Opps.. wrong team. I meant this young team… Ladies and gentlemen, meet the current Estate Rangers team of 2007/08. Yes, this team was eagered to beat the third generation Estate Rangers team.
Yes, it was on this HOT, hot afternoon that…
3G Estate Rangers VS Estate Rangers
At Stadium Chi Liung.
Well, not exactly the same condition like the above stadium but the field did hold many memories for the estate ranger’s team of young and old. It was on this field that the first estate ranger’s team trained and plays their matches. The condition of the field then of course was worse than now but then again, the field isn’t exactly in a good condition now as well. I should say it was on this hard, rugged; you simply can’t pass a straight ball field that the ER team trained. No wonder the life span of the ER team playing football on a big field only last 2-3 years… haha… Well, nows you know… (familiar?)
Back to the game, it was hard enough for 3G team captain Larry Chew to get a full team confirmation in view of their current commitment; it was harder to get them to actually turn up on the field on this HOT afternoon. In the end, the 3G ER team had to call in some imports (recognized some faces…) and search deep in their reserves to make sure they have enough to go around. Pastor Ronald Teo was called in to save every ball that will be shot towards the goal. He was the goalkeeper for the 3G ER team.
Both team warmed up on the field, as though the weather has not warmed them up enough. The ER team even ran on the field as part of the warm up while the 3G team only did basic warm up. Anything more will probably drain their energy before the game even started.
The game started off very well for the Estate Rangers team. In less than 5 minutes, they took the lead through their striker Jaron Tan. Of a back pass from Larry Chew, the 3G ER last man (whose name I shall not mentioned here) completely missed the ball and it fell nicely to Jaron who strike the ball into the net.
The 3G ER plan of playing a slow steady game now has gone. They have to look for the equalizer now. They have to start their engine moving now. As the game pass on you can see that the 3G ER team started controlling the game. They had one shot saved by a diving ER goalkeeper. Almost everything the 3G ER team threw at them, they defended it and they defended well. However, in the 41st minutes, the 3G ER’s effort finally paid off. Ps. Ronald kicked the ball towards the ER goal and the ball bounced twice before falling to on-rushing Rajendran who strike the ball into the net, leaving the effective ER keeper, Alvin helpless.
The score now stood 1-1 at halftime.
The second half saw the 3G ER team taking dominance. They control the game and were trying to look for the winning goal. The ER team coach, knowing that if they did not do anything, the goal will eventually come for the 3G decided to opt for 2 very young strike-forces, Jonathan and Joshua Lim. They did well terrorizing Larry Chew who was the last man, as the rest of the 3G ER player went and look for the winning goal that never came.
The closest 3G ER team came to was when Rajendran’s strike towards the goal was stopped on the water puddle in the middle of the goalpost, with the keeper beaten. The ball was still moving slowly into goal but the ER keeper was quick to pick himself up and prevent the ball from going in. The goal would have won the game for 3G ER team who in the end had to settle for a draw.
The ER team was disappointed that they could not repeat their winning performance against the 3G ER team. The last time both team met, the ER team beat the 3G ER team 6-5. This time, both team only managed a draw.
Till the next match then...
