Gracing the Pitch of Hell.

The match played at Tanglin Field pitch 3 seemed as inviting as having a mud fight than a soccer match.

The game played out on a sunny afternoon on 25 Aug 07 after some light rain in the morning. This soaked the grassless areas of the pitch, and created many patches of soft, uncompromising mud areas.

Conditions couldn't have been made worst from the scorching sun which torched the skins of both set of players as each side prepared for the kick-off.

The match started with 10 men for Team Sunday which included Richard, a player loaned from the opposition to make up the numbers.

The game went on with TS taking most of the control of the game, but were unable to convert the chances that were created. Even with such poor conditions, TS still managed to play a controlled game with an increased understanding of each other since its first game.

Late in the first half, the opposition (Blue Team) had a goal mouth scamble whcih tested the defence and with an opportunistic strike, breached the wall that had been defending so well up to this point.

1-0 at this stage and non of the players from TS looked like they had been defeated. The Second half saw the introduction of new players to the side, with Richard returning to the opposition. Mark and Dominic were introduced as Striker and Right winger respectively, with Aston moving into goal and Edmund (who was GK in the first half) moving up to join the Strikers.

Though untested, unproven and not yet acclamatized, the new players made an immediate impact in the second half. Dominic's fight for the ball down the right was rewarded with a break away. With some neat and precise passing, the ball found Ryan who chipped the ball towards the the left post which Edmund tucked away with a header. Goooaaalll!!!!...

1-1 and the game was pretty much to be won. The condition of the pitch together with the sun however, was draining and as the game progressed, made it harder to defend and attack. The opponent was handed a sprinkling of luck with about 10mins to go.

The opponent had several chances coming to the end of the game which they had failed to convert. Then, a misfortune of sorts occured as the ball simply couldn't be cleared out of TS' area. A hassled strike from the opponent saw Aston beaten but was cleared off the line by Marcus, but the clearance hit George and was deflected into the goal.

By no fault of anyone, the team was suddenly 1-2 down.

When the final whistle blew, the team though dissapointed in defeat, was not dis-spirited. Very encouraging indeed.

Gracing the pitch of hell was always going to be difficult, but there is a greater battle to fight. And this game has been another step in moving Team Sunday towards a greater battle of self improvement and discovery.


Squad: Aston, George, Mervin, Marcus, Adrian, Benny, Laurence, Dominic, Ryan, Mark, Edmund(1), Boon