Yusof Ishak - In what is fast becoming a worrying season for Myjia, the team played well below expectations despite the presence of a record crowd.
Much has been expected from Myjia after player-manager Vincent Low promised a much improved performance after weeks of lacklustre display from the family team - and they almost did not disappoint.
As early as the fourth minute, hopes were raised when energetic midfielder Kenneth Koh raced through the Diethlem defence only to land his finish over the crossbar. The miss was to mark a series of wasteful finishing by Myjia which to the team's credit, totally outplayed the opposition in the first half but had only a goal to show for.
After missing a host of chances which were more than the fingers on both hands, Myjia finally broke Diethlem's resistance with a rare goal by utility player Ng Yongchun.
Latching on to a cross field pass from centreback Jerry Lim, Yongchun outpaced the last man before slamming his shot past a hapless keeper for his first ever goal in Myjia's colors and Myjia's first in the match.
The goal was to a certain degree, an unjust punishment for a Diethlem side which had done brilliantly to keep out Myjia's attacks despite being outplayed for large portion of the first half. Myjia were to carry a slender one-nil lead into the second half and one suspects complacency might be a reason to explain the poor goal output.
Carrying on their good work from the first half, Diethlem continued to frustrate Myjia with their keeper in top form. To their credit, Diethlem displayed a positive attitude despite the one goal setback and were duly rewarded when they pulled a goal back from one of their rare attacks to leave Myjia in shock.
Launching a quick counter attack in the 75th minute, Diethlem FC had decided it was time to teach Myjia a lesson in the art of finishing when their striker struck a sweet shot to the bottom corner after beating the Myjia defence. One real attempt in the second half and one goal to the good. One goal apiece and Myjia were momentarily stunned.
Just as it seemed the misses were to haunt Myjia, the homegrown trio of Vincent, Waimeng and Ebenzer had other ideas.
Ebenzer found space down the right flank in the 80th minute and evaded a challenge before finding Waimeng in the penalty box. The midfielder's late surge into the box caught the Diethlem defence by surprise and before they could react, Waimeng's cutback was met powerfully by team captain Vincent Low to steer Myjia back into the lead.
The goal appeared to take the punch out of the resistant Diethlem side. For all the effort and hardwork they had put in to put themselves level, a goal so late in the game proved to be the breaking point for them.
Recent signing Jerry Lim soon added another goal for Myjia after Waimeng put him through before the latter wrapped up a labourious victory with a injury time goal as he rounded the keeper to slot into an empty net.
A completely unconvincing 4-1 victory to Myjia, the one bright spark was the debut of another product from the Myjia academy, Mark Ho - scouted by Myjia local scout Kelly Koh.
The young forward showed glimpses of his ability and with a few more appearances in the first team, Mark could well be hitting the net for Myjia with regularity.
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