Last-gasp Winner Seals it for The Outsiders
1 December 2007
Venue: Tampines Street 83
Opponents: Kluz FC
Starting line-up: Alex, Randy, Chuan Ji, Faizy, Calvin, Chao Xing, , Jiun Wei, Chung Wei, Boon Kee, Steven, Amir
Substitutes: Seng Yew, Clement, Tommy
FT score: 7-6 (HT score: 3-2)
Goals: Boon Kee ('14) , ('26), Chung Wei ('39), Seng Yew ('64), Chao Xing ('74), Amir ('57), ('89).
Assists: Amir (2), Seng Yew, Jiun Wei
Man-Of-Match: Amir
Injuries: Clement (Twisted ankle)
Mavericks FC won a crazy 13-goal thriller at Tampines against a determined Kluz FC on Saturday with the score 7-6. A "clueless" Kluz FC did not know what hit them, after Amir's last minute winner send the Maverick's fans in the rafters to oblivion after a heart-stopping second half which saw both teams scoring at both ends, almost continuously, one after another.
Both sides started well, but the men in blue were stunned when the Kluz captain managed to squeeze past veteran defender Chuan Ji as well as Randy and send his shot flying through the roof of the net. The Mavericks, missing the likes of Boon Leng, Zhi Fei and Wei Jie, as well as Kee Siang (as usual), were running thin in the middle of the park, with only Seng Yew the only natural centre midfielder available. Thus, a makeshift centre-midfield pairing of Chao Xing and Amir was the best the Mavericks could put up before Seng Yew's arrival. However, the introduction of Seng Yew and Tommy changed the team's play, as within minutes, the Mavericks got their equalizer.
A high ball into the Kluz defence was flicked on by Amir with a deft header into the path of Boon Kee who made no mistake with a fine right-footed finish into the bottom corner of the net. Soon after, a brilliant diagonal ball from Seng Yew met Amir, who flicked a neat pass to Boon Kee who ran past the Kluz defence and made it 2-1 for the Mavericks.
Randy and Chung Wei made a couple of great runs down the left, which caused a lot of problems for the relatively slower opponents. Also, Jiun Wei's balls from over the top looking for the runs of Boon Kee added to the Kluz's worries as there were alot of penetration into the opponent's half. This set up an intense first half, which further saw two more goals. Furthermore, Clement was stretchered off after a late, late challenge from the Kluz No. 9 as he went in late for the ball, and caught Clement's ankle in the clash.
Things were going well, until Kluz FC, against the run of play, equalized through a penalty, when Chao Xing was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area. The following penalty was dispatched cleanly, and it was all square once again. However, there was to be more drama at the end of the half, after a seemingly harmless ball was send into the Kluz penalty box. The 2 centrebacks and the keeper simply could not contain Chung Wei's burst into the box, and his sheer determination rewarded him with a fine goal as he bashed through all 3 of them and leaving the keeper injured in the process as it paved an open goal for Chung Wei to tap it home.
Half-time score: Kluz 2 - 3 Mavericks.
The second half started with a bang, as both sides were eager to maintain a grasp of the game. It was a surprisingly open affair as both sides had chances aplenty. It was rather an unusual afternoon, even african referee Charles was amused with the way both sides defended. Or rather, tried to defend. Haha.
Immediately from the restart, Kluz equalized with one of the countless goal-mouth scrambles that the crowds would see in the following half. However, this did not dampen the Maverick's spirits, as Seng Yew curled in a beautiful high diagonal through-pass to Amir, who had timed his run perfectly. Amir was send through one-on-one with the keeper and he took one touch with his right, and placed it into the bottom-corner of the net with his left foot. The crazy goal glut went on and on as 5 minutes later, Kluz FC got another horribly misjudged penalty appeal given to them by the african referee Charles. The accused this time round, Clement, who was re-introduced into the game, was totally speechless when the referee pointed to the spot.
Despite protests of "ball-to-hand", the referee had only this simple reply,
"No no no no....that is not ball to hand. It is handball!!"
And the following penalty was send into the roof of the net, although keeper Alex had a touch of it. 4-4. There were also a couple of great plays as Maverick's centre-back pairing of Faizy and Chuan Ji were even in the thick of the action in the centre of midfield as the team went in search of more goals.
Then, things took for the worst, and despite valiant defending from the Mavericks defence consisting of Faizy, Chuan Ji, Jiun Wei and Clement, coupled by a brilliant couple of saves from Mavericks custodian Alex, Kluz FC got the lead again, this time, with another one of their trademark goal-mouth scrambles. A corner kick was curled in, and a powerful header was sent towards the goal, and it hit Faizy on the head and deflected into the net. It could have been Faizy's first if it weren't on the wrong end of the pitch.
However, the Mavericks midfield never gave up, with the tireless Calvin and Chung Wei bursting down the wings as well as Tommy and Seng Yew running things from the middle, the Mavericks always looked like scoring. And scored they did. A beautiful one at that too.
Guest player Steven was fouled after a good run from midfield, and a freekick was awarded. Up stepped Seng Yew, as he prepared to take the freekick, which was quite a distance away from goal. However, he decided to go for goal, and went for goal he did as he curled in a brilliant 35 yard Beckham-esque freekick from the right side of the field to make things square. What a simply sublime goal!!! 5-5.
The celebration was shortlived. The men in black, spoiled the celebrations as they managed to bundle the ball into the net from another goal-mouth scramble. 5-6. Things were looking rather bleak for the Mavericks until a sublime solo effort from Chao Xing made it 6-6. After a lung-bursting run down the right flank, Chao Xing got past the left-back and sent in tremendous lob that sailed over the keeper and into the net via the top corner. What a brilliant equalizer!!!
Suddenly, it became a one-sided affair for the Outsiders, as they went in search for the winning goal. With the way things are in the match so far, it was not a surprise that either team could have snatched the winner, with the clock fast ticking down. The Mavericks' never-say-die attitude was seen and they got the winner they deserved.
After several chances went begging, Mavericks finally got their winner. With an all-out attack play, which even involved defensive trio Jiun Wei, Faizy and Chuan Ji dribbling into the opponent's half, Boon Kee managed to run down the defender, after being put through by a string of passes from the midfield. The loose ball was picked up by Amir and he got past another defender before flicking the ball over the keeper, and into the roof of the net, sending the Mavericks faithful into jubilation! What a last gasp finish!
The last goal finally broke Kluz FC's spirit. To add on to their misery, the Outsiders resorted to using numbers to hold their precious lead. By adopting an ULTRA-DEFENSIVE formation in the last few minutes of play in stoppage time, and having 11 men behind the ball, soaking up pressure in their own half, Kluz FC could do nothing but send testing shots from outside the box and were mostly harmlessly over and wide.
There were heart-wrenching moments in the dying seconds though, one of which was a corner which was conceded by Randy. The Kluz midfielder curled in the corner which was almost the last-kick of the game, and thankful enough, Amir was there to clear it away with a rare header out of the box.
And soon enough, the referee blew for the final whistle of the game and brought an end to what an amazingly, heart-stopping, thrilling, exhilarating match, with team Mavericks coming out tops 7-6 against a determined Kluz FC. Kudos to the men in blue!
The fans went home happy, cheering on the team and singing an african song.
Venue: Tampines Street 83
Opponents: Kluz FC
Starting line-up: Alex, Randy, Chuan Ji, Faizy, Calvin, Chao Xing, , Jiun Wei, Chung Wei, Boon Kee, Steven, Amir
Substitutes: Seng Yew, Clement, Tommy
FT score: 7-6 (HT score: 3-2)
Goals: Boon Kee ('14) , ('26), Chung Wei ('39), Seng Yew ('64), Chao Xing ('74), Amir ('57), ('89).
Assists: Amir (2), Seng Yew, Jiun Wei
Man-Of-Match: Amir
Injuries: Clement (Twisted ankle)
Mavericks FC won a crazy 13-goal thriller at Tampines against a determined Kluz FC on Saturday with the score 7-6. A "clueless" Kluz FC did not know what hit them, after Amir's last minute winner send the Maverick's fans in the rafters to oblivion after a heart-stopping second half which saw both teams scoring at both ends, almost continuously, one after another.
Both sides started well, but the men in blue were stunned when the Kluz captain managed to squeeze past veteran defender Chuan Ji as well as Randy and send his shot flying through the roof of the net. The Mavericks, missing the likes of Boon Leng, Zhi Fei and Wei Jie, as well as Kee Siang (as usual), were running thin in the middle of the park, with only Seng Yew the only natural centre midfielder available. Thus, a makeshift centre-midfield pairing of Chao Xing and Amir was the best the Mavericks could put up before Seng Yew's arrival. However, the introduction of Seng Yew and Tommy changed the team's play, as within minutes, the Mavericks got their equalizer.
A high ball into the Kluz defence was flicked on by Amir with a deft header into the path of Boon Kee who made no mistake with a fine right-footed finish into the bottom corner of the net. Soon after, a brilliant diagonal ball from Seng Yew met Amir, who flicked a neat pass to Boon Kee who ran past the Kluz defence and made it 2-1 for the Mavericks.
Randy and Chung Wei made a couple of great runs down the left, which caused a lot of problems for the relatively slower opponents. Also, Jiun Wei's balls from over the top looking for the runs of Boon Kee added to the Kluz's worries as there were alot of penetration into the opponent's half. This set up an intense first half, which further saw two more goals. Furthermore, Clement was stretchered off after a late, late challenge from the Kluz No. 9 as he went in late for the ball, and caught Clement's ankle in the clash.
Things were going well, until Kluz FC, against the run of play, equalized through a penalty, when Chao Xing was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area. The following penalty was dispatched cleanly, and it was all square once again. However, there was to be more drama at the end of the half, after a seemingly harmless ball was send into the Kluz penalty box. The 2 centrebacks and the keeper simply could not contain Chung Wei's burst into the box, and his sheer determination rewarded him with a fine goal as he bashed through all 3 of them and leaving the keeper injured in the process as it paved an open goal for Chung Wei to tap it home.
Half-time score: Kluz 2 - 3 Mavericks.
The second half started with a bang, as both sides were eager to maintain a grasp of the game. It was a surprisingly open affair as both sides had chances aplenty. It was rather an unusual afternoon, even african referee Charles was amused with the way both sides defended. Or rather, tried to defend. Haha.
Immediately from the restart, Kluz equalized with one of the countless goal-mouth scrambles that the crowds would see in the following half. However, this did not dampen the Maverick's spirits, as Seng Yew curled in a beautiful high diagonal through-pass to Amir, who had timed his run perfectly. Amir was send through one-on-one with the keeper and he took one touch with his right, and placed it into the bottom-corner of the net with his left foot. The crazy goal glut went on and on as 5 minutes later, Kluz FC got another horribly misjudged penalty appeal given to them by the african referee Charles. The accused this time round, Clement, who was re-introduced into the game, was totally speechless when the referee pointed to the spot.
Despite protests of "ball-to-hand", the referee had only this simple reply,
"No no no no....that is not ball to hand. It is handball!!"
And the following penalty was send into the roof of the net, although keeper Alex had a touch of it. 4-4. There were also a couple of great plays as Maverick's centre-back pairing of Faizy and Chuan Ji were even in the thick of the action in the centre of midfield as the team went in search of more goals.
Then, things took for the worst, and despite valiant defending from the Mavericks defence consisting of Faizy, Chuan Ji, Jiun Wei and Clement, coupled by a brilliant couple of saves from Mavericks custodian Alex, Kluz FC got the lead again, this time, with another one of their trademark goal-mouth scrambles. A corner kick was curled in, and a powerful header was sent towards the goal, and it hit Faizy on the head and deflected into the net. It could have been Faizy's first if it weren't on the wrong end of the pitch.
However, the Mavericks midfield never gave up, with the tireless Calvin and Chung Wei bursting down the wings as well as Tommy and Seng Yew running things from the middle, the Mavericks always looked like scoring. And scored they did. A beautiful one at that too.
Guest player Steven was fouled after a good run from midfield, and a freekick was awarded. Up stepped Seng Yew, as he prepared to take the freekick, which was quite a distance away from goal. However, he decided to go for goal, and went for goal he did as he curled in a brilliant 35 yard Beckham-esque freekick from the right side of the field to make things square. What a simply sublime goal!!! 5-5.
The celebration was shortlived. The men in black, spoiled the celebrations as they managed to bundle the ball into the net from another goal-mouth scramble. 5-6. Things were looking rather bleak for the Mavericks until a sublime solo effort from Chao Xing made it 6-6. After a lung-bursting run down the right flank, Chao Xing got past the left-back and sent in tremendous lob that sailed over the keeper and into the net via the top corner. What a brilliant equalizer!!!
Suddenly, it became a one-sided affair for the Outsiders, as they went in search for the winning goal. With the way things are in the match so far, it was not a surprise that either team could have snatched the winner, with the clock fast ticking down. The Mavericks' never-say-die attitude was seen and they got the winner they deserved.
After several chances went begging, Mavericks finally got their winner. With an all-out attack play, which even involved defensive trio Jiun Wei, Faizy and Chuan Ji dribbling into the opponent's half, Boon Kee managed to run down the defender, after being put through by a string of passes from the midfield. The loose ball was picked up by Amir and he got past another defender before flicking the ball over the keeper, and into the roof of the net, sending the Mavericks faithful into jubilation! What a last gasp finish!
The last goal finally broke Kluz FC's spirit. To add on to their misery, the Outsiders resorted to using numbers to hold their precious lead. By adopting an ULTRA-DEFENSIVE formation in the last few minutes of play in stoppage time, and having 11 men behind the ball, soaking up pressure in their own half, Kluz FC could do nothing but send testing shots from outside the box and were mostly harmlessly over and wide.
There were heart-wrenching moments in the dying seconds though, one of which was a corner which was conceded by Randy. The Kluz midfielder curled in the corner which was almost the last-kick of the game, and thankful enough, Amir was there to clear it away with a rare header out of the box.
And soon enough, the referee blew for the final whistle of the game and brought an end to what an amazingly, heart-stopping, thrilling, exhilarating match, with team Mavericks coming out tops 7-6 against a determined Kluz FC. Kudos to the men in blue!
The fans went home happy, cheering on the team and singing an african song.
posted by The Outsider at
6:58 PM
