Football Mandarin Gardens

Wednesday 1 July 2026 8-10pm:

Full house of 12 and a fantastic night of great football & beautiful goals galore.

Leslie started the ball rolling with a direct volley home from a headed clearance by Iman. He followed that up with another flick turn and volleyed goal. He was basically everywhere, very much like Eugene.

Not to be outdone, Kevin scored a superb flick up and volleyed goal. Then another even better pinpoint volley after shouting “这里！”（“here！”） to goalie Dennis who threw a precise ball to the mid air spot where Kevin pointed. He also cut off an opposing pass and toe poked the ball through keeper Tay’s legs.

Kit executed a nice flick over the defence and finish. He also attempted an audacious bicycle kick but unfortunately just couldn’t connect

Tay also dazzled with his dribbles and great penetrating runs..

Joe scored a wonderful curled goal just on the edge of the box to the far post. He also set up 2 nice crosses but just couldn’t find a striker’s head to finish.

GK Joe starts the move by finding Tay in his own half, where Tay spins past an onrushing Iman and threads it to Leslie on the wing. Leslie drives forward, pulls a defender wide, then squares it across to an unmarked Mark arriving late, who smashes a first-time finish into the bottom right corner to cap off a slick, one-touch team goal and make it 1-0.

Iman wins possession with a clean tackle, then shows off with seven keepy-ups as he tries to lob the ball over Leslie, but Mark anticipates it perfectly, gets on the end of it at the back post, and calmly slots it into the back of the net for a composed finish.

In:
Joe
Kevin
Dennis
Mark
Jonathan
Leslie
Tay
Jit
Eugene
Iman
Kit
Frankie 12

Credit: Kevin/Leslie

Wednesday 24 June 2026 8-10pm:

A wet night but still a healthy turnout of 9 players. Despite a wet pitch, everyone was careful and had fun regardless.

Amazing keeping by Joe and Tay as they block a barrage of shots aka Congo Goalkeeper.

Lovely team goal by team Joe. Joe to Tay on the right with a return to Joe, who pushes the ball wide left to Haresh, returning back to Joe. With the opponent defence stretched, Joe plays it right again Tay, who crossed to an opportunist Mark to tap in a team goal.

Haresh dribbling past everyone to score multiple goals until he was finally stopped by a sliding tackle from himself.

A quick counter by Joe passing a looping ball to Jon, who flicks it over the keeper with his right and cradling the ball with his left as it lands and rolls the ball into an empty goalpost for a beautiful goal.

In:
Joe
Johnny
Mark
Jonathan
Jit
Kevin
Tay
Eugene
Haresh 9

Credit: Haresh

Wednesday 17 June 2026 8-10pm:

Welcome debutant Kevyn to our humble game!

A full turnout this week but expectations of a fast intense paced game was dulled initially due to the wet court that prompted safety first playing conditions

Debutant Kevyn showed calmness on the ball, finding his teamates with precise passing and getting a few goals in the process

Joe with the save of the night, getting his finger tips to save a last minute game deciding goal bound shot that was heading towards the bottom corner

Seeto with one of the "highlights" of the nights, thinking a long ball was shot by the opponent outside the box, only to realise it was initially deflected by his own teammate resulting in a legit goal.

There have been a flurry of sinbin offences lately. Seeto made a glaring error by blocking a goal bound shot with his hand while outside his box. Automatic 1 minute sinbin suspension, while the game goes on. His team playing with 3 men vs opponent’s 4 men.

One of the plays of the night was a 2 identical great team goals involving a long throw by GK Joe to Jonathan who headed it down accurately to Kit who made no mistake with a precise low volley shot. A carbon copy of the goal was scored in another game with the assister this time around being Dennis.

In:
Joe
Kevyn debutant
Seeto
Kevin
Mark
Dennis
Jit
Jonathan
Leslie
Venu
Kit
Hayden 12

Credit: Jonathan

Thursday 11 June 2026 9-10pm:

A short but exciting 1-hour session this week, highlighted by some fantastic team moves, quality finishing, and the usual bit of chaos.

1. Mark’s driving run and assist
Mark brought the ball up the field, glided past one defender, then cut inside another before squaring it perfectly for Dennis to finish into an open goal.

2. Joe’s outside-foot magic
Playing as striker, Joe produced a deft outside-foot pass with his back to goal, threading the ball between defender and goalkeeper for his teammate to rifle home.

3. Kevin and Leslie combine
Kevin found space out wide before delivering an inch-perfect floated cross across goal, evading every defender and landing perfectly for Leslie to nod home.

4. The mandatory own goal arrives
Just when we thought the traditional own goal might escape us in this shorter 1-hour game, Seeto delivered. Under pressure and with his goalkeeper out of position, he turned and passed the ball into his own net from the halfway line.

5. Comedy moment of the night: Jit and Kevin
Kevin blasted a pass across goal for Jit to volley, only for Jit to miscue it straight back to Kevin. Kevin then mish*t his own effort back across goal to Jit, who somehow managed to place the final shot wide.

In:
Joe
Seeto
Dennis
Leslie
Kevin
Jit
Mark
Haresh 8

Credit: Mark

Wednesday 3 June 2026 830-10pm:

Full house this Wednesday at 12 pax with 4 pax making long-awaited comebacks. Easily one of the most intense and technical games this season!

Dave sent in a precise diagonal cross for an onrushing Russell to place an excellent glancing header past the GK.

Own goals galore. One of which Haresh managed to head into his own goal with his back facing goal. Russell’s own goal was second best, looking like a long range shot against his own goal.

But it’s not the worst hilarious moment of the night. Kevin in the defending team looks set for a header which was going past his head but suddenly extended out a hand to palm in a ridiculous ‘Hand of God’ own goal past his GK Johnny. And despite it not being mandatory, Kevin offered to sinbin himself for 1 minute. Yet being one man down, his team still managed to win the game 3-2 while he was out.

A lovely toss by keeper Joe over the opposing keeper, with Haresh scooping the ball from the air with his right foot and tapping the ball into goal with his left.

Keeper Joe looking to counter, tosses a ball out to Sushil but Sushil presses high and forces the keeper into panic mode! Last man Leslie charges out, leaps to head it back over his own bar… but he’s come up short! Sushil reads it like a hawk, creeps in, and does an easy tap-in header over the stranded keeper.

Keeper starts the play with a calm pass out to Kevin on the left. Kevin looks up, waits and waits for a pass. Kevin spots the run, launches a sweeping cross over the top to Dave on the right wing… and Dave doesn’t even break stride! One touch, whipped straight into the box, and there’s Russell waiting! Tap. In. What a team goal! From keeper to Kevin to Dave to Russell, 3 passes, 5 seconds, pure football poetry! That’s how you carve teams open!

In:
Joe
Bryan
Dennis
Kevin
Haresh
Johnny
Jit
Sushil welcome back
Russell welcome back
Dave welcome back
Stuart welcome back
Leslie 12

Credit: Joe

Wednesday 27 May 2026 830-10pm:

- unprecedented 2 sin bins for the night - Leslie with an intentional hand ball to stop an opposing goalie’s throw, and Seeto who handled beyond the line as goalie
- ⁠Joe scored the mandatory own goal as goalie, but he made up for it with a number of good saves with his foot in subsequent games
- ⁠Jit, returning from a long spell away, impressed with his great covering runs and scored a few nice goals too
- ⁠Seeto did what he does best, throwing out a few beautiful assists that resulted in direct headed goals
- ⁠Haresh with the goal of the night, a great cross court run to chase a slide-rule pass and turning to score at the far post
- ⁠Kevin has a slow start but placed the icing on the cake with a solid final game hat trick

In:
Joe
Dennis
Kevin
Johnny
Jonathan
Seeto
Haresh
Leslie
Jit welcome back 9

Credit: Kevin

Wednesday 13 May 2026 8-10pm:

A very humid night at MG which ended early due to the intense humidity. But a fun game with many remarkable moments, and not without the mandatory own goals.

Leslie’s swift sprint back to intercept the opponents’ cross, which he chose to slam into own goal, for starters. Haresh’s glancing defensive header knicks one in as well which he voluntarily announced as an own goal, even though no one witnessed it - such amazing integrity.

With shorter games (4 goals instead of 5), the team switches became so confusing that, as Haresh ran back to mark Leslie, Hayden hilariously outran Haresh to tackle his own teammate, Leslie. Everyone stopped their game to recover from an amazing laugh.

Another funny moment, Mark receives a toss from goalie and misheads an attempt at goal, which instead reaches Leslie, who miskicks a shot, which goes back to Mark for a tap in goal.

There were, of course, many lovely string of intended passes and team goals which resulted in an overall wonderful evening game with everyone heading home in one piece. Mission accomplished.

In:
Joe
Mark
Bryan
Seeto
Eugene
Jonathan
Hayden
Leslie
Haresh 9

Credit: Haresh

Wednesday 6 May 2026 8-10pm:

With the ball seemingly going out of play, GK Bryan fumbled with the ball almost going out of play to pulling it inside his goalposts, for a mandatory weekly own goal.

GK Joe followed suit shortly after. He saw the opponent GK tossing the ball past him on the goal line, and he subsequently let it go out of play. However the ball refused to go out of play, only to deflect off the crossbar onto his body and bounced in for a hilarious own goal!! Everyone had a good laugh!

Team Joe, Bryan, Leslie and Venu played out the team play of the day! In 2 triangular plays, GK Joe passed out a short ball to Bryan. With one swooping move, he slammed it to Leslie’s path on the diagonal who with one touch tapped it to an unmarked Venu in front of goal to sidestep it home.

In:
Joe
Dennis
Seeto
Jonathan
Venu newbie
Parth newbie
Bryan newbie
Kenny newbie
Leslie late 9pm 9

Credit: Joe

Thursday 30 April 2026 9-10pm:

Part 2/2 Double gameweek:

Welcome debutants Kenny, Chad and Parth.

It was an unexpected battle between condos. Mandarin Gardens vs Bayshore. The debutants took the first 30mins to get used to the rules and court surface. After which they were totally immersed into the game. Especially impressive were newbie Venu and debutant Parth. They were highly skilled and understood each other.

Not many highlights to report as the game was short and chill.

In:
Joe *
Ram
Dennis *
Kevin
Venu newbie
Kenny debutant
Chad debutant
Parth debutant (Kenny’s fren) 8

*double gameweek

Credit: Joe

supplementary game

Wednesday 29 April 2026 9-10pm:

Part 1/2 Double gameweek:

Leslie with a masterclass performance tonight — the kind where every highlight could have been written about him.
1) GK Dennis overthrows a ball that seemed to be heading harmlessly out but Leslie never gave up on it, sprinting towards the goal and getting his toe to the ball just beside the post to score from an impossible angle.
2) Next, Leslie sends an outside foot lob cross court between multiple defenders for Mark to power home a header.
3) Leslie darts right to receive a pass - in one smooth motion, he pulls the defender, lets the ball roll past him but back heels it back to an open Eugene to score. Pure magic.
4) A De Bruyne like pass from the right into space, takes out 2 defenders, setting up an onrushing Abdullah to slam home.

In other highlights, fox-in-the box Joe always reacting fastest and scoring 3 goals off rebounds.

Kudos also to Eugene who as usual, helped his team dominate play with his relentless pressing, winning the ball back on countless occasions. As one player quipped - It feels like playing against 6 players when Eugene is on the pitch.

In:
Joe *
Seeto
Leslie
Haresh
Abdullah
Mark
Eugene
Jonathan
Dennis *
Bryan 10

Credit: Mark