U16 Football – MCM 2 – 2 OFS

Four games into the season, the under 16A football team took to the field to play Overseas Family School, who have enjoyed a number of victories and are a strong contender for the Division One title. The team were buoyed by the return of Joe Kenny Tipton who has missed out on a number of games due to passport issues, and were captained by the inspirational Stefan Tasoren.

The boys looked nervous early on and conceded possession to their opponents too easily. As a result we were pushed back deep into our own half and our opponents had a number of chances that were expertly saved by in-form keeper Fred Hobby. Marlborough College Malaysia came into the game after 20 minutes and managed a couple of efforts on goal but soon after OFS took the lead with a deflected shot after another excellent save from the MCM ‘keeper. With five minutes to go in the half Tasoren won a foul after an aggressive forward run and Ebe Igwe stepped up and curled a beautiful free kick into the top right hand corner. The MCM boys were lifted by this excellent strike and spirits were high going into half-time.

We started the second half confidently with Ray Rajvarma commanding the defence and both Igwe and Kevan Singh winning a number of good tackles in midfield. The MCM boys enjoyed a period of domination for the first 10 minutes of the half and could have taken the lead on a number of occasions with chances falling to Tasoren and Kenny-Tipton. OFS came back into the game but were hit on the break with an excellent run from Diederick Grisel and a good finish at the second attempt from Tasoren to make the score 2-1.

In the final stages of the game OFS pushed forward in search of an equaliser and the MCM boys were slightly guilty of adopting an overly defensive mindset but looked like they were going to hang on for the victory. The referee granted a questionable penalty to the home side with five minutes to go and the OFS striker struck it cooly into the bottom corner but Hobby again came to the rescue with the most outstanding stop game. A headed goal from a late corner robbed MCM of a heroic victory but the U16 boys can be proud of a great performance against one of Singapore’s top teams.

Mr Riley
Head of Boys’ Games