Bidding Farewell...

… to 2007, so I thought why not have a game at JBS when Cynthia suggested that Ross played with the Stunners for the last time this year, against the Media

I contacted Ben and the stage was set for 28 Nov. But it wasn’t as smooth as it turned out to be. Ben, the team manger for the FAS Stunners called and asked if the match can be postpone to January as they could not get enough people. With the Boys all revved up and ready to go, Ben promised he will try and gather his troops.

Raphael and I came out with a list of 20 people from the start. The list quickly became 16 and on the day itself, we only had 14 and only 12 turned up. At about 2pm in the afternoon, Mark sms me saying that match will be cancel as the weather is not looking good. Even Ross called me and said heaven is not on our side. I remained positive and said the rain, has got 2hr and 30min to rain and then it will stop and we can KO.

Later, I received an sms from Alvin saying that my assistant manager asked him to be coach for tonight and he wanted the list of players. I sent him the list, saying that Raphael, my assistant manager has a formation planned so perhaps they could discuss about it.

We arrived at JBS and the sky has more or less cleared up. The Boys arrived and started with their warm-up. Raphael told me his injured right ankle is still bad and he’s sick today. But for the love of the game and the rare chance to play at JBS, he will give it all. Then, lo and behold, he told me Chin forgot to pass him the gloves. Oh God! Now I have to find a pair of gloves. I made my request to Eric, and abracadabra! The gloves appeared!

Soon the referees arrive and the FAS Stunners trotted out. I saw Tianxin and two other guys all geared up. Tiensin asked how come I wasn’t playing, and I said I’m the Team Manager cum Reporter. In the meantime, Jun and I set up the DV Cam while Kiok tested out the still camera. From Jun’s facial expression, one can see that she is very stressed out by the assignment given to her – operate the DV Cam.

FAS Stunners took a long time to decide their tactics and formation. Ours was just a quick discussion and assignment of roles. The referees were raring to go, and pester the Stunners to hurry up! I found myself taking care of a chain, a ring and two keys. Kiok has a pair of shorts and God knows what.

Our Boys’ backline consist of Alvin, Simon, Patrick, Ian with Chris in between the posts. Wenchong, Alan Tern, Kelvin, Peter took charge in the middle of the park while Raphael and Mark front the attack.

The Stunners launched into an attack on the word “GO!” With Chris clearly beaten, Father Patrick saved the day as he cleared the ball off the line. Alvin marshalled his troops as he barked instructions to the front. The Boys were attack-oriented right from the start. But when he shouted “Kel!”, Kiok thought he was calling for her! OMG!! Hahahaha!!! Later in the game, Kiok commented that it's difficult to diffferentiate between Chris and Simon from far. They look like brothers!

Suddenly, someone behind me shouted. “Hey! Ref! He’s not interfering with play!!!” I laughed. It was Robert Lim, he really showed violent objections to the referee’s off-side decision against us. Then, he saw a familiar figure on the pitch and he shouted “Fat Boy!” Mark turned and waved! Before he walked away, he asked Ben what’s the score. Knowing that it’s still goalless after a quarter of an hour, he told Ben to tell his players the match bonus.

As soon as he left, Wenchong put the Boys ahead, taking his time to slot the ball home. Before the Boys could return from ecstasy, Eric capitalised on a chaotic defence to send home the equaliser. Our only substitute Dave took to the field with 15 minutes to go before the break. Player/Coach Alvin said the flanks are too hugging (huh??). The Stunners had 18 players in total – to think they were the ones who wanted to call off the game as they could not find players.

Remesh arrived just before the break. The Boys trotted off to the changing room. He was here to lend support to his team and could not play due to injury. The second-half saw Alvin took to the field once more as Father Patrick came off. The Stunners went for the jugular right after the restart, but Chris was equal to the task.

Over at the other end, an on-rushing Raphael connected with Wenchong’s cross but his shot went over. Next was Mark, but he too could not find the target. The Stunners brought on three girls in the second-half. One of them was Shiya, who saw HER shot ricocheted off the crossbar! And it prompted Remesh to ask me, “Where’s your slow-mo?” I laughed and replied “Roll EVS!”

Between wanting to play and can’t play, Remesh chose not to torture himself anymore and made his way home. Back on the field, Peter and Raphael conjured out some nice one-twos and Peter wrote his name into the scoresheet.

Moments later, Alan Tern’s shot found the target and the Boys were in the driving seat. Despite Harry Potter (Naza) weaving his magic on the field, we found ourselves two goals ahead.

The three girls outran some of the Boys and Ian found himself down on the pitch. Father Patrick replaced him and Ian limped off the field. Right after the substitution, Tay Peng Kee ran into no man’s land, beat Chris and got one back for the Stunners.

Just before the final whistle, Peter completed his brace for the Boys to win 4-2. I launched into my photo-taking mode and snapped plenty of stills. The so-called “before and after” shots – Mark’s knee was red.

I was wondering if I could get stories from the dressing room. Turned out I could as Kelvin told me the next day. The Boys were all decent inside, even during half-time. Wasted! Maybe next time? After SEA Games perhaps? Or “curtain-raiser” for the new season of Sleague?

For more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuying_sr/

*The Catus water is proudly brought to you by Lee Chew Kiok