vs ORA Jnrs (100906)

We played so much better in this game. The return of Veera prompted the Temasek players to take their warm up much more seriously and the sight of the players actually running and stretching together brought back memories.. haha. Anyway, this was a crucial game and if we could win this, we would be assured of a place in the semis irregardless of the SCC's results. Prior to our game, we realised the importance of our result against ORA cos of the shock defeat of Khalsa to SCC.
The game started smoothly for Temasek as they were able to press down and pin ORA in their own half. A number of balls were sent into the D looking for deflections and one was duly converted in the 1st few exchanges. The Temasek players were playing with self-belief. Passing had much improved from the Khalsa game. Half-time. 1-0 to Temasek.
Second half. ORA jnrs knew they needed to be at their best to snatch anything from this game. Unfortunately, Temasek's horrific man-marking on a long corner resulted in an easy tap in at the far post for the ORA forward. 1-1. Manish was having the game of his life as his unorthodox saves were keeping Temasek in the game. An incredible Matrix style save when he managed to get a hand to a definite goal was the highlight of the game. Temasek rallied and pushed further up looking for an opportunity and it duly arrived when Fang Hao cut in from the left into the D and squared the ball for a grateful Temasek player to tap in. 2-1. This was it. We just had to hang on. The cheers from the bench signified how much this goal meant to us. We had one foot in the semis. But as you all know by now, ORA jnrs somehow managed to get their equaliser late on. 2-2 it finished and our hopes rest in ORA's result against SCC.
Special thanks to Uncle Edwin, Veera and Manish who put in superb individual performances. Uncle Edwin's run from the centre of defence to the opponent's D was simply out of this world as well as the unforgettable save by Manish to deny a clear goal.