Match #7 (13 Feb 2010): Won 2 - 0 against arch rivals Dons

It was the most satisfying win and complete, disciplined performance to date. With due respect to Dons, I still think the score line flattered them. Chor Guan missed a penalty, Gan placed a sitter onto the left upright instead of the open goal after Weng Khong sent in a perfectly measured cross, Teck Wah was denied by the horizontal in the 1st half and a contentious offside decision after a flowing, eye-pleasing move of football. Gan missed 2 more golden chances when put through to face the keeper. You just count for yourself. At the other end, we made sure we didn't miss The Rock, given the accomplished performance by Weng Kwan, who closed down on their forwards timely. Brandon, filling in for Seah, was hardly troubled throughout the match and that spoke volume of the sound defensive display by our backline led by Chor Guan. The greatest compliment must be that we forced their playmaker, No 22, and their Black Panther, Segar to play from deep instead of their usual more advanced positions as we denied them the space and time. And their left-winger had to switch from left flank to the opposite side out of frustration, and this demonstrated just how tight we played in our half.

For the record, Teck Wah and Kian Hwa got us the goals. Teck Wah nipped in just ahead of Dons' keeper to tuck in a goal after Chwee Leng and Teck Chye combined well on the left for the latter to set up his younger sibling for our opening goal. Kian Hwa beat Dons' offside line to latch onto Weng Khong's pass and rounded Dons' keeper for our Goal No 2. We had more than a bagful of chances to increase our lead but 2 goals were what we could manage.

And the most satisfying moment of the win? Yong Chua made his long-waited comeback with a 10-minutes runout. It was only 10 minutes but in his own words, "those 10 minutes meant a lot to him".

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YC's comments:

yes, it really meant a lot to me.....I mean it. I was hoping Chor Guan scored the penalty to make it 3-0 so I won't be too nervous when i came in. I didn't want to be blamed for them to launch a comeback or for us to concede any goal... haha. luckily the defence stood well. Well done.

Match #6 (7 Feb 2010): Won 2 - 1 against Team BBG

Mike kept up with goal-scoring form by heading us a lead but Team BBG equalised through a deflected goal that caught Brandon wrong-footed. 1st half ended 1 - 1 though we came close on a number of occasions. We continued pressing them in the 2nd half. Weng Khong combined well with Teck Wah to set up a delightful ball down the middle for Gan to lob over the onrushing keeper for our winning goal. Team BBG almost equalised in the dying seconds of the match when their playmaker whipped in a shot from the the left flank but Brandon denied them the parity with a superb tip-over.

Match #5 (30 Jan 2010): Won 4 - 2 against Mixes of White

We could have buried them early, and they also had enough clear-cut chances to win the match. They could have taken a comfortable lead in the opening 5 minutes but instead, we raced to a 4 - 0 lead by the 60th minute before disintegration set in, especially after the departure of our tenacious Teck Chye. We conceded 2 goals as they came back strongly at us. They left cursing their star player for his lack of conviction to put those gilt-edged scoring opportunities away. Surprisingly, who got us the goals? The one with the 2 left feet, KH and the one with 2 right feet, Mike. Each notched a brace. KH, who, ironically as a left wide man, couldn't put in a decent cross with his left foot, surprisingly, unbelievably, ironically as well, scored both goals with his, well, left foot! And Mike, who couldn't make a simple pass with his right foot, nevertheless stood heads and shoulders above most of us by scoring a goal each from a header and off his shoulder. Well, a goal is a goal!

Match #4 (23 Jan 2010): Consecutive clean sheet! 5-0 Trouncing of Air Force veteran red team

Too bad, I stopped the MoTM, it deprived Mike from a deserving MoTM. Then again, thank goodness, I stopped the MoTM, otherwise everyone would have been pulling his hair agonising over the choice between Mike and Gan. With only 11 players to start and lacking the usual regulars, both had to play out of their usual positions - Mike as the lone striker and Gan as the attacking midfielder. Boy, both stood up to be counted when it mattered. Gan was particularly menacing and at his striking best, notching an impressive hat-trick, 2 of which came from the assists of the hardworking Mike, who worked his socks off to pile tremendous pressure on their defenders. And he rounded up our scoreline with our 5th goal - he richly deserved that! Our opening goal came from our guest player, Woon. Given his lively play down the right flank, he would certainly give Teck Wah a run for the money. Impressive scoreline, impressive performance, and a clean sheet, thanks to Seah who produced a world-class mid-air dive to tip a ferocious shot over the bar in the opening 5 minutes of the match.

Match #3 (17 Jan 2010): Cleansheet! 2 - 0 against Shades of Blue

Thanks to some superb goalkeeping of Seah, who kept us in the game in the 1st half with 3 great saves, we managed to record the 1st clean sheet of the season, and our first in a long while. The big pitch and the morning sun were expected to be our biggest obstacles but the numbers, with a turnout of 16 players, helped. Teck Wah could have grabbed a hat-trick but had to settle for just 1. A fine move involving hard running of KH, a simple return pass from Simon, a screw-up cross from the overlapping KH, an intelligent dummy by Gan, and Teck Wah brilliantly finished it off with a first-time left-footed delicate shot that hoisted the ball over the keeper. Weng Khong then won the ball in the middle and laid it down the right for Teck Wah, whose first-time side-footed cross carried just enough weight to reach his brother across the penalty box. Teck Chye showed his left foot is just as lethal with a sublime chip over the keeper. 2 - 0.

Shades of Blue almost narrowed the deficit in the 2nd half when their right wing-back hit a Roberto Carlos-like freekick from the right flank but the ball cannoed off the foot of the right post. We dominated the game but we did no further than the 2 goals scored in the 1st half. 2 - 0.

Match #2 (9 Jan 2010): Won 3 - 2 Agst China All-Stars

A hard-fought win but not after some running rings by a bunch of young, energetic, skilful mainland Chinese. Chor Guan put us 1-0 up at half-time with a well-taken penalty. China All-Stars reversed the deficit into 2-1 lead with their incessant seige on our goal area in the 2nd half. But we made it count when it mattered, Teck Wah's header equalised for us after connecting a superb cross from Weng Khong from the right. Then Simon punished their communication breakdown in the defence and produced a delicate chip over their tentative goalkeeper for our winning goal.

It's confirmed that natural pitch is no longer suitable for us from the following observations:

1) Gan missed a glaring sitter in the 1st half

2) KH couldn't cross for nuts

3) Chwee Leng kept falling over himself in the 2nd half though he blamed it on his new boots

4) lastly, our Rock completely missed clearing a direct ball....

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Rock's comments:

Hahaha.... correspondingly

1. In football, even Drogba has missed such a sitter. With a little bit more of self-belief, the form & flow should come for Gan...

2. The pre-match talk was a motivational prep-talk which actually materialised into pretty good runs down the flank by KH with 'acceptable' crosses or clever passes back to Wah for more decent crosses & you see, that actually works!

3. You see, Leng is a sprinter & he needs flat ground to transport himself around.. hence the numerous stumbles :-)

4. Lastly, guess... KH meant that Rock did such a good 'dummy' it not only fooled our opponents but our own players as well... hahaha...

Match #1 (2 Jan 2010): 2 - 4 Loss against (who else but) Babylon

One-and-a-half months of no football clearly showed in everyone's play this morning. Rusty, poor touches, lack of fitness, poor positional play were all clearly in display in the 1st half, despite Babylon having only 8 players for some 1st 15 minutes. Yet we couldn't capitalise on the numerical advantage. Yet they still managed to snatch a lead with a fine individual effort. Then their striker outjumped our guest player, Tim to end the 1st-half 2-0.

Mike reduced the defict through a goal-mouth scramble but they quickly restored their 2-goals advantage with another individual effort. Weng Khong, Teck Wah and Kian Hwa conjured up our 2nd goal to make it 3-2. Despite running on half tanks, having played their 3rd match in 3 days, they are still far superior in fitness. A 3rd piece of individual skills produced their 4th goal and the match ended 4-2.

Still, it was a good effort from us. We remain hard to beat for them!