Unknowns triumph in mudbath stadium.

A superb injury-time goal by pacy leftback Leslie marked unknowns' first win in 5 games, and brought huge smiles back all round.

Unknowns had fallen behind early in the game, but Apple's jawdropping through ball from defence found Jianhua, who sprang free of the offside trap to fire Unknowns back onto level terms.

Although conditions weren't exactly ideal for free-flowing football, both sides managed to create plenty of chances. The midfield quartet of Jason, Gabby, Hanwei and Botak worked tirelessly to create chances. JianHua could easily have had 3 more goals but was denied twice by the post, and once by the mud. His shot had beaten the keeper and seem destined for goal but as fate would have it, his shot cruelly stopped short of crossing the line as the ball found itself stuck into a puddle of mud. Goalie Jais, playing as an emergency striker, had a few good chances and was unlucky not to get onto the scoresheet. Yingjie made a rare appearance in between the posts and looked as though he never been away, pulling off a couple of great saves.

The game seems headed for a tie, until Leslie dug deep into his stamina reserves for one final lung-bursting foray upfront to settle the issue.

Notes

*Unknowns dedicate this win to Zijie.

*Shaiful made a good full debut for the Unknowns, fitting in comfortably at centreback alongside captain Apple, who was in his usual colossus form.

*Unknowns had only 11 men in the squad, and were reduced to 10 and sometimes 9 men after Yingjie, Leslie and Tinky suffered a variety of bone-crushing challenges and cramps.

*Mud bath is good for the skin- Gabby

*Lunch seems especially delicious today- Jianhua

*The sequence continues: 1-5, 1-4, 1-2, 1-1, 2-1, ___. What will be the next scoreline?

Unknowns halts losing run.

Slowly but surely, the Unknowns are improving and returning to form.

A hard fought 1-1 draw against FC Bayern Munich was the first point that the Unknowns secured in four matches.

Leslie opened the scoring with a magnificent lob from 40 yards out, which he later humbly admitted in the press conference that it was a cross that he intended to swing in.

The opponents pulled one back late in the game from a header via a corner.

Judging from the recent upward trend, 1-5, 1-4, 1-2, 1-1, the scoreline might well be 1-0 in favour of unknowns next week. Fingers crossed.

Unknowns spanked =)

Unknowns were on the unfortunate end of a 1-5 stuffing by A.C Milano last Sunday.

A squad reduced to the bare bones, coupled with bad luck in front of goal and some woeful refereeing meant Unknowns went down with one of their heavier defeats in recent memory. However, take no credit away from the opposition as they played brilliantly and capitalised on their chances.

With only 11 players available on the day and having played much of the match with just 10 players. Unknowns looked jaded and fatigued and succumbed to a robust and pacy A.C Milano side with plenty of fresh legs to rotate around.

Amongst the various walking wounded in the Unknowns side were central defender Vincent who was still nursing an injury but bravely elected to hobble onto the field and played bits and parts of the game. Others carrying unjuries were defensive midfielder Becky, full back Tinky, and quite possibly a few more.

With such a patched up squad, Unknowns simply had no answer to the sheer pace and power of AC Milano's forwards, who time and again exploited the Unknowns defence ruthlessly to go 5-0 up by 80 minutes gone by.

In the dying minutes of the game, Winger Jason pulled one back with a screamer. In what was estimated to be at least 30-40 metres out on the far left, he unleashed his deadly left boot and scored what is fast becoming knowns as a trademark "Jason" goal. Though the scoreline remained embarassing, it did cheer up and put a smile back on faces of unknowns players.

In the final play of the game, Unknowns won a penalty. The team unanimously elected Vincent to take the spot kick in recognition of his selflessness to play even with an injury. He missed, but it didn't matter.

It may have been a bad defeat, but teams are entitled to off days once in a while. What matters is how the team bounce back. We await and watch with bated breath.

Once again, thanks to our goalie Jais for a great weekly match report

Unknowns 2-0 Brazil (Over-23 Select)

Unknowns clinch massive win.

After last weekend's disappointing defeat at bendeemeer, Unknowns bounced back with an impressive win at Mayflower Stadium.

Determine to prove that last weeks result was fluke, Unknowns turn up several notches to beat the opponents convincingly.

Unknowns arrived at the stadium later than usual, only to find a full squad of the Brazilians "Oldsters" already warming up. Just the kind of team Unknowns love to beat.

First half was a tight affair, with only 2 important moments of note. First was a good team play which resulted in Zhenrong taking a snap shot which went agonisingly wide. Second was a deflected shot that looked like dipping into Unknowns' goal, only for gaolie Jais to claw it away with a flying save.

Second half saw the Brazilians melting under the sweltering heat, and Unknowns began to take control. Breakthrough came in the second half, when the Unknowns, leading my Kevin upfront, pressed the opponents aggressively and forced a mistake between the defender and goalie, with the later drawn out of his area to collect a bad pass from the defender. Seizing on the opportunity, Top-Scorer Zhenrong swooped in to lift the loose ball over the whole defence into the goal to give unknowns the all important lead.

The brazilians began to pour foward, only to find the defensive wall of Leslie, Alvin, Andy and Yuanji/Sherman unbeatable and well marshalled. With such strong defence as basis, Unknowns countered with pace and were rewarded with the game killing goal. Good play down the right resulted in the ball being played to Zhenrong out wide, who threaded a pass to the on rushing Apple to rifle a shot in. Though the initial effort was saved by the keeper, he reacted to slam the rebound home.

Unknowns later stayed firm and held on for a valuable win, not only to proved last week's critics wrong, but also half a run of 5 games without a win (4 draws 1 lost).

Man of the match: Zhenrong - Scored one and made the other. Conbined well with kevin to constantly press the opponents into errors.

Moan of the match: Becky - After the ealy season full of twist and turn and blitz of goals, the midfield marshaller has dipped in form, and has even been fined recently for turning up for matches VERY late. Gotta buck up and find your form Becky!

Lets celebrate. $300 dollars treat by Becky coming soon.

Hi Han Wei

Congratulations to you!

As spoken, you are the top student for the August 2008 full-time Bachelor of Business (Economics & Finance) programme. Being the top student, you have the privilege to invite your immediate superior / Manager to attend the Convocation. SIM will sent out an invitation to him/her. Please provide me the designation and preferred mailing address.

In addition, RMIT will be giving you S$300 and a plaque for this honour. Please complete the attachment and return it to me as soon. SIM will do a giro transfer to your account.
We look forward to seeing you during the Convocation on 29 August 2008!