Denied at the Death (Champions Cup RO 16)

Ang Mo Kio Sec, 1500 Hrs

Aft extra time:

YSOSRS FC 2 Primero 3 [2-2 Normal Time]

(Syafiq x1, Eric x1)

Sunday games are not for us at all. But the honour of playing against the best remained a huge temptation when we were invited.  And thus the boys suited up and trotted up north to AMK Sec where we faced reigning champions of the Espzen Champs Cup, Primero FC.

We scraped through the qualifying round against Team Spirit in an insipid performance but today we were up against the reigning champs and arguably on paper, the hot favourites for the tie.

The squad we had today fought hard and battled long against a surprisingly huge Primero squad that was assembled. Sources revealed that they had at least a good 18-20 men squad. Something normally associated with the jokers. Oh well. 

To the match!! 

And before one could even settle down comfortably to our positions, I exaggerate here but a quick fire early goal allowed us to draw first blood. Good interchange between Yas, Law and Dinie down the left stretched the Primero backline. When the ball was eventually swung in, it was left to old man Dee to gedek on the ball that left our opponents baffled. 

This set up returning Vice Captain, Syafiqo to finish expertly from the edge of the box. 1-0 and Primero were shell shocked. 

I guess that was probably the reason why they seemingly struggled to get into any sort of rhythm but truth is that the Jokers stuck to our shape for the rest of the half with hardly any notably dangerous moments from both sides. Of course, our backline was expertly marshaled by Hafiz in a superb defensive performance during the half. 

1-0 to the Pinkies.

Hearsay that Primero were gonna come at us hard and stuff during the half time break so we braced ourselves for a battle while the gaffer unwittingly showered praise on himself during the team talk. Ahh the joy...

Anyway we remained very much solid despite the expected onslaught and looked oh so comfortable until.... the moment. Everything came to naught when we shot ourselves in the foot and I have to say gifted our opponents the equaliser. Comical and heart wrenching for all the effort we'd put in. But of course, we move on as usual folks. No joker is left behind. Meh. 1-1.

Well anyway, we settled ourselves down and went for the jugular again upon kicking off. That fatal blow that we'd hope to deal duly came when Ubai swung in a peach of a diagonal ball that evaded the orgy in the centre for our onrushing fullback, Eric to finish. 2-1 and daring to dream. I have to say that the finishing was confident and assured. A real surprise for the gaffer! 2-1 Jokers now with 15 minutes to go. Ooooh boy.

However, fatigue and tiredness to our small squad soon set in and the equaliser duly came with minutes to go in the normal 80 mins. A thumping header off a corner kick although both the player marking the goalscorer (me if you were wondering) and our keeper could arguably have done better. 2-2 with seconds to go. Heartbreak. 

Extra time came along and 2 halves of 5 mins each were to be played. Fatigue levels at this point were killing not just us but Primero. And with hardly anything significant happening plus penalty shootouts almost upon us.... With literally the last kick of the game in open play, a scorching long range shot was unleashed that lobbed over our keeper and hit the top corner. Perfect goal from our opponents perspective to win the game. Not for me though. 

2-3 as the jokers crash out of their 1st appearance in the Champions Cup in the cruelest of fashions.

Tough luck from our point of view as we stuck to our game plan for long periods of the game only to come unstuck due to a lack of concentration at crucial times. Whatever the case, we came, we played and we gave our heart. 

After a tough league campaign last time round, the boys have really taken to our recruits and vice versa. Keep it up and show greater resilience you all. We will have our time in the limelight eventually. 


And this is a special shoutout to the wags and anyone else supporting us... Thank you for taking the time to read this and supporting your boys, friends or whatever all year round. Come down whenever you can aite. =D