Sengkang Punggol vs Etoile : Pre-match

As incongruous as it seems, Wednesday would be the third time in barely 3 months since the Dolphins faced the Ayams/ Cockerels/ Roosters/ Le Coq/ Gallus gallus at Jalan Besar Stadium.

The first encounter was an exciting 2-2 draw which saw Le Coq grabbed the leveler from Verschave on the death in Sir Alex Ferguson’s time.
(Now sorely rue at how we could had gotten extra 4 points from securing the win from that game as well as on Saturday against Le Pékin Canard)

The second time was a much cagier affair with the appearance in Le Mickey Mouse Coupe on the stake.
Anthony Moulin Rouge’s header proved to be our undoing and perhaps his own undoing since he was no way be seen on the teamlist since while it marked the drastic downfall of the player known as Shahir Hamzah.

Over the course of 2 months after that game, the two clubs took a stark contrast in form on the pitch.
Etoile, after a string of frustrating draws which had gaffer Valle losing a few more pounds jumping like a Neanderthal on the sidelines, had notched a few convincing victories including that crucial 3-0 success over Le Warriors.
Now sitting comfortably on second place in the league table, they blew the chance to cut the point deficits to league leader Tampines when they were held 0-0 at home to the same Pékin Canard.
Meanwhile Sengkang Punggol had been struggling to take points off their opponents, none so at home .

Fortunately despite the league match was stipulated as a home game for us, the venue should be more favorable to the team as they had won at least twice there this season.

So close to clinching their first win in 3 games, the Dolphins would look to go one better on Wednesday.
They would have to do without suspended Mamadou Diallo and Shahir Hamzah.
With Ryan Fante opening his account on the weekend, he might want to keep the momentum doing. If he could do so against the Ayams, the scourge surrounding him previously might all turn to rubbish with the detractors like myself with the only option of eating my words.
Sim Li Ming would return from his own one-match suspension and would be eager to see his continual growth alongside budding young defenders like Jasper Seet and Duncan Elias as well.
The trio might not be the most sound of defense but they are a bunch of no-nonsense players who match after match played games as their coach instructed and played it with the hearts on their sleeves.
The midfield and attack in turn have to play their part to let the young defense show for their efforts.
We definitely need to kill off games by taking our chances but I have to admit Lady Luck has not been at our side for much unless you count getting the opposition sent off.

Truthfully, a point off this fixture would be a bonus, anything more is X’mas comes early.
I would love to celebrate X’mas on Wednesday gladly.