Soccer Fellowship [20th March]

Soccer Fellowship is on this Saturday, 20th March at Pasir Ris Secondary School*. The session will be from 5 - 7 pm. We were unable to secured the usual time slot for the field this month and so we hope this later start will be pleasing to those who prefer some cooler weather!

We will split the teams according to DARK and BRIGHT jerseys for this session , so please bring BOTH just in case we need to balance the teams out.

See you on Saturday and please pray for good weather!

*The address of Pasir Ris Secondary School is 390 Tampines Street 21. The car park nearest to the school field is along block 253. The map of the area around the school can be viewed HERE.

VETERANS 6-1 WIN OVER CPC IN THEIR MAIDEN AGAPE CUP 2010 OUTING

PMC Starting 11:
GK - Kelvin
RB - John S, CB - James, CB - Mark, LB - Adrian
RM - Ronnie, CM - George, CM - Kevin, LM - David H
CF - Steve, CF - Martin

Subs:
Andy C for John S (HT)
David T for Mark (HT)
Ramon for George (HT)
Daniel for David H (HT)
Jeffrey for Kevin (60m)
Justin for Martin (65m)
Derrick for Ronnie (70m)

Unused Subs:
John C, Sean, Joel, Yuen Wai, Raymond

It was raining heavily when the Veterans arrived at the Hiding Place for the start of their Agape Cup campaign against Covenant Presbyterian Church (CPC).

Just when everyone thought the game would be cancelled due to the soggy pitch conditions, the rain ligthened to a drizzle just long enough for the referee to give the go ahead. The mood of the players immediately bouyed as everyone started to kit-up in earnest.

After Singspiration and Devotions led by Yuen Wai, the teams took to the pitch with PMC's starting 11 consisting of a mix of regulars and new faces. Both teams struggled with the soggy pitch with passes stopping short and dribbles being stuck in the small ponds that formed throughout the pitch.

Playing a 4-4-2 formation, the physically stronger PMC team was first to adapt to the water ponding problems with long passes to their front men of Steve and Martin who had a few early shots at goal. With the rain starting to fall heavily again, it became apparent very early on from these tentative shots at goal that the CPC goalkeeper was decidedly nervous. The PMC team forged forward to take advantage of this perceived weakness in the opponents.

The PMC midfield comprising of Dave (left wing), Kevin (centre mid), George (centre mid) and Ronnie (right wing) were more aggressive than their opponents and thus controlled the midfield. The height advantage of Kevin and George in the centre also contributed tremendously in allowing PMC to keep possession.

The 1st goal started down the left flank with Dave and Kevin working the ball into the opponents half. Kevin sent a long cross-field pass to Ronnie on the right wing taking the opponents by surpise. After dribbling past his marker at the touch line, Ronnie sent a curling left foot shot into the left corner of the goal taking the nervous keeper completely by surprise. This sent the (dry) PMC fans, who had taken shelter under the zinc roof along the touch lines, into loud cheers and shouts! High fives were also seen being exchanged between the (wet) players on the field.

The 2nd goal came shortly after. The play again started from the mid-field where PMC was firmly in control. The ball was passed to Steve who sent a long stiff shot into the top left hand corner past the bewildered keeper. The goal was almost identical to the earlier goal scored by Ronnie earlier. The weakness of the opponents keeper was being exploited to the fullest.

The opponents had a few opportunities at scoring but were stopped mostly in their tracks by the back four comprised of John Simpson (right back), Mark (Centre), James (Centre) and Adrain (left back). The main threat came down the left flanks from the opponents no.14 who had already been identified from the youtube videos as the man to mark! Adrain dealt with him comfortably and on those occasions where he managed to cut into the centre, James and Mark gave him no room to manouvre.

There were a few scary moments for PMC when the opponent's no. 14 managed to send a cross from the right but the opponents lacked the finish to score in the ensuing goal mouth melee. PMC had an extra '12th player' in the form of a large puddle of water in front of our goal mouth which on one occasion stopped the ball on the goal line when it seemed to be headed for the goal!

Kelvin, who was keeping goal for PMC, had a torried time dealing with the wet conditions and was forced on several occasions to take a 'bath' in the large puddle of water in front of him just in order to get on top of the ball! The brand-new silver goalkeeper's jersey looked like it had seen better days!

The 3rd goal came again from a cross from the midfield. Martin, who was facing away from goal, rose to meet the header and flicked the ball backwards. The dipping ball eluded the opponents keeper who was now truly demoralised. By this time, the opponents had totally lost all confidence in their keeper, who by all accounts looked like he was merely a stand-in for their regular keeper. One of the opponent's defenders took over as keeper and their nervous keeper was unceremoniously substituted by another midfielder.

The opponent's fortunes however did not change for the better with the substitutions. PMC's 4th goal came courtesy of Steve who scored from a beautiful cross from the left wing. This was Steve's 2nd goal and everyone on the PMC bench was now rooting for a hat-trick.

By now the opponents frustrations at the water-logged conditions was getting the best of them, although to their credit, they kept their cool and did not commit any rash tackles.

The 1st half ended with the score at 4-0 in favour of PMC.

During the half-time and in the 2nd half, Mark (Captain) made several substitutions with David Teong, Andy, Jeffrey, Derrick, Daniel, Ramon and Justin coming on to replace Mark, John Simpson, Dave, Ronnie, Kevin, George and Martin.

The team was also re-organised with Ramon and Steve in front, Daniel, Justin, Derrick and Jeffrey in the midfield and James, Andy, David and Adrain at the back.

PMC was now attacking the water-logged end of the pitch. Surprisingly, this did not deter the PMC attack and the 5th goal and Steve's hat-trick came from a cross from Ronnie on the right wing after a mazy run along the goal line. The cross eluded all the defenders and fell to Steve, who had positioned himself at the left goal post, for a simple tap in from the only 'dry' spot in front of the opponent's goal!

The 5th goal put a "comfortable" distance between PMC and our opponents. Justin was overhead saying "I dont think we even scored this many goals for the entire Agape Cup last year!" (to be verified).

As the rain had stopped by now and the ground was much drier, the opponent's pace was more apparent. A move down the right wing saw the off-side trap being beaten and resulted in a consolation goal for the opponents.

By now, time was running out for the opponents and PMC finished off the game with their 6th goal which started off down the right flank by Justin who evaded a few defenders before firing a stiff right foot shot into the bottom right hand corner of the goal.

The PMC defence held off further challenges by the opponents and the referee blew the final whistle to end the opponents misery.

Overrall the game was fairly played, with good sportsmanship all round. It was obvious that the rain played to PMC's advantage as it slowed down the play considerably and prevented the opponents from capitalising on their pace.

As always, the mid-field played a crucial role in the game and the bigger built of the PMC players compared to their opponents worked in our favour.

Several positive observations from the side-lines:

a. TEAMWORK was the key to the team's success against CPC - the attackers comprising Steve, Martin and Ramon worked together with the midfield as 1 cohesive unit. The attackers constantly tracked backed to challenge for the ball in the midfield leaving the midfield to pick up lose balls.

This meant that there was effectively 6 PMC players vs 4 CPC players in the midfield. Of course having fit attackers played a part and in this regard, Martin, Steve and Ramon are to be commended.

b. Tall midfielders - the 2 tall midfielders Kevin and George provided a target for Kelvin our keeper to aim for. Also they won quite a few balls that came from the opponent's goal kicks. This put a lot of pressure on the opponent's defence as the game was played mostly in their half.

c. Short passes - although we had quick wingers, they chose to make short passes instead of dribbling down the line. This allowed the midfield to play as a close unit and supported each other going up. Of course the water-logged pitch did not allow for much dribbling to begin with but this provided a valuable lesson in the merits of short passes.

d. Commitment to tackles - all players especially defenders were committed to their tackles. This gave us a psychological advantage as CPC knew from early on that PMC would not shy away from hard but fair tackling. The centres, Mark and James, also did a great job covering the right and left backs with hard tackles whenever the pacier wingers evaded the left/right backs.

Photos from Agape Cup Opening Match .vs. CPC

Pending the full report from Yuen Wai and the video footage courtesy of Voxsports, here are some photos from today's 6 - 1 victory over Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Players arrived early, kitted up and waited for the rain to stop


New faces to the squad this season - Dave & John


Ronnie wondering when the rain would stop


PMC Veterans ready to go!


'Wet' would be an understatement


James going in hard to win the ball


Celebrating Veterans' 1st goal of the season, by Ronnie


Supporters watching intensely


The manager barking out instructions from the bench


Andy goes for the long throw!

Gleeful supporters cheering the team on


James & David Teong ready to tackle any opponent


Justin running along


Steve & Justin chasing down a ball to show commitment


Derrick in full flight

Soccer Fellowship Report [6th March]

With soccer fellowship starting at 5pm instead of at the usual time of 3pm, the cool overcast skies (or was it the haze?) were certainly a welcome relief from the usual scorching 3pm sun. Bangshi led us in devotion from the Book of James as we welcomed more new players to our Soccer Community.

Both sides formed up according to the Whites and the Blues and it was evident that the Whites were comprised of mostly the younger players (and maybe 1 or 2 who were pretending to be young) with the Blues chock full of experienced players.

The match kicked off with play tentative in the opening 15 minutes as both sides tried to suss each other out. The Whites were having plenty of possession and stroking the ball about comfortably without ever really threatening as the Blues did enough to snuff out any threats.

Midway through the first half the Whites finally got the breakthrough they needed as some good play by Jingzhong down the left flank resulted in the ball finding it’s way to Yi Jun as he made no mistake from inside the box. Whites 1 – Blues 0. There was little to choose from between the teams thereafter as the Blues started to get into the game with good passing and movement resulting in some credible opportunities for the Blues. But with no further goals resulting the first half drew to a close. Half time score: Whites 1 – Blues 0.

The second half kicked off after both teams took a breather as the Blues looked to get back into the game as the Whites looked to consolidate and further their lead. The younger Whites were clearly the fresher of the 2 teams as they upped the tempo and stretched the Blues down the flanks thus creating more space in midfield for them to exploit. The Blues to their credit doggedly stuck to their task as the Whites weren’t finding it easy to break them down. But it wasn’t long before the Whites exploited the extra space created in midfield as some strong tackling and good passing resulted in Andrew drilling a shot past the keeper as he took his chance early before the Blues’ defence could close him down. Whites 2 – Blues 0. This gave the Whites the confidence they needed as they started to take the game to the Blues and momentum was clearly on their side. Further good play in midfield enabled the Whites to go a further goal up as their younger legs were getting them first to every 50-50 ball and clearly giving them the extra impetus. Whites 3 – Blues 0. The Blues however never gave up and always looked threatening on the break with good target man play by Steve and Ramon. It was one’ve those breaks which resulted in a goal for the Blues as Steve controlled a ball lobbed over the top and calmly put it past Joel who was in goal for the Whites. It was clinical finishing and scarcely more than the Blues deserved for all their good play so far. Whites 3 – Blues 1.

There wasn’t much time left on the clock before the game drew to a close and we closed in prayer giving thanks for another good session of inury-free football.

Full time score: Whites 3 – Blues 1

Soccer Fellowship [6th Mar]

Soccer Fellowship is on this Saturday, 6th March at Pasir Ris Secondary School*. The session will be from 5 - 7 pm. We were unable to secured the usual time slot for the field this month and so we hope this later start will be pleasing to those who prefer some cooler weather!

We will split the teams according to DARK and BRIGHT jerseys for this session , so please bring BOTH just in case we need to balance the teams out.

See you on Saturday and please pray for good weather!

*The address of Pasir Ris Secondary School is 390 Tampines Street 21. The car park nearest to the school field is along block 253. The map of the area around the school can be viewed HERE.

Friendly match Veterans .vs. CMC Report [27th Feb]

The scorching heat from previous outings never seemed to let up as PMC and CMC gathered for a friendly at St Patrick’s School before their respective campaign starts at the Agape Cup in a few weeks. CMC easily had 20 players ready to go at kick-off time while the PMC team had barely their starting 11. Thank God Yuen Wai and John Chia streamed in so that PMC could have a full team at the start. With a number of regulars missing, Justin helped to organize a somewhat make-shift 4-5-1 team for kick-off. Regular Kelvin was in goal with the back four of Mark Leong, David Teong, John and Yuen Wai. Dave and John Chia took the wings while Justin, David Sng and Steve held the midfield together with Ramon up front.

PMC was on the back foot right from the kick-off with CMC’s speed and teamwork clearly causing big problems. Within the first 15 minutes, CMC got their first goal through one of those moves that found its way right pass our defense for the CMC striker to slot home. CMC 1 – PMC 0.

With Michael Chua, Daniel, Parris and Felix arriving, PMC started to substitute some of the more weary legs and in particular, Daniel provided fresh impetus by taking over David Sng in the holding midfield role. PMC quickly stringed together a few decent plays with one finally reaching the back of the net. The move started with Justin breaking the run of play with a tackle in midfield and passing the ball to Steve who made a through pass down the flank to Dave, whose stiff cross into the box was guided into goal by Ramon. CMC 1 – PMC 1.

The score remained the same at half-time and while CMC brought on many more fresh legs at the half, the obviously more senior PMC team looked more worn out throughout the 2nd half. However, the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half did see PMC heap significant pressure on the CMC defense though none quite found the mark. Quickly, CMC turned the tables and it seemed that every failed PMC attack almost led to a goal being conceded on the opposite end. One such counter-attack led to CMC’s 2nd goal with a lob totally beating PMC’s offside trap and the CMC striker easily stroked the ball pass Michael Chua. Not long after, another long ball from CMC was slightly misjudged by Mike who allowed the pursuing CMC striker to steal the ball and roll it into the empty net. Kudos to John who tried his best to keep it out only to tumble into the goal with the ball.

Both sides tried to improve their score towards the end but to no avail and final score, CMC 3 – PMC 1.

Clearly, some of the key feedback from the players was:

• Lack of key regular players, especially in central midfield
• Silly mistakes cost the team the advantage
• Not enough passing
• Lack of fitness prevented the team from moving up and down as a unit
• Lack of awareness of positioning and where team mates were

Reported by : Justin Ang & Mark Leong

Friendly match Galacticos .vs. KKMC Report [27th Feb]

It was a very warm afternoon over at Pasir Ris Secondary School as some players arrived late. As only 8 of Kampong Kapor Methodist Church's players turned up, 3 of PMC's senior players took the place of KKMC's team to make it 11 a piece.

Both side had a fair share of possession, before Daniel played a nice throughball over KKMC's defence and Jingzhong latched onto the ball and slot it pass the keeper for a 1-0 lead.

Not long after, the Galacticos made some good passes in the midfield and the ball was played to Lincoln who then released a through-ball. Yi Jun made a perfect timed run from deep to lose his marker to slot it home for 2-0.

The third goal came when Jingzhong received the ball from the left wing and played a through ball for Lincoln to finish it for a 3-0 lead.

The forth goal came within 5 minutes when Kee Min got the ball from the left flank and shrug off 2 defenders to roll the ball past the keeper and into the net.

Half time. The Galacticos played a steady half to earn a 4-0 lead.

Second half, KKMC were holding a lot more possession and started to tear the Galacticos apart through miscommunications.

The fifth goal came after Galacticos keeper Joel made a long goalkick where the ball went out at the side of KKMC's penalty box. KKMC player made the throw-in to the keeper, only to be pressured by 3 attackers in that area including the thrower. KKMC keeper showed some inexperience after he handled the ball just outside the 6-yard area which resulted in an indirect penalty to Galacticos. Referee rushed to the spot and KKMC were organising their wall when Lincoln told the referee he didnt want a wall and made a pass to Kee Min where he took a pot-shot and scored into the top-right corner.

Galacticos sixth goal came when Rusydi received the ball from a clearance and he dribbled past 3 players from the halfway line and into the penalty box only to be held up unfairly which resulted in a penalty. After the long burst from midfield, Rusydi maintained composure to convert the penalty into the right side of the goal.

Being sixth goal down, KKMC threw all out in their attack which won them a goal when a poor clearance on the right provided KKMC's winger a chance to get a quick cross in whom their striker's had lots of time to blast past Joel.

Their 2nd goals arrived when KKMC was awarded a freekick when their striker was stopped unfairly. The freekick flew over Galacticos keeper, who was on the edge of the 6 yard box.

Final score, Galacticos 6 - 2 KKMC.

It was a good training game for Galacticos and it showed there is a lot more areas to improve on where early in the first half, the Galacticos earned three goals from through balls, which show the importance of more passing in midfield to open up the opponent's defence. In the second half, when most of us are tired, we were still playing through balls and did not switch the ball to opposite flanks when it's congested. We should play more passes to the feet so we can minimize the waste of energy. Switch the flanks more often to open up play.

Soccer Fellowship Report [20th Feb]

It was a nice cool afternoon as players gathered for this session. It wasn't as hot as previous weeks, but the field looked like the lack of rain had taken its toll on it. Players kitted up and got ready before John ushered us in for devotion. We welcomed Dave from the UK, who has only been in Singapore for 4 weeks. John shared on the topic of carrying one another's burdens, using a number of illustrations to show how helping one another can encourage people and also please God. This is so true on the soccer field, when all of us have different strengths, weaknesses, experience and fitness levels. Working together as a team helps make us all stronger!

As everyone who turned up would be involved in this year's Agape Cup, the Galacticos in Red/White faced off against the Veterans in Blue. The match started quite evenly but soon, the pace of the Galacticos' counter-attacking game caught the Veterans out on a number of occasions, although no goals were scored yet. During this time, the clear-cut chances actually fell at the feet of the Veterans but neither Steve, Andy or Kevin was able to break the deadlock. This wastefulness on goal was to frustrate the Veterans as the Galacticos were 3-0 up in no time, with only 3 shots on goal. All goals came from counter-attacks when the Veterans committed too many players forward. Yi Jun, Timothy and Marcus were the gleeful scorers of the goals. It was only after some tactical re-organisation and the arrival of Yuen Wai and Justin that the Veterans scored their first goal. A neat move saw the ball move from Andy to Justin before Steve scored from the right of the 18-yard box. It was surprising that the Veterans did not capitalise on this change of fortunes, again allowing the Galacticos to spring a quick counter-attack where Damien (who had come on mid-way through the 1st half) to blast a left-foot shot pass Michael Chua in goal. It was 4-1 to the Galacticos at the half!

The Veterans did more re-organisation after the break, most notably moving Ronnie further upfield, after he had spent the 1st half as right-back. This paid dividends immediately as he orchestrated a number of moves which pushed the Veterans goalwards. A number of these resulted in offside decisions, but the intent was clear. The breakthrough finally came when a one-two found Ronnie spring the offside trap to slot the ball pass Joel in goal. A few more good moves saw Justin and Dave score to level the match at 4-4. It was all to play for at this stage, and the Veterans turned out to be the hungrier ones. Ronnie led the charge with a slalom run through the Galacticos' defence, faking the last defender Marcus before slotting the ball pass Joel. In a few minutes, Ronnie completed his hat-trick when he showed good close control in the box to fire the Veterans up 6-4. The Galacticos had lost control of the match in midfield and many of their chances were hopeful punts. It was only at the last kick of the game when they managed to capitalise on the complacency of the Veterans to break through on goal and have Jingzhong score by lobbing Yuen Wai in goal. It was a most entertaining goal-ful session.

Ronnie gave the post-match de-brief and encouraged all to work on their fitness, first-touch and composure. He and Steve also encouraged the Galacticos to work on their team-work, instead of playing individually, and to not be discouraged when things don't go their way. Yuen Wai closed us in prayer and thanked God for keeping all of us injury-free.

Soccer Fellowship [20th Feb]

Welcome back from the Chinese New Year break. We hope you've had a good time catching up with family & friends. Soccer Fellowship is on this Saturday, 20th February at Pasir Ris Secondary School*. The session will be from 3 - 5 pm.

We will split the teams according to DARK and BRIGHT jerseys for this session , so please bring BOTH just in case we need to balance the teams out.

See you on Saturday and please pray for good weather!

*The address of Pasir Ris Secondary School is 390 Tampines Street 21. The car park nearest to the school field is along block 253. The map of the area around the school can be viewed HERE.

Soccer Fellowship Report [6th Feb]

Like previous weeks, the weather was ferociously scorching hot at 3pm. But it didn’t deter too many of our usual soccer enthusiasts and about 20 people had arrived within the first ten minutes. After some warming up and kicking around, Justin gathered everyone to start with a short devotion from Ecclesiastes 3:1 on how God created the unique seasons in nature and in our lives. He shared how these seasons work together to bring about God’s will for each one of us and encouraged us to look to the God of the seasons to make sense of wherever we are at in our personal lives.

As usual, the teams split into the reds/whites and the blues with the whites dominated mainly by our younger players while the blues were obviously more senior. With only 10 a side at this stage, play was free flowing and it was the blues who started off more promisingly with many well strung plays but were let down by their finishing. Hitting on a quick counter-attack, the reds/whites scored first with Choon Heng taking a stiff shot from the right. Blues keeper Kelvin couldn’t do much as the ball slipped under him.

With Michael and Kevin taking the field for each team, the blues finally made one of their attacks count with a brilliant in-swinging shot from Kevin just outside the penalty box on the left to level it 1-1 for the blues. A loose ball went over the fence and play stopped for half-time.

The second half sprung to life with a total of five goals. The first of the five was a result of a good move down the left flank by blues Daniel Chen cutting in pass the defenders and the miscommunication between him and Justin confused the approaching reds/whites keeper Nigel who let the ball roll right under him and into the goal, 2-1. The reds/whites bounced back rather quickly, this time courtesy of Damian Chee who placed the ball in the right corner from a decent move down the left flank. Here on out, the play was mostly dominated by the blues who managed 3 more goals by Ramon, Steve and Daniel Chen in the last minute.

Final score – Blues 5, Reds/Whites 2.

Overall, it was a good run-out for everyone and thank God no one passed out from the heat!