Match #32 (21 Jul 2012): Satisfying win over KK team

Against a team we have not beaten before and at their 'home' ground and 'home' ref no less, we played the formation to suit the players we have at our disposal. A tight defense, fluid midfield and nimble attack was what we conjured and strived to maintain.

Wah gave us the lead in the first half with a smartly taken shot at the end of a flowing 5-man move. KK equalized early after the restart when powerful 11 cut across the defense to smash an unstoppable shot past our keeper. Chye restored our lead after YC astutely put him through. The goal of the match (and possibly the season so far) was Woon's rising diving header from Wah's precise cross.

A satisfying 3-1 win.

Match #31 (15 July 2012): Marine Sunday Hit 5 and Kept a Clean Sheet!

Kop is a good opponent with a balanced mix of veterans and youngsters to boost the lung power :) And we did find them quite a hard nut to crack until the last 15 minutes of 1st half. Kama's perseverance set up 2 goals for Teck Wah, one of which was a spectacular overhead kick. Then Kama's intelligent through pass set up Kian Hwa (you didn't read wrongly, yes, Kian Hwa), who made his appearance after a long-term knee injury, who went on to register a memorable goal on his comeback. The goal of the match must be from Teck Chye's left foot. No, he didn't score but what a cool mind he demonstrated. When he could have taken a shot at goal, he set up Gan with a delightful, perfectly weighted cross from his left foot that Gan had the simplest of task to head it in. Teck Wah rounded up the misery of Kop with a blistering shot.

It was good to see players who had not appeared for a while, namely Weng Kwan, Mark and ahem........ :) I believe I overheard Kop players on the sideline complimented on our team work. Well done, Marine Sunday!

Match #30 (7 July 2012): MiRed in 2-3 Loss

Was it only in May that we pitted against this team, Malays in Red, at Woodlands Sec and came off winning 5-4? The re-match, if indeed so, saw a reversal in fortune with them a worthy 3-2 winner. But we simply did not turn up to play football, our off day. Melvin got into the rare act of scoring goal but it was an own goal, their winning goal. Our usually dependable Simon could have salvaged the match but he skied the penalty in the dying moments of the match. Malays in Red were technically superior and better players, but cannot accord a few of their players the same compliment on their behaviour...far from it. For the record, Gan and Simon found the net for us.

Match #29 (30 June 2012): Another Fruitful 8-1 Harvest Against GS

Having the kick-off time at 3pm and with the recent blazing sun and scorching heat, we feared the weather more than the opponent, a bunch of young men from the high-flying investment bank. We are a blessed bunch of mid-lifers. Weather turned out to be more than kind to us, with the unexpected gloomy clouds hanging but it didn't rain. We couldn't really complain of the cool effect, could we? Goldman Sachs turned out to be a bunch of relatively young football enthusiasts getting together for the first time. Lack of team work and short on fitness in most players aside, they were without a proper goalkeeper. Any decent goalkeeper would have prevented at least 6 of the 8 goals GS conceded. So the one-sided 8-1 scoreline was not indicative of their shortcoming in the quality aspect.

For the record, the harvesters were Teck Wah with a hattrick and 1 each from Mike (this slow tortoise still managed to beat GS' static goalkeeper for our opening goal, it just showed where their fatal point was), Simon (a beautiful cut-in followed by a thunderous shot that left any keeper no chance), Teck Chye (a direct free-kick that slipped through keeper's buttery fingers), Weng Khong (deployed as a forward for just 5 minutes and he demonstrated his positional awareness with a good follow-up after their keeper spilled Chwee Leng's well-taken shot onto the red carpet for him to tap in), Leo (another 5-minutes striker who benefited from this temporary deployment and he popped up at the far post to notch in a good cross from Teck Wah). And of course, Teck Wah's hattrick - 2 well-taken one-on-one goal and a well-drilled free-kick completed the rout of GS. The only MS player who wasn't happy with this harvest was Gan, who had to stand-in as our keeper and as a result, couldn't join the durian party upfront.

But it wasn't totally plain-sailing for us. After taking an early 2-0 lead, we slipped into the "durian mentality" mode that attracted a dressing-down at the break. We pulled up the socks in the 2nd half, and coupled with Goldman fading into Oldmen....another fruitful harvest resulted.

Match #27 (17 June 2012): Trinity Trample

Match report by the Rock!

We started the game with zero unemployment. Mel's nephew was called in beef up the numbers as we decided to go slow & not fast in our game plan... & he proved to be a much needed substitute later on in the game when our legs struggled to hold out. And we were glad to be further reinforced by a last minute turn-up by Mark & the game commenced with two substitutes. Game on with very much the same problem that we would like to perform a comeback - conceding a goal first to a very well-taken & low shot by Trinity's striker after tearing down our right flank. Our opponents are firing a lot of crosses that caught the defence back-paddling on numerous occasions. But, as usual, comeback we did & Wah showed Trinity Boys his version of a low & well-taken shot on the right flank and we are back in business. First half finished with one a-piece.

2nd half started with substitutions & rotation of positions according to the strength of our players - moving Mel to last man & Kwan to the left back. Credit to Mel's strategy in keeping the defence line low which congested our half with midfielders compacting the mid line doing their 'loansharking activities' - harassment. Gan did a great job as a central midfielder doing the harassment work with his henchmen - Mark (defensive central mid), Woon & Khong, left & right mid respectively. This deployment cut off crosses by our opponents & we started to string passes together after winning the ball in the midfield & defence areas. Tiredness started to seep in but MS boys showed their determination, with carefully well-strung passes found Wah again twice, Khong once & Gan once bringing the final score to a satisfactory 5-3 win for MS, albeit Trinity boys making a serious attempt to come back into the game scoring two more goals towards the later part of the the game. Good try but too late....they forgot we are the authentic comeback kings!

Must state that Gan's goal was quite a beauty after having dribbled past 3 opponents down the left flank & cut back to cross. Upon receiving a rebound, he volleyed in a shot from a very tight angle catching Trinity keeper off-guard. In conclusion, MS was a cohesive fighting machine that day with every cylinders(players) firing!

Match #28 (24 June 2012): 1-2 loss to Yellows

Despite the reputation of Yellows as a good team featuring little plump stocky fella with a venomous left foot, we were not awed at all. For all their swaggering possession, Yellows were not able to find a way past us until we suffered a loss of concentration and they gifted a stroke of luck. Their stiff shot from outside the box was never going anywhere in a crowded penalty box but struck their own striker who reacted smartly to turn the ball in. We deservedly equalized through Wah's simple header off Mel's teasing corner.

We maintained our discipline and composure in the second half and stayed in contention to win the match until the ref failed to make a call on an offside decision. This allowed their old striker to cracked a firm grounder which turned out to be the winning goal. Final score 1-2.

Match #26 (9 June 2012): First Time Failing To Find The Net And A Frustrating 0-2 Loss!

Another bunch of kampung relek kawan and true enough, they just felt compelled to uphold their renowned traits: blatant disregard for punctuality and disrespect for opponent with their tardiness and care-less attitude. This bunch would take the cake - Mother of All Latecomers...we only got to start the match at 5.45pm. Doubt it is any insult if they are referred to as Tidak Apa Gang.

On the other hand, very typical of such opponents, their players are technically gifted and experienced. Despite starting the match with 2 players short and without any sort of warm-up, they still rang rings around us. Preferring to keep the ball to the ground and relying on short passes to move around, they stretched us at times and their 2 goals resulted from midfielders embarking on intelligent off-the-ball running in from deep and beat our otherwise solid defence line to score past Brandon.

We were not without our chances but our forwards must have put on their ballet shoes for the day. They would rather forget how we ended up failing to find the net for the first time of the season. On the few occasions when they found the soccer boots, TAG's goalkeeper was simply brilliant to deny us.

The only positive of the match was to see such commanding performance from Brandon. Like a territorial wolf guarding its hunting (or mating?) ground, Brandon's authoritative play only means one thing, i.e. instilling confidence in us. And that can only be good.