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.”

Match #35 (1 Aug 09): So Close, But Never Meant To Be!

Victoria School remains a blessed ground for VS Staff and by that, VS Staff remain our nemesis, one that we just fail to beat. It was a match that we let it slip off our grip. Yes, VS Staff had to, similarly to our previous encounter, thank their 2nd half keeper for brilliantly denying us on 3 occasions. But we should not have let a healthy 3 – 1 lead being snatched from under our noses to end up with a 3 – 3 draw. We could have done better in closing down their play, especially their front duo – No 5 and No 7, who continued to terrorise us with their clever off-the-ball running to shake off our marking effectively. VS Staff’s football was simple, which was just to get the ball to either of these 2 front men and let them finish the job. Indeed, they did just so with devastating effect. Both played a significant role in all the 3 VS Staff goals.

Last-minute withdrawals of players forced us to call up a guest player in Woon and to ask Brandon, who was suffering from gout, to play through the pain barrier. We started off lively. Kian Hwa twice set up from the left but neither effort was capitalised by the forwards. Our game plan was to close down on both No 5 & 7 but we came up short in stopping the supply to them. Notwithstanding his irritating style of play, one has to give credit to No 7 for his constant off-the-ball running and superbly making use of his low centre of gravity to turn his markers well. One such swift turn left Hock Leong rooted and No 7 cruised on unimpeded into the box before squaring the ball across the six-yard box for No 5 to tap in for their lead. 0 – 1! The Teck Wah-Gan partnership reigned supreme in the 1st half. First, Gan put in a long cross from the right into the box, aiming at Teck Wah running in from the blind side. Teck Wah connected with the ball well but the effort went wide. Teck Wah then returned favour by setting up Gan in the box with a diagonal pass and the latter’s snap low shot beat the keeper flat for our equaliser. 1 – 1! We seized the lead shortly after our equaliser. Gan and VS Staff’s defender tussled for See Chiang’s cross from the right and Kian Hwa pounced onto the poorly-cleared ball in the box. See Chiang spared KH’s embarrassing shot by meeting the miscued ball at the far right post to squeeze the ball into the net from a very tight angle. 2 – 1! Teck Chye then did his twist-and-turn in the middle of the park before chipping the ball over the flat-footed defence for Teck Wah to run on and lob the ball over the keeper for our 3rd goal. 3 – 1. The Tang brothers set an identical effort moments later but this time round, Teck Wah fashioned himself to be a rugby player. 3 – 1 at half-time, in our favour.

2nd-half was a showcase for both goalkeepers. VS Staff’s replacement keeper was a class act with 3 breathtaking saves to deny us. On the other hand, VS Staff kept peppering at our goal with high balls into the box, hoping to capitalise on Brandon’s tentativeness shown in the previous encounter but they found a different Brandon in this match. Brandon was up to the challenge with every high ball and cross. Apart from dealing the high balls with newly found confidence, he twice came off the line to smother their through balls and prevent any further damage. First, he went down well onto his left to gather a through ball cleanly. The second effort forced their No 5 to take a detour, thereby denying their No 5 to have a clean shot at goal. Still, nothing could really stop No 5 and No 7 from punishing us dearly for failing to anticipate their moves. No 7’s lightning-fast turn allowed him to flash past Weng Kwan and his square pass was turned into the own net by our Ng. No 7 was then at the receiving end to produce a simple tap-in when No 5 broke our offside line to receive a free-kick at the far post. No 5 had plenty of time to look up and pick out No 7 with a simple square pass.

Before VS Staff’s 2 goals, we were dubiously denied by the referee for a legitimate penalty. Gan’s powerful header brought out a point-blank reflex save from the keeper. Kian Hwa attempted to follow up but he was tripped in the box from behind by VS Staff’s midfielder. To everybody’s bewilderment, the referee blew for a corner instead as the last touch came off Kian Hwa as he was falling down. Teck Chye had 2 certain goals denied by VS Staff’s keeper. His first effort was a stiff grounder that came off a VS Staff’s defender. Though their keeper was already wrong-footed, he managed to twist his body to the other side to palm the diverted ball out for a corner. We could not believe our luck when another Teck Chye shot brought out another top-class save from their keeper, whose smart dive to his right steered Teck Chye’s low shot away to safety.

The closely-matched encounter ended 3 – 3.

Man of The Match: Gan (3 out of 13 votes)
Both Gan and Melvin tied at 3 votes each. I had to break the impasse and so tossed the coin, which turned out to be in Gan’s favour. I suppose strikers always end up in a more advantageous position when it comes to a situation like his, especially when he has scored a superb goal. So, Gan was the MoTM!
“MOTM for saturday game- Gan. a well controlled and brilliant first goal. Great goal to start a 3 goal rush for Marine Sunday”
“MOTM: The goal scored by Gan was spectacular and did make a difference for boosting the team’s morale to fight harder in the attack for the first half of the game. Besides, he had worked quite hard in the game as well. He has vote for the man of the match.”
“MOTM 1 aug: My vote for Gan. He made his presence felt, always looking for the ball, drawing 2-3 defenders freeing much needed space for others, calm execution of his goal, looking for space to set Wah up and good fitness throughout the game capped off his improving game. As we all every know about Chye and I don't mean to blow too much smoke up his ass but he and Melvin are masters at the feint and turn. I distinctly remember Chye's right footed flick of the ball to the left and then a left footed flick past the defender to the right all in 1 move. You practise that move everyday in your bathroom or what?”

His slimmer frame is not only attracting attention from the Thai workers but nominations as well. Melvin came in second, just lost out by a hair’s breadth:
“MOTM for 1/8 goes to Melvin. Excellent control of the defence line and really gave the opposition no. 7 a hard time. Played smartly and tactful despite lack of pace.”
“motm - melvin make few good pass and result in goal , also support defence well.”
“Motm - Melvin. losing weight helps a lot in his play and was supporting attack and tracking back in defence and making necessary fouls well.”

2 votes went to Teck Chye and that made him 3rd:
“Motm to chye. His moments on the field was full of endeavor & perceptive passes. Involved in all 3 goals.”
“MOM for 1 Aug: Chye-made a couple for wonderful passes that resulted in the goals.”

The remaining 5 votes went to the following 5 players:
“Hard to choose. Everyone played well but we were let down by lapses in concentration. The way we put three past them in quick succession was quite stunning. BUt we let them claw back just asy quickly. And all their goals came from the same set-up. Easy ball wide and chap strolls in before stroking for their forward for easy job. So my MOTM goes to the guys upfront who were really fired up. We had a few missed opportunities only cos their keper pulled off stunning saves. Teck Wah really stood out with his runs and positional play. He should have scored more but their stand-in keeper was brilliant.”
“MOTM goes to Weng Khong for working very hard in the midfield to harrass the opponents.”
“Motm: Simon. obviously itching to play after sitting out the past few games and showed he hasn't lost the touch with some very pinpoint passes and balls over the defense line for the forwards.”
“On a match like this, there are many heroes. We played as a team and should have won the match that we badly craved for. My MOTM goes to Ng, not for his fantastic all round play, but for turning up depsite his injury, and most important of all, for his no nonsense tackle on the no. 7 at the bye line. That was worth my vote.”
“Torn between Teck Chye and Brandon. Teck Chye was simply brilliant. Pin-point passes and so cruelly denied of goals! Brandon could have done better with his position at near post and covering angle but despite opponent peppering him with crosses, he dealt with them cleanly. Twice in the 2nd half, he came off his line fast – first time got down well on his left to collect a through ball cleanly; the second forcing their danger man, who was through on a one-on-one, to go wide. My vote goes to Brandon for his renewed confidence, for erasing the ghost of the embarrassing display in the previous match against the same opponent.”

Match #34 (25 July 09): For July Month, Any Win Is Welcomed, No Matter How Undeservedly!

July was not too great a month with indifferent performances and mixed results. It was also an unusual month where every one of the five matches, we had to call up guest players to make up the number. Again, for this match, we had to search far and wide and finally managed to call up three guest players in Terk, Wilfred and Woon to provide us the limbs. Wilfred is probably known to a handful of us. Woon? He’s a distant contact from KH’s Shanghai party days! That was how far and wide of our search! Even with the eventual 13 players, we melted in the 2nd half under the super hot sun. Miraculously, we managed to cling on to the half-time 3-1 lead all the way to the final whistle, though we knew that we hardly deserved to win. Great credit to some fine saves from Brandon and resolute defending by our defenders to save us the day.

With his recent sparkling performance and MoTM awards, Teck Chye’s display in the opening 5 minutes was simply complacency in abundance. His first pass was an overhit pass to Kian Hwa but be blamed the latter for not running to the ball. His second pass was a wayward pass across the pitch that had everything except any decent strength or direction, and presented the ball to Orange’s striker in front of him. Chor Guan, caught off-guarded by Teck Chye’s moment of folly, did not recover in time to prevent Orange’s forward to slot the ball past Brandon for the opening goal of the match. As if they conspired to test KH’s limit, it was then Chor Guan’s turn to present Orange’s striker with another golden opportunity. This time, he failed to trap a back pass and allowed Orange’s forward to have another go at Brandon but our keeper did well to divert the shot away for a corner. We then won a dubious free kick outside Orange’s penalty box as Teck Wah was adjudged to have been kicked from behind when it looked like a fair challenge on the ball. Teck Wah’s effort from the free-kick was superbly denied by Orange’s stand-in goalkeeper, who despite his age, produced a full-stretch dive to palm the ball out. But the goalkeeper could do nothing to the resultant corner, as he was caught wrong-footed by the swerve of the ball from Kian Hwa’s left-foot corner. The ball, aided by the narrow pitch, curved directly into the top left-hand of the goal. One apiece! It proved to be a fluke goal as KH’s subsequent two corners from the same spot failed to find any players or the frame of the goal.

Brandon’s uncertainty in ball-handling returned to haunt him as he allowed a long shot to bounce in front of him. The spillage almost proved costly but he recovered in time to gather the loose ball. But that opened up the avenue for Orange to launch long balls into the box from then onwards, hoping to capitalise on this gold mine. Also aided by the fact they failed to break through our defence on the ground, they resorted to shoot from distance but none found the target. Woon, playing on the wide right, played his part in our 2nd goal. He cut in well from the right and hit a left-foot shot at goal. The shot was not packed with much strength but it went beyond the reach of the diving keeper to come off the left upright. Weng Khong was at the right place to tap in the rebound. 2 – 1! A diving heading clearance from Kian Hwa launched our 3rd goal. Terk chased down the clearance to the box. Orange had the ball covered but his one-trick-too-many allowed Terk to win back the ball and plant it at the lower right hand corner of the goal to extend our lead to 3 – 1, which was how it stood at the break.

The extreme heat was a huge toil on our bodies and limbs throughout the 2nd half. Orange could have reduced the deficit early in the 2nd half but Chor Guan was quick and nimble to clear the danger. Brandon was second to another long ball into the box and that allowed Orange’s striker to square the ball across the 6-yards box for another Orange player to shoot at our empty net but Chor Guan covered the open goal to clear the goal attempt.
The narrow pitch was a boon to Orange as well as they almost scored directly from corner twice. The first one was tipped away by Brandon and Leo, covering at the right post, headed away the 2nd direct attempt. We had our moment to extend our lead when Terk found space in the box to receive a pass from Gan but his shot was too direct at the keeper. With the clock ticking away, Orange found their last attempt to search for a goal denied by Brandon’s low dive to his right to palm another certain goal away. Woon was then struck down with severe cramp but there was not much time added to the agony. Referee whistled for the end of the match and Marine Sunday had toiled hard for a lucky win!

Man of The Match: Brandon (3 out of 10 votes)
For all his uncertainty in ball handling, the fact was that Brandon did save us the day with a few important saves, especially the last minute low dive to his right to turn a goal-bound ball away for corner:
“MOTM = Brandon. Not affected by previous few games poor performance, he is slowly getting back to his best. Did well in for the whole game and made few crucial saves.”
“MOTM is Brandon - made a couple a very good saves.”
“MOTM - Brandon - Still not fully recovered, and having taken some stick recently, Brandon bounced back strongly to keep us in the game and a comfortable win with his numerous saves. Well done!!!”

Chor Guan and Kian Hwa tied at 2 votes each. Chor Guan slogged hard to keep the opponents at bay, so the 2nd spot went to him!
“MOM is Chor Guan , He had a much improved game compared to the riverlife game and managed to cover the defence well including a goal line clearance. His workrate moving up and covering the defence was commendable despite his obvious fatigue hangover from thursday's game.”
“MoTM to Chor Guan for the early goal-line clearance, otherwise the certain goal would have rejuvenated the opponent. A lot of long balls were aimed directly at breaching our backline but Chor Guan cleared them well!”

“MOTM- Kh for equalizing from the corner. Put brakes on opponent's confidence and allowed MS to stamp our authority and win the game.”
“Motm goes to kh. Most lively player on a day when everyone struggled. Important tackles and good play up front. Lousy corners though. Ha!”

Our guest player, Woon, played a simple but assured game. He and the other 2 defensive players, Melvin and Leo, had 1 vote each:
“MOTM: My vote is for guest player Woon. While unfamiliar with his usual standard of play, I saw that he settled down very fast into the MS passing game keeping his passes tight, connecting on most of them and I cannot remember him losing any balls. Kian Hwa seems rejuvenated after his 2 week break and continued his non-stop running even in the mind sapping 2nd half heat. Kudos!”
“motm: The Referee! Spider was the talking point throughout the match...as usual! Jokes aside, difficult to choose...not because too many good players but everyone played average. good thing we were playing a 'not so good team' hehe. Melvin wins the vote for keeping the defense line decent (though he was pulling Chye aside to scratch his balls) though Chye and Guan tried their best to clown around in the early stages. The only thing missing was Melvin dribbling from last man to score.”
“Motm : Leo. makes amends for his so-so display on Thursday games and perform well in defence as well as making accurate long pass to the strikers, but the strikers could not make his passes count.”

Match #33 (23 July 09): Marine Sunday Swept Away by Riverlife’s Strong Current!

There were 4 similarities between this and the last encounters with Riverlife Church. Firstly, our star player, Teck Chye, notched a brace in each of both matches. Secondly, the winning team scored 4 goals. Thirdly, the losing side could barely assemble a sizeable squad of sufficient number of legs to last the match. Fourthly, the losing side’s regular goalkeeper was absent and the stand-in custodian could have done better. The big difference? We emerged victorious in the first encounter; Riverlife were the worthy winners in the re-match where we were never in control. If there was any consolation, well, we hold a better goal difference over the two matches.

Marine Sunday had to again call up 2 guest players – the 50-years old Yap and the 46-years old James to make up 12 players. Ironically, both lasted the entire match for us whereas several of our own players had to take turn to take a breather, especially in the last 25 minutes of the match. We certainly welcomed the sight of the Tang brothers – the elder one went on to make a huge difference, the younger one tried hard to make a difference. Short of our midfield dynamic duo of Simon and Mark, we would later concede much ground in the middle of the pitch, although James and Teck Chye gallantly tried to impose. Without our regular keeper, even the supposed stand-in, Gan, was late for the match. That forced Kian Hwa, a blind bat at night, to stand in between the posts. Hock Leong, upon realising this, uttered “You keeper? Jiat-lat, we liao chor!” [2nd sentence: Darn, we lose big!]. His premonition eventually came true as we indeed lost quite big, 2 – 4 to be precise.

Surprisingly, Riverlife did not start off with the high tempo, like they did in the previous match, even though we only had 10 men to kick off. They did test Kian Hwa early in the match. Chwee Leng’s lethargy allowed their pony-tailed left winger to nudge him aside and put in a high looping cross but to every Marine Sunday player’s much relief, KH gathered the ball with relative ease and a certain assurance. Riverlife’s preference to go slow allowed us to settle down. The arrival of our 11th player, Gan, restored numerical parity but even then, we hardly threatened them until Teck Chye did his magic. Though playing as the holding midfielder, Teck Chye advanced into Riverlife’s box and robbed their defender of the ball near the byeline. He waltzed past a couple of players before unleashing a grounder from an angle. The ball slipped under Riverlife’s custodian’s body for our opening goal. Riverlife was soon denied a certain equaliser. Their burly striker whipped in a ferocious first-time volley from way outside the box but Kian Hwa astonished himself with his he-thought-it-was-long-gone reflex in his 42-years old body by pulling off a blinding one-handed save to push the ball away for a corner. The greatest compliment was when the Riverlife’s striker himself went forward to acknowledge KH’s rather unbelievable save. Though our stand-in-of-the-stand-in keeper went on to deny Riverlife on a few occasions with his quick off-the-line clearances, his lack of height was exploited by Riverlife for their equalizer. Weng Khong gave the ball away after receiving a pass from Chwee Leng, and went on to foul Riverlife’s forward as he tried to win it back. Riverlife’s guest player coolly placed the ball from the resultant direct free-kick into the top left-hand corner of the goal, leaving KH embarrassed for his poor positioning and short fingers. The first half ended one apiece.

Whilst Marine Sunday continued with the tired limbs for the 2nd half, Riverlife introduced at least 3 pairs of fresh legs – a lively right winger No 22, another tall burly striker and another pony-tailed Malay player, albeit a taller version. All three, particularly No 22, went on to wreak havoc and inflicted heavy damages on us. No 22, aged 19 and not even half the age of most of us, had a role in all the three goals that Riverlife put past us. With the 2nd half barely 5 minutes old, Riverlife seized the lead. The taller pony-tailed’s corner from our right caught our line of defenders guilty of ball-watching and their No 22 shook off the attention of Chor Guan to stick his right foot to divert the ball into our net. 2 – 1! The Tang brothers enhanced their sibling love once again as they conjured up our equalising goal. And it was a beauty worth rewinding the tape over and over again in the years to come. We won a free-kick outside the box and Teck Wah put the ball to the far side of the six-yards box for Teck Chye to power in a stupendous header that Riverlife’s custodian could only watch in dismay. 2 – 2! From positioning to reading the flight of the ball to the eventual execution, hardly anybody else in the social football scene could do better than Teck Chye. We were quietly confident to take the game away from them but fatigue set in soon after. With several of our players taking turn to take a breather, we began to lose our shape. Like a pack of cards, we fell apart and disintegrated rather alarmingly. Teck Chye remained the only livewire of Marine Sunday but when he also inevitably left the pitch for a break, the fire in us seemed to have extinguished as well. Great credit to both our guest players, James and Yap, and our Mr Rock to last the entire match. Mr Rock, almost a head shorter than their striker, played intelligently to shut the striker out, although the striker’s superior fitness eventually won the day. The first change started with Chwee Leng grasping for air and signalling for Mike to take over the right-back role. Before the replacement could settle down, he was caught cold. Riverlife’s No 22 took a snap shot from outside the box. Though Kian Hwa had the angle covered but he spilled the ball out to his right. KH recovered to cover the loose ball, but he was confronted by three Riverlife players in the box, all ready to pounce on the loose ball, with Mike trying desperately to cover all of them. Their shorter pony-tailed Malay player was first to the ball and shot past the advancing KH for their 3rd goal. Though Riverlife had one player sent off for kicking at Mike, we could not take advantage of the numerical superiority due to lack of fitness. Much to our credit, we tried our earnest to snatch the equaliser but were punished for leaving a big gap behind. A quick counter-attack enabled four Riverlife players to confront our Yap and Mr Rock. The ball was squared to their No 22, who side-stepped past Yap before letting fly a shot at goal, which KH could only parry the ball onto the path of their tall striker. Though obviously in an offside position, their striker tucked the ball into the empty net for their goal No 4. That demoralising goal took the remaining wind out of our systems as most of us could hardly walk, let alone win the ball. Mr Rock pointed out to the referee of the offside position but his voice was hardly audible and his finger-pointing was feeble, the signs of deflation in us could not be any clearer.

The referee prevented further damage inflicted onto us when he whistled for the match to end. 4 – 2 to Riverlife and they went on to immerse themselves in holy water!

Man of The Team: Teck Chye (6 out of 10 votes)
Teck Chye seems to have rediscovered his best form. He was by miles the shining beacon among us on that night!
“MOM is Teck Chye for his beautifully headed goal, the waltzing done before the 1st goal and leading the team's charge in almost all the attacks.”
“Vote goes to Teck Chye. For the two goals and his overall play for the whole match.”
“MOTM - My vote goes to Chye for his 2 well taken goals. In addition, his willingness to fall back to defence is good to see.”
“MOTM is Teck Chye - 2 well taken goals!”
“When it comes to class, it just doesn’t go vanished. An eye for goal, not one but two, plus tenacity in winning challenges actually make him a rare breed of footballers. We are glad to have one such classy player. Teck Chye – the Man of The Match for us!”
“motm to Teck Chye for two stupendous goals, the 2nd goal in particular would have been replayed many times on tv if we were in the EPL :) KH would have gotten the vote if we had won though for his numerous saves. One of the opponents even remarked to his teammate that our keeper 'damn good'.”

For the 2nd successive match, KH came in 2nd. Not that the self-imposed suspension had done him good but he reckoned that to get into contention, it is to play out of position :)
“motm - you lor........make a lot of brilliant saves....nothing else to say....just too bad we lost.”
“MOTM = KianHwa. Regardless the no. of goals conceded, he performed remarkably well. Outstanding goalkeeping, good control of the 6 yard box and make couple of superb saves.”

James and Mr Rock gathered 1 vote each:
“MOTM to James our guest player who has a kind of finesse in weaving passes to players upfront & has good control in the central midfield area…Instrumental in our team play.”
MOTM - Hock Leong for the hard tackling specially in the last 5 mins when he came from behind the opponent striker to steal a through ball.

Match #32 (18 July 09): Marine Sunday Etched Out a Gutsy Win to Stem Losses

The pre-match “taunting” (that Galacticos were playing against a not-so-good team, i.e. us) seemed to spur us on. We pulled up our socks and put in a gutsy, though scrappy, performance to etch out a close 1 – 0 win over the fancied Galacticos. Both sides were deprived of key players – Galacticos claimed that their three S-Leagues players were absent whereas our Tang brothers decided to enhance their sibling love elsewhere. We thought we were short in quantity and resorted to calling up 2 guest players in James and Terk. The 11th-hour turnouts by Hock Leong and Brandon further strengthened our cause. Galacticos fared even worse than us in the number. Further coupled with the tardiness of their players, they were forced to start the match with only 8 players.

The opening 10 minutes of the match saw Galacticos’ play littered with wayward and risky passing around their penalty box, resulting in a couple of dangerous interceptions by firstly, Gan, and then Melvin. But on each occasion, Galacticos’ superior fitness and mobility enabled them to recover and clear the danger away before any real harm materialised. Without several regular players, we were forced to reshuffle our line-up. The versatility of Mark and the willingness of a few players to play out of their usual positions enabled us to field a decent line-up and put up a credible play to fend off Galacticos. Leo and Hock Leong, despite missing past few matches, did not appear to have been away. Neither missed a step nor a beat in clearing the danger. But we paid dearly for our strong performance as both our reliable fullbacks, Chung Wen and Ng, sustained serious injuries and added themselves to our lengthening list of out-of-action players. The brightest spark of all was that Melvin seemed to have rediscovered his magic of old and was enjoying his Indian summer in football. Perhaps, having had his next generation well abundantly in place, humping nowadays is purely for pleasure and the regularity and high intensity of which must be the cause of his slimmer frame. Within 60 seconds of the kick-off, he launched his first foray down the right, sold the Galacticos' left fullback a neat pull-back before putting in a left-foot cross into the box. Though the cross was easily cleared by Galacticos, it stated our intent to take the game to them. On several instances, he put in strong interceptions to break up Galacticos' play on the right. When he was muscled out by a few players, his fearsome tackles did the trick to impose his authority. And his match-winning goal was the ultimate moment of glory of the match, unveiling his talent that has long been submerged by his indulgence in mutton curry and teh tarik. After robbing the ball from Galacticos’ left back, Mel waltzed past him with such astonishing pace before sashaying past the centre-back with a sublime cut-in. Though the keeper advanced out to narrow the angle, Mel coolly slotted the ball past the keeper's left arm into the net instead of blasting it, as we expected.

Stung by the goal, Galacticos upped the tempo in their play but found us to be a brickwall to contend with. To say that we parked a bus in front of our goal carried a tad of injustice to our compact play. We had further clear-cut chances to seal the game, with Chwee Leng’s effort early in the 2nd half and Gan’s header over the bar late in the match, whereas Galacticos had to resort to shooting from outside the box. We did not set out to play negative football but circumstances forced us to pass the ball upfront at the 1st instance most of the times. Firstly, our poor first-touch kept gifting possession away. Secondly, it did not help that Galacticos’ players were faster in closing us down. These resulted in us having difficulty to play the ball on the ground. As the match wore on, frustration grew on Galacticos and our resilience increased just as well. Their territorial advantage was not converted into real chances at us, let alone a goal to account for.

Final score was a slim but richly satisfying 1 – 0 win for us.

Man of The Team: Melvin (7 out of 12 votes)
Even the Galacticos had to applaud his goal! Any surprise that he was voted the MoTM?
“MOTM = Melvin. An impressive overall performance in midfied cap with an oustanding solo goal that proved to be the match winner.”
“MOTM - The only scorer for the game who waltzed his way into the 6 yard box in slow but smooth strides just like the way he fell onto the pitch a few weeks back. Melvin Singh for a classy match winner that's a joy to watch”
“MOTM - Melvin - The gelak king is back.....what a goal worthy to win any match...and he did not make any 'mistake' after that.”
“MOTM goes to Melvin for his adroit manuevre into the penalty box & netting in that only goal of the game in a very calm & composed manner... Having found out just before the game that his weight is 90kg... that is amazing stuff! That is one piece of weight-defying act!”
“Finally, we had something to 'cheer' about after two consecutive defeats. First, thanks to our captain who returned after 2 match suspensions. Joke aside his presence seemed to instill some discipline and determination in our game today. We played with intents and everyone on the pitch today stucked to the roles very well. KH was extremely hardworking by example and on several occassions, he had to run back to help out the defence and was there to shut out their left winger (2nd half in particular). Hock Leong was excellent in defence and was rock solid. I dont recall a single moment that any of the opponents had gone past him! My admiration also goes to Chwee Leng whom I thought did extremely well as a striker during the 1st half but his second half performance as a right back was even better winning crucial header and had to rely on his "bro..." to block a shot within the 6 yard box....... Simon knowing he will be out for the next few games gave all his best and was good in orchestrating the attack during the 1st half...and finally to the rest whom I did not single out, pls accept my apologies for if i continue, my MOTM will be longer than KH's report ...... Chung Wen, Ng and Simon, please rest well and return soon as I am sure you will be missed for the upcoming games ......Now for my MOTM.... though he may lack a bit of fitness and may be slightly overweight and slow......but for his composure and excellent skills which did not go missing, he helped us tremendously by scoring an excellent individual goal ....Mel!”
“MoTM to melvin. Scored the only goal that won us the game. Was a joy to watch how he singlehandedly twist and turn the 2 defenders before finishing it calmly out of reach of their goalie. Special mention to kian Hwa and Mark. Kian hwa's running and tough challenges in the second half gave them little time to build their game. Mark was a rock in defence.”
“By far, the most impressive performance from Melvin. The goal, without question, is a very strong contender for the Goal of The Season! Mel is the Man!”

KH returned from his self-imposed "exile" to collect 3 votes:
“MOM - My MOTM is Kian Hwa for his tireless running up and down the flank to close down the opposition winger, also for the full blooded commitment in every tackle as well as support given to the strikers as well. Only he could have done so much and kept up the tempo throughout the entire match as well.”
“kian hwa, he run every where, did very well in midfield and also in defence.”
“MOTM: It was the most cohesive performance I have witnessed from MS. Everybody knew what they had to do. Everybody did their job well. Perhaps it was Chye's previous email who warned us of a tough match ahead, the labelling of MS as "not so good". But in selecting a MOTM, i vote for Kian Hwa who inspired MS with his all out chasing display on the left. I mean he really chased everything, making up for his 2 week vacation. Taking Kian Hwa's cue, everybody ate their spinach and upped the tempo - melvin had two extra springs in his step and I liked the way Weng Khong tracked back to cover the right back to steal a few balls.”

The remaining 2 votes went to resurging Chwee Leng and the ever-dependable Mark:
“Motm to leng. Whilst mark was solid in defence, & everyone played with determination, leng has showed conviction with his brand of proactive defending, getting first to the ball countless times against younger more mobile opponents.”
“Motm to mark. Kept defence steady especially in the second half. Was an important calming effect for the team”

Match #31 (11 July 09): MarineSunday Melted in Hot Sun

Match report contributed by Leng.

It looked like Machrone has become our arch rival from now on. We just do not seem to be able to beat them, just like VS Staff....

It started off slowly, at 3pm, MS had only a handful of players. The opponent had more players but the referee was nowhere in sight. I was hoping that none of our players thought it was a 5pm game as we were already short on players. Slowly, more players arrived but still not the full 11. Frantic calls were made to the last 3 and I was told that we were supposed to have 13 with Mel and one guest player. However and for whatever reasons, st and Mel went to Marsiling instead. Time to start and MS had only 10 players. Mel came and followed by Terk running into the compound. Now we had 11 to start the game. MS started the game with more purpose and controlled the game well. The opponent went for Route 1 tactics playing the long ball forward. The backline aided by Mark in the defensive midfielder position held up the pressure well restricting the opponent to shoot from far and not threatening our stand in goalie, Chye. Mel took over the keeper halfway through the first half. Off one of our attack, the ball was played to the left. Machrone’s right back missed the ball allowing Terk to have a free run in. He squared the ball to Wah and Wah had the easy task to side foot the ball into the empty goal. 1-0 to MS till half time.

Chiang was axed by the opponent and had a swollen ankle and he had to stop the game for the day after only 25 minutes. MS was left with only 1 reserve for the 2nd half, while the opponent had reinforcement with a total of at least 7 reserves. MS managed to hold the pressure from the opponents attack for the next 25 minutes or so. The pressure was telling as the lack of reserves at a 3pm game began to take its toll on MS players. Our strong defensive stance lost our shape. We were slow to the 2nd ball. Our defence was slow to react to the long pass. Off one of their attacks, the ball was cleared only outside the penalty box, Machrone’s striker managed to lob the ball over the 'lanky' Mel. 1-1. Over the next 10 minutes or so, Machrone scored another 2 goals, all from route 1 long pass into our last man, who allowed the ball to bounce, pressurised by their strikers and conceding the goals.

For the 2nd time in a row, MS lost to a stronger team with more manpower backup. Final score: 1-3 to Machrone.

Man of The Team: Teck Chye (6 out of 12 votes)
6 votes went to Teck Chye:
“Motm to Chye. Reliable as keeper, forceful as midfielder, classy as defender. Mel did well for a spell when we were under seige. Mike put in a solid battling performance.”
“MOTM goes to Teck Chye for his commitment, hard tackling and multi-role as Goalkeeper, Left Midfielder, Right Back and more.....”
“motm: Teck Chye. He was covering for our defence's immobility. Was all over covering the defence line and shutting out the attacks in tandem with Mark. Opponents scored 2 goals after he was removed, and then the 3rd goal came when he was put back further upfront. Think we lost the momentum in the 2nd half as our wingers on both flanks were non existent after See Chiang had to withdraw with injury.”
“MOM for 11 Jul-Chye - played keeper, striker, midfield, right back with the confidence of someone in the regular role”
“MOTM - I pick Chye for his commitment, determination and his performance was one of the better one among the lots. He started as a keeper, attacking midfielder and lastly as a defender. I was impressed with the ways he helped out in defence and at times, making timely sliding tackles when he knew we were in danger.”
“teck chye. he start as keeper, follow by midfield, he did very well in the midfield keep us in clean sheet till last ten minutes.”

Mark garnered 4 votes:
“My MOM nomination to Mark, in a hot afternoon, Mark played with more purpose and energy than some of the younger and more established players. He kept his defensive duty tight and deserve my vote.”
“Motm - Mark. Consistent in most games he played and just outstanding in this game.”
“Motm goes to mark. Good holding play and helped out defence too.”
“The 2 quick goals by opponent was due to some lapses in the defense and many goal chances we had were given away by our strikers. The only person out of the 11 who had played well was Mark . He has controlled the central exceptionally well despite some skillful opponents in the central as well. My MOTM will be Mark.”

Remaining 2 votes went to Kok Hock and Melvin:
“MOTM for game at Bowen is Kok Hock. Well timed tackles, good reading of the game. But just too bad the whole team could not keep up with the young boys who would not stop running in the hot sun”
“Motm was Melvin. He did well during the onslaught in the second half. We could have ended with a worse scoreline.”

Match #30 (4 July 09): Marine Sunday Couldn’t Sustain Winning Momentum Against Chapalan!

Report contributed by Mark.

The topic on “self-imposed suspension” continued during our warm-up session today prior to the start of the game and in reality, many did feel for our captain whom we thought was too harsh on himself. The good thing about his suspension is it helped clear up all the misunderstandings if there’s any but the bad thing is his absence seems to have an effect on the result of this game. Ah Leng had been tasked to take over the armband today and he did a marvelous job throughout, organizing the team, overseeing the substitutions and giving instructions to the players. Hey! Is there one MOTM for captaincy?

We were made to wait for this “Chapalan” team that made up mostly the Malays, one Chinese and a few Indians (and it was one of this Indian chaps that spoiled MS’ day). The match eventually started with Chapalan having only 10 players. Both teams were trying hard to find their feet on this bumpy pitch and it seemed Chapalan did so first by firing the 1st shot at our goal from a resulting free-kick outside the penalty box but Brandon was made to collect the ball near the toilet. Both team tussled to dominate the midfield and as usual for a predominantly Malay team, they do have some skillful players whom we struggled initially to contain but as the minutes ticked, we too started to find our feet and momentum and the first real clear chance fell to See Chiang. By now Chapalan had 11 players on the field. MS had won a corner and Teck Wah swung in the ball which seemed to be connected by Simon. The ball hit one of the defenders and dropped in front of See Chiang. His reaction was good but his execution let him down. The ball spun over the cross bar!

Gan was obviously struggling as he endured to play with his swollen ankle. He was soon substituted by Chye and Mike also came in for Ah Leng. As a tactical move, See Chiang was switched to right midfield. The move appeared to add more fire in our attacks. Soon a through ball from Simon sent Chye on his way to the opponent’s goal and with only the keeper to beat, he took a thunderous strike which was on its way to the target but the young Indian keeper steadily palmed the ball away. Chapalan did have their moments and they made several moves down the right flank. Ng was keeping tight on their Chinese player while Weng Kwan managed to wipe out most of the dangers. Chor Guan was also cool and kept their danger man closely watched. Our defence seemingly in good shape, we continued to press forward. Wah and Mike combined well at the flank and unlike before, there were plenty of crosses coming in from the left as well as from the right. But not all crosses were of good qualities and when there were, the keeper coolly plucked the balls away. There was some neat play between Simon and See Chiang on the right. Simon eventually swung in a good cross which was well met by Chye but the ball again was off the target. MS appeared to have the upper hand now as we had more possessions. The goal did finally arrive but regrettably, it was our Brandon who had to pick the ball from our own net. A through ball from one of the Chapalan skillful midfielders sent their danger man towards Brandon. It appeared to be off-side but there was no whistle, sensing the danger, Brandon had to rush out to close down the angle but the danger man who was also just as skillful to beat Brandon to it and he did well to go round Brandon to hit the ball into the net. GOAL! (0-1).

MS was not disheartened at this stage and like the “Old Warriors”, we battled on. The goal did not demoralize us either. Instead we continued to attack and soon there was another superb chance which we failed to convert. A cross from the midfield found Chye who chested the ball extremely well. He followed up with a superb strike but again, the Indian keeper palmed the ball away. The chance did not stop here. Wah had a superb volley inside the penalty box from a free-kick from midfield but like See Chiang the ball just could not find its target. MS began to feel some frustration. Even with the inclusion of Weng Khong, we just could not convert our chances. Soon the first half ended with Chapalan taking a 1-0 goal lead but we knew we still stand a good chance of winning the game, at least that was what we thought when we walked off the pitch.

… We battled on ….fought harder …but the come-back never happened, to make it worst …we lost Brandon through a back injury…

As anticipated, we started the 2nd half positively. There were some familiar signs from our previous match at RSS. We were determined and were closing up on the opponents. Our backline started to defend high and that worked well as we continued to win a lot of possession. But the most disappointing part which let to our eventual downfall was our final delivery – a complete let down! Mark was one of the culprits who on several occasions hit the ball too far and made it easy for the Indian keeper to pick up the through balls. Gan did come in again for the striker role and he did reasonably well despite the swollen ankle but due to Brandon’s back injury sustained during the 1st half, Ah Leng had to make a necessary switch for Gan to replace Brandon. For most of the 2nd half, we were pressing for the equalizer and we did have our chances….. First, a cross from Chye on the left found his beloved brother, Wah who leaped high and connected the ball with great power but the ball skimmed agonizingly over the cross bar…. Next came the most glaring miss. Another cross from the left, this time it was Chye’s turn to head the ball and the Indian keeper came out thinking he could snatch the ball again but somehow he misjudged it and was completely out of position. Weng Khong was lurking behind and the ball fell in front of him. With an open goal within metres, Weng Khong hit the ball with his left foot and to our disbelief, the ball flew over the cross bar!

Soon we were punished for those misses… and it came during the last 10 to 15 mins where we were sucker-punched by one such counter attack from Chapalan. They played some wonderful passing near our penalty box and we were made to look like school boys …They deserved the credit as they worked well to split us apart. Their danger striker sensed the opening and took a shot towards Gan’s left. Gan was blocked by several players in front of him and by the time he saw the ball, it was too late to react…GOAL! 0-2. Still, MS did not give up and we quickly resumed the kick off. With some urgency, we did create another chance for Chye who was sent through by Weng Khong. Undone by the bumpy pitch, Chye struggled to reach for the ball but he by then Chapalan’s defenders were all back to form a wall in front of Chye. With great determination, Chye still managed a shot at goal but posed no threat to their keeper. The final knock- out punch was delivered when Chapalan made one swift counter attack towards the last few mins. Their skilful young right winger beat our defenders with ease and hit a stinging shot at our keeper. Gan did well to punch the ball away but the young winger followed up the rebound and completed our misery on this day GOAL! 0-3.

Man of The Team: Mark (5 out of 14 votes)
Mark stamped his mark again, despite a disappointing team performance:
“motm: mark. covered every blade of grass in midfield. the only spark in a disappointing team display.”
“MOTM:Seem like everybody is off form today especially the strikers who wouldn’t make any goals despite all the chances they have. My MOTM will be Mark as he distributed the balls well enough for the strikers and assisting the defenders more than enough in the game.”
“mark. control the midfield well, but too bad, we lose to a team that convert their chances to goal...”
“MOM for 4 July: Mark-was the midfield general that commanded the play for the whole time he played”
“Motm to mark. Distributed and created several chances for our strikers. High work rate in midfield helped nullified many of their attacks.”

3 players – Chor Guan, Simon and See Chiang, had 2 votes each.

2nd position to Chor Guan:
“Motm today to guan, playing a stopper's role. Imposing and muscled in on all challenges in the central area.”
“MOTM : Full of running, anticipating, covering angle, my MOTM goes to chor guan”

And 3rd to Simon:
“MOTM: I think Simon promises himself to give it his all each game and he was consistent as usual today. He stood out in the field especially today where most of us felt we could have played better individually and collectively.”
“Motm was Simon..... most of us had a off-day, but he kept a cool head and played well in the middle of the park.”

The remaining votes went to the following:
“MOM is see chiang - made many runs on the wing.”
“MOTM - See Chaing. The only one who play well out of the 14 present.”
“MOTM - Chye. His presence gave us more bite in attacks. If not for the outstanding keeper, I am sure Chye would have hit one or two for MS.”
“MOTM - It is not for a lack of trying, we control the first half and still trail 0-1 and then we go on to lose the game 0-3. Among us still stand one 'hero'. My 'hero' to Gan. First for making life difficult for the opponent when he was playing upfront. Secondly for taking up the keeper role when Brandon could not continue due to injury without hesitation.”
“MOTM goes to Ng. Hard tackler who never fear to go in for all the 50-50 challenges. Good workrate and support the attacking play whenever he sniff opening chances.”