From The Touchlines

LOOK WHO’S BACK!: Wayne Rooney letting it all out after scoring his goal against Bolton Wanderers.

Wayne Rooney marked his return from a long goal drought with a scintillating performance, producing a hat-trick as Manchester United virtually steamrolled over Bolton Wanderers 4-0.

It was full throttle right from the start, with Ryan Giggs, Patrice Evra and Louis Saha all testing Jussi Jaaskelainen. It was, literally, breathtaking.

But United’s next attack would leave Bolton utterly shellshocked. It wasn’t even past the 15 minute mark yet.

Rooney, with his first chance of the game, received Michael Carrick’s visionary pass with delight, and coolly thumped the shot past two defenders. It was unbridled joy for the 21-year-old.

Bolton barely picked themselves up afterward, when Jaaskelainen, after making a complete mess of a textbook clearance, spared himself any blushes by saving Ronaldo’s steaming rebound.

But three minutes later, Jaaskelainen was left seething when Rooney scored his second. Carrick’s pass released Gary Neville on the right, who in turn provided Rooney the pass, which he gladly obliged.

It was only then Bolton were stung into action. Skipper Gary Speed was unlucky when his freekick went just agonisingly wide off the post midway through the first half.

United still pushed forward, as Saha lashed out a fierce shot that was deflected out. Jaaskelainen must have been relieved.

There was a subsequent lean spell for Bolton, when Abdoulaye Faye got a header off and Nicolas Anelka blasting wide. Bolton were picking up.

But United also did not let up, when Giggs brought a fine save out of Jaaskelainen with a powerful drive. The drama for the first half ended there, but Bolton were gaining momentum.

And it carried on into the second half, when Anelka put his freekick over the bar, after Ronaldo had needlessly conceded the set piece with a handball.

Saha was again brilliantly denied by Jaaskelainen, when the latter again parried his shot away, with a quarter of the half to play.

But at the other end, Edwin van der Sar produced a fine reflex save with his legs from Ivan Campo, with the latter coming very close to tarnish United’s clean sheet.

The nightmare was compounded when Saha, capitalising on a slip from Faye, unselfishly played a pass from the right to the onrushing Ronaldo, who simply slotted the ball home from close range.

That wasn’t the end. With one minute of normal time left, a wayward pass in midfield gifted the ball to Darren Fletcher. Rooney, the recipient of Fletcher’s pass, controlled it well and drove it into the net to complete his hat-trick.

The final whistle brought a strange sense of relief to Bolton, who had only conceded four goals in their last nine matches. Now they’ve doubled that figure.

But the day, undoubtedly, belonged to Rooney, as United go into their Champions League encounter against FC Copenhagen in blistering form.

Paul Scholes on target for Manchester United

Paul Scholes marked his 5ooth appearance with a goal in Manchester United’s 2-0 win over archrivals Liverpool.

The win, a third consecutive triumph over the Anfield outfit, puts United back on top on goal difference above Chelsea, who pipped Portsmouth 2-1 yesterday.

The other goal came from centreback Rio Ferdinand’s wonder strike in the second half.

United began with their strongest side, minus Cristiano Ronaldo, who had a bout of flu. Defenders Ferdinand and Gary Neville were back in the side.

Liverpool, meanwhile, were a changed side for the umpteenth time, with Peter Crouch on the bench and Craig Bellamy not making the trip with a calf injury.

Liverpool made all the early running but it was United who had the first real chance when Louis Saha’s half-hearted strike on 18 minutes was palmed away by Reds’ keeper Jose Reina.

The French striker then hit with more purpose five minutes later, after receiving a pass from Ryan Giggs. But Reina was equal to the task.

On 29 minutes, Liverpool’s Mark Gonzalez got loose on the left, who produced a cross that was nearly finished with a header by Dutch marksman Dirk Kuyt. But Kuyt was off-balance.

Moments later, Rooney was let down by a poor first touch after initially being fed with a marvelous ball by Giggs.

The deadlock was broken in the 39th minute, when Scholes started the move by heading the ball to Wayne Rooney, who in turn passed it to Giggs, whose low cross found an unmarked Scholes to tap it in.

Reina tried in vain to stop him, but he only got a touch on the ball before it rebounded into Scholes’ path and he simply put it into the net, with Sami Hyypia left floundering as well.

Liverpool started asking questions two minutes later when Xabi Alonso, from 18 yards out, produced a left-footed shot that fizzled wide off the post.

The second half began rather slowly, with both sides not able to pick up the momentum from the break.

Saha still could not find the net with 47 minutes of play, when an unlucky bounce forced him to drive the ball wide.

It was proving to be a very tenacious affair, until one moment of brilliance by Ferdinand virtually killed off the tie for Liverpool.

Giggs, again, was at his best when his outswinger caused mayhem in Liverpool’s area. Jamie Carragher’s half clearance as a result of his injury was pounced on by Ferdinand.

The latter brought down the ball beautifully with his right foot, and with his left, steered the ball into the top corner of the net, to a rupturous applause from the Old Trafford crowd.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson was off his seat again, as United were unusually strolling to an easy victory over Liverpool.

Liverpool were all out of sorts from then on; even the introduction of Peter Crouch with 20 minutes left did nothing to spur them on. Skipper Steven Gerrard was also having a miserable outing, in his standards.

There were no more goals at the final whistle, but United must have been rather surprised at how easily the second half went.

Scholes was later awarded man-of-the-match, capping off a magnificent day for the veteran central midfielder, and a fantastic run for United.

GEORGE TOWN: If  you must know, there was no Deepavali eve cheer today when heavy rain, coupled with strong winds,  flooded several areas on the island.

There CERTAINLY was no cheer for me.

The whole idea of going for cell group was totally scrapped after seeing the flood along Ayer Itam Road. Flood waters were gushing out of the state mosque compound. Then I tried to get out of the sticky situation.

It was 8.10pm. There was a man in a white shirt and helmet snapping pictures of the entire fiasco. I was thinking, even if I had my camera with me, I would not be in the mood of capturing any shots.

But I only got myself into a stickier one after passing the traffic lights at the state mosque. Ankle high brownish rainwater covered the road, at least for a distance until after the hostels.

I manouvred my way slowly in the flood waters, all the while thinking whether the car would be damaged. It was a sigh of relief though, after I drove out the flood waters.

I drove down that road for a good 1 km or so before turning into York Road, where I got myself stuck in another jam. But there was no flood; only impatient drivers trying to get home, I supposed.

I decided to make a turn and use another way – past the Yang di-Pertua Negeri’s house. No surprise, it was jammed as well.

I had to be content with the jam along Scotland Road, and try to make my escape at the plus-junction. I thought it was a smart move.

It turned out to be a really impulsive decision as the Lahat Court way was rendered inaccessible. Because of flood, I guess. One bystander indicated the flood water level was as high as the knee.

I made a turn and went back the way I came; this time I turned left. I ended up in no-man’s land so I decided to come back out to the plus-junction. As it was not permissible to turn right, I had to turn left.

Going down the stretch with the Penang Public Library on the opposite; after that driving past the Penang Sports Club, and moments later, past Western Road and made a turn back onto Scotland Road. I was caught up in the jam again.

Trying to get the car into the middle lane was an arduous task, as no particular Penangite then was in the mood to do charity and give way. I had to keep on moving on the far right lane.

The drive after the traffic lights was a much smoother one, although it was not the route I had intended to take: the overhead bridge which would take me down south. But then it dawned on me that I could make a turn just before Trinity Methodist Church, which takes me onto Cheeseman Road.

It was 9.46pm. I had been driving for more than one hour and 45 minutes.

By 9.51pm I was already a whisker away from my house. It was because by then, the flood waters had receded. The rain was still falling though.

It was 10pm. I was mightily relieved when I got home, but even that so-called joy was shortlived.

I got an earful from my mother about how I should have listened to her and not go for cell group in the first place. Deep down inside, I was really hoping she wouldn’t give me the “I told you so” pep talk.

But she kept talking.  I was so thankful to God that I didn’t burst out. Otherwise, my mum would never talk to me again.

I mean it.

As far as I know now, there are no hostilities. I’m so hoping there would not be, as my dad’s birthday is just over an hour away. I’ll be giving him a keychain and a book. Plus the card, of course.

This post is dedicated to my beloved white feline Princess, who passed away tragically on October 7, 2006.

For almost five years, Princess warmed her way into our hearts, displaying such unconditional love, seemingly alien to human beings.

She first found her way into our cozy little home in 2001 (can’t remember which month and day), when my brother, upon sympathising with her, took this pregnant feline into the home.  She would accompany him while he studied for his varsity exams.

Many a time she would give me a nudge with her furry white head, and occasionally I would have some weird, reddish stuff on my face. Her eye shit. There were times when she also “exfoliated” my face with her sandpaper tongue.

Yet I still loved her so much. That’s an understatement, considering it was my mother who took pains in caring for her, having to give her laxative twice a day, as she faced difficulties in expelling her stools.

I recall an incident when I was totally discouraged over some work that couldn’t be completed. In tears, I laid down, stomach first, in my mother’s bed. To my most pleasant surprise, Princess jumped up on the bed and gave me a lick on the face. She was consoling me.

Words were never needed (as far as Princess was concerned); it was only her actions that mattered. And that particular act was an overt demonstration of how love should truly be.

I remembered when I was a tad upset about her eye shit staining my Wayne Rooney’s England jersey pillow. It was white, therefore the slightest stain could be seen so clearly. Now that she’s gone, that stain is a stark reminder of how she used to sleep on my bed so often.

She led a very charmed life, spending most of her time sleeping in her favourite basket, grazing from her bowl, and only going downstairs when she needed to, or when she saw any of the family members going downstairs from our 3rd floor apartment.

And she never once meowed. Not ever. She only squeaked.

Somebody once told me when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. Maybe Princess had used up all her nine lives. The unexplicable thing is, I don’t know why my dad left her outside after she peed. It was 4am. Understandably, my dad went back to sleep.

Normally, she would make her way to the shoe rack just outside my house and sleep there, at least till the door opened later in the morning. But she went downstairs instead.

And as everything begins to fall into place, we believe that she was knocked down while crossing the road (her white fur lines the dotted middle marker of the road. We think she wanted to get across the road to eat grass, as she wasn’t feeling well. Little did we know that would be the end of her life.

The blood stain has been cleaned up, but we know how horrible it must have been to have been hit by an, apparently, inconsiderate driver. At least we can imagine.

Perhaps, it was a good thing we didn’t see her die. That we didn’t see the blood splattered all over. That we didn’t witness THE WAY she died. You could call it a blessing in disguise, whichever way you want it.

Now there is a gaping hole in the Chow household. No more nudging with her head, no more little squeaks or rubbing her head against my mother’s toes whenever she wants her meal. And certainly no more pricking of ears and rushing to the door to greet me when I come home from work.

Her favourite place, the basket, is one of two tangible remnants of her once prominent presence. The other, is her many photographs. The ones I took with my camera, and is stored in the computer hard disc. I would, now, have to go through each and every picture, select the best, and get them in print.

All the sobbing and snifling won’t do me any good, now that she’s gone forever. Life will have to go on, but Princess will never be forgotten.

Goodbye Madam Bulat, Laxapet cat and Mrs. Eok. We will miss you dearly.