This week's opponents consists of mainly young teens from Singapore Polytechnic. However, the match was delayed for a considerable time as they only turn up with 7 players. After more than 20mins of waiting, we decided to loan them 4 players to start the match instead. Ronald, Bee, Jerome and SK volunteered themselves to the opponents for the game to commence.
First Half
Once again, we were lethargic from the start and conceded the 1st goal within 5mins from the good play by our on-loan players, ending with a brilliant assist by Ron for Jerome to score. We were still in dreamland even after this and conceded a second goal 3 mins later, with another assist from our on-loan player Bee. Either we were complacent, or visibly distracted by the bare bodied Bee (who was on fire playing as a striker for the opponents), we finally decided to wake up, thanks to our opponent's players who finally turned up and replaced our on-loan team mates. Immediately from the kick off after the conceding our second goal, Harold spotted Pat sprinting down the right wing, and planted a through ball. Pat's sudden burst caught everyone offguard, and with an excellant 1st touch to go past their left back, he blasted in to pull a goal back for us. Just when we thought that we were up and running again, Jansen dwelled too long with the ball in our own half, and the mistake led to another goal conceded. 1-3 down, but we were back in the game pretty soon, with 2 brillant headers by Colin, who benefitted from both pinpoint corners by Captain Loy. From that on, we were dictating the game, and finally took the lead from a long punt by Sherman, resulting in a headed goal by Daryl. Right before half-time, Ron displayed the creative side in him by pulling off a "Gerard like" through ball to Colin who hungrily completed his hattrick. First half finished 5-3 in our favor.
Second Half
Our opponents started brightly with more running and individual play in the 2nd half. However, they were dealt another blow when a brilliant team hustle resulted with Loy releasing a ball down the left flank to Yiong, who turned past 2 players, nutmegged a third, and cut the ball across the penalty box for Captain Loy to swing it 1st time into the top right corner. They were down but not out, and their best player on the pitch pulled one back shortly when he managed to turn a shot in with his weaker right foot (score stands at 6-4)。 Another good play by Yiong on the left resulted in a foul commited on Colin in the box, and Harold made no mistake from the spot. A rare defensive error caused us to concede another goal, but quickly, our 3 goal lead was regained when another goal kick by Sherman, allowed Henry to run in to score our final goal of the game. Towards the end of the game, a foul by Yiong resulted in the opponent pushing his chest 3 times, obviously trying to pick a fight. However, thanks to quick intervention by Ron to pull and protect Yiong from further consequences, the situation was diffused without further incidents. Yiong showed real character and magnitude to restrain enough of himself, as well as going up to the opponent for a handshake after the game. Well done Yiong!
This week's MOM goes to Ronald. Not only did he had an assist each for both teams, his quick reaction prevented our own mate from possible fight. This is what we have been trying to emphasize each week. We are a social team looking for an enjoyable game once a week, don't let your team down by a rash moment.
Quote of the week: "A striker scoring a Hattrick does not guarantee a MOM award because scoring goals is his job" Pat.
