Sunday, July 13, 2008

MCFC Puts The Ghosts Of Yesteryears To Death...

Three years ago, before Mount Carmel Football Club was officially formed, the budding soccer players had to thank Zion for giving them the inspiration of forming a soccer team, with a 8-1 thrashing.

From its humble beginnings, MCFC has now become a force to be reckoned with. And indeed they are, as they have completed their vendetta of picking up where they last left off against Zion. MCFC had confidently outplayed and outwitted a combined Zion team (Bishan and Serangoon) 2-1 at JJC on Sunday.

Goals from Matthew (Liu) and Evan sealed the victory for MCFC and gave the team plenty of reason to cheer and smile about after a series of disappointing draws and defeats at the hands of Bible Church and Hebron respectively.

Even without key players such as Keith, Mark, Tim, Joel, Kern and Vincent, MCFC was still good value for their victory. Direct replacements in the form of Zhi Wei [Right-Back] (Zhi Yang's friend), Jia Yi [Right-Winger] and Jia Han [Centre-Back] (Aaron's friends) enabled MCFC to cope with their lack of manpower.

Mattheus, Zhi Jie and Matt Liu who were sorely missed at the past few games gave stellar performances to ensure they made short work of the opposing players while in their positions. In addition, battling midfielders such as Poh Heng and Uncle Sam ruled the midfield with their ball-winning tackles.

The game was to be a highly-charged affair and it did not disappoint. In the opening proceedings, MCFC had domination over the midfield and had a stonewalled defence to deter Zion from scoring. Seng, Evan and Jia Yi were also knocking at Zion's goalmouth.

The skirmish came thick and fast, with fouls committed in quick succession. Midway into the 1st half, Mattheus at left-back was subbed by Aaron for a cramp. A long ball was fed to Zion's right-winger, but due to shabby defending, Aaron was unable to prevent his opposing player from going past him. As desperate times called for desperate measures, Aaron gave a tug to the right-winger who was going to have a clear goal scoring opportunity. Yellow card for Carmel's skipper. It was to be a corner kick to Zion, but the makeshift Carmel defence held firm. A goal-less first half soon followed.

The deadlock was broken early in the second half when Matt Liu won the ball from an opposing player and shot from close range within the penalty box. 1-0 to MCFC.

Barny who was then playing as right-winger drifted inside and took a chance at goal. Despite looking very promising, the shot slammed off the bar after Zion's keeper made a desperate save.

Halfway into the second half, Zion equalised from just outside Carmel's penalty box when a weak clearance fell to the feet of a Zion player who rifled home to tie the score 1-1.

Carmel were not to be outdone a second time by their rivals. And they could have gone 2-1 up within minutes after Seng who was fed a pass, dribbled the ball past the opposing defence and blasted the ball into the hands of Zion's 'keeper. Aaron who was on hand to pick out a rebound made a header towards goal that was easy for the 'keeper to recover. A wasted chance.

Within moments, Evan took the ball from his own half and burned half the Zion midfielders en-route to goal. After skinning the right-back, he was brought down in Zion's penalty box and Carmel was awarded a lifeline- penalty! Evan who deserved a goal for his magnificent efforts throughout the game cooly slotted home the winning goal for Carmel.

Now that Carmel's ghosts have been laid to rest, the members are considering putting competitive soccer on hold. They intend to revert back to their old brand of fun-filled soccer, in the form of Old VS Young games.

Aaron reporting InTheTopCorner

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