Match #3 (31 Dec 08): Marine Sunday Slammed Hard Against Brick Wall!

We wanted to end the calendar year 2008 with a grand slam but we were instead slammed hard against Brickwork Boys, a team comprising several ex-national players in the moulds of Tan Kim Leng, Tan Sio Beng, Lim Soon Seng, who was reportedly part of 1998 Tiger Cup winning team. The rest of the team was no lightweight, easily must have paraded their skills in S-League or the NFL at one point in time of their footballing life. On the contrary, nobody would believe by any stretch of imagination that our Melvin used to play for Police SA in the old NFL in the 90s. And out 2nd noteworthy war story is a former varsity player in the shape of Teck Chye. As for me, I turned up for trial in primary school and I recalled Cikgu barking at me “If you are any good in football to represent any school, I’ll eat pork!” I went on to represent my primary school in mixed netball team but that didn’t count.

The difference in the quality between both sides is not Malacca Straits, not Persian Gulf, not South China Sea but an Indian Ocean apart. If there were any positive takeaways from the match, it must be the fact that the match organizer thought rather highly of us to pit us against BB. Take it as a compliment then.

I can’t help but to, again, draw comparisons against the Newcastle-Liverpool match on 28 Dec. Except that this time round, we were like Newcastle United, totally dominated by the opponent. Another similarity is that Shay Given was the Man of the Match in that match; Brickwork Boys would not argue that our Brandon stood up to the onslaught. However, much as we were hardly in possession of the ball, we managed to keep the loss to a mere 2 – 0.

For what we come up short, real short, in techniques, skills and fitness, we valiantly made up for the shortcomings with a lion-hearted spirit and steadfastness. We knew what we were up against but we didn’t start out to be defensive and park a bus in front of the goal. Naturally, and not surprisingly, we were simply pinned back against the wall. Half the time, we defended in desperation, throwing bodies and limbs to block the shots. The other 50% of the time, we simply defended stoutly, especially if you had looked at the facial lines of Mark, the overstretched hamstrings of Tim, the injured thigh of Weng Kwan, the huff-and-puff of our full backs in Joe, Leo and Chwee Leng. Not forgetting the over-worked midfielders who had to drop deep to cut down space. Of course, we had our Brandon who, time and again, bailed us out.

BB must have been equally frustrated that given their embarrassingly near total domination, they could only muster 2 goals, each a class act in itself. A through ball, one of the many throughout the match, evaded the last-ditch outstretched leg of our left fullback, Joe, and allowed BB’s lanky forward cut into the box. Seeing a string of white lilies lined up across the penalty box, this forward unleashed a shot out of the blue from the outside of his right foot that Brandon, slightly out of position, must have thought the lightning just flashed across the evening sky. 1 – 0 to BB.

Our only shot at goal in the 1st half came unexpectedly from a rebound off Weng Khong’s shin when Kian Hwa harassed the BB defender to clear the ball but defender was a tad over confident, choosing to pass out instead of clearance. The ball came off Weng Khong but landed harmlessly at the feet of BB keeper.

2nd half was more of the same for BB – domination and control, spraying passes and switching the ball from flank to flank effortlessly. Whilst it was painful for us to chase after the ball, it was pleasing to the eyes of the neutral to see how Brandon executed a few vital saves. Whilst his handling of the ball still leaves much to be desired, the saves and his coming-off-the-line to narrow the angle deserved huge plaudits. 2 balls bound for the top corner of the goal were parried away, 2 came off his body after he alertly charged out and bravely put himself in the firing line.

But we eventually conceded the 2nd goal. Superb close control of the ball enabled BB to breach our defence. Brandon again came off the line to narrow the angle but their forward rounded our No 1 with ease. Anticipating him to shoot at the open goal, Mark and Kian Hwa threw themselves at his flight path, only for him to intelligently cut the ball back across the penalty box for a simple tap-in by the same lanky forward who scored the 1st goal. 2 – 0.

Much to the credit of both sides, BB did not step off the pedal and they continued to pound at our goal; and we did not give up. In fact, we had a couple of half chances – See Chiang won a high ball in their box but his header went wide; then Gan did brilliantly to out muscle 2 defenders on the left but Teck Chye’s effort to meet Gan’s cross was smothered by their left fullback.

2 – 0 was the final score, and a respectable one.

And yes, there was a 2nd positive takeaway from the match, or rather, mismatch. Having played such quality opponent and held our own admirably, without meaning to sound cocky, we should have no fear for other opponents.

Man of The Match: Brandon
Given such a lop-sided match and our defence constantly under the spotlight, it wasn’t surprising that from which department the MoTM came. In fact, there were only 2 nominees – Brandon and Mark. And Brandon walked away with the MoTM, with miles to spare.

Out of a total 14 votes, including guest player Tim but excluding the other guest player Joe, Brandon had a lion share of 11 votes! There you go:
- “MOM for SAFRA game - Brandon for his good saves”
- “Brandon. Multiple saves and kept us in the game”
- “MoM between Brandon n mark. Think vote Brandon for keeping our score down.”
- “Brandon. Superb goalkeeping and some excellent saves”
- “My MoTM goes to Brandon. This had to be one of his best games. Good teamwork overall and I would also like to mention that there are some real hardworking players tonite that spur us on.”
- “Brandon for an inspirational performance”
- “MoM Brandon. His saves kept us in the game and withstood the range of long shots, one on ones, corners, goalmouth melees etc.”
- “Significant moments of the match? Those stops from Brandon, especially a couple of times coming out of his line to unsettle opponents. That’s motm!”
- “MotM = Brandon. Outstanding & confident goal keeping. We don’t seem to miss Seah… J”
- “MoM – Brandon. Countless saves”
- “The saves didn’t go unnoticed but I believe most will state the obvious. My choice of Brandon as MoTM is simply for the vast improvement and immense confidence he has shown. But please brush up the ball handling and distribution!”

And for Mark:
- “Mark MoM – marshaled def, only beaten once in 60 mins” [Nominator, why 60 mins?]
- “MotM Mark. Commanding presence against tough opponents”
- “MoM: mark for holding the defence very well”

Keep it up, Marine Sunday!

Match #2 (28 Dec 08): 28 December 2008: Marine Sunday flattered by a 6-2 win!

I can't help but to draw comparisons of our emphatic-looking win over OVA with Liverpool's thrashing of Newcastle United on 28 December 2008. Liverpool should have finished Newcastle off by half-time but instead they only managed a slim 2 – 1 lead by the break. Similarly, we should have buried OVA by the break but the slender half-time 2 – 1 lead defied logic. Liverpool eventually won by a 4-goals margin, 5 – 1. So did we, 6 – 2. Their skipper scored, so did ours, though the latter's contribution was only 50% of Gerrard's 2 goals. The English press described Liverpool's win as a "mauling of the hapless Newcastle". Out of respect for OVA, I wouldn't use such degrading words. OVA's only disadvantage against us is that, on average, they are about 10 years older than us. The facts that such veterans could still kick and run, scored 2 goals against us and at times were controlling possession and dictating the pace of play are very admirable. Putting things in perspective, the win, though looked emphatic, was at best flattering to us.

Teck Wah had half a dozen of scoring opportunities but converted 2. Similarly, Kian Hwa had 6 but managed only 1 goal. Simon had a goal disallowed. Melvin had one golden chance on a through ball but he thought he was playing hockey, scoring into the hockey goal besides the real goal mouth. Teck Chye's 2nd audacious chip over the keeper went astray. Plus several others, almost 20 opportunities to rack up a rout but we managed only 6 goals.

It was a lively encounter between both sides with all the 1st half goals coming in the opening 25 minutes of the half. Simon brilliantly intercepted a ball in midfield and threaded a through ball in between 2 OVA defenders for Teck Wah to finish the job, though the latter still had work to do by rounding the keeper before slotting the ball into goal. 1 – 0. The Tang brothers conjured up the 2nd goal soon afterwards. Teck Chye, superb on the right, picked out his younger brother at the far post with a perfect cross. Teck Wah, left unmarked, nodded the ball past the hapless OVA custodian. 2 - 0. Teck Wah then pulled wide to the right to further stretch OVA defence and a couple of crosses from him threatened to extend the lead, one of which leading to Simon's tap-in at the far post but his goal was ruled offside.

Our attacks were incessant that even Chwee Leng, now establishing himself as a fullback, missed his offensive role so much that he joined in the attack. He came close to meeting a cross from the left. Teck Wah then flashed a thunderbolt that was parried away by OVA keeper. A couple of substitutions were made, Hock Leong for Leo and Yong Chua for Simon, but before we could hardly settle down to the tactical changes, we conceded a goal. A poorly-executed offside call put our own defence on standstill, allowing the OVA winger to continue advancing into the box and smartly slot the ball past Brandon's left to reduce the deficit. 2 – 1. Melvin and Kian Hwa then came into play for See Chiang and Weng Khong respectively and both had opportunities to put themselves on the score sheet when each was put through brilliantly by Teck Chye to face the OVA keeper. The latter did superbly to deny both by quickly narrowing the angle. The first heroic act was to block Kian Hwa's shot with his feet and later force Melvin to take a hurried shot that did go into goal, but it was the hockey goal post besides the real goal post that matters. Before these misses, KH shot skyward from a tight angle when he was first to react to a loose ball after OVA defence failed to clear a low cross from the right.Teck Wah had further couple of efforts at goal but earned the wrath of the elder Tang who chided the former for not passing to team mates in better position. 1st half ended at 2 – 1.

OVA started the 2nd half with a higher sense of urgency, constantly urging the players to close us down. They fell prey to a long punting ball from our defence which pitted a duel between our Yong Chua and their last man, Henry. Henry failed to clear the high ball and allowed Yong Chua to muscle in to lob the bouncing ball over their keeper, who was for once in 2 minds whether to stay on the line or come forward to meet the ball. 3 – 1. True veterans they are. OVA recovered to reduce the deficit again. Their right winger sold a dummy that caught Leo flat-footed. The winger broke free to the byeline and sent a low cross across the 6-yards box for his Botak forward to tap in. 3 – 2, and they appeared revitalized again.

Things appeared to swing to their favour but See Chiang restored our 2-goals lead with a confident, crisp shot that left the OVA keeper wonder what zipped past him. 4 - 2
KH had further 3 scoring opportunities in the 2nd half gone begging – one was denied by a last-ditch world-class tackle from their full-back to deny him a certain goal, then KH sent another shot skyward from his left-footed effort to meet a low cross from the right, and the last being a solo effort starting from the left flank that saw him beating 3 defenders along the way but be was denied by a combination of the keeper's bravery and the defender's desperate challenge. But eventually, he was not to be denied of a goal. Weng Khong won the ball on the right and laid it off to See Chiang at the opposite flank. Again, the visibly exhausted OVA defence left See Chiang a free rein to run at goal. With the keeper advancing out to narrow space, See Chiang unselfishly picked out KH and laid the ball across the penalty box for a simple tap-in by the latter. 5 - 2

By now, OVA were sapped and another careless and feeble back pass was intercepted by Teck Chye on the left and after taking a look where the keeper was, Teck Chye produced an audacious chip over the keeper for our goal No 6. Teck Chye almost made it a carbon copy later when Teck Wah robbed their last man's demotivated control of the ball. Teck Wah fed his elder brother and the latter chipped over the advancing keeper but the ball went just wide.
The whistle was perhaps a relief for OVA as they were running out of spare limbs to carry on further. 6 -2 was the final score.

Man of The Match: Teck Chye At the rate this is going, the MoTM has become a Tang family affair! :) But well done, Teck Chye, we hope to see you producing such performance week in, week out.

Here are the nominations:

1. Teck Chye (5 votes)

"MoM is teck chye. Made important passes and scored fantastic goal" -

"Teck Chye for MoM" [Nominator: Next time, write a bit more lah, more interesting! :)]

"MoM is teck chye for controlling midfield"

"Teck Chye 4 his hardworking harassing role of opponents' offensive approach in the right midfield area & winning the ball back [2] provide some pretty good assists"

"MoM Chye - was 12 vs 11 today with chye's double work rate"

Both See Chiang and Mark obtained 3 nominations each.

2. See Chiang (3 votes)

"Tough call for MoM. My vote to see chiang for the beautifully taken goal, 1 unselfish assist n working tirelessly along the flank."

"MoM: see chiang. His wonder goal turn the game around, opponent sort of gave up after that. Good set up for the 5th goal also. Overall good game for him"

"Torn between Teck Chye and See Chiang. Both scored brilliant goals, both provided assists, both patrolled respective flanks well. But SC's goal sailed through the grasp of the keeper, leaving him clutching for thin air, a real power-packed shot...that slightly edged over Teck Chye..."

3. Mark (3 votes)

"MoM is mark. Controlled the center well."

"MOM: Mark. the control of the midfield in 1H was almost authoritarian. we could feel the missing giant piece of the puzzle when he went off."

"MotM: mark. controlled centre midfield when he played. lost our shape n conceded play to opponent when he went off, n conceded two goals. held the midfield well n won alot of balls"

Chor Guan garnered 2 votes and both Simon and Chwee Leng had 1 each.

"MOTM - Chor Guan" [Nominator: Next time, put in some encouraging words leh]

"Chor Guan – Doing a good job at the defence area"

"Simon tan: when simon came in in the later 2nd half, the game turned our way."

"Leng deserves a commendation for consistent dependable performances as fullback. Another solid game today."

Match #1 (25 Dec 08): Tentative Opening - 2-2 draw with Kampung Kawan

We concluded the 2008 season with a long overdue win, albeit against a fairly veteran team. A win is a win, regardless the quality of the opponent. To instill some positive vibes into the 2009 season, which started on Christmas Day of 08, we kicked it off on an unbeaten note! OK, we did not win but we were far from losing it.

Another positive takeaway from the season's opener was Teck Wah starting the new season in similar fashion to how he ended 2008's – scoring goals.

Thirdly, we have unearthed a full-back in the mould of Chwee Leng! That can only be good for us, given that Chung Wen is plagued by his persistent back injury, Ng is restricted by his groin problem (how on earth did he sustain the groin injury?), and Leo's flourishing corporate career has earned him a feature article in a national newspaper (Berita Harian to be precise!). All those mean lesser time on the pitch for us. We have been and will be deprived of our dependable full backs' services! So far, encouragingly, Chwee Leng has been deputizing admirably for us, including another sterling performance in our opening match on Christmas Day. That also speaks depth of our squad and perhaps, versatility of our players.

From the opening match, we also managed to confirm the correlation between scoring prowess on the pitch and the other raunchy scoring prowess. In fact, both are directly related to each other. It's not an inverse relationship as what our old folks told us, and what I earlier chastised in my previous match reports. Firstly, Teck Wah, refuting the claims of his loss in scoring form, hit half a dozen in last 2 matches! Obviously, his new "training ground" has enabled him to launch more live firing, especially after he boldly boasted that he is past the BMT stage. If this can keep him firing on all cylinders for us, we have no complains if he has multiple "training fields" just like our SAF has in Australia, Brunei, India, Taiwan…. On the other hand, the mystery was lifted why Gan has not been scoring. You see, I wrote that he is lethal in the bedroom as he gearing up for his debut fatherhood but we didn't realize how lethal he is until he told us in the post-match Carlsberg-and-kopi session. He is expecting a pair of twins! Now, isn't that lethal? But that's not just it. What really has been causing his poor scoring form is that he confided in us that when his Mrs' pregnancy was 6-weeks old, he was ordered by the doc not to engage in My-Hump-My-Hump with his dearie. Now the theory is proven on both sides – active in humping, you score goals; no humping, cannot score J

Mr Humping made up for Mr No-Humping last night as he notched a brace in the 2-2 draw with Kampung Kawan United. A match arranged on Christmas Day in Singapore, what opponent can you expect? Certainly the kawan kawan and abang-ade gang lah! Even the match before us pitted 2 Malay teams against each other. Frankly, we hardly encounter an All-Malay team that is so organized. Firstly, most of them arrived together in a lorry. Secondly, the team kit was laid out neatly awaiting the arrivals of the stars. And we knew we would be in for a hard time, and we weren't surprised.

True enough, they were fluid in movements, faster than us by a handful of notches and slick in passing the ball and covering the ground, something that we are all well aware of against such opponent.

A poor giveaway by See Chiang almost gifted them a goal within 5 minutes from the kick-off. KK Utd's forward, after weaving his way through to face Brandon in goal, shot at the side netting instead. That was a mighty close call for us.

The Wah-and-Hwa partnership almost paid off as the former flicked the ball onto the path of the latter. KH brought the ball into the box but he couldn't do what Robbie Keane did to Arsenal. KH didn't connect well with the bouncing ball and the resultant shot was a tame effort that posed no threat to KK Utd's custodian. KH attributed his lack of clinical conversion to his "old training ground" that breeds familiarity and no challenging terrain for tactical maneuvers. Now idolizing Wah The Humping, KH will be searching for virgin forest soon.

Our game plan was to keep it tight and wear them down as we expected such opponent to tire in the later part of the match but KK Utd's fluidity stretched us and we had our ourselves to blame for conceding the 1st goal too soon. A needless back heel pass by Teck Wah proved disastrous and KK Utd's sweeper picked up the loose ball and launched a series of passes and dribbling that put our defence in sixes and sevens. Just as when we expected their forward to tee up a shot, he instead laid the ball wide to his kaki on the right, who then floated in a nicely-weighted ball for the former to head past Brandon. 0 - 1.

Whilst we were no match for their technical skills, we made it up with our pure grit. A quickly-taken free-kick by Yong Chua found Teck Chye beating the offside line on the left. Teck Chye controlled the ball superbly and quickly squared it to his younger sibling in the box. Teck Wah showed Kian Hwa how to connect not only with boobs but also a bouncing ball in the box. His left-footed half volley was sweeter than putting your tongue near the source of the flowing nectar! KK Utd's custodian had no answer to Teck Wah's voluptuous, sorry I meant venomous strike. Now, we were tied at 1 - 1.

Though KK Utd was superior in possession, it was Marine Sunday that proved to be more dangerous in the attacks throughout the match.

With nothing much to offer to the team, Kian Hwa can only rely on his enterprising movements to secure his squad number and another one of his trademark gritty run down the wide to the bye-line followed by a square pass into the box almost gained him folklore status. But the pass was a tad too strong for Yong Chua to control and his subsequent flick over his body almost reached Teck Wah lurking at the far post but KK Utd's keeper intercepted the high ball with ease.

We made 3 substitutions (Gan, Benny and Kok Hock for Kian Hwa, Chwee Leng and Yong Chua respectively) and a few positional changes at one go, and these would prove to be bitter-sweet for us. The sweet part surfaced first. One of the 3 substitutes, Kok Hock, slotted into the holding midfielder role and discharged his duty like a maestro. A killer pass from him to Teck Chye led to our eventual 2nd goal. Teck Chye then laid the ball into the box between the keeper and Gan, who got ahead of the keeper by a split second but the keeper still managed to get a hand at the ball resulting in a pin-ball situation. Teck Wah then popped up to ram the loose ball into the open goal to put us in the lead. 2 – 1.

The bitter part was to follow. With Weng Kwan switching to right fullback, Hock Leong took over as last man, partnering Benny. The pairing didn't pay off as the unfamiliarity between the two failed to clear a ball cleanly. When Benny regained his balance to clear the ball 2nd time, it was a second too late as by then, KK Utd's forward had descended on him and Benny's clearance cannoned off the latter's shin and in between Brandon's legs into goal. Parity was restored for them, 2 – 2.

Kok Hock then dropped back to as last man, with Hock Leong reverting to his favoured stopper role, and Benny taking over the defensive midfielder role. That provided more balance to the team as we went on to carve out a couple of scoring opportunities. First, Teck Chye's well placed shot was pushed out for a corner by the keeper. The keeper then flapped at the resulting corner, allowing Simon to connect with a firm header but the goal bound effort was booted away by the defender before any damage was done.

We ended the 1st half riding on the tail wind but the score stood at 2 – 2.

2nd half was the exact replica of the earlier half, with KK Utd showcasing the fluid movements and slick passes and Marine Sunday chasing and closing down space but more threatening in attacks. We were more compact in the 2nd half, with Kok Hock marshalling the defence to the perfect T and Brandon more commanding in the box.

KK Utd only had 1 opportunity to increase their lead. That was when their forward beat the offside line to face Brandon, who advanced timely to close down the angle. KK Utd's forward rounded Brandon but the extra second of effort allowed Chwee Leng to recover in time to clear the ball away for a corner.

On the contrary, we should have converted any one of our handful of chances. A well-worked free kick saw Teck Wah beating the offside trap and receiving the ball at the far post. Seeing Gan at the other end of the goal, he cleverly headed the ball across the 6-yards box but Gan's header sailed over the bar when he had only the keeper to beat.

Gan then had a goal contentiously ruled offside. He received a fine cross from Weng Kwan from the right, turned well to fire from a tight angle but the rare goal was cruelly denied by the referee, when Gan appeared to be in a perfectly legitimate position.

Teck Chye had a firm volley that the keeper couldn't hold on to but nobody followed up to the 2nd ball, much to the fury of Teck Chye.

Kian Hwa then produced a flashing cross from the left that missed Teck Chye's head by a whisker.

KK Utd's keeper was found wanting in crosses as he flapped at another corner, leaving Gan free to head the ball but instead of directing the ball towards the open goal, it went past the post. As we later realized that Gan was so power-packed in his semen to produce a pair of twins, his shooting (in whichever sense) is a shot-gun mode rather than a sniper fire. That perhaps explains his accuracy on the pitch.

The half saw no further goals and the match ended 2 apiece.

Man of The Match: Teck Wah

The 1st MoM of the new season went off on an encouraging start with all 13, excluding the 2 guest players, players responding timely with their nominations. The eventual MoM was not a surprising choice but from the number of players nominated, it reflected a balanced contribution from the team.

Here are the nominations:
1. Teck Wah (5 votes) - "Teck Wah for 2 goals" - "MoM goes to Teck Wah. Lethal finish with 2 goals" - "MoM to Teck Wah for taking his chances well and always getting into goal scoring positions. He is versatile too, moving to the wings to support play as well. Hope he continues to play this way"
- "My choice of MoM wud b Teck [Hua]. 2 goals & quite a lot of assists" - "MoM Teck Wah for his clinical finish"

2. Kok Hock (3 votes) - "[Yock] Hock. Made [the] goal and later defended stoutly to keep us in the game" - "Kok Hock – for gamely volunteering to take over sweeper position but more importantly marshalling the defence and keeping the opponent forwards at bay. Simply masterful and certainly regaining his old self!"

3. Teck Chye (2 votes) - "I will vote Chye for fighting hard not just for attacking but also assisting the defence frequently. Can't find any midfielder who will do just that"
- "Made 2 great passes that led to the goals"

Weng Kwan, Brandon and Chwee Leng garnering 1 vote each, making in total 13 votes
- "CL, played well at left back, clear a few danger situation, could easily take over ng n make left back his permanent position"
- "Brandon. For a commanding performance which will give much assurance for the defence in future"
- "Kwan steady n water tight tdy"

You deserve the plaudits! Keep up the performance! For those not nominated, don't be disheartened, we play as a team.

As you can see, some of you still get the names of your fellow team mates wrong. I deliberately listed them in the manner you spelt them. Hope you are more mindful of their name spellings.

Season 2009

A new season brings new approaches! kh is back for good (we reckon) and so he takes back the reins, running most parts of the show mainly (phew!). you'll see his signature style of match reports, much more meat and certainly juicier. what's in store for the team? A tantilising light-weight new kit in a blend of very agreeable colors to provide added arsenal (pun intended) to our waning powers as evidenced in last season's poor showing? what else with the new (or old, depending how you see it) man in charge? MOTM is back after a year's absence. An intriguing and exciting year ahead, surely!

Keep this page bookmarked, you wouldn't want to miss a thing! Happy New Year to one and all!

st

End of Season 2008

Season 2008 started on 29 Dec 2007 and ended on 20 Dec 2008. The timings are such as to enable the collation of statistics and its presentation for the 'AGM'. Of course it was a proper AGM with RSM back to lead business decisions. In any case, statistics are interesting things of what it purports to tell and more significantly, what it can't tell which we still, nevertheless try to foretell. Accountants and footballers should love the 2008 Review consisting of 6 sheets of easily laid out information. It's found nestled in the right side bar 'Records and More Reports'. Enjoy!

Match #52 (20 Dec 08): Desperately Seeking Simon ........

the title was meant to intrigue (and borrowed from a madonna's movie), and certainly the events leading to and the outcome itself was quite extraordinary. we manage to conjure up a team made up of 12 players of which 4 were guests (benny, daniel and yan song and joe playing for us the first time, oh what fabulous contributions from them!). then under such circumstances to break the almost 2-month winless streak (since 26 Oct), ah that's quite unexpected. how we did, there can be no empirical evidence on any kind of formula for the future. the possibilities are endless. just read on and enjoy Wordsmith's entertaining piece below.

match report by mel

Change, we can. Change, we must. That was Marine Sunday's war-cry as the team trooped out to meet their opponents after a winless streak that stretched longer than a camel's phallus. Perhaps Obama could heal us, we lamented and so the team formed a circle for a pre-match pow-wow. What does being Obama mean? So we broke it down:

1. O-B-A-M-A: Old Balls Are Mindless Accessories. We agreed it sounded right but enough about what our wives own.
2. Our Best Act Means Aggression. ...Yes, we must be aggressive and combat that deadly virus that has plagued us, the infamous KH69 virus which has killed a number of chickens (as in the Geylang variety), and some poultry too.

WHO had given us our shots and for a short while at least, we were free of the KH 69 virus and so MS attacked with wild abandonement, like VS boys when they see SAC girls on service 148. Teck Wah grabbed four goals, Mark had an easy tap in and Chua finished with immaculate class. Just to prove a point, Wah also intentionally hit the bar four times but missed the vertical on two other occassions. Can't blame him lah, the post is thin compared to the goal.

The game: MS was slow to settle down and our opponents seized the chance to steal a goal. 1-0. Oh, we could feel KH 69 deadly breath on our necks. But MS fought back brilliantly with neat passing game. So neat, our opponents relaxed so they could catch the action. One after another MS pounded our opponent's goal. Wah, with time on his hands, aimed for the horizontal after dancing his way around the defenders. Still, the goals flowed. Two quick goals from Wah put us back in the lead. The second was a well-plcaed header which sailed into the top corner. 1-2.

Then after neat interpassing on the left, Leng played a neat pass to Mark who had the easiest of tap ins. 1-3. Just before half-time, Wah grabbed his hat-trick. 1-4.

At half-tim MS decided to take it easy. Big mistake. It allowed our opponents back into the game, especially Mohd Ronaldo, the number 7 who did so many crossovers with his skinny legs, he began to resemble one of those dancers at Crazy Horse cabaret. But his trickery led to a second goal for our opponents. 2-4. Any hope of a recovery faded when Wah headed his fourth pass the keeper and then Chua finished with a well-placed shot which left the keeper rooted. 2-6.

Now we may have broken the winless streak thanks to WHO's antidote but I think it was the return of Kwan, the shot in the arm doctors prescribed. He defended stoutly and is as fit as ever. Or it could be Melvin, who marked his second game but marking the ref out of the game. Mel set a new record for standing still at a single spot but that strategy proved useful as three defenders thought he had opened a sarabat stall and stood around him waiting for teh tarik.

On to the next game and don forget your KH 69 shots. Unfortunately, the shots can only be administered in the rump so get ready to bend over guys. Merry X'mas!

Match #51 (13 Dec 08): Marine Sunday Decides Not to End Winless Streak

match report by kh

There are a few options to start this report.

I could have drawn parallel with Liverpool's result against Hull on same day.
Liverpool should have won but drew. Like us.
They came from behind to snatch a draw. Like us.
That matched ended 2 - 2. Like us.
Their skipper, Gerrard, scored both goals. Like us.
But such report will draw flaks form you readers, especially from a certain Chwee Leng, whose ego has been bruised incessantly by this reporter-cum-editor.

The other option is to continue highlighting our winless streak. Against last Saturday's opponent, AC Milan Version N, we could and should have won but we threw the game away. Perhaps, we have forgotten what it is like to win. Perhaps, we have lost the winning feeling. Perhaps, we are no longer thrilled to win. So, we might as well continue the winless run. But this theme is wearing thin on the pitiful few readers.

A third option is to keep zooming our radar on the form of one fellow. Putting the result aside, what had us worried was the continuing bluntness of our only remaining predator. Why only remaining? How about KH? Forget him, a pale shadow of his old self. Chwee Leng? Not even a shadow! Gan? Considering that he has scored well in bedroom (he's gearing up for fatherhood, mind you), his lack of pace, slow-mo action on the pitch is forgiveable. But Teck Wah?

At the rate TW is going, we will soon have no more strikers. For the second successive match, he missed the goal from his trademark lob. Based on this empirical evidence, the Council of Highest Order, made up entirely of Elders > 40 years of age, deduced that his off-pitch new-found whatever might have blunted his on-pitch conversion, although we reluctantly (and gleefully) agreed that if we had the same "firing field" like he has, we would probably be spending our time "charging the mountains, engaging in bush warfare and doing a lot of river crossing"! But not everything is bleak. We are at least encouraged that his intensive "commando" training has enhanced his mental sharpness and brightness, given how his quick-mindedness created our first goal.

We had to again sign two players on-loan for this match - Benny and Kok Hock, only for the attendance to be further boosted by last-minute responses from Mark, Melvin (yes, that round one from Down Under) and Hock Leong. From hardly able to assemble 13, including 2 on-loan players, to suddenly 16 players created some selection headache.

1st half was largely an even affair. Both sides created a couple of scoring opportunities but none really threated each other's goal. The big pitch further stretched the physical constraints of our players as we were too cautious not to be caught out by committing ourselves in too advanced positions. The half was coming to an end when a fantastic piece of play starting from the defence broke the deadlock. Brandon, tenative when he first came into play, was brilliant in robbing the ball from ACMVX's left winger and quickly passed the ball to Melvin on the right. From the mid line, Melvin attempted to rekindle his college intimate link with Yong Chua on football field when he sent in a long ball to the latter just outside the box. ACMVX's keeper was quick off the line to pluck the high ball from the air before YC could do any damage but his right foot landed just outside the penalty box, resulting in an indirect freekick for us. Teck Wah's awareness prompted him to take a quick free kick and rolled the ball back to Kian Hwa, whose left-footed shot floated the ball over the bewildered ACMVX's players and sailed into the unguarded goal. They had no complaints against our goal as it was legitimately executed to perfection. Superb work from the defender (Brandon) to midfielder (Melvin) to forward (Teck Wah)! 1 - 0 to our advantage at half-time.

We were caught out by 2 sloppy defending in the 2nd half, allowing them to reverse the deficit. But we could have extended the lead beyond any issue before that. Yet, we missed 2 glorious scoring opportunities. First was TW's miss. After being put through, he executed his perfect lob over the advancing keeper, only to see the ball bouncing agonisingly 2 cm wide off the left upright! Then, it was Gan who emulated TW's earlier miss. Similarly put through to face the keeper, Gan chose to shoot instead of lobbing the keeper, and the keeper parried the stiff shot away for a corner, but not before the ball hitting the post.

ACMVX duly punished us. Their first real attack of the half resulted in the equaliser. Ng and Mark failed to clear the ball cleanly and that moment of hesitation allowed their forward to nip in and squared the ball across the box for a tap-in. Then, a speculative shot from the right caught our defence by surprise and Seah could do nothing to prevent the goal, despite his outstretched arm in the air. From 1 - 0 up to 1 - 2 down!

All looked too familiar again until KH re-entered into play and beat the offside line to receive Weng Khong's brilliant reverse pass that fooled ACMVX rearguard. KH did not choose to lob the keeper or shoot at goal but rounded the keeper instead before placing the ball in the net for the last-grasp equaliser. A point gained but it looked more like 2 points lost for Marine Sunday, as we continued to sing our winless blues.