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We could have put up another durian harvest score if our forwards were sharper against Malay Young Boys, especially in the first 20 minutes of the match. Instead, we allowed them to come back at us after each time we took the lead. We managed to hold on to the slender lead after surviving a spirited fightback from them but their lack of reserves wore them down considerably in the sweltering heat.
Kama's sheer industry earned him the opening goal for us but a tentative clearance at the back allowed their forward to steal the ball and put it past Brandon. We scored right from the kick-off after a simple passing game involving Kama and KH set up Gan to sneak in just in front of MYB's keeper to restore the lead. Another poor clearance allowed them to put ball back into our box and their nippy 17-years old winger produced a delightful chip over Brandon to level the score 2-2 at the break.
Gan then notched 2 goals to complete his hat-trick in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half, both came from assists from KH. He rose unchallenged to nod in KH's corner and then literally walked the ball into the net after he was the first to react to MYB's keeper's poor handling of KH's freekick. With the keeper still on the ground and nobody to harass him, Gan had the easiest of tasks. We missed more chances thereafter before their playmaker singlehandedly brought our defence down with his individual brilliance and scored their 3rd to reduce the gap. Play then became feisty with hard challenges coming from both sides but the match ended with plentiful of handshakes.
Welcome back, Seah! And if there were anybody we could pay tribute to in today's match, there were two - the 41-years-old Seah, for his assured display after almost 2 years of layoff through serious knee injury, and the 14-year-old Alex for putting in three great crosses from the right and two of which should have been converted into goals.
Yes, we whitewashed our opponent, O Boys, today but to be fair to them, they only had 10 players throughout the match. Still, they have 3 brilliant individuals who gave us problems throughout the match. Despite the numerical advantage, we only managed a slender 1-0 lead at the break, courtesy of Gan's opener. Such was the great play of their 3 individuals that they did deserve a goal in 1st half. Weng Khong got our 2nd goal after the break after a brilliant turn in the box but O Boys reduced the deficit when KH's poor giveaway in midfield resulted in their goal. Their euphoria was quickly deflated as we scored our 3rd right from the kick-off. Teck Chye chipped a through ball over their defence for Gan to bury it. And O Boys just went deflated resulting in the wide opening of the floodgate opened. Gan completed his hat-trick, Mike's brace, Teck Chye's double and Simon's goal completed the rout.
Final score: 9 - 1. Not a durian harvest season but sweet peach - shui mi tao :)
Orange Mixes are a more veteran team than us, with a couple of players who are very assured and at ease with stroking the ball. And these 2 players did quite some damage on us, with both their goals coming from their No 9, a super cool uncle who could have snatched a hat-trick if his 2nd-half shot had not cannoned off the bar. But then, we gifted them their 2 goals, thanks to a moment of miscommunication and then a miscued clearance, both presented their No 9 to take advantage of.
And we thought we could barely scrap the bottom of the pot to get 13 players, including Chwee Leng's barely-into-puberty son, they could only start the match with 9 players. Yet, as usual, we couldn't capitalize on our numerical advantage until the numbers were even.
We raced to a commanding 5-1 lead at the break. We could have had a handful more in the 2nd half but somehow the final application deserted us.
Our goals came from Woon (2), Chor Guan (2), Kama and Gan. No durian harvesting resulted but Gan did have 1 durian drop nicely onto his path for his goal.
Just to illustrate how good Mizuno Reds, a team well blended with a handful of veterans but plentiful of early-20s youngsters, are. It is very rare for KH to beef up the defence as the match, especially when it is still a draw or when we are trailing, wears on. As we all know, he will usually go for broke to get the match. But such was the menace that Mizuno Reds' young, nippy forwards posed to us that Chor Guan, deployed as a striker in 1st half, had to replace Melvin as sweeper 15 minutes into the 2nd half in order to contain them.
1st half was fairly even with both sides carving out a handful of half chances but nothing really threatening. But 2nd half was pulsating, to say the least. Mizuno Reds could have opened the account right from the restart when they capitalized on our messy play at the back but their effort came off the upright and the couple of subsequent rebounds were blocked by our bodies in the line of fire. After brushing off that close shave, we started imposing, with Mark beginning to find his footing and Simon illustrious down our right flank. Still, their speedy forwards stretched our backline to the extent that Melvin had his right hamstring flared up. Cued in Chor Guan to replace him to keep those young boys at bay.
Gan brought out a superb reflex save from their keeper but the resultant corner settled the issue. Simon whipped in a wicked corner and Gan forced the ball through to break the duck for us. Gan then sent in a delicious looking cross, only for their right fullback, with Ng breathing down his neck, to handle the ball in mid-air. Referee was spot on to point to the spot and Chor Guan coolly converted it. 2-0. Kama's header from Mark's corner kissed the horizontal but a sweet 1-2 play between KH and Weng Khong saw KH crudely brought down in the box. Another clear-cut penalty and Weng Khong beat Mizuno Reds' custodian without any fuss. Both Weng Khong and KH could have further added to the tally but their keeper brilliantly denied Weng Khong at point blank and KH hit the side-netting after another wonderful 1-2 with Weng Khong.
Whatever Mizuno Reds threw at us with their individual flair, we neutralised them with bodies. On so many occasions we threw in the first man to disrupt their play and our back end colleagues were ever ready to deal with the 2nd or 3rd ball, much to the frustration of MR's youngsters. That's what experience is all about...no need to look pretty, just be effective, the end result counts :)
Nothing to shout of with regards to our first draw of the season. We shouldn't have let Temasek Royal get anywhere near our goal area in the first place. 2 goal attempts and 1 foray into the box resulted in 2 goals for them. We had lion share of possession throughout but all opportunities created counted for nothing and we had to rely on 1 penalty (converted by Simon, albeit just) and a free-kick (despatched expertly by Teck Chye) to find the net. TR's keeper was in excellent form to keep us at bay, denying us all our goal attempts at him.
2-2 was the final score. No disrespect to TR but anything less than a win was injustice to us.
We put aside last week's fractious discord and went on a rampage against NEFC, an All-Malay team comprising youngsters and a few in early 20s. Despite the typical gelek-gelek and individual flair, the lack of experience in their ranks was telling. We had the upper hand in possession in the early stages but against the run of play, NEFC drew 1st blood with an innocuous shot from outside the box that the napping Brandon allowed it to go past him. KH's brace overturned the deficit and could have notched a hat-trick but NEFC's keeper's brilliant double saves denied him. The slender 2-1 lead stood at the break.
What was fairly even in the first half became lopsided after the break when NEFC apparently lost their shape and spirit to play as a team - Woon, Mike's double, Chor Guan, Gan and Kama in that sequence found the net for us. Despite the comfortable-looking scoreline, our rearguard colleagues kept thing very tight, denying NEFC space and putting in the challenges to win back the ball whenever any of the defenders was overrun by their relatively skilful midfielders.
Final score: 8 - 1.
Disharmony within the ranks in 1st half cost us this match. Yes, Sons of St Patrick's had 2 ex-internationals - Steven Tan and Amos Boon - and a few other technically better players but we were not overrun by them. Perhaps, the scorching heat in 1st half made us lose our cool and our shape resulting in our concession of 2 soft goals. We came back strongly and we showed in 2nd half that we meant business - Kama was tenacious in midfield, Chor Guan was ferocious in his harassment of their defenders, Rock put his body in the line of duty, Teck Chye showed what he could do for the team if he could focus on what he does best - football, Mike worked his socks off and won us the penalty.
Final score was a narrow 1-2 loss but we knew we could have done better.
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