match #44 (3 Nov 2013): Marine Sunday vs KOP - 2nd Leg: We Proved Our Worth

Coincidentally, we lined up against Kop for 2nd week in a row and we showed last match's 1-1 draw was a hiccup on our part as we ran out worthy 6-3 winner in this "2nd-leg" match. Yes, 4 of our 6 goals were gifted by their schoolboy defensive blunders but we didn't ask for those, did we? We capitalized on those blunders, shouldn't we?

But Kop were no pushovers. While we had Teck Wah at his predatory best today, notching a hat-trick by punishing them dearly on those defensive blunders, Kop had in their No 9 a sure-footed striker who scored a brace and had an assist in their other goal.

Chor Guan (penalty), Mike and Kama completed the repertoire for us in a match that wasn't pleasing to the football purists. There was hardly any passing from both sides. It was more like a primary school football match with both sides simply booting the ball forward and hoping for the best.

An ugly match but a beautiful win for us :)

Match #43 (27 Oct 2013): All The Misses Caused The 1-1 Draw

We should have buried Kop 12 feet under given the number of misses we had. Kian Hwa was the biggest culprit, with 4 open-goal opportunities at his mercy but fluffed them all. Both goals were of superb quality that were worth watching repeatedly. Simon intercepted a ball from midfield and, spotting the keeper out of position, produced a delicate chip over the stranded keeper to keep us at 1-0 lead at the break. But Kop's equalising goal wasn't any inferior compared to Daniel Sturridge's audacious chip in the match against WBA. Meeting a cross from the right, their No 1 danger man leaped high and cushioned the ball with his cultured left foot to lob it over Brandon.

The match degenerated into a physical encounter but both shared the spoils.

Match #42 (13 Oct 2013): Family United Lost But They Won Big-Time In Family Spirit. They Remain Family United!

I was told post-match that there were 7 brothers among the Opponent and those 4 women at the sideline were their sisters! Wow, 11 siblings and they still remain so close at their age. Very admirable. Sure, they lost the match big time to us. 10-nil....but they had won big, very big in terms of family tie.

Simon (3), Chor Guan (2), Kama, Mike, Teck Chye, Kian Hwa, Woon scored the 10 goals but no way did we dent the love among their 11 siblings :)

Match #41 (6 Oct 2013): Question Marks Had A Lot To Answer

When a team is named Question Marks, either they are casting doubt on their opponents or they have been searching for answers. Today, they might have been enlightened by a bunch of mid-life crisis folks who overran them 7-1.

Yes, the goal conceded was a sore point in an otherwise thoroughly perfect outing. If KH had not missed the sitter less than half-a-meter from the open goal, it would have been the lucky eight.

Mike put in a top-form display and notched 2 goals, Gan also notched a brace and a goal each from Teck Wah, Kama, Simon completed the misery for Question Marks. Question, anyone?

Match #40 (29 Sep 2013): KTGL!

Our performance and result today fell into Quadrant 2 of my Result Interpretation matrix (see attached pic).....KTGL - Kio Tio Gu Lan (Pick Up a Bull's Ball).

We narrowly beat Perfect 2-1 and of course we had who else but Teck Wah to put in the winning goal for us. But the match was really won by our rear guards. Gan, as stand-in keeper in 1st half, blocked a one-on-one when the match was not even 1 minute old. And then, he recovered brilliantly, after thoroughly wrong-footed by Chwee Leng's back header, to claw the ball away just 5 cm from goal! Brandon, arrived in time for 2nd half, produced 4 stupendous one-on-one saves to keep us alive. And Chor Guan blocked a certain goal on goal line and later when Perfect launched a quick counter-attack, he coolly organised Chwee Leng to cover him while he went to close down their playmaker and close down he did. Chwee Leng was at his tenacious best in the 2nd half, battling 4 players and even won a free-kick out of it. See Chiang, though rusty and frequently out of position, produced one vital block to prevent Perfect's striker from taking a shot at goal in the box. And not forgetting our two evergreens - Leo and Ng, who ran their hearts and lungs out trying to contain their wing play.

Our first goal came from their defender as he deflected Teck Wah's cross and wrong-footed his keeper. Perfect equalised in the 2nd half after putting us under tremendous pressure in the opening 20 minutes of 2nd half. Though Teck Wah settled the match for us, I am sure everyone would pay tribute to our guys at the back! :)

Match #39 (22 Sep 2013): Sep clean sheet shattered despite win

6-0 up and with 5 minutes left to play, complacency set in and allowed opponent to score 2 quick consolation goals. It was frustrating to see a clean sheet being unnecessarily denied by our own sloppiness. Up to those last 5 minutes, we were in control throughout although our passing could have been better.

3-0 up at the break, courtesy of Teck Wah's cool finishing, Weng Khong finishing off Teck Wah's cut-back and Woon latching onto Gan's backheel pass to side-step Opponent's keeper. Gan then added a brace in the 2nd half, with the his first coming from distance after spotting Opponent's keeper way off his line and his second was a credit of his doggedness in the box to finally put the ball in the net after being hauled down before that. Teck Chye thumped in a header from a corner by Teck Wah. We looked to further increase the margin but instead the final 5 minutes denied us the icing on the cake.

Match #38 (15 Sep 2013): The Young Ferocious Ones Ganned Down

Young wasn't enough, we have to contend with ferocity as well, and how we ganned them down. Opponents, perhaps with their affinity for speed and power and thus named themselves Carrera (a model of Porsche, you know?) clearly knew how young they are compared to us. In an altercation with Ng, the rude opponent indicated as much declaring that we are old enough to be their father! Where's the respect for the elderly? Ferocious they were, as straight from the kick off, their battle cry bordered on the maniacal as they came charging at us like a pack of wolves. But they could not contend with our fine blend of composure, wisdom, resilience and a man who goes by the name of Gan.

Just as Arsenal acquired the king of assists, the match today was in large part significant for Gan's triple assists. First, he took a difficult ball and advanced into the box causing the panicky defender to pull him down. Weng Khong took responsibility and promptly put us one up. Then he dealt with a high bouncing ball, nonchalantly chesting it into the path of Simon who powered a stiff grounder which the keeper could only deflect it to spin into goal. Two goals up at half time.

Carrera came into the second half with renewed energy and pulled one back quickly. Suddenly, the tide seemed to start turning as they attacked in waves. Nevertheless, two incisive counter-attack from inside our own half did them in. The first defence-splitting pass found Teck Wah sprinting down the left to square for Gan who was too strong for their defenders and they had to drag him down again. Up stepped Teck Chye to restore our two-goal cushion. Then a replica of that pass found Teck Chye whose cross caused havoc in the defence. With the keeper stranded, Rashpal recovered the ball and passed to Alex whose delightful chip was heading for goal until a defender pawed at it. That was the cue for Alex to step up and score from the spot.

Final result - a well deserved 4 - 1 win.