TEAM PRODIGY’s convincing 3-1 victory over Red Star Semangat at First Toa Payoh Secondary on Sunday, coupled with their superior goal difference brought them deservingly back to the top of MATADOR Sunday League Division 7.
Neatly taken goals from Brandon, Hong Yao and Mick, albeit a brief fight back from Semangat in the second half, helped seal the game for Prodigy. Although the match was marred by some poor (read: atrocious!!!) refereeing decisions, pitch invasion (!!!) and a few bust ups, cool heads from on and off the pitch helped keep the situation under control.
Barely 2 minutes from kick off, Prodigy’s centre back Shaun gave away a free kick with what seemed like a legitimate tackle outside the penalty area. All Semangat could come up with was a meek shot at goal and Jiahui hardly broke a sweat. Prodigy swiftly launched their first attack from the goalkick. Mick’s shot seemed to be heading into the top right corner of the net until it was palmed to safety by Semangat’s keeper. Fired up by Mick’s effort, Prodigy clicked into top gear and never looked back. A goalmouth scramble in the 9th minute lead to a shot by Hong Yao that was placed just wide. Minutes later Bernard came close with a shot on his right foot, to the wonderment of those at the sideline. Brandon then came on for the animated Bernard who was complaining his feet was burning and Derek for Ali midway into the first half.
GOAL! A brilliant pass by Longkun from the midfield found Brandon in space on the left. Brandon’s burst of pace and supreme ball control proved too much for the last man to handle and he calmly slotted the ball into the net.
In the 27th minute, Wilson substituted Kel, who must have had a great time (wo)man marking the only female player on the pitch. At this point, it was in the WAGS professional judgement that the possession must be 65-35 or better to Team Prodigy, and they were more than glad to be supporting the guys in grey. A minute or so later, Ken who has been a nuisance to Semangat right from the start burned not one, not two but THREE Semangat players to thread the ball cleverly to Mick. The latter unselfishly laid it for Hong Yao who fired the shot first time just over the bar.
GOAL! Two minutes before the stroke of halftime, Hong Yao was put through one on one by a smart flick by Mick (it rhymes! Haha!) to curl the ball to the right bottom, beyond the outstretched arms of the keeper. It looked a tad offside to the WAGS though. But given the referee’s 1001 wrong offside decisions earlier and later, Prodigy would gladly take that.
The second half kicked off with anticipation for more goals by the WAGS. I mean why not, given Prodigy’s exceptional first half performance. Kel substituted Weng at right back, Ali came back on for Derek, Hong Yao was slotted into midfield to replace Ken and Brandon partnered Mick upfront. A cross field free kick from the left taken by Wilson found Ali sprinting towards the far post but just missed connecting on what could have been the third goal of the match.
Neatly taken goals from Brandon, Hong Yao and Mick, albeit a brief fight back from Semangat in the second half, helped seal the game for Prodigy. Although the match was marred by some poor (read: atrocious!!!) refereeing decisions, pitch invasion (!!!) and a few bust ups, cool heads from on and off the pitch helped keep the situation under control.
Barely 2 minutes from kick off, Prodigy’s centre back Shaun gave away a free kick with what seemed like a legitimate tackle outside the penalty area. All Semangat could come up with was a meek shot at goal and Jiahui hardly broke a sweat. Prodigy swiftly launched their first attack from the goalkick. Mick’s shot seemed to be heading into the top right corner of the net until it was palmed to safety by Semangat’s keeper. Fired up by Mick’s effort, Prodigy clicked into top gear and never looked back. A goalmouth scramble in the 9th minute lead to a shot by Hong Yao that was placed just wide. Minutes later Bernard came close with a shot on his right foot, to the wonderment of those at the sideline. Brandon then came on for the animated Bernard who was complaining his feet was burning and Derek for Ali midway into the first half.
GOAL! A brilliant pass by Longkun from the midfield found Brandon in space on the left. Brandon’s burst of pace and supreme ball control proved too much for the last man to handle and he calmly slotted the ball into the net.
In the 27th minute, Wilson substituted Kel, who must have had a great time (wo)man marking the only female player on the pitch. At this point, it was in the WAGS professional judgement that the possession must be 65-35 or better to Team Prodigy, and they were more than glad to be supporting the guys in grey. A minute or so later, Ken who has been a nuisance to Semangat right from the start burned not one, not two but THREE Semangat players to thread the ball cleverly to Mick. The latter unselfishly laid it for Hong Yao who fired the shot first time just over the bar.
GOAL! Two minutes before the stroke of halftime, Hong Yao was put through one on one by a smart flick by Mick (it rhymes! Haha!) to curl the ball to the right bottom, beyond the outstretched arms of the keeper. It looked a tad offside to the WAGS though. But given the referee’s 1001 wrong offside decisions earlier and later, Prodigy would gladly take that.
The second half kicked off with anticipation for more goals by the WAGS. I mean why not, given Prodigy’s exceptional first half performance. Kel substituted Weng at right back, Ali came back on for Derek, Hong Yao was slotted into midfield to replace Ken and Brandon partnered Mick upfront. A cross field free kick from the left taken by Wilson found Ali sprinting towards the far post but just missed connecting on what could have been the third goal of the match.
GOAL! Instead, that moment came in the 45th minute. After some neat interplay by Prodigy’s cheeky trio of Brandon, Bernard and Mick in the penalty box, Mick tricked the defender as he faked to shoot before unleashing a real shot into goal.
Ten minutes later, the blazing afternoon sun took a toll on Hong Yao and he was promptly replaced by Player/Manager Ken. Despite the three goal margin, it was simply not in Prodigy’s character to sit back. Immediately, Brandon was put through yet again but shot just over.
GOAL! Over at the other end, Semangat’s pursuit for their first goal was rewarded after a lovely chip over Jiahui who, to his credit, did track back but in vain.
Given Prodigy’s 2 goal advantage, they had the luxury to tinker the squad and rest players for the next match. On came Weiyi for Wilson, who had been rock solid as Prodigy’s left back throughout the match. Then the unexpected happened! PITCH INVASION! (Pls see video below) By now, both teams were increasingly frustrated by the referee’s inconsistency (or consistently bad calls) on both ends. Notably, Ken got booked for being tackled just because he did not roll 3.5 rounds on the ground and scream until the entire Kim Keat is made aware of the match going on, and Bahrin was let off on a mistimed lunging tackle with no intention to play the ball (Heng ah!). In addition, Bernard and Mick were penalized for their superior pace over the defenders and were signaled offside in what seemed like the referee’s own weird interpretation of the offside rule. In yet another bizarre incident, Weiyi was forced off the pitch as his boots gave way in mid air?!?!?! Wilson came back on for Weiyi while Weng took the right back position from Manager Mentor Kel. This entertaining match eventually concluded with the last clear chance of the match by Semangat that was cleared off the line by the ever alert Wilson ala Vidic.
Final Score:
TEAM PRODIGY 3 RED STAR SEMANGAT 1
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