Another Title Race Ends in Tears

Tampines Sec, 1500 Hrs

YSOSRS 3 St Andrews 4

(Alvin x2, Ubai)

The high of a comeback victory against Intense last weekend saw us daring to dream of a miraculous comeback in this season's title race. 

Yet we failed so miserably in replicating that this weekend as we went down 0-3 by the hour mark. Our play was as clueless as it could get and the entire side was in absolute shambles. St Andrews capitalised well on our mistakes and were undoubtedly the better side. 

Yet the hour mark changed things and all of a sudden we were playing the football that we knew we could play. Through balls and incisive passing became our lethal weapon with our winger Alvinaldo living up to his name with 2 fine ass finishes. The 2nd was a particularly astonishing strike from hardly any angle. 

The fightback was on and it was completed when our midfield maestro curled a freekick home from the edge of the box to make it 3-3 with 3 minutes to go. 

Needing all 3 points in order to stay in the title race, we pushed men forward and were given a Beckham vs Greece chance in the final minute. We failed to replicate the end result and with chaos reigning... Yet another mistake at the back resulted in Firdaus who was a torn all afternoon finish with aplomb. 

3-4 in an exhilarating contest that more or less sums up our season. The football that we know how to play allows us to compete with any of the sides in this division, yet our naive nature and tendency to resort to the English style leaves us fighting hard to shed the tag of perennial underachievers yet again. 

Thank you for the clash St Andrews and to the rest of the contesting teams, we will continue to maintain the integrity of this sexciting title race by playing our best in our remaining games. 

May the best team emerge triumphant. Cheers. 

At The Death

First Toa Payoh Sec, 1500 Hrs

Intense 1 YSOSRS 2 

(Dinie x1, AhCool x1)

It was very much deja vu today. 5 minutes into the game and with players playing out of position, we conceded the 1st goal via a Lionel throw in (for the umpteenth time). The mass orgy in the following scenes were one that we had seen far too often. The pinkies could have perhaps been forgiven hanging their heads, something that we had been accustomed to in recent meetings.

Yet unsurprisingly with the relevant personnel back in their right positions, Le Jokers finally  got a foothold in the game and created half chances to show signs of a fightback. One such chance saw AhCool beat his marker and produce a cutback for Hafeez to side foot a thumping shot against the bar. Undoubtedly the closest either side came to scoring in the 1st half after the goal. 

The 2nd saw us throw everything them pinkies had at Intense. Knowing that only a win would keep our slim title hopes alive, an Alvinaldo special very nearly dragged us back on level terms. Showing excellent speed to latch onto a brilliant diagonal, a shimmy and with half a yard of space produced, the diminutive winger powered a left foot shot that had the keeper beaten but not the inside of the post. The ball rolled agonizingly across the goal line to add to the despair of the pinkies. 

The moment for comeback came as a result of a corner swung in by AhCool. The lofted ball into the box was emphatically powered into the back of the net via the onrushing magician, Dinietov. 1-1 with minutes to play and Le Jokers had seemingly gotten a point out of nothing. 

It could only get better to the surprise of the gaffer as a long ball from the centre was chased down by Khai who showed himself to be a useful forward outlet in times of need. The Intense keeper's error of judgement left Khai needing to stretch fully to cross the ball into the box for the waiting AhCool. The man with an eye for a good bargain, whenever, wherever eventually nodded into the empty net from 6 yards. Cue moment of euphoric celebrations. 

For once after many a heartbreak against Intense at the death, them jokers pulled one out of the bag with a late showing of their own. Top notch stuff fellas. Keep it going yo~