Trinity Cup Fiesta Report [15th Mar]

The PMC Soccer Team's quest to garner an unprecedented 5 trophies in 1 season (sounds familiar?) began on the afternoon of 15th March at the Trinity Cup Fiesta 2009, organised by Trinity Christian Centre.

The 18 players who signed up eagerly anticipated a good run-out, and the debut of our spanking new jerseys, co-sponsored by Comwerks Interactive. However, what seemed like a promising sunny day turned gloomy in the afternoon, with dark clouds all around. As players arrived at The Hiding Place, the rain started pouring and seemed like it would not stop quickly. Waiting gloomily for the rain to stop, some players started kitting up and warming up as the rain let up after an hour or so.

Eager players kitting up to take the field

While getting used to the waterlogged pitch, we found that ground passes were not very effective, with the ball rarely rolling more than 2 meters. It was really something that the team needed to get used to as the unpredictable bounce and movement of the ball was surely going to throw up interesting twists and turns during matches.

Starting the 1st group game of the tournament, PMC looked to win it as our opponents were 'apparently' a weaker side in the group. Both teams shared possession of the ball and the game was largely dominant in the midfield area with many interceptions and tackles flying in. PMC looked strong on the flanks as Trinity Veterans seemed to have a more central style to their play. While defending a corner, the referee stopped play and awarded Trinity Veterans a penalty, and claimed that it was because one of our players was pushing in the box. It was an inconceivable decision! Infuriated by the poor decision, Mike was sent the wrong way by the penalty taker, but the taker sent his grounder wide of the right-hand post and out for a goal kick- Justice was served. That jolted PMC into action, and some nice play allowed Damian Chee to find space on the right but his shot was high and wide. Suddenly, a quick play down Trinity Veteran's right flank saw them take the lead 1-0 win. The long ball was not cleared and allowed to be squared in the box for a simple tap in. With little time to respond, we succumbed to our 1st defeat of the tournament.

The waterlogged pitch during the 1st game. It was still gloomy!

Our 2nd match was against TCC who were more youthful than the Veterans. The game started with a more solid formation, 4-4-2 with a strong midfield and defence. This game was faster paced and PMC was constantly on the backfoot, defending foraging runs from the TCC players. Our defence was pretty solid with many good tackles and clearances from the back but soon TCC broke the deadlock with a well placed shot. Our response to their 1st goal was good, with more attacking and even getting a few shots on, some hitting the target. TCC were organised in their play and clearly had been playing together alot. They got us on the break and countered for a second goal to cement their win.

Our third and final match in the group stage was against the Language Team consisting of TCC's foreign players who attacked with more flair. They were more adventurous in their play with many tricks up their sleeve. Both teams had long spells of possession and the Language Team had many plays on either flank. They played to their strengths as they had speedy wingers. The defence was again, solid at the back, but were powerless to stop a strong, dipping shot from outside the box, as we lost the third match narrowly 1-0.

Thinking that we were done after losing 3 matches, some of our players left The Hiding Place, leaving only 9 players for the 2 PLATE matches that followed. In true sportsmanship, our opponents graciously fielded 9 players as well for each of these 2 matches.

Our 1st match was against IGNYTE in yellow jerseys – we won 1-0 . A corner kick on the right sent the ball touching a few players very near the goal post before finally reaching David Sng who pushed in the only goal of the match (and our only goal of the tournament for him to be our top scorer!)

The Plate final was a repeat of our 1st group game, Trinity Veterans and again we lost 1 - 0 . A long ball by their defender in the middle of the field found their left winger, who then forcefully hammered in the only goal from 25m out.

Neither disappointed nor discouraged, we take this as another step in our learning journey of competitive soccer. To our surprise, our quest for 5 trophies this season is still alive, as Ronnie went forward to receive the Plate runners-up prize - a Silver Cup. Praise God!

The entire event finished at around 7pm and despite the gloomy weather, waterlogged and muddy pitch the guys played as a team and gave off their best. Gaining much experience from this competition, we will improve and be back at The Hiding Place for the Agape Cup. The Best is Yet to Be!

PMC Team for Trinity Cup Fiesta 2009:
1. Michael Chua 8. Jeremy Sin 12. John Chia 15. Jonathan Goh 18. Raymond Chang 20. Damien Chua 21. Samuel Pang 22. Joel Tan 25. David Lim 26. Maurice Lim 27. Lee Kee Min 28. Ronnie Liew 66. David Sng 79. Damian Chee 98. Darren Tan