Bendemeer- Myjia FFC began Season Three in brilliant fashion, racing to a 4-0 lead at halftime against Network United before charitably giving four goals to eventually triumph 6-4.
Network had looked complacent against an all-chinese Myjia team and by the time the referee blew for halftime, it appeared that Network had connection problems within the team, such was the dominance of Myjia.
The shutting down of Network began as early as the tenth minute when midfielder Leong Wai Meng fired in an inswinger to score directly from a cornerkick. Whether Wai Meng had intended to score, well, your guess is as good as mine.
Myjia continued to threaten with the Network players chasing shadows and looking disoriented against a group of closely knitted Myjia players high on team spirit.
Against a relentless wave of Myjia attacks, the inevitable happened as Myjia frontman Chia Junhao latched onto Kenneth Koh's pass. Marked by a defender, Junhao skillfully flicked the ball around the defender a-la-Bergkamp, spun round the defender before pushing the ball past the below par keeper. 2-0 to Myjia in a pretty one-sided affair and there was more to come.
Junhao turned creator this time when he chipped a ball into the box for veteran striker Eric Low to chest the ball down before laying for Kenneth who finished with a superb left-legged shot.
If Network thought that was the end of their misery, they were to be humbled further with another goal by Kenneth at the half hour mark.
Receiving a cross field ball from Wai Meng, Kenneth ran half the length of the pitch on the right flank and then unleash a vicious cross-shot which deceived everyone including himself to land in the net via the post. Absolute stunner and if there was one person who could produce such moments, it had to be Kenneth who had scored with a similar effort during Myjia's first season.
4-0 at halftime, Myjia were undeniably bouyant and ecstatic by a superb team performance in the first half.
Player-manager Vincent Low advised the team against complacency and the aggressive tactics to be deployed by Network during the halftime talk and he was proven spot-on with his advice.
Network visibly increased their tempo and were imposing themselves more in the tackle. In all fairness, Network were much harder but never overly aggressive.
It took Network all of five minutes in the second half to start their mini revival.
Reserve goalkeeper Aaron Tan who had a quiet first half was half a second late in coming off his line and despite Vincent Low's best attempt to ward off the attacker, he could not prevent the striker from toepoking the ball into the Myjia net.
A succession of quickfire goals saw Network pull the score to 4-3 and it was only the heroics of Aaron that prevented Myjia from losing their grip on the match.
Despite Network's best efforts, it was Myjia who eventually had the last laugh.
A deep throw in by Wilson Tan found Wai Meng in the Network box and after evading past a defender, Wai Meng thumped a powerful shot into the top corner to provide Myjia with a two-goal cushion at 5-3.
Network managed another goal but were finally nailed down in the closing minutes when Wai Meng's freekick found the head of Junhao who put the game out of Network's reach for a pulsating 6-4 victory on the opening day of Season Three for Myjia.
A Myjia Productions 2006 | All Rights Reserved ® | You are visitor no.
