Rabbits Down Wings
While their seniors might not have been able to get the better of the Birds, it was a different issue for the Rancher Rabbits, who stuffed the Chicken Wings 6-2 at their Clementi homeground. The callow Teh Ping Choon, in only his second month at the youth academy, had great composure throughout as he struck twice in three minutes in the second half.
Despite Teh's goals, the most impactful trainees were, to the practised eye, instead Alex Duffy and Jai Holkar of the Rabbits. Holkar held court from left attack, providing a ready outlet for all of Wan Loong Chang's attempts to mark him. As for Duffy, he was his usual utterly-reliable self at right wing, though some coaches are expressing a concern that he was no longer developing as much as before.
"Alex had been legitmately been thought to be a possible world-beater a while back." one of them expressed. "Don't get me wrong, he remains a midfielder who would walk into about any U-20 team in the land, but he's no longer head and shoulders above the rest, as he was. We're all hoping this will change."
On the Chicken Wings' end, the hype was all for Tay Kang Kok, who while overshadowed somewhat by facing Duffy head-on, nevertheless revealed many glimpses of his pure wing-running ability - this also coming off his electric hat-trick against Ukraine's Scam last week. "With Tay, you get the feeling that you simply can't give him a foot on the outside; he'll find a way to get past you." head scout Tham Beng Li commented. "There aren't many with such a gift nowadays, everyone wants to drift in for more influence, but I say there's a need for guys like him."
