Match #1 (26 Dec 2011): Keenly-Contested Match, A Narrow Win. A Good Start, Nevertheless.

Against Kok Seng's Blues, who were so kind to accomodate us in our new kit that they turned up in red, we knew we were in for something. We thought we had an impressive turnout of 19 players, they had more than 20, including four 'foreign talents'. Despite their strong line-up in the 1H, we could have comfortably settled the match by half-time if we had converted those chances created. Instead, we had a narrow 2-1 lead. 1st goal resulted from a piece of individual brilliance on the right by Teck Chye, who twisted and turned (i should have simply used 'tormented') KS' Blues' last man before setting up Simon for our opening goal of the season. Nice defending work on the right from See Chiang, Woon and then Teck Wah led to Yong Chua to have his time to measure up a shot from outside the box that beat their keeper hands down. 2-0. We seemed to be cruising but one of their foreign talents produced a brilliant volley that had Gan, our stand-in keeper, surprisingly beaten. 2-1 at the break.

KS' Blues had the better of possession in 2H but in one of our few rare forays into the offensive third, Chor Guan produced a needle-eye through ball to set up Gan to toe poke the ball into the net. KS' Blues refused to be beaten and their playmaker, No 32 intercepted the pass between Yong Chua and Chor Guan and went on to shoot from distance. The ball took a wicked swerve and Brandon was left grasping for air. 3-2 but we held on somehat nervously to win the keenly contested tie.

Match #48 (17 Dec 11): We Ended The Season On A High

We looked to be ending the 2011 season on a dismal state. Another match at Nanyang JC, a big pitch which is not exactly our favoured spot, and with a leaner turnout of only 13 players including a guest player, Nick, and Teck Wah who could only make it for 2H, we braced ourselves for some tough time. Thank goodness, Opponent aren't exactly young speedsters, whom we dread. They had a smaller turnout of only 11 players to start and end the match.
 
First half was a balanced contest between both sides. Both sides laboured but made no breakthrough until Weng Khong put through a through ball for Teck Chye to scoop the ball over Opponent's onrushing keeper for 1-0 at the break.
 
We changed the froutline pair to Teck Wah and Chwee Leng and it paid handsome dividends. Nick's long punt was headed down beautifully by Chwee Leng onto the path of Teck Wah whose effort failed to beat the keeper but the elder Tang followed up to put the rebound into the empty net.
 
Opponent reduced the deficit when we were simply tardy at the back and failed to clear a simple corner. Surrounded by our players, we still allowed Opponent's striker to backheel the loose ball through a sea of legs into our goal. 2-1. We seemed shaky with a quarter of the match to go.
 
The re-introduction of Teck Chye in the last 8 minutes proved to be a tactical payoff. First he set up his younger sibling through for the latter to produce his trademark lob over the stranded keeper to make it 3-1 for us. Then he pulled 2 players with him to let Mike's cross from the right to reach Teck Wah unimpeded and Teck Wah finished it off with aplomb. 4-1 and we richly deserved that scoreline.
 
At the back, Weng Kwan filled in the sweeper role ably and commanded the line superbly to keep Opponent at bay. Nick showed steady feet and head. Evergreen Ng seemed to be the last virgin on earth with his tight defending and lasted almost the entire match until he made way for Teck Chye for the last 8 minutes. Woon, having found his boots, was glad to foot the bill for beer, especially after an assured performance at right back.
 
Great ending to the season!

Match #47 (10 Dec 11): Lawyers Charged Us On 3 Counts And We Were Clueless to Appeal

On a big pitch at Nanyang JC and faced with a bunch of youngsters, we had a tough match tailor made for us and true enough, Law Soc literally put us on the stand and grilled us into pieces. We shipped in 3 goals and had nothing to account for ourselves. Final score: 0 - 3.

Match #46 (27 Nov 11 ): No Match Against This All-Indians Team

Only 11 players, including a guest player, against a bunch of much younger, technically superior n fitter bunch of Indians, about 18 of them, any surprise that we lost 1-3? In fact, they were nice n respectful of us, playing only at half-pace in the 2nd half n let us score a late consolation goal. But that's not to take away the beauty of that goal and credit from Teck Wah. Indeed, I think they were merciful in the 2nd half and that still stretched us to our limits. Credit to our defenders who repelled what was thrown at them. A big thumb up!

Match #45 (19 Nov 11): Strong 5-2 win over Malay team

With the team shorn of its usual central defenders, Marinesunday improvised and rotated admirably to overcome a Malay team of mixed ages which on the whole is still way younger than the ageing marines. Leng is showing his versatility across the back and his usual reliability playing in the stopper's role. Gan also showed his strength and decisiveness at the back, contributing to the second half's clean sheet. Mel in goal showed that stiff joints and muscles could not hold back a willing spirit, diving in practically every direction to thwart our opponents as they could only watch those incredible saves in disbelief! Our team played well to come back from behind twice and score all 5 goals from well-constructed open play. Scorers: Chye, Wah, Gan, Khong and Mike. Final score 5-2.

Match #44 (5 Nov 11): We Just Had No Luck Against ACME!

A depleted squad of only 13 players, including Brandon who hardly plays outfield but had to for this match, a half-baked and half-blind stand-in goalkeeper, and simply unlucky again, we lost agonisingly in a highly entertaining match...6-7 against ACME which we seem to have no luck against them! ACME's striker was our main tormentor, scoring two and had a hand in the other 5 goals. Out of the 7 goals, 2 were simply durian presented on a silver plate for them. And to think that we were leading 2-0 before their striker-in-chief started shredding us apart made it even more painful for us to accept. But we did well to recover from 2-4 down to chase back 5-5 before attempting to chase from behind again when trailing 5-7. But we came up short, just short, eventually.

Teck Chye (2 goals), Teck Wah (2 goals), Mike and Simon found the net for us.

Match #43 (29 Oct 211): Marine Sunday Avenged for Singapore Over China Reds!

What Singapore Lions failed to do against China in the World Cup qualifying match, we made it up for them with an entertaining, nail-biting 3-2 win over China Reds. The star of the match was undoubtedly Teck Chye who not only put us in the lead with a thumping header but, when he stood in as keeper in the 2nd half, prevented China Reds from equalising with a penalty save. Kama, making his comeback after resting for a few matches, notched a brace. Ng came close to scoring a rare goal for us when his shot just dipped over the bar but he did find the net later when his clearance resulted in a wicked spin that had KH flapping for the air. Yes, that was an own goal in case you didn't get it.