Sunday, July 31, 2005
Match Review 5
Match 5, Winter Season, vs Palm Sugar
With a sense of silent smugness at the beginning of the game, we approached this contest versus the youngsters of Palm Sugar with a certain degree of nonchalance and arrogance. Yeah, sure we should never underestimate an opponent but seeing as this was a rare occurence where we towered over most of our opposition, it was hard to dismiss the fact this should have been an absolute rout.
Bringing this attitude into the game was always bound to blow up in our faces. The start of the game had the ring of a bomb with a countdown timer, slowly warning us of imminent failure if we didn't wisen up quick smart. Although Palm Sugar had absolutely no skill on the ball, smaller frames and lack of team cohesion, we struggled immensely to even worry their keeper. The DBB machine was running at 2% optimum effiency and was looking every bit like the rag tag team with errand passing, poor defence, poor midfield contesting and poor opening up of space. The first few minutes were really an eyesore to watch.
Palm Sugar's poor anticipation and just in general, lack of offensive and defensive awareness had the usual fakes and feigns having little effect whatsoever. It was akin to a chick or a little kid just stand in front of a skilled player that is doing stepovers and not buying any of it. Quoc, picked up on this earliest and eventually, began to just lean in and casually turn away from his opponents with ease. Drawing opponents, and getting past them, he set up numerous chances that Heng and Henry didn't gobble up. In fact, the only eating these two had done was a huge bolus of prematch food which had diverted all the blood from their muscles to their gut. Henry must of had the better prematch nutrition because he was controlling the ball up to goal but didn't have any options to lay off.
Sanji was patrolling defence and repelling Palm Sugar's elder statesmen but with the little offensive firepower they actually had, should have been driving us up more and opening the play. Dave could not find a way past this amateur defence, consistently outpacing them but then losing the ball from bad touch or a lucky slack foot from his marker. Henry and Heng one-two'd on numerous occasions up front, only to let their abdominal bulge get in their way of their kicking.
Quoc kick started the scoreboard with a beautiful turn past his marker and an equally nice finish. His second mirrored the first and finally, it looked like we might be on a role. His placement low to the ground was key to the third and at half time, it was Quoc who was single handedly saving us from total embarassment.
The skill level picked up temporarily after the break, with Quoc adding to his growing tally of goals, and dragging two defenders towards him to open up Heng, who blasted from the right to begin the onslaught. However, the poor alertness cost us a very cheap goal that should've finally woken us up but had the opposite effect. Quoc was the only one to show some spirit and worked for the ball in midfield, getting a scragged ball into his path and volleying past the keeper just on the boundary of the goal arc.
The rot set in after his interchange off the ground, with a rush from one of the little kids' dads. A temporary scare as the scoreboard showed 4 goals credited to Palm Sugar woke up the team, as Heng, Dave and Sanji rallied to put the result beyond doubt. Henry also tried hard to get his name on the scoresheet but was off target all game. With the game sewn up, Derek came on for the final few minutes as Sanji and Dave fed the ball for him to score but he lacked the final touch.
On the whole, the most disappointing performance of the season. For a team that is pushing for division 1, that was a pathetic effort against the worst team of division 2. Teams like that should be disposed of ruthlessly and the fact that we didn't try harder or control the game speaks volumes about tonight's attitude or lack of it. Good teams win. Champion teams have the killer instinct. You know the game time. Don't eat big before the game. Psych up for the game. Listen to some pump up music. Anything to get you giving it your 110% every week. Sure we won today but with the lack of preparedness today, it was always going to be an ugly victory. With the exception of Quoc, piss poor effort guys. We should've annihilated them.
Scoreline: 10-4
Goals: Quoc 6, Heng 2, Dave, Sanji
Man of the match: Quoc
Worst acting award: Heng
With a sense of silent smugness at the beginning of the game, we approached this contest versus the youngsters of Palm Sugar with a certain degree of nonchalance and arrogance. Yeah, sure we should never underestimate an opponent but seeing as this was a rare occurence where we towered over most of our opposition, it was hard to dismiss the fact this should have been an absolute rout.
Bringing this attitude into the game was always bound to blow up in our faces. The start of the game had the ring of a bomb with a countdown timer, slowly warning us of imminent failure if we didn't wisen up quick smart. Although Palm Sugar had absolutely no skill on the ball, smaller frames and lack of team cohesion, we struggled immensely to even worry their keeper. The DBB machine was running at 2% optimum effiency and was looking every bit like the rag tag team with errand passing, poor defence, poor midfield contesting and poor opening up of space. The first few minutes were really an eyesore to watch.
Palm Sugar's poor anticipation and just in general, lack of offensive and defensive awareness had the usual fakes and feigns having little effect whatsoever. It was akin to a chick or a little kid just stand in front of a skilled player that is doing stepovers and not buying any of it. Quoc, picked up on this earliest and eventually, began to just lean in and casually turn away from his opponents with ease. Drawing opponents, and getting past them, he set up numerous chances that Heng and Henry didn't gobble up. In fact, the only eating these two had done was a huge bolus of prematch food which had diverted all the blood from their muscles to their gut. Henry must of had the better prematch nutrition because he was controlling the ball up to goal but didn't have any options to lay off.
Sanji was patrolling defence and repelling Palm Sugar's elder statesmen but with the little offensive firepower they actually had, should have been driving us up more and opening the play. Dave could not find a way past this amateur defence, consistently outpacing them but then losing the ball from bad touch or a lucky slack foot from his marker. Henry and Heng one-two'd on numerous occasions up front, only to let their abdominal bulge get in their way of their kicking.
Quoc kick started the scoreboard with a beautiful turn past his marker and an equally nice finish. His second mirrored the first and finally, it looked like we might be on a role. His placement low to the ground was key to the third and at half time, it was Quoc who was single handedly saving us from total embarassment.
The skill level picked up temporarily after the break, with Quoc adding to his growing tally of goals, and dragging two defenders towards him to open up Heng, who blasted from the right to begin the onslaught. However, the poor alertness cost us a very cheap goal that should've finally woken us up but had the opposite effect. Quoc was the only one to show some spirit and worked for the ball in midfield, getting a scragged ball into his path and volleying past the keeper just on the boundary of the goal arc.
The rot set in after his interchange off the ground, with a rush from one of the little kids' dads. A temporary scare as the scoreboard showed 4 goals credited to Palm Sugar woke up the team, as Heng, Dave and Sanji rallied to put the result beyond doubt. Henry also tried hard to get his name on the scoresheet but was off target all game. With the game sewn up, Derek came on for the final few minutes as Sanji and Dave fed the ball for him to score but he lacked the final touch.
On the whole, the most disappointing performance of the season. For a team that is pushing for division 1, that was a pathetic effort against the worst team of division 2. Teams like that should be disposed of ruthlessly and the fact that we didn't try harder or control the game speaks volumes about tonight's attitude or lack of it. Good teams win. Champion teams have the killer instinct. You know the game time. Don't eat big before the game. Psych up for the game. Listen to some pump up music. Anything to get you giving it your 110% every week. Sure we won today but with the lack of preparedness today, it was always going to be an ugly victory. With the exception of Quoc, piss poor effort guys. We should've annihilated them.
Scoreline: 10-4
Goals: Quoc 6, Heng 2, Dave, Sanji
Man of the match: Quoc
Worst acting award: Heng
Match Review 4
Match 4, Winter Season, vs Offsiders
Back when the DBB were languishing in the minnow league of Sunday Division 2, there was one team that we continually thrashed like no other. The epitome of such a beating was the 23-0 annihilation of the Offsiders. This win caused our heads to swell with air from such domination that we let our thoughts go above the clouds. It was egocentric conceit at its best and hey, who wouldn't say they are the best after winning 23-0? Today, was a return to those times for a while, when as some smartass prematch put it, "we shouldn't be underestimating these guys." Hahaha, SIF! It's the Offsiders! Even the atmosphere on the sidelines was somewhat dismissive of this match as a contest.
And like the casual banter outside of the nets, the start was pretty lax indeed. The players that started were casually marking, walking back to defence, lazily passing upfield and not making space. Any chance of this being a tough match were still not realised until a shock goal scored by the Offsiders' lanky, pony tail striker 5 minutes in. The expression on the faces of the DBB on field was a mix of disbelief and "huh?" WAKE THE FUCK UP BOYS, it wasn't going to be a canter if we underestimate our opposition this much. And so, with the sidelines yelling their discontent at the apathetic start, the players began to feel the tempo of the match. The Offsiders were defending well, albeit with their subpar skill level, and their lone striker had a blunt, accurate shot that wasn't being given enough respect.
So to breakdown the opposition defence, we had to adopt a different approach to the frantic rushes of previous weeks. Passing the ball around, and drawing the pests out of the burrows, we eventually played patient and intelligent soccer. Eventually, we were firing more shots on target with the help mainly of Quoc's hard play in the middle of the field, tackling, holding off players and looking for the right pass. Heng was also responsible for the jumpstart of adrenaline when he toiled hard and won lots of 50-50 balls to supply Simon and Henry running up front. Eventually, through a lot of hard work, Henry managed to scrag a goal from the corner through the goalie's legs. Not entirely pretty but getting there.
After equalising, the hard struggle continued, with Heng continuining to motor through in the middle with Quoc combining skill and aggression to win plenty of ball. But still, we lacked an edge up front with many chances for little reward. The big villian up there was Heng, who one-two'd nicely with Henry, but failed to force saves from the keeper. It took a moment of brilliance from Dave to really break the shackles. With his back to a harrassing defender, Dave spun out of trouble, jinxed pased two defenders and smacked a goal through from the left side. The momentum swung and in a late flurry, Quoc began commanding midfield and dishing off to the running Simon and Henry up front. Simon scored two goals to bring a nice buffer leading up to half time. But some possession around our attacking perimeter lead to an errand backpass that was anticipated by the striker and the lanky pony tail guy was left open with Derek, leaving him no chance. A sloppy way to end an improving half.
The untidy work was brought into the next half, with a 3rd goal conceded ultimately stemming from poor work rate after the interval, even if it was a shanked kicked from the corner. However, the closeness of the scoreline at 4-3 added some shock value to an uninspired performance, with substitutes Sanji and Heng adding some life back into the team with some hard tackling and tracking. With only seconds after coming on again, Sanji followed a bouncing ball and volleyed from the right wing to the opposite side of goals to immediately restore the status quo. "Black magic," as Dave put it.
Quoc continued his stand out game not up front, but in the heart of the field where he combined well with the enegizer bunny, Heng, to win plenty of ball and lay off. However, Heng's continued hard work failed to pay dividends, as he left his good shooting in the bed; too much sleeping in. However, his persistence led to an increasing amount of shots that led to some wayward target practice at the other end. The increasing confidence meant at times, we were overcommitted, and any loss of the ball would lead to a counterattack. Sensing this, their tall lanky striker came back on for the final few minutes and he immediately caused some problems with his accurate shooting. Derek played a lone hand at the back at times, saving many hard shots from him, as well as creating plenty of pressure by closing the goal face when left stranded at the back.
As the clock continued to count down, the Offsiders grew more wreckless in their attack for the ball, pushing further into our defence and trying to intercept closer to goal. The man-on-man situation they had effectively created led to some hard contests around the ground but on a one-on-one situation, our skill was always going to win out. Quoc continued to shield the ball and turn his opponents, setting up space for the running Heng or Henry, or shooting himself. But the clinical touch up front was still missing. By now, the all-in style from the Offsiders was backfiring because of their overcommitment to the ball and it was too easy to turn them the wrong way and shimmy in the other direction. The increased desperation led to increased fouls from the opposition, the prime example being Henry's underhand shielding of the ball in the corner, with the frustration boiling over, resulting in a retaliatory shove from his marker. Henry's oscar falling performance with arms flailing in the air rubbed salt into an already wounded Offsider comeback.
Their increased carelessness continued but the cream was beginning to rise to the top. Quoc held off two attackers before spinning between them and despite the reflex foul to his shins, he retained his balance and struck home a classy goal from the right. Derek was gobbling up everything that the Offsiders could muster in goals, and playing a part in opening the field with his feigns to dish off and increasing long throws that allowed Heng to run and continue the pressure up front. Any remote chance of a comeback were quickly killed off by arguably the goal of the day by Dave from the leftwing. A spilt ball ricocheted into his path, and the cries of "control it" from the bench were matched with a nice first touch on the head and a first time volley that went straight into the bottom right corner. Even the Offsiders bench and the other onlookers were appluading.
It wasn't an exceptional performance. But some outstanding goals from Simon, Quoc, Sanji and two of the best from Dave put some superficial gloss over a sloppy performance. Big things expected next week against the bottom team.
Scoreline: 7-3
Goals: Dave 2, Simon 2, Henry, Quoc, Sanji
Best: Quoc, Derek
Academy award: Henry
Back when the DBB were languishing in the minnow league of Sunday Division 2, there was one team that we continually thrashed like no other. The epitome of such a beating was the 23-0 annihilation of the Offsiders. This win caused our heads to swell with air from such domination that we let our thoughts go above the clouds. It was egocentric conceit at its best and hey, who wouldn't say they are the best after winning 23-0? Today, was a return to those times for a while, when as some smartass prematch put it, "we shouldn't be underestimating these guys." Hahaha, SIF! It's the Offsiders! Even the atmosphere on the sidelines was somewhat dismissive of this match as a contest.
And like the casual banter outside of the nets, the start was pretty lax indeed. The players that started were casually marking, walking back to defence, lazily passing upfield and not making space. Any chance of this being a tough match were still not realised until a shock goal scored by the Offsiders' lanky, pony tail striker 5 minutes in. The expression on the faces of the DBB on field was a mix of disbelief and "huh?" WAKE THE FUCK UP BOYS, it wasn't going to be a canter if we underestimate our opposition this much. And so, with the sidelines yelling their discontent at the apathetic start, the players began to feel the tempo of the match. The Offsiders were defending well, albeit with their subpar skill level, and their lone striker had a blunt, accurate shot that wasn't being given enough respect.
So to breakdown the opposition defence, we had to adopt a different approach to the frantic rushes of previous weeks. Passing the ball around, and drawing the pests out of the burrows, we eventually played patient and intelligent soccer. Eventually, we were firing more shots on target with the help mainly of Quoc's hard play in the middle of the field, tackling, holding off players and looking for the right pass. Heng was also responsible for the jumpstart of adrenaline when he toiled hard and won lots of 50-50 balls to supply Simon and Henry running up front. Eventually, through a lot of hard work, Henry managed to scrag a goal from the corner through the goalie's legs. Not entirely pretty but getting there.
After equalising, the hard struggle continued, with Heng continuining to motor through in the middle with Quoc combining skill and aggression to win plenty of ball. But still, we lacked an edge up front with many chances for little reward. The big villian up there was Heng, who one-two'd nicely with Henry, but failed to force saves from the keeper. It took a moment of brilliance from Dave to really break the shackles. With his back to a harrassing defender, Dave spun out of trouble, jinxed pased two defenders and smacked a goal through from the left side. The momentum swung and in a late flurry, Quoc began commanding midfield and dishing off to the running Simon and Henry up front. Simon scored two goals to bring a nice buffer leading up to half time. But some possession around our attacking perimeter lead to an errand backpass that was anticipated by the striker and the lanky pony tail guy was left open with Derek, leaving him no chance. A sloppy way to end an improving half.
The untidy work was brought into the next half, with a 3rd goal conceded ultimately stemming from poor work rate after the interval, even if it was a shanked kicked from the corner. However, the closeness of the scoreline at 4-3 added some shock value to an uninspired performance, with substitutes Sanji and Heng adding some life back into the team with some hard tackling and tracking. With only seconds after coming on again, Sanji followed a bouncing ball and volleyed from the right wing to the opposite side of goals to immediately restore the status quo. "Black magic," as Dave put it.
Quoc continued his stand out game not up front, but in the heart of the field where he combined well with the enegizer bunny, Heng, to win plenty of ball and lay off. However, Heng's continued hard work failed to pay dividends, as he left his good shooting in the bed; too much sleeping in. However, his persistence led to an increasing amount of shots that led to some wayward target practice at the other end. The increasing confidence meant at times, we were overcommitted, and any loss of the ball would lead to a counterattack. Sensing this, their tall lanky striker came back on for the final few minutes and he immediately caused some problems with his accurate shooting. Derek played a lone hand at the back at times, saving many hard shots from him, as well as creating plenty of pressure by closing the goal face when left stranded at the back.
As the clock continued to count down, the Offsiders grew more wreckless in their attack for the ball, pushing further into our defence and trying to intercept closer to goal. The man-on-man situation they had effectively created led to some hard contests around the ground but on a one-on-one situation, our skill was always going to win out. Quoc continued to shield the ball and turn his opponents, setting up space for the running Heng or Henry, or shooting himself. But the clinical touch up front was still missing. By now, the all-in style from the Offsiders was backfiring because of their overcommitment to the ball and it was too easy to turn them the wrong way and shimmy in the other direction. The increased desperation led to increased fouls from the opposition, the prime example being Henry's underhand shielding of the ball in the corner, with the frustration boiling over, resulting in a retaliatory shove from his marker. Henry's oscar falling performance with arms flailing in the air rubbed salt into an already wounded Offsider comeback.
Their increased carelessness continued but the cream was beginning to rise to the top. Quoc held off two attackers before spinning between them and despite the reflex foul to his shins, he retained his balance and struck home a classy goal from the right. Derek was gobbling up everything that the Offsiders could muster in goals, and playing a part in opening the field with his feigns to dish off and increasing long throws that allowed Heng to run and continue the pressure up front. Any remote chance of a comeback were quickly killed off by arguably the goal of the day by Dave from the leftwing. A spilt ball ricocheted into his path, and the cries of "control it" from the bench were matched with a nice first touch on the head and a first time volley that went straight into the bottom right corner. Even the Offsiders bench and the other onlookers were appluading.
It wasn't an exceptional performance. But some outstanding goals from Simon, Quoc, Sanji and two of the best from Dave put some superficial gloss over a sloppy performance. Big things expected next week against the bottom team.
Scoreline: 7-3
Goals: Dave 2, Simon 2, Henry, Quoc, Sanji
Best: Quoc, Derek
Academy award: Henry
Match Review 3
Match 3, Winter Season, vs Plus 3 Greeks
Even though we thrashed Scotch Titans the week before, this week was a much tougher test of our skills and resolve. The other team wasn't organised and recruited some serious looking randoms hankering for a free game. The types that live and breathe soccer. What resulted was a game versus some firebrand wogs and Gaj, the master curry soccer player himself. This wasn't going to be an easy game with us fronting up against some serious skill, pace and muscle.
Immediately the game rose a few notches above the norm of the previous 2 weeks. The big wogs were hustling the game with their everlasting reserve of stamina, making sure every player on the ball was confronted and physically scragged by the jumper or nudged off the ball. They also ran hard to make space with lots of one-twos and mixed it up with some far range shooting. But we were organised as ever, with Sanji patrolling D and putting his body and knee on the line, saving certain shots on goal. Heng also ran hard in a holding role in midfield, atoning for his unexplained absences in the previous weeks, dishing out to the wogs their own bustling medicine. Quoc was a rock on the ball, shielding bigger bodies despite the nudging and defensive pressure applied whilst Henry and Simon made space up front to match the counterattacking speed of our opponents. It was end to end action at its energy draining and breathless best. Yet, for the few minutes in the opening stanza, it was a stalemate, with each team lacking the clinical touch up front.
Enter Dave onto the field. Using his agility to frequently outturn the gung ho defending of the opposition, Dave continued to menace down the left side, often forcing his opponents to overcommit and make space for shots on goal. And it was Dave who capped off a frantic counterattack down the middle when a sublime ball played in midfield was finished equally sweetly against a fast closing defender and a rushing goal keeper out to meet Dave at pace. With the coolest tap in, Dave's classy finish fired up the team for the remainder of the half. Although we showed more endurance and heart than ever, the contest remained 1-0 at the break.
At the interval, the message was drilled in that this was a tough but awesome performance and we had to stay on our toes to win this one. And no respite at the start of the second half resulted, with the same speed, hardness and ferocity of attacking at both ends. Simon continued to track back to help Sanji at the back, with Heng, Quoc and Henry also clogging up their attacking options. The discipline at the back resulted in fast counterattacking opportunities, with Dave using his pace and agility to create space and shots. The fighting in the clinches was again broken by some Dave brilliance when a hotly contested ball created only a meagre opportunity to shoot. With a pass going above his head, Dave outpaced his marker and struck a fierce shot that the keeper hardly saw whistle past his raised right arm. And suddenly, against tough opposition, we had seemingly scored the sealer.
And then we had seemingly lost the game with that mentality. Immediately the wog spirit reared its head and almost immediately, their speed in passing opened up a free man down the right wing. Derek was unlucky to concede the goal after running out to meet the attacker and covering the entire goal except the part between his legs. A little shell shocked, we continued our workrate, but a moment of magic came from one of their wogs, when a bouncing ball down the left wasn't closed and a lazy left footed shot ended up in the corner of Derek's goal. Within a blink of the eye, the scores were tied at 2-2 with the heads on field sinking, much to the disapproval of everybody shouting for some more heart on the sidelines.
The much maligned Heng decided to put his body on the line again, taking a lot of punishment in midfield by throwing his body in front of opponents twice his size, stopping certain one-on-one opportunities with the keeper. A desperate lunge stopped a certain two versus the goalie in our half which resulted in Heng coming off with a battered shin and ankle. But despite the heroics of the lil' Khmer, Gaj and the wogs began to spread the play and attack with more vigour and pace. We defended for dear life, with Derek saving many certain goals. In one instance, one of their wogs had broken free down the right and Derek ran out to meet him. Smarting from his tap between Derek's legs earlier, he tried to do it again, but Derek became a fridgit, closing up shop and confusing the attacker. Our goalie continued pretending to run out and then run back, buying about 3 precious seconds for the calvalry to arrive and provide some much needed assistance. Quoc continued to use his skill on the ball to hold up the play in the chaos, providing much needed respite, despite the constant attention of bigger opponents yapping at his shins and from behind.
But really, we were all heart but lacking the final touch up front. And all hell was breaking loose. And nobody was there in the eye of the storm. Everybody except for one man. The player that broke the rules and took a chance to attack whilst we were under seige. Willing to take all the pressure up front. Refusing to be the bitch in the game when it was his goals that gave us the lead in the first place. You got the moves, you know the streets, break the rules, take the heat, you're nobody's fool. You're at your best when the going gets rough, you've been put to the test but it's never enough. Sandwiched between two players that were literally shoulder to shoulder with him, after numerous attacks virtually alone, he put the midas touch on a half bouncing ball with closing pressure from the sides and in front of him from the goalie, to smack home the winner under the cross bar. And so with less than 2 minutes remaining, Dave spectacularly, like all his goals yesterday, had the power. Yes Dave, you've got the touch! You've got the power!
And so, having come so close to losing the hardest fight in our soccer lives, we were determined to never let it slip again. Quoc held onto the ball again amongst a sea of defenders hacking at him, burning precious time. This ultimately lead up to the final foul that bled the time until the game finally died out for a most memorable win. And it was certainly one to savour, not because of the quality of the opposition or the awesome goals scored, but because we did not wilt. We fought back and showed some real spirit out there. None more typified by Dave straight back into defence to help out after his winner and jumping into the path of a thunderous shot and literally taking one for the team. Ding, ding. Ouch, but it ain't over until its over and for once, we showed what its all about. Right until the final round was over. A fantastic team effort!
Scoreline: 3-2
Goals: Dave 3
Man of the match: Dave
Even though we thrashed Scotch Titans the week before, this week was a much tougher test of our skills and resolve. The other team wasn't organised and recruited some serious looking randoms hankering for a free game. The types that live and breathe soccer. What resulted was a game versus some firebrand wogs and Gaj, the master curry soccer player himself. This wasn't going to be an easy game with us fronting up against some serious skill, pace and muscle.
Immediately the game rose a few notches above the norm of the previous 2 weeks. The big wogs were hustling the game with their everlasting reserve of stamina, making sure every player on the ball was confronted and physically scragged by the jumper or nudged off the ball. They also ran hard to make space with lots of one-twos and mixed it up with some far range shooting. But we were organised as ever, with Sanji patrolling D and putting his body and knee on the line, saving certain shots on goal. Heng also ran hard in a holding role in midfield, atoning for his unexplained absences in the previous weeks, dishing out to the wogs their own bustling medicine. Quoc was a rock on the ball, shielding bigger bodies despite the nudging and defensive pressure applied whilst Henry and Simon made space up front to match the counterattacking speed of our opponents. It was end to end action at its energy draining and breathless best. Yet, for the few minutes in the opening stanza, it was a stalemate, with each team lacking the clinical touch up front.
Enter Dave onto the field. Using his agility to frequently outturn the gung ho defending of the opposition, Dave continued to menace down the left side, often forcing his opponents to overcommit and make space for shots on goal. And it was Dave who capped off a frantic counterattack down the middle when a sublime ball played in midfield was finished equally sweetly against a fast closing defender and a rushing goal keeper out to meet Dave at pace. With the coolest tap in, Dave's classy finish fired up the team for the remainder of the half. Although we showed more endurance and heart than ever, the contest remained 1-0 at the break.
At the interval, the message was drilled in that this was a tough but awesome performance and we had to stay on our toes to win this one. And no respite at the start of the second half resulted, with the same speed, hardness and ferocity of attacking at both ends. Simon continued to track back to help Sanji at the back, with Heng, Quoc and Henry also clogging up their attacking options. The discipline at the back resulted in fast counterattacking opportunities, with Dave using his pace and agility to create space and shots. The fighting in the clinches was again broken by some Dave brilliance when a hotly contested ball created only a meagre opportunity to shoot. With a pass going above his head, Dave outpaced his marker and struck a fierce shot that the keeper hardly saw whistle past his raised right arm. And suddenly, against tough opposition, we had seemingly scored the sealer.
And then we had seemingly lost the game with that mentality. Immediately the wog spirit reared its head and almost immediately, their speed in passing opened up a free man down the right wing. Derek was unlucky to concede the goal after running out to meet the attacker and covering the entire goal except the part between his legs. A little shell shocked, we continued our workrate, but a moment of magic came from one of their wogs, when a bouncing ball down the left wasn't closed and a lazy left footed shot ended up in the corner of Derek's goal. Within a blink of the eye, the scores were tied at 2-2 with the heads on field sinking, much to the disapproval of everybody shouting for some more heart on the sidelines.
The much maligned Heng decided to put his body on the line again, taking a lot of punishment in midfield by throwing his body in front of opponents twice his size, stopping certain one-on-one opportunities with the keeper. A desperate lunge stopped a certain two versus the goalie in our half which resulted in Heng coming off with a battered shin and ankle. But despite the heroics of the lil' Khmer, Gaj and the wogs began to spread the play and attack with more vigour and pace. We defended for dear life, with Derek saving many certain goals. In one instance, one of their wogs had broken free down the right and Derek ran out to meet him. Smarting from his tap between Derek's legs earlier, he tried to do it again, but Derek became a fridgit, closing up shop and confusing the attacker. Our goalie continued pretending to run out and then run back, buying about 3 precious seconds for the calvalry to arrive and provide some much needed assistance. Quoc continued to use his skill on the ball to hold up the play in the chaos, providing much needed respite, despite the constant attention of bigger opponents yapping at his shins and from behind.
But really, we were all heart but lacking the final touch up front. And all hell was breaking loose. And nobody was there in the eye of the storm. Everybody except for one man. The player that broke the rules and took a chance to attack whilst we were under seige. Willing to take all the pressure up front. Refusing to be the bitch in the game when it was his goals that gave us the lead in the first place. You got the moves, you know the streets, break the rules, take the heat, you're nobody's fool. You're at your best when the going gets rough, you've been put to the test but it's never enough. Sandwiched between two players that were literally shoulder to shoulder with him, after numerous attacks virtually alone, he put the midas touch on a half bouncing ball with closing pressure from the sides and in front of him from the goalie, to smack home the winner under the cross bar. And so with less than 2 minutes remaining, Dave spectacularly, like all his goals yesterday, had the power. Yes Dave, you've got the touch! You've got the power!
And so, having come so close to losing the hardest fight in our soccer lives, we were determined to never let it slip again. Quoc held onto the ball again amongst a sea of defenders hacking at him, burning precious time. This ultimately lead up to the final foul that bled the time until the game finally died out for a most memorable win. And it was certainly one to savour, not because of the quality of the opposition or the awesome goals scored, but because we did not wilt. We fought back and showed some real spirit out there. None more typified by Dave straight back into defence to help out after his winner and jumping into the path of a thunderous shot and literally taking one for the team. Ding, ding. Ouch, but it ain't over until its over and for once, we showed what its all about. Right until the final round was over. A fantastic team effort!
Scoreline: 3-2
Goals: Dave 3
Man of the match: Dave
Match Review 2
Match 2, Winter Season, vs Scotch Titans
Following last week's shocker and the inaugural match review during the week, there was perhaps a sense of mission about this week's match. Scotch Titans had a tricky playmaker and if we could stop him, we'd have basically cut off that team's arms and legs as well.
Simon scored the first goal and what resulted was a dour contest for the next 10 minutes as both teams were happy to let the game develop slowly until somebody made a decisive move. When Simon subbed back on for the late stages of the half, he upped the midfield workrate, driving the ball forward with Henry providing support up front and to the right. Dave was holding the ball well and Quoc and Sanji were keeping their main player at bay in defence. Simon's hard work was responsible for our lead at the break, with Sanji unlucky to concede a ball that he'd unluckily deflected (having covered it) into the goals.
It was time to up the ante after the break. Quoc pushed forward and was holding his customary two defenders off, laying off the ball to either Simon or Henry, who kept providing the Scotch Titans' some massive headaches up front. Dave pressed forward with some nice stop-start runs down the left wing, but was let down by poor finishing all game. We were helped by their shit players, which was basically everybody besides their best player. The big guy wasn't doing a lot up front. The fast guy had bad ball control. The big defender at the back committed too easily and the goalie had absolutely no fucking idea whatsoever. In fact, their main player had to do most of their work and following instructions to just stick and don't commit on him, he tired quickly, all aided by Quoc and Simon's numerous hacks on his shins.
When he lay on the ground after a painful chop by Simon, it was the signal for the mass attack in the final minutes, as Quoc held the ball on the goal arc, feinting to shoot a few times and cheekily tapping the ball past the keeper for a classy goal. Henry carefully lined up an inch perfect free kick into the top left hand corner that bamboozled their already very confused goalie. By the time Sanji capped off a blanket job on their strikers with a thunderbolt from 15m out, we were running riot with some memorable goals and finally, some killer instinct and spirit back. And the smiles at the end of the game typified what was a classy all round, clinical performance.
But let's not get carried away with that win. We've had that scoreline against this team for the 2nd time. And if we're serious about getting into division 1, we need to punish teams like that by working on making more space. It was a better performance in this regard, particularly Henry providing an option down the right but there were still times when the player pushing the ball forward had to stop because of no options. But in fairness, it was still a great win, only marred by a a bizarre charity penalty against Derek for holding the ball too long. Much to our disgust and non-surprise really, given we had the dickhead ref for the second consecutive week.
However, the only downside in our control was no-show no. 334 of Heng to soccer. Heng, you bloody wom, fuck you! Even after team management has busted your ass for being a wom and Dave calling you the night before as a reminder, you still don't even call to let us know you're going to the jungle for the day. Fuck you! Disappointing.
Scoreline: 8-3
Goals: Simon 3, Quoc 3, Sanji, Henry
Man of the match: Simon
Villian of the day: Heng
Following last week's shocker and the inaugural match review during the week, there was perhaps a sense of mission about this week's match. Scotch Titans had a tricky playmaker and if we could stop him, we'd have basically cut off that team's arms and legs as well.
Simon scored the first goal and what resulted was a dour contest for the next 10 minutes as both teams were happy to let the game develop slowly until somebody made a decisive move. When Simon subbed back on for the late stages of the half, he upped the midfield workrate, driving the ball forward with Henry providing support up front and to the right. Dave was holding the ball well and Quoc and Sanji were keeping their main player at bay in defence. Simon's hard work was responsible for our lead at the break, with Sanji unlucky to concede a ball that he'd unluckily deflected (having covered it) into the goals.
It was time to up the ante after the break. Quoc pushed forward and was holding his customary two defenders off, laying off the ball to either Simon or Henry, who kept providing the Scotch Titans' some massive headaches up front. Dave pressed forward with some nice stop-start runs down the left wing, but was let down by poor finishing all game. We were helped by their shit players, which was basically everybody besides their best player. The big guy wasn't doing a lot up front. The fast guy had bad ball control. The big defender at the back committed too easily and the goalie had absolutely no fucking idea whatsoever. In fact, their main player had to do most of their work and following instructions to just stick and don't commit on him, he tired quickly, all aided by Quoc and Simon's numerous hacks on his shins.
When he lay on the ground after a painful chop by Simon, it was the signal for the mass attack in the final minutes, as Quoc held the ball on the goal arc, feinting to shoot a few times and cheekily tapping the ball past the keeper for a classy goal. Henry carefully lined up an inch perfect free kick into the top left hand corner that bamboozled their already very confused goalie. By the time Sanji capped off a blanket job on their strikers with a thunderbolt from 15m out, we were running riot with some memorable goals and finally, some killer instinct and spirit back. And the smiles at the end of the game typified what was a classy all round, clinical performance.
But let's not get carried away with that win. We've had that scoreline against this team for the 2nd time. And if we're serious about getting into division 1, we need to punish teams like that by working on making more space. It was a better performance in this regard, particularly Henry providing an option down the right but there were still times when the player pushing the ball forward had to stop because of no options. But in fairness, it was still a great win, only marred by a a bizarre charity penalty against Derek for holding the ball too long. Much to our disgust and non-surprise really, given we had the dickhead ref for the second consecutive week.
However, the only downside in our control was no-show no. 334 of Heng to soccer. Heng, you bloody wom, fuck you! Even after team management has busted your ass for being a wom and Dave calling you the night before as a reminder, you still don't even call to let us know you're going to the jungle for the day. Fuck you! Disappointing.
Scoreline: 8-3
Goals: Simon 3, Quoc 3, Sanji, Henry
Man of the match: Simon
Villian of the day: Heng
Match Review 1
Match 1, Winter Season, vs BHS Utd
On a freezing cold Sunday night, it was time for the first game of the season. Like all new seasons, enthusiasm and excitement was abuzz prematch. Particularly with exams being finished but more the fact that the team had discussed at length at the end of a dismal previous season that we had to start kicking some ass. For a team that nearly won the wooden spoon in division 1, we could honestly say without any bias that we came close and probably played better than most of the teams in our division. So much talent but nothing to show for it. And it was time the sleeping giant roused from its slumber and staked a claim for promotion and success in the top flight. Previous bad blood between the team (actually mainly Quoc against BHS Utd) should've been the catalyst for an annihilation of this substandard opposition.
From kick off, it was clear we forgot the number one cardinal rule in sport, never take your opposition lightly. Even though they lacked our touch and skills on ball, it was clear BHS Utd were more organised, flooding their defence and only attacking when we committed too many forward. In fact, the positions and plans that were promised fell through the door, with players running anywhere they pleased. This dangerous play ultimately gave us the rudest of all wake up calls when BHS Utd struck first blood with a one-on-one situation with Derek that left him no chance.
Dispirited, our attackers failed to break their defence because no one was running into space. Attackers not making the positions for a pass but standing behind defenders was suicide and we turned over the ball too many times when they rushed the player on the ball. Dave did some nice runs to get past some BHS opponents but he had little help to lay off the ball. Sanji tried to run into space and passed some nicely flighted long balls. Simon was the best player of the half, continually running and putting plenty of pressure in midfield. By halftime, the situation was better but we hadn't expected the game to be tough like this.
We clearly lacked any answers to their tracking back and it showed when Dave was booked for dissent and Quoc starting to take it out on their defender by pushing and some dirty play. We had grinded out a 2-1 lead but based on the play, we didn't deserve it. Like the first half, there was too much rushing to score but little running into space to spread their defence. One instance where all players on field ran in a line across the field exposed us at the back and errand passing led to two nearly 1-1 on situations with the goalie that they capitalised on. Out of nowhere, we were losing 2-3 to a team that should have been cannon fodder for the night.
Falling behind with less than 5 minutes left seem to hurt some of our pride and the players fired up but the play was still sloppy. No players up front were running into space and the ball was being lost too easily. Henry had threatened all game with numerous missed chances but redeemed himself with a composed finished to bring the scores level. BHS Utd at this point seemed to retract into their shells and went about defending for dear life where as we pushed forward for the win. Continual pressure eventually led to a scramble in front of goals, with Quoc fortuituosly running into Simon, who was pushed into the right spot to head the ball home for the winner.
Running into space, showing heart and a designated defender are the simple things that need to be rectified soon.
Scoreline: 4-3
Goals: Sanji, Quoc, Henry, Simon
Man of the match: Simon
On a freezing cold Sunday night, it was time for the first game of the season. Like all new seasons, enthusiasm and excitement was abuzz prematch. Particularly with exams being finished but more the fact that the team had discussed at length at the end of a dismal previous season that we had to start kicking some ass. For a team that nearly won the wooden spoon in division 1, we could honestly say without any bias that we came close and probably played better than most of the teams in our division. So much talent but nothing to show for it. And it was time the sleeping giant roused from its slumber and staked a claim for promotion and success in the top flight. Previous bad blood between the team (actually mainly Quoc against BHS Utd) should've been the catalyst for an annihilation of this substandard opposition.
From kick off, it was clear we forgot the number one cardinal rule in sport, never take your opposition lightly. Even though they lacked our touch and skills on ball, it was clear BHS Utd were more organised, flooding their defence and only attacking when we committed too many forward. In fact, the positions and plans that were promised fell through the door, with players running anywhere they pleased. This dangerous play ultimately gave us the rudest of all wake up calls when BHS Utd struck first blood with a one-on-one situation with Derek that left him no chance.
Dispirited, our attackers failed to break their defence because no one was running into space. Attackers not making the positions for a pass but standing behind defenders was suicide and we turned over the ball too many times when they rushed the player on the ball. Dave did some nice runs to get past some BHS opponents but he had little help to lay off the ball. Sanji tried to run into space and passed some nicely flighted long balls. Simon was the best player of the half, continually running and putting plenty of pressure in midfield. By halftime, the situation was better but we hadn't expected the game to be tough like this.
We clearly lacked any answers to their tracking back and it showed when Dave was booked for dissent and Quoc starting to take it out on their defender by pushing and some dirty play. We had grinded out a 2-1 lead but based on the play, we didn't deserve it. Like the first half, there was too much rushing to score but little running into space to spread their defence. One instance where all players on field ran in a line across the field exposed us at the back and errand passing led to two nearly 1-1 on situations with the goalie that they capitalised on. Out of nowhere, we were losing 2-3 to a team that should have been cannon fodder for the night.
Falling behind with less than 5 minutes left seem to hurt some of our pride and the players fired up but the play was still sloppy. No players up front were running into space and the ball was being lost too easily. Henry had threatened all game with numerous missed chances but redeemed himself with a composed finished to bring the scores level. BHS Utd at this point seemed to retract into their shells and went about defending for dear life where as we pushed forward for the win. Continual pressure eventually led to a scramble in front of goals, with Quoc fortuituosly running into Simon, who was pushed into the right spot to head the ball home for the winner.
Running into space, showing heart and a designated defender are the simple things that need to be rectified soon.
Scoreline: 4-3
Goals: Sanji, Quoc, Henry, Simon
Man of the match: Simon
Prematch address
"Now I can't do it for you. I'm too old. I look around and I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I made every wrong choice a middle aged man could make. I uh... pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who has ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know when you get old in life, things get taken from you. That's, that's part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out that life is just a game of inches. So is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean one half step too late or too early, you don't make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us to pieces for that inch. We CLAW with our fingernails for that inch. Cause we know when we add up all those inches, that's going to make the fucking difference between WINNING and LOSING; between LIVING and DYING. I'll tell you this, in any fight, it is the guy who is willing to die, who is going to win that inch. And I know, if I am going to have any life anymore, it is because I am still willing to fight and die for that inch. Because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face! Now I can't make you do it. You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes. Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you're gonna do the same thing for him. That's a team gentlemen. And either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys. That's all it is. Now, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?"
In attempt to quell my agitation whilst injured, I started a match review to keep myself together with the team and help it out a little. I didn't imagine that it would become a ritual to read these reports, nor did I anticipate the effect it would have of making the boys rise up to the challenge, or rise merely for some cheap mention in this second rate journal. In any case, the DBB's match review has risen beyond its humble beginnings on my blog and has been elevated to the hallowed turf in cyberspace for all members of the team to participate; to report, to criticise, to bitch, to fight, to mock, to laugh, to reminisce, to plan, to scheme... TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to win, on any given Sunday.
In attempt to quell my agitation whilst injured, I started a match review to keep myself together with the team and help it out a little. I didn't imagine that it would become a ritual to read these reports, nor did I anticipate the effect it would have of making the boys rise up to the challenge, or rise merely for some cheap mention in this second rate journal. In any case, the DBB's match review has risen beyond its humble beginnings on my blog and has been elevated to the hallowed turf in cyberspace for all members of the team to participate; to report, to criticise, to bitch, to fight, to mock, to laugh, to reminisce, to plan, to scheme... TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to win, on any given Sunday.
