Team: Edwin, Arjen, Bas, John, Rene, Marco, Thomas (45. Lou), Rogier, Gijs, Stefan, Pieter

Under the burning 3 p.m. sun the Hollandse hoped to repeat their earlier performance against Ubin (2-1). Once again heavily understaffed due to a variety of reasons, we started in a 3-5-2 formation, which saw Arjen captaining the squad for the first time this season as sweeper.

Having abolished the long goal kicks, the ball was distributed fantastically well, and with our full backs and wingers keeping the pitch wide and midfield moving well, we were able to get a few passes together, which we haven't seen too much recently.

We were still quite restless when we had possession. Instead of keep passing the ball around, we hoofed it into the channels for Stefan and Pieter to chase. This didn't trouble the Ubin back 4 much, and their vocal goalkeeper seemed to enjoy attempting to kick the ball onto the SLE.

Clouds and a breeze appeared later in the half, and with the wind in their back Ubin increased the speed of their game a little. This led to a few dangerous corners, long throw-ins and a long range effort, which were dealt with comfortably by the Hollandse defence. Most dangerous moment was a great effort from Arjen trying to score an own goal.

Just before the half time whistle Ubin were allowed to get a cross in from the left hand side, after the ref denied to stop the game for an injury of one of the Hollandse midfielders. Their centre forward was awarded an easy 1-on-1 with yours truly between the sticks and didn't fail: 1-0.

Shortly after the break, two lapses of concentration of the Dutch goalkeeper led to 2 goals in rapid succession. A header on from one of their long throws was misjudged, and the freaky handling of an Ubin free kick gave the hosts a 3-0 lead. This lead to some ‘hangende koppies' en increased ‘gekanker' all around.

Luckily, Veteran Lou came on in the second to provide much needed ‘rust aan de bal'. We kept playing football, and in one of the few moments we had in front of the enemy goal, John scored with a beautiful volley leaving the Ubin goalkeeper astonished (dare I say Van Basten / Dassajev  '88? Nah!). Great goal nonetheless and John's celebratory screams could be heard on Pulau Ubin.

On the other side a finger-tip safe (it was...) from the Dutch no.1 saw another Ubin free kick hitting the woodwork. Rogier was very close to score a beauty with a well taken volley, but was denied by the Ubin goalie, who was lucky to see the ball coming straight at him.   

The ref paused the game due to thunder (one wonders how much safer it is on touch line than on the pitch), which didn't work out well for the Dutch. Two nearly identical rushes down the left and spot on deliveries to the far post were 2 unmarked Ubin players scored the last two goals of the encounter.

Despite the result there are lots of positive things to take away from the game. Arjen did a great job at the back, commanding his defence. John had a good day after a few weeks of absence. Bas showed us what positive coaching is about. Gijs saw much more of the ball in right midfield. We played football for a change rather than defending 90 minutes. MOM: Arjen.

We'd like to thank Pulau Ubin for a fair game, the ref had a good game as well, despite a few dodgy decisions.