeper could only parry Teck Wah's corner onto Alex's path. Then came the onslaught from Oranjee and they were well rewarded with 2 late goals. But they could do no more than that and 5-3 was the final score.
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