CUMAS vs CUTS (Thai Soc) (28/01/2007)

CUMaS 1 - 4 CUTS (Thai Society)

This weekend’s match saw a rematch from a fortnight ago. Having lost the previous game 3-1, CUTS were never going to make it easy for us.

And our northern neighbours certainly didn’t. Their introduction of two new solid central midfielders gave them the lion’s share of possession. They pressured us right from the start, but our defenders Fendi, Jit Ern and Kevin held their ground. An amazing display from goalkeeper David Ng thwarted the Thai attackers.

The game slowly degenerated into a scrappy affair. Black’s tackles in midfield helped keep the technically gifted Thai midfielders at bay. CUMaS’s most threatening attacks came from both wings. Down the left, Alex Teo combined well with Yew Hong, while on the right the overlapping runs of Kevin Lau caused great confusion, opening space for Jason to operate. Only the rock solid Thai captain in defence prevented our attacks from bearing fruit.

Eventually, the Thai’s grabbed the opener. The goal woke CUMaS up and soon the CUTS goal was under siege. The introduction of Fofo bolstered our defence, giving us greater freedom to push forward. Attempts from Voon Kiat were well kept out, while a wayward attempt from Ian Chin only added to the frustration. But the pressure eventually paid off. Kevin Lau’s well taken freekick found the net, bringing back images of the days when Beckham used to be good.

But it was not to be our day. CUTS hit us with wave after wave of attacks, and 3 more goals from them completed their revenge.

Man of the Match: David Ng
The scoreline certainly doesn’t support this, but some excellent saves kept us in the match for long periods of time.

CUMaS Verdict:
The team started well despite the pressure from the technically gifted Thai’s. Their winning goals came late in the game, and if anything, came from moments where our concentration went out the window. Player performances on the field showed plenty of promise, and it’ll only be a matter of time before CUMaS returns to winning ways.

Goals:

Kevin Lau (55)

Goalscoring Charts:

Yew Hong – 2
VK – 2
Chin Lik – 1
Chee – 1
Ian – 1
Ing Bo – 1
Kevin Lau – 1

CUMaS vs Fitzwilliam BbC (19/01/2007)

CUMaS 58 – 49 Fitzwilliam Basketball Club

We, the CUMaS basketball team gave an extremely brilliant performance offensively to defeat the Fitzwilliam team. Yi Chung contributed the most points, scoring 28 points, and also recording 4 assists. His performance was superb, making shot after shot, and burning the Fitzwilliam defence with his quick drives to the basket.

The game started quickly, with Fitzwilliam pounding the ball inside at every opportunity they could get. With their size and strength, it seemed like the most logical option, and at the early stages, we could not handle these attributes, but as the game went on, we slowly adjusted, and started applying extremely good defensive pressure on them.



Yi Chung scored all the early points, and slowly, everyone else started contributing. Yi Jin came off the bench to score 8 points in total, and Kevin had 8 points too, but also dishing out 7 assists. Other notable scorers were Yew Hong who had 6, and Chee Lup who had 4. We then dominated the game after the first 10 minutes, and there was no looking back for us – at one stage we held a 15 point lead.

The defensive effort was stellar. Siew Kit was amazing defensively, and he had 4 blocks. He was also pivotal on the defensive boards, taking down 7 rebounds. Yew Hong was a monster on the boards, he had 15 rebounds, 10 of them which were defensive, 5 offensive.

Overall, it was a great team effort, and with performances like this, there is no doubt that we’ll perform brilliantly in the OxBridge games.

CUMaS vs ChiSoc (21/01/2007)

CUMaS 4 - 4 ChiSoc

This week CUMaS warriors clashed head to head with tough ChiSoc opposition. After last week’s victory, we were expecting more of the same, although we were missing key players Mozek, Black, Ju Xing and Roger.

The match started with ChiSoc dominating possession, with their midfield players comfortable holding the ball. They were quick to strike, taking advantage of the unfamiliarity of our newly-formed back line of Fendi, Lucas and Jit Ern, with goalkeeper David. They scored two goals in rapid succession, and we were struggling to keep pace.

This prompted a swift tactical switch, which saw Ian and Vin Shen move from a forward position to central midfield, where they scrapped for the ball, and won back a share of possession for CUMaS. Striking threesome of VK, Kevin and Yew Hong consistently gave an outlet, and were rewarded by a handsome goal from range by Captain Yew Hong.

This lead to a CUMaS revival, and minutes later, the front three linked up again, and a wonderful through ball from Kevin put Voon Kiat “Inzaghi” Lai clear through, where he slotted home in the far post. The game was evenly matched, but some spectacular dribbling play from the ChiSoc midfielders set up another goal for them.

Continuing our streak of goals from corners, Chin Lik latched onto a Kevin Lau cross, and drove home a thunderous drive, bringing the teams equal at the half time break. After the break, Chin Lik and Jason continued to make inroads down the right, where most of the play was directed, and set up some good mid ranged shooting opportunities, two of which were powerfully driven wide by Yew Hong. As legs began to tire, the pace and skills of the Chisoc midfield thwarted our defence again, and things were looking desperate.

However, like a cute cheerleader in a miniskirt, lady luck was watching over us, and when Ian took a long throw into the box, VK’s mesmerising attempts to play the ball enthralled the goalkeeper, and somehow, everyone managed to miss the ball which rolled into the net.

Overall, we pulled out an unlikely draw, but there is still a lot of work to do before Oxbridge. As a team, we need to get more heads on the ball, and not dive into the tackle against skilful players. However, there are plenty of positives to take from the game, with Ian playing a great role sitting in the midfield, and strikers VK and YH on target for consecutive games, and Fendi being the rock of the backline.

Man of the Match: Chin Lik Tan
Blazing trails up and down the right hand side, Chin Lik fought every step of the way this game, showing some good skills on the ball, and scoring the goal of the season so far!

CUMaS Verdict:
A less than impressive performance from us. We really didn't deserve to get anything out of the game, but we showed tremendous character and resilience to fight back from 3 goals down to get a draw.

Goals:

Yew Hong (28)
VK (34)
Chin Lik (42)
Ian (85)

Assists:

Kevin (3)

Goalscoring Charts:

Yew Hong – 2
VK – 2
Chin Lik – 1
Chee – 1
Ian – 1
Ing Bo - 1

CUMAS vs CUTS (Thai Soc) (14/01/2007)

CUMaS 3 - 1 CUTS

We, the CUMaS Football Team, kicked off 2007 with a fantastic win over a strong CUTS (Cambridge University Thai Society) side. We had a huge turnout of 15 players, allowing us to make key rotations and substitutions. They opened with a 4-4-2 formation, with Fendi and adopted Malaysian from Somerset, Roger Colbeck, holding the Thai strike force at bay at centre back. Early on up front, we were limited to a few strikes from range, with Ju Xing and Ian Chin coming close. We were then faced with an early setback, as striker Voon Kiat twisted his ankle and had to rest off.

Although we dominated the early play, it was CUTS who scored first, when a cross put in from the tightest of angles, coupled with some stagnant defending and a goalkeeping error by Kevin Lau allowed them to score with an easy tap in.

We then started to turn the screw, with Chee Yung and Mozek dominating the midfield, and started to put pressure on CUTS, and our efforts were then rewarded with a goal in the half hour mark.



The goal was to come from a corner, when Kevin delivered a dangerous cross into a box and after a slip from the goalkeeper and a huge goalmouth scramble, it was the Captain, Yew Hong who finally bundled the ball over the line. The goal was well deserved, and it wasn’t the last to come.

In the second half, we adopted a 3-4-3 setup with Voon Kiat returning to lead the attack, accompanied by Kevin and Yew Hong. Chin Lik Tan and Ju Xing caused several problems for the Thai Defence, and in one possession, Ju Xing came close after some good build up play allowed him to shoot just wide from just outside the box.

It was yet another Kevin Lau corner which lead to the second goal. A fabulous header from our rented centre back for the day, Ing Bo, put us 2-1 up. As legs became weary, and the game more stretched, our large squad provided an injection of pace from Siew Kit and Jason, and we went on to score a closing goal, with Ian chin knocking down a cross for Chee Yung to finish from close range.

It was a well deserved victory, and things look very optimistic for the new year.

Man of the Match: Chee Yung
A fantastic performance defensively and offensively, he was everywhere today, and capped off a fine game with a goal.

CUMaS Verdict:
We dominated play today, and it was a fine team performance by everyone. Some worries though about the defensive line up considering that 2 out of 3 of the defenders were not CUMaS members. However, the good news is that Jit Ern is back for the next game.

Goals:

Yew Hong (32)
Ing Smth (48)
Chee Yung (90)

Assists:

Kevin Lau (2)
Ian Chin