SCS Cup 2013 Match Report: OLD vs CMC (15th September)

Team OLD returned to competitive football after a hiatus of 3 years, with many team mates not seeing each other for quite a while. The team also welcomed quite a number of new faces such as Alvin Chan, Eddie Wong, Eddie Boh and Vincent Ang. Having not played together at all prior to this match, the aim was clearly to just enjoy the run-out and hope for the best. With the average age of the team in the high 40s, everyone's expectations were reasonable given the relative youth of the opponents.

Before the match, Mark Chan from CMC started the usual pre-match proceedings of devotions, and shared about his past week and the reality of God during that time.

The match kicked off with CMC only having 11 players and OLD having 14. However, it was evident from the start that the team in white were clearly going to exploit their quickness to unsettle their older opponents. The exchange in the first 5min was quite even, with both teams probing and trying to find a breakthrough. OLD came the closest during this time when a half-cleared cross found its way to Eddie Wong to rifled a fierce shot at goal, which the CMC GK was able to parry away. From then however, it was CMC who threatened more and by the 10th min, they got their first goal when a cross was inadvertently turned into his own net by Felix. Being 1-0 up, the CMC players kept on pegging away and a combination of long, short balls as well as speedy wing play meant that the floodgates had started to open, as OLD conceded 4 more times before the interval. It wasn't that OLD was playing particularly badly, as they managed to pass and control the ball in periods, but schoolboy errors in defence led to easy goals being let in. It also didn't help that Mark Leong had to limp off mid-way through the first half, leaving some re-organisation in the defensive ranks.

The 2nd half started with CMC reduced to 10 men as they had a player injured. The irony of the situation was despite being a man short, they opened the scoring when a stand-offish defence allowed the CMC striker to waltz his way right through to a one-on-one situation against Sean. This happened a 2nd time, before OLD woke up and scored a good goal, playing the ball out of defence, and Kevin threading it through to Eddie Wong, who finished nicely from the left. At 7-1, the referee decided to award CMC a penalty when Eddie Boh brought down a CMC player in the box, allowing CMC to score their 8th goal. What stunned everyone was that directly from the kick-off, Eddie Wong blasted the ball into the top corner of the net with some wonderful technique, to make it 8-2. The score stayed that way despite some good work from OLD in trying to pull more goals back, but the many crosses sent into the box by David Sng could not be converted, ending OLD's return to competitive football.

Friendly Match Report: PMC vs OLD (8th September)

It was a throw-back to 2010 as the Veterans in gold (OLD) turned up at Greenview Sec to take on the young guns of PMC in preparation for the kick-off of the inaugural SCS Cup 2013. Many familiar Veterans like Ramon and Andy returned to the pitch, hoping to roll back the years and good times, even though bodies were further aged. Team PMC was also intent to do well with a pacier brand of football.

At kick-off, the teams seemed pretty evenly matched, with some decent passing. Certainly the speed of PMC was a threat against OLD, with some long balls almost being picked up by Yi Jun and Jingzhong. On the part of OLD, the build-up play was slow and used the target men of Ramon and Martin to hold up play before bringing others into the action. Chances were few and far between in the first 10 minutes, but the breakthrough came from PMC when a ball over the top was not cleared, leaving Yi Jun with the simplest of tasks. Team PMC was clearly finding OLD easy pickings, using their speed to great effect. Twice more PMC scored before OLD pulled one back through Ramon, who out-muscled Weijie and robbed him of the ball before blasting into the corner of the PMC net. It was 3-1 to PMC at half-time.

Some substitutions were made at the break, but with limited subs for both teams, most of the players had to press on under the sweltering heat. Being younger and fitter, it was no surprise that PMC scored first after the break, Isaac Hwa stroking nicely into the net after being put clean through from a diagonal ball. 2 more goals came, one of which was courtesy of a cheeky lob by Lincoln.

Although the game ended 6-1 in favour of PMC, OLD did not play badly, but probably needed more pairs of legs in order to do well against much younger opponents. 

CRC2013 SoccerTron Report (31st August)

PMC fielded 2 teams for the annual one-day affair known as SoccerTron, a veterans team (OLD) and a youthful team (PMC). Comprising of a 7-a-side tournament and the CRC2013 finals, it promised to be a day full of soccer activities and spectacle. The day actually kicked off with the draw for the upcoming SCS Cup knock-out tournament and Team OLD drew to play CMC and Team PMC drew to play Salvation Army in the first round of the cup.

Samuel draws TSA in Round 1 of the SCS Cup 2013

Being in 2 different groups, OLD and PMC battled away valiantly in their 3 group games hoping to amass as many points as possible to qualify for the knock-stages in a respectable position. OLD finished the group stage with 2 losses and a draw. The most dramatic match was the final group game against BFEC where OLD practically camped in BFEC's half in search of the win. Unfortunately the closest OLD came to a goal was when Kevin hit the post with only the GK to beat. With that record, OLD finished bottom of its group to compete in the Vase knock-out stage. Team PMC did slightly better than their older counterparts, finishing the group stage with 1 win, 1 loss and a draw to finish 3rd in their group, qualifying for the Shield knock-out stage. 

The Veterans of Team OLD

The 'kids' of Team PMC

Before the knock-out stages started, all players gathered under the tentage for a time of Singspiration and Sharing to acknowledge God's presence during the tournament. Dr Tan from BFEC shared an interesting message of God's love and plan for our lives, through stories of his experience and travels. 

The knock-out stages kicked off with OLD taking the field first in their playoff towards the Vase finals. However, having not played for a couple of hours, the OLD players couldn't warm up fast enough and went down 2-0 to COA quite quickly. Credit to the team, they tried to fight back valiantly and pulled one goal back, but it wasn't enough as the final whistle blew. PMC was up next in their playoff against CMC and the 'kids' played very well, taking the match to their opponents and threatened on numerous occasions. The breakthrough finally came when a run down the wing by Rusydi was followed by a cross and a good finish by David Lim. The 1-0 victory put PMC into the Shield final against BENS. 

Parris, Felix and Mike prepare to defend a COA corner

Eddie on the ball

The final matches of both teams saw OLD take on TSA in the Vase 3rd/4th playoff and PMC taking on BENS in the Shield final. OLD picked themselves up well after the earlier defeat by COA. Putting in all their effort into the final match, they played well against TSA and had a number of chances that couldn't be converted. The match ended 0-0, leading the teams into a sudden death penalty shootout, which OLD won when Michael saved and Jin Yi scored in the first round of kicks. PMC was up next, taking on BENS to be Shield champions. Both teams were evenly matched with action swinging from end to end of the field. There was no breakthrough in terms of goals and PMC also faced a penalty shootout to end the day. However, in the first round of kicks, BENS scored and David Lim missed PMC's first kick to see BENS crowned as Shield champions. 

Jeremy defends tightly against CMC's Adrian

Rusydi on the ball

David starting his all out sprint

The finals of the CRC2013 league saw RLC defeat WMC 1-0 to be crowned overall champions. The prize giving session followed to end the few months worth of soccer competition. 

 Jeremy receiving PMC's participation token in the CRC2013 league

OLD and PMC's trophies from the SoccerTron