A Warrior's Farewell

Report by Jack Moy

A last-gasp penalty given against Joel Thong’s handball spoilt the day of the Warrior’s Farewell.

The match on the Hiding Place burst into life on the 16th minute when Trinity’s Number 6 put a brilliant diagonal long ball from his on half. The perfect pass found their left winger who blasted the ball past a helpless Guo Yong, and into the top corner.

5 minutes later, Las Hearutsusu FC came close to equalizing through a corner kick. Corner Kick Specialist Samuel picked out Sheng Jie well, but his looping header skimmed the top of the bar.

Las Hearutsusu had a couple of half-chances to level things up, but found luck hiding. Valentino’s rasping long shot from the edge of the penalty area caught the Trinity Goalkeeper off-guard as he watched the ball flash past his goal, and wide.

Other than the chance well taken, the Las Hearutsusu defence did well on several occasions in the first, with Kelvin Lin being outstanding for almost the entire match. It was well-timed sliding tackle that crucially prevented the opponent's striker from going one-on-one with Guo Yong after getting past Kelvin Goh. Kelvin Lin further epitomized his solid performance with a great headed clearance from another dangerous Trinity cross. That was probably what John Arne Riise was trying to do last Wednesday!

In the 34th minute, another good chance for LHFC came and gone. A good display of passing football saw Valentino squaring the ball to Samuel, who unselfishly laid the ball back to Joel Lee. Unfortunately Joel was unable to keep the ball down.

2 minutes later, Samuel terrorized the right side once again, but could only muster a low shot wide of the goal.

Las Hearutsusu probably had a fair first half, but were just missing that slice of Lady Luck, or even injured talisman Kenny’s finishing touch. Or so he said.


Half-Time: Las Hearutsusu 0 – 1 Team Trinity


In a bid to shake things up, Jerry, Gavin, Timothy and Nevin started the second half in place of Samuel, Matthew, Yen Sun and Kai Pin.

The introduction of fresh legs ensured LHFC had their fair share of possession, but chances were few and far between in the 2nd half.

On 56 minutes, a mix up in the Trinity penalty area found the loose ball falling to the lively Joel Lee, but he could only fire it wide.

Samuel and Matthew came back on in the 60 minutes to inject some creativity back into the game.

However, the gamble seemed to back-fire when the Trinity attack once again sent a defense-splitting pass to put their striker one-on-one with the Warrior. This time though, Guo Yong spread himself well to block the striker’s shot on goal.

In the 78 minute though, LHFC finally managed to wear down the Trinity defense. Joel’s energetic surge into the 16-yard box caught Trinity on the back foot. The midfielder then found Samuel, who put in a well-weighted cross back into the penalty area. This time though, lady luck smiled on LHFC as the center back was forced into an error, and Sheng Jie struck the loose ball superbly, blasting the ball into the top left hand corner of the goal. It was probably just reward for the team which probably did more than enough to at least secure a draw.

Unfortunately, 12 minutes later, disaster struck. A punt into the LHFC area hit the unlucky Joel Thong’s hand as the referee pointed to the spot. The hand ball just summed up the day for the desperately unlucky Joel who had played solidly for the entire match.

It was a chance for Guo Yong to pull out a most stunning save during his last match for LHFC, but it was not to be as the Trinity striker left Guo Yong no chance with a precise shot that found the bottom corner of the net.

In the end, it was not to be, as the Warrior’s fare-well was spoilt by a penalty that ruined a proud day for the club to big fare-well to a loyal servant.

We can only wish Guo Yong all the best as he makes a dream move to the SAFFC Prime League team.

From Guo Yong

Dear Teammates,

It has been really nice to have been in this team for the past 1 year or so. Though the results weren’t very good in many matches, I can see the team is improving week in week out and I believe very soon, you guys will start winning games more regularly. I’m thankful for being given the chance to keep goal for the team each time I play and it’s been a great experience playing with you guys. It is through playing in this team that I’m able to start again from where I left off many years ago. I’ll look forward to playing for the team as a guest player in future should the chance comes by. Carry on working with Samuel and all the best for the future games!

Guoyong