Dutch Ball Breakers

As I sit here grinding the crystalised sweat fragments off my face, I wonder why I haven't had my post-game shower yet...err brb.

Okay, back. Time to summarise 3 weeks worth of games in one.

April 16 - vs Underdogs

Always knew it would be a tough game. At the onset they scored a quick goal due to some lapse in our defense, however seconds later Simon equalised after a good pass down the line. Then a whole lot of stuff happened, and it was 2-2 at half time.

We definitely hit the half-time iceberg, or something. Titanic'd for the entire second half. We just did not move to counter the fob threat. Laziness, an unfamiliar addition to the team (Dave K), among other things saw us spiral to a 6-2 defeat. Damn boys, no words can express how sh!t our second half was. Maybe Chops could articulate how we played a bit better, eg "F!@*&N SH!T). We definitely need to work on more of a strategy to grab those 'Dogs by the balls and have them squealing all the way back to (*cough*mainland China*cough*) umm where they came from - possibly Box Hill or Donnie.

Score: 6-2 down.

April 30 - vs Hard Pack 20's

The team formerly known as...doh forgot their old name, but the rough c&!#s with the big dreadlock'd black guy Caeser? Cessar? Whatever. Frank after contemplating making an appearance was a no show, after I explained who we were playing. He fell conveniently sick *cough cough* (no pun intended).

Anyway from the onset the game was rough. All Hard Pack's tackles were hard, they went in from behind and mainly pushed us off the ball, so we'd stumble forward leaving the ball behind. Thankfully the ref started seeing this nonsense and fouling them. The frustration on their side clearly showed.

We managed to use our brains and anticipate their play style. For example The dreadlocks guy just runs side to side, no chop turns or the like, relying on his pace and body mass. After we picked apart their strategy, it was just left to building up their frustration.
Good to see the DbbZ holding strong in defense and mixing up the pace and playing the mind game. Slow passes back and forth to the keeper saw their players run in and start crunching our boys. All up they ended up with 5 yellow cards for the game. A tussle initiated by Heng while keeping resulted in Quoc somehow being yellow carded, and one of the Hard Pack's being sin binned for 5 minutes. Good show.

Commendations to Derek for saving a shitload of shots. This should not have been allowed in the first place. I guess in defence we need to make the correct judgement call about covering the player with the ball from taking a shot, or not committing and looking for the attacker to pass off to a runner. Sometimes we commit to cover the striker, only to see him pass off to an unmanned runner who scores. Solution - more back in D...cover the runners, but not at the expense of leaving an attacker open to shoot on goal. Anywho, good skit Derek.

Score: 4-1 up.

May 7 - vs. Sholin Soccer

A team we hadn't come up against for ages. Anyway, they had a few skillfull players but the others were hacks. The game got a bit heated to...that in a bit.
First goal came from Simon, a left foot trademark snap from the left side saw us leading 1-0. Lot of illegal tackles started coming from both sides, however Sholin were clearly the more aggravated of the teams. Their frustration started showing, and their acting skills lifted up a notch. Must point out at this stage that the ref did call one too many free kicks and messed up the flow of the game. That's the difference between a ref that knows how to ref (technically) and a sicc$#nt ref. The latter knows when to call what and when to let it pass.

Moving on, 5 fouls happened very quickly for both teams, and saw the wall-less free kicks being given left right and centre. Frank came all the way down from Treeville and took the free, and scored. Well done man, 2 hours of driving paid off. If you're aching and in pain tomorrow, contemplate it being the pain of victory and be content.

Anyway something finally snapped and once again, we found ourselves in a tussle. This time things got really heated, their hacks came from the side and started shoving, especially the big !#*&$3 who jumped on and tried to fling Quoc. Excuse the French, but I hate that !#$@$#@ @!#%!@%*)721. *woosah*. So the manager came on and tried to calm things down, and told us it's just a game blah blah and anything further the game would be called off. Both teams got full team yellows. Henry and I sitting on the bench were like...wtf. Man I had better not have gone to the dunny and come back and got a red card, else somebody gonna getta hurt real bad...

So after clearly once again frustrating the opposition, Simon took a free with his left foot to score our third. We wrapped up the game with that. Once again commendations to Derek, awesome saves in goals. They got past our D all too often, which was NOT good. Also, the entire game we just seemed to drift in a stalemate, no moves to break through their wall. Our goals came down to some luck. I think we definitely need to pick up our act, start making some plays up forward to create opportunities. As of now, Simon is our superstar, but what if he's not there, we will be stuck in a perpetual stalemate. Our D I'm confident can hold strong, but a lack of options up front will be our downfall. As Henry said, it'll come down to whoever fu*#s up first. Need some of that Quoc and Dave magic up front, with midfield support from Heng and Henry.

Anyway, well played, and cool well kept (for the most part).

Score: 3-0 up.