Juan-Luis Garcia, Craig Albrightson, Shane Kubota, Chidi Umeh-Ujubounu, Ruben Oggel, Joaquin Herrera (Kennedy Tariah), Todd Koning, Bo Pedersen (New Ambrose), Danny Lim (45 – Dave Budd), Shuichi Matsuda (Morrison Utong-Minariano), Ozzy Ubor

Rangers arrived to St John’s Institution well aware of the difficulty of the task upfront, being Casuals one of the top teams and Rangers on the other side of the spectrum, not being in top form this year.

We were having at the time of kick off a depleted bench with only one substitute and few other players lost in a cab somewhere in the Singapore suburbs, which only managed to arrive at the field at during the break… not a good way to start an important game!!. This situation reflected immediately on the pitch and Casuals took immediate control of the game, switching the ball smartly looking for gaps in the Ranger’s midfield and defensive lines. About 8 minutes their right midfielder scored a screamer with a long shot from almost from the Rangers right corner…great goal, but honestly we think that his intention was to cross the ball into the box ;-). This goal was the beginning of Rangers problems, as boosted Casuals spirits lead to another 3 goals on the first half. Rangers were unable to hold to the ball, only resorting to long balls try to find Ozzy and Danny upfront, a clear sign of desperation.

At the end of the first half Rangers 0 – Casuals 4…a carnage on the making ???!!

During the break our missing players arrived and after a chat ours spirits changed. It was reflected immediately after the game re-started, Rangers putting pressure in all areas of the field, starting to move the ball smartly down the wings and taking control of the game away from Casuals. As a result of that, we got our first goal. A smart pass by Todd into space to Joaquin, found him at the box only facing the keeper, his shot found the keeper wrong footed. Five minute after that, a great run by Morrison down the left wing resulted into a pass to the centre of the box to Ned, who touch the ball to the far post where Joaquin converted the second goal for Rangers (4-2). Another five minutes pass and a beautiful cross by Morrison found Joaquin in the box, he headed the ball on target, Rangers bench was almost already celebrating the goal, but a bone breaking stretch from Casuals keeper deflected the ball out…. at that moment Rangers thought that everything was possible, from 4-0 to 4-2, almost converted a 4-3, dominating the game and still 20 minutes or so to play.  Joaquin was substitute by Kennedy who then missed an almost certain goal, which would have made it 4-3 a few minutes after his incorporation. This miss was probably the turning point in the match.

Rangers dreams were shattered when Casuals broke away to score against the run of plan, making it 5-2.  Most of the players on the pitch expected offside to be given (including the referee) but the linesman on the far side waved away our appeals.  Casuals scored soon after with another cross from the right winger to make it 6-2.  With Morrison off for Rangers with a twisted ankle, we still managed to muster up another goal with 10 men. Despite that Kennedy managed to score after a good run on the right flank and a clever shot that slipped under casuals keeper (6-3).

Overall a good collective effort in winning the second half, but not enough to compensate the carnage of the first half. Congratulations to Casual for a good clinical game, played in good spirit and with no incidents. We wish you best of luck in the next cup games and we are looking forward to our next league game.

Our Man of the match goes for Juan Luis, our goalkeeper for the day (Alvaro was injured, or maybe just with hangover ;-), for a good performance, saving numerous point blank shots and one on ones with Casuals strikers.  Special mention also to Shane for an excellent defensive work.

Joaquin