Raiders were back with a bang on Sunday defeating last years champions Olympique de Saigon by four goals to two.

The occasion was tempered by the sad news of the passing of Floyd’s father, whom we had all met during his visit to Vietnam and indeed on his previous visits too. The Raiders family came together to support Floyd and Hop during this time and the team wore black armbands, both teams observing a minute of silence. Floyd made clear that his wish on this day, for him and his father, was a Raiders victory. Motivation enough to defeat the French.

Raiders shuffled positions a little to accommodate the return of some and absence of others. Nico came back into the side after some weeks of absence, Stephen dropped to right back threatening Rasul’s starting berth, Olly came into the midfield alongside Sascha and Chris. Greenow apparently was heaving off the side of a boat so hard he hurt himself, not a pretty thought, and Mike Owen out suspended after his wild swing at a Gemadept hobbit (but it was only a yellow). Jamie Patrick the man with two first names and Daniel, the man whose last name is unpronounceable so he changed it to ‘German’ made a formidable center back partnership. Luke McD, Tim, Armitt, Hoff, Vincent, Brian, the roving Daniel Vo and Roberti (who got studded very near the nuts) made up the rest of the rock solid formation (sorry if I left anyone out!)

It wasn’t long before Raiders took the lead in this one after a free kick floated into the box was met with Nico’s head, 1-0 and a touchline celebration with Floyd. Not too long later Raiders were two up, Nico trying his luck from the right side and another free kick. This one bounced in front of their keeper, and like a gigantic knob of butter somehow slipped from his grasp and into the net. After that he just felt like a gigantic knob. Half time, 2-0, with not much to report in terms of an opposition threat. Indeed Greeve had his chance for a first half hatrick after being put through by Mutant and it was Raiders who could have been 3 or 4 up following a solid team performance from every single player out there.

Second half and the fun began, Olympique breaking and getting in behind to grab a goal back. That fired them up and Raiders came under more sustained pressure resulting in Vu spilling a shot in the box which was joyfully tucked away to make it 2-2. Raiders have been here before, letting leads slip, but not this time. With OS pushing for a third there was more space opening up for Raiders to use on the break, and one of these lead to a corner after Juggernaut fired on the turbo boosters (mass * velocity = power) to reach a madly overhit through-ball from Hoff. The resulting corner from Greeve was sliced into the French net, a classy OG to give Raiders the scent of victory again. With the game drawing to a close it was Greeve who once again found himself in space and played a bouncy ball over heads to oncoming steam-train Vinny Vin Diesel. It looked like the keeper was favourite to get there but Vincent planted his shiny dome under the ball and into the net leading to Raiders celebrating what was surely the match winner. Indeed, the final whistle was blown just a few minutes later. Then it was back to Universal for tea and biscuits.

MOM: Nico Greeve. Check the updated 2013/2014 stats here.

The current table shows what an essential three points that was after two disappointing defeats. Next three league games could see Raiders surge to near the top or be out of the running before Christmas….(Japan, NTV, Hotshots).

NEWSFLASH: Bizmen are out of the league, along with Vietcom Bank meaning 9 teams remain.