The Young Patriots Football Club faced Cherry Blossoms FC in their 5th fixture for Season 27 of the Espzen League, on Sunday 3rd December 2017. The match was played at Bedok North Secondary in an afternoon kick-off at 3 pm. Young Patriots goes in to the game with a 3-2-3-2 formation with Aliff Fadhilath Muhd in goal. Eustance Ong and Rabi Kumar and Jet Lee will be the three center back. Fabian Chen takes the right midfield with Nicholas Teo on the left. Kumaresh Natarajan Yeo Jun Hao are the two defensive midfielders with Sulaiman Surani in the middle while Jon Tan and Eugene Ong continued their partnership upfront. Taufiq, Wong Wei Jie, Ganesh Natarjan, Firos Khan and Mohd Sharun Noor were on the bench. The match kicked off with the Patriots controlling the game right from the start and they got their first opportunity when Cherry Blossom’s centre missed the ball entirely and Eugene latch onto the loose ball but Dennis Goh full stretched save stop Eugene from getting onto the score sheet. The Patriots totally controlled the play with Yeo Jun Hao, Kumaresh Natarajan and Sulaiman Surani playing with such unison and team work and on the 6th Minute Nicholas got a pass from Eustance Ong and dribbled into the box before slotting the ball into the back of thenet putting the Patriots 1-0 up. The Patriots kept their gameplay building up the attack from the back making it difficult for Cherry Blossoms to get into the game. Eugene Ong put the Patriots 2-0 up when Fabian Chen sent the ball to the far post from a set pieces situation over 35 yards finding Eugene Ong whom headed it home in their trademark link-up. Yeo Jun Hao added the third goal swiftly as he linked up with a one-two play with Eugene Ong putting Yeo Jun Hao in a favourable position before scoring his first goal for the Patriots. Cherry Blossom FC was awarded a penalty when Jet Lee was deemed to have brought the opponent down in the box which was too soft for a foul. Ekhsan Merican came up and converted the penalty despite Aliff Fadhilath Muhd managing to touch the ball. Mohd Sharun Noor, Taufiq and Wong Wei Jie all came on for Yeo Jun Hao , Fabian Chen and Nicholas Teo respectively to continue the attack but it was only 5 minutes before halftime when Sulaiman Surani managed to put the score 4-1 before halftime when Dennis Goh misjudge Sulaiman’s long range effort and fumble the ball upon contact before crossing the line. The second half begins with the Patriots trying to control the game as manager Eustance Ong revert to their standard 4-4-1-1 formation. Firos Khan and Ganesh Natarajan came in for Eustance Ong and Sulaiman Surani. Mohd Sharun Noor drew first blood when he took a long catching the keeper unaware but Cherry Blossoms replied immediately after they capitalise a defensive mix up before Ekhsan Merican tapping it in from the far post. Fabian, Jun Hao and Nicholas were called back in and soon after Sharun got another when he volleyed Kumaresh Natarajan short pass in the box towards goal. Sharun then finally completed his hat trick when Fabian Chen corner kick found Sharun in no man land as he headed the ball into the top right corner. Ekhsan Merican too completed his hat trick when he was left unmarked in the middle as he took a long range making the score line 7-3. Despite the huge goal difference Cherry Blossoms FC shows no sign of giving up and kept the attack coming and without a doubt without Rabi Kumars excellent performance and Aliff shot stopping they would have added a few more. Sulaiman Surani draw the curtain to a close in the 75 min when Nicholas cross from the by line after an excellent run found Sulaiman as the far ending the game for Cherry Blossoms with a 8-3 win for Young Patriots extending their winning streak to 5 consecutive games
