Great venue for the return leg of the Paul Dirksen trophy after the 1-1 draw in Yishun 4 months ago. Cosmo Select had to win or draw better than 1-1 to snap the trophy.

SCC played their regular squad and a few more unknown yet quality players for an exciting game on the Padang 5.30 kick off.

Cosmoselect decided to play more defensively (5-3-2) to neutralize their wingers and aim at making the best of counter attacks and free kicks to score the opener. Although SCC controlled ball, best chances were on Cosmo select side with Olivier Magaud scoring a cracker in the top corner after 25 min. We could have done the break after a combination Fafa to Tom Benneth but the ball ended up on the post. SCC did not miss their first clear cut chance after a poor clearing out by Cosmoselect. SCC pushed tremendously in the last 20 and John "Shilton" leonard kept us afloat on his own. 1-1 half time.
I was out of breath to make any decent comments. Second half was more balanced in terms of possession and chances although SCC did not miss two opportunities to score two goals by Hutch (again again again and again!!) and captain Scott Anderson although we could have done much better defending here. Bastian Wolf put us back in the game after a superb pass from Olive Magaud.
3-2 We scored the equalizer (or thought we did ) when captain Owain made a header who flirted and bounced with (in/on/out, who knows?) the line for 3 seconds. A draw would have been fair but SCC never lost control of the game and had clear chances to increase their lead also.

I think we lost the game by giving away the balls and being also dominated in midfield which exposed our defense. No excuse but we were missing 3 key players with Tommy/Benji and captain Ryan and we were handicaped by the early injury of Vikings' player of the month Christian to whom we wish best recovery Honestly, we dont know each other very well and it takes time and practice to build a team which can play good football and obtain results. All the boys did put a lot of passion and quality in the game which gives lots of hope for the future if we repeat games.

Man of the match goes to John "Shilton" leonard for great saves in important moments. Ross & Owain are top quality. Magaud has been very decisive as always and superb performance in the midfield by Bastian Wolf. Joaquim Low was seen in padang's surrondings..... to include in for the WC.

Thanks to SCC and especially Owen for putting so much passion in the football he organizes.

Cosmo select will proudly represent the league during the SCC 6s on 10th April hopefully with better results before being sacked from the job (media says Michael Jorgensen is a candidate for Cosmo Select Team Manager;-) )
< br /> Cosmo Select Line-Up:
Leonard (Hibs)
Begs(Lions), Braeger(Swiss) Rowat (Casuals) Logie (Casuals) Jankowski (Latini)
Dambre (Latini) Dotta (Latini) Fallesen (Vikings) Steineger (Swiss) Wolf (Hibs) Bennet (Casuals)
Demaria (Latini) Magaud (Latini) Sejic (Hotpsurs)


written by Cosmo Select Manager Francois Dotta