Match #10 (6 March 10): A Rocket to SWAT the Enemy

In the hot, sweltering heat and quite thin in resources, we managed to grind out a hard-fought 1-0 win against SWAT, who must have cursed at their luck, or lack of, at the loss. It was evenly balanced with either side deserving to win the match. But with Simon specialising in his long-range rockets, another beauty of such proved to be the match winner. Whilst Simon got us the winning goal, Brandon saved us the match with his heroics in the 2nd half, including his trademark penalty save to deny SWAT a certain equaliser.

Match #9 (28 Feb 2010): 8-0 against Old Men Orange

In See Chiang's words, we had a durian-harvesting season. And durians literally dropped at the feet of Mike and Gan to put in how-can-I-not-score goals. Even Chor Guan joined in the joy of the harvesting by notching our 8th goal. And another step signalling his comeback, Yong Chua also put himself in the scoresheet. For the record, Mike and Gan striked a brace each. Simon, Teck Wah, YC and Chor Guan completed the rout of OMO.

It was a shame that The Rock missed the moment of rarity - KH actually crossed in a decent ball for Gan to head in our 5th goal!

Match #8 (20 Feb 2010): 0-3 reverse to VS

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".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.