Match: 2 - 0 (27.04.08)

[LiAn]

A venue mix up.
A journey to the west from the east.
A shortened match.
A penalty.
2 goals.

TKSS. SGX United's self declared home ground was booked by another
person for a match at 3pm today. And the players didn't have a clue...
till there were 4 teams gathered at the field. Surprise surprise.

Chee Boon was called and instead of choosing the easy option of just
canceling the match, he promptly booked another field at Tanglin Sec.

By then, most of the SGX United players have arrived only to be
greeted with the news of a field change. Dismay and groans all around
upon facing the fact of traveling from the east coast area to the west
coast. Its time for a cross country drive. Literally.

Kelvin gave up on coming because of that.

Upon reaching the field albeit half an hour after the supposedly 3pm
kick off time, the players changed into their shinny gear and headed
to the pitch for some warm up.

Playing at the field once before last season with the match ending 2
all, we were going for the win. That match was also the one that Chee
Boon scored his only goal of the campaign. Will he be able to score
again at the same field?

The referee wasted no time starting the match and soon we're off!

The opponent team consisted of mainly middle to old aged men. On the
side lines, Nakata and I were looking at at least a 5 or 6 nil score
line. No pun intended.

I'll be estimating the time frame due to the fact that only the
referee has the match time.

SGX United kicked off the first half and soon enough, the opponent
( lets call them MOAM[Middle to Old Aged Men) were on the back foot.
Just 2 mins into the match saw our first attack from which our first
goal came from.

GOAL!: A few passes here and there around the MOAM penalty box saw
Gary facing the goal with his trusty left boot just inside the penalty
area on the right hand side. Taking a swipe at it, the ball flew into
the top right hand corner. 1 nil. Well taken.

Possession: A good balance with both teams finding chances on both
ends but Anthony, our keeper rarely had a save to make.

Nakata commented that the players were running everywhere at certain
moments.

Chee Boon, the right back, was playing higher than the right winger.

Ah Boy, the last man, found himself within touching distance with the
MOAM's goal keeper.

Ka Boon, left back, was last spotted wayyyy over on the right side of
the field.

However, we lacked the finishing touch as the half time whistle
sounded and the game still stuck at 1 nil.

A few good scoring chances see the strikers ruling their misses but it
was a good attacking display on the whole.

Just 5 minutes after the 1st half, the referee blew to indicate the
start of the 2nd. Mainly due to the fact that there was another game
at 5 and also that he had to rush off to referee another game.

The 2nd half started very much like the 1st.

Possession: SGX United had the lion's share of it with the midfield
practically camping in the MOAM's half.

The people in charge of the field did almost everything right, other
than cut the tree branches hanging over one of the goal posts. In this
case, it was MOAM's side. Should a high ball be floated in, it would
definitely hit the branches and thus affect the flight of the ball. An
absolute boo-boo on their part.

However, that proved to be the catalyst of our 2nd goal.

15 minutes gone on the clock, Stanley, Nakata's brother took the
corner and it hit the trees before heading straight back down to meet
the other Stanley's head. He took no hesitation to head it towards
goal which prompted the MOAM's defender guarding the post to do a
Maradona, the hand of god impersonation, although its on the wrong
side of the field.

The referee immediately pointed to the spot. Penalty. The already
guilty looking defender did not get any further embarrassment by not
earning the straight red. That was a professional foul but taking into
account it was a friendly thus no card was shown.

I took the ball and placed it on the spot.

The unsatisfied MOAM players were trying to find fault at practically
everything, from the hanging tree branch to the distance of the spot.

Total concentration.

I knew where I wanted to place the ball.

With shouts of "c'mon, you can do it", "score Ivan score", to the
MOAM's "miss miss miss", there was pressure to score.

GOAL!: And I duly delivered. The ball flew low and hard to the
keeper's right hand side. 2 nil!

With the clock counting down, the MOAM players were desperately trying
to find a goal that would put the match back into contention. Anthony
nearly gifted them that.

A goal kick taken by Anthony saw the ball fly straight onto the
gleeful chest of the MOAM striker who controlled it and tried a shot
at goal. On target, a good shot but Anthony made up for his mistake by
palming the ball away for a corner.

Cries of "you think the match not challenging enough till giving
yourself a challenge isit" to Anthony were heard.

Soon enough, the final whistle was blown. 2 - 0 the final score. By
right, we should have scored more but we'll take it.

P.S. Chee Boon, I tried to update the fixture tables but it ain't seem
to work. Could you update if you have the time? Thanks. (;