Unknowns rout Espanyol 6-0 in 2nd leg. (Agg. 11-1)

Unknowns routed Espanyol 6-0 this Sunday morning at Compassvale, scoring 3 goals per half.

Having dominated and won the first leg convincingly with a 5-1 margin a couple of weeks ago, Unknowns visited Espanyol in their own backyard and gored them for Six, thus completing an aggregate 11-1 victory.

Espanyol was probably looking to put up at least a good fight in front of their home fans, thus they added two new foreign talents on their left flank. On the other hand, unknowns were lacking familiar faces such as Sherman, Zijie, Guoliang and Hanwei just to name a few.

Despite missing the above mentioned players, Captain Apple was confident in his choice of lineup, knowing that the team still possessed more than enough firepower to score another huge win. He duly omitted his and Jianhua's names from the lineup in an arrogant but logical move. After all, the Unknowns had just plundered 22 goals in their last three games and 47 in all 13 games this year.

The opponents started off eager to impress their home crowd, but soon fell behind to another trademark Jason goal. Picking up the ball on the left hand channel, he unleashed a powerful left-footed drive that left the goalkeeper stunned when it ended up in the back of the net. Die hard fans of the Unknowns will know that its yet another trademark Jason goal, as on many previous occasions the winger have scored from similar positions when everyone was expecting a cross.

Vincent got into the goalscoring act next. Unknowns were awarded a free kick from nearly 35-40 metres out. The defender struck his freekick so forcefully and accurately that even though the goalie got a hand to it, he failed to keep the ball out of his net. Renowned for his heading prowess, the lanky defender showed that he is pretty deadly with freekicks too.

Next to get his name onto the scoresheet was Leslie, who made it 3-0 before halftime when he charged up field and held off stiff challenges from a couple of defenders and rounded the keeper before firing into an empty net. With so many goals to his name since making his unknowns debut a year ago, sometimes people forget that he plays leftback.

Leslie's goal was also the 50th goal for the unknowns this year, and its not even May yet. For the record, Unknowns scored a total of 98 goals in 2008. At this rate, Unknowns may well rack up 100 goals before the end of 2009.

3-0 up, 8-1 up on aggregate at half time. But it was by no means a stroll in the park, due to the blistering heat which was causing all sorts of fatigue problems. It was so hot that it prompted veteran midfielder Botak to quip: ke yi jiao tai yang EXCUSE yi xia ma?

But the hot sun was not an excuse for the Unknowns to relax. After the break, they continued pounding on the opposition goal relentlessly. It was only a matter of time Zhenrong added a fourth goal to compound to Espanyol's woe. Receiving a wonderful pass from Jais, Zhenrong thumped the ball into the back of the net for his sixteenth goal of the season.

Roberto "Leslie" Carlos added a fifth when he overlapped and latched onto Hanting's tyco through pass. He beat his defender with his sheer pace and struck a sweet low effort past the keeper.

Finally the rout was completed. The Tan Brother show was on again, Jianhua delivering a sublime pass for his brother Apple, who made no mistake with the finish.

6-0, agg. 11-1. Game Set. But there might be another sequel coming soon. Espanyol's foreign import challenged the Unknowns to a match with his "Own Team". Team manager Jianhua, always the diplomatician, politely advised him to go through the co-ordinator.