Match #42 (22 Oct 11): 4-1 Win Over Forex Team

A bare turnout of 11, including Brandon forced to play outfield due to his injured finger, supported by 2 guest players put up a spirited performance to run out worthy 4-1 winner over Forex. But that was not without various moments of scare provided by the comical goalkeeping of KH. The Tang brothers settled the issue with a brace apiece. We could have had more but the Spiderman of Forex, their keeper has super long arms to catch the ball from the air, saved Forex from further embarassment.

Match #41 (16 Oct 11): Fantastic Fightback Win 4-3!

It was a fightback of an epic nature, the kind of heroics that could etch onto concrete slabs as folklore for future generations to saviour. No regular sweeper n stopper to start with, 0-3 down at half-time, lost our No 1 keeper just before the break....all looked doom and gloom. We took a gamble in the line-up for 2nd half and unbelievably, and to much astonishment of opponent Carmichael, we carved out a gigantic 4-3 win, which even Liverpool's turnaround in Istanbul in 2005 Champions League Final paled in comparison.

Gan, as the stand-in sweeper in 1H, atoned for his disappointment in 1H with an accompished performance in 2H when he partnered Teck Wah upfront. He posed a constant threat to Carmichael's backline. Melvin and Chwee Leng stood in as the central defensive pair in 2H and it was a flawless performance from both of them. Melvin marshalled the line superbly and Chwee Leng shackled their African striker like a bloodhound without giving the latter an inch to move. Watch out, Chor Guan, Weng Kwan, Rock and Kok Hock, you have competition! The fact that KH, as stand-in keeper, was hardly threatened in 2H said a lot of the big performance from our defensive quartet.

We knew if we could get a goal early in the 2H, we might have a chance and Mark provided the perfect tonic. He stood up to the challenge in midfield and scored an Alonso-like goal from just after the midfield line. Yong Chua was at his most effective self as the attacking midfielder, winning us the penalty which Gan, who deserved a goal for leading the line, converted. 2-3 and we were in for a shout. Mike, given a dressing-down by KH during the break, has that habit of embarassing KH with a well-taken poacher goal. But it was due to great effort of Yong Chua and then Gan to bring the ball back into the box for Mike to sneak in with a header. Then, a rare cross from Woon from the left brought out the best from Teck Wah with his spectacular left-foot mid-air volley to score the winning goal. We could have our 5th goal but Simon's glorious effort from distance was acrobatically tipped over by Carmichael's keeper.

4-3! What a win! Everyone deserved that pat on the shoulder!

Match #40 (8 Oct 11): 2-2 Draw against Eagles

This is one team we've not beaten before and despite a depleted team, we had seem like breaking that record throughout the match. Falling behind to a goal for which an offside decision was not given in our favor, we continue to make the better play. Deservingly, we equalized early in the second half with Wah's superb volley from a quickly-taken free kick. Then we went on to take the initiative when Eagles put the ball into their own net after some concerted pressure from us. They managed to maintain their unbeaten record over us with a rather dubious goal, which was scored after an infringement on our keeper. Final score 2-2.

Match #39 (2 Oct 11): Unbeaten Streak Ended by Incompetent Referee

The incompetent referee robbed us of a win against SJI Old Boys. Instead we had to settle for a 1-2 loss, a result which we did not deserve. And SJI Old Boys knew they had gotten away with the match. Their opening goal came from a blatantly offside position which the myopic referee overlooked.   Then, for no reason, he denied Kian Hwa of a perfectly legitimate goal, which he nodded in from the corner delivered by Teck Wah. Even SJI Old Boys were bemused why the goal was disallowed. Another contentious moment came when their keeper managed to claw out the ball that appeared to have just crossed the line but again, referee turned a deaf ear to our appeal.

SJI Old Boys, boosted by more than a handful of young players who are hardly in their early 20s, made use of their young lungs to full advantage and their 2nd goal came in the 2nd half from their speedy (relative to us) winger down the right who squared in a low ball for their striker to turn See Chiang before planting the ball beyond Brandon.

We battled hard to win a penalty which Simon duly converted but counting the number of chances we created and our disallowed goal, we simply had a day that nothing went for us.

Match #38 (25 Sep 11): Held 2-2 again!

We can recycle following reasons as valid excuses as we age - young opponents, hot weather, we are mid-40s...But today we did not let our young opponent, Lime Green, overrun us. In fact, we had enough chances to bury them if we were a wee bit sharper and faster upfront. Lime Green took the lead and then fought hard to equalise. In between their goals, Simon and Mike reversed the deficit from the early goal conceded and put us at 2-1 up at the break. We knew we would be vulnerable in the 2nd half and true enough, we let them have too much space in front of our box and they found the equaliser from a well-taken goal outside the box.

We succumbed to the weather, no doubt, and the last minute pullouts of Weng Khong, Melvin and Yong Chua did not help the matter. Among the positive takeaways were See Chiang, making his comeback, having his runout for 2nd week in a row after a prolonged period of absence and even setting up Lime Green's first goal :), and Chwee Leng filling in admirably as a stopper for a good 45 minutes.

Match #37 (17 Sep 11): We Kicked Ourselves For Not Winning This Match!

Opponent AI1C (All Indians 1 Chinese) appeared to be a menacing bunch before the match when they challenged the referee for more time to get ready and we were bracing ourselves for some rough treatment, especially given our shortage in numbers and absence of a few regular players. But we put up an admirable performance and created a host of chances that we found it embarassing for not converting those into goals. They must have found us a bunch of AC1I (All Chinese 1 Indian, whom they didn't know is actually a Sikh) and mid-40s too hot to handle. Yet we found ourselves having to come back to equalise twice, courtesy of Gan's brace of goals. We let them off the hook, we knew it...and they sure knew it as well. 2-2 draw was the final score.

Match #36 (10 Sep 11): We Kept The Momentum Going

We notched up another convincing win over CJC Old Boys with a 4-0 margin. Goals from Weng Khong, Kian Hwa (direct from a corner-kick) and Teck Wah set the tone at the break. KH then got his brace and our 4th goal in the 2nd half from a well-worked passing move involving Yong Chua and Simon. Brandon's determination to keep a clean sheet was evident when going full-stretched to make 2 big saves as the match was coming to an end. Before that, our well-marshalled defence kept CJC Old Boys largely at bay.