my $time;
my $re = Regex::English
    -> start_of_line()
    -> literal("1998/10/08")
    -> optional( whitespace() )
    -> literal("[")
    -> remember(\$time, many( or( ":", digit() ) ))
    -> non_digit();

if ($re->match('1998/10/08 [11:10]')) {
    print "Found a match at time $time!\n";
}