Dutch Ball Breakers

The stage was set for redemption. All the past choking efforts of previous finals in seasons gone by had amounted to this. The last loss in a final to Real Corrupt really fucked us up. And here we were, ready to finally go one better. Facing the fourth placed team in the big grand final. Following our demolition of Shuuto the week before, there was a real feeling of optimism that this would be the day.

The plan was to play a good defensive game, get ahead, and draw the opposition to commit whilst we let Simmo rip them on the counter. And just like against Shuuto, the plan was working. Simmo shot us to an early lead and we used this to our advantage, tapping the ball at the back and making our opponents push forward for an equaliser. Heng, with some hard running and a nice 360, ran down the left wing and took a shot which was parried away. Some hard scrapping and he capitalised on his hard work to double the lead. Although we weren't ripping it apart on the scoreboard, we were controlling the game well, albeit a little too defensively. Quoc was holding the fort at the back with Dave, whilst Henry and Sanj weren't too adventurous, opting not to gift unnecessary chances to the opposition. Two goals up at halftime in the big one was more than we'd imagined.

Following the half time counsel, there was a sense that we'd seal this game with miserly play. Don't be stupid, and we'd win. How wrong we were. As our attack disintegrated into a sloppy game at the back, Chickempron started pushing up and hassling the ball carrier with disastrous results. Their best player, Peter, began to control the play, willing his teammates to run into space as he pinged passes into the space in front of them. To our shock horror, they began to get a sniff as some indecisive defending let him in on his trademark turn'n'run'n'shoot to give them their first goal. The catalyst for a comeback was on the cards and quite quickly, Peter gave them the equaliser with Chickempron pumping their fists and psyching themselves up to run all over us.

A game that had seemingly been in our total command was slipping away. Again! And when Chickempron got into the lead, and doubled the lead with about 5 minutes remaining until full time, it was game over. Literally. Heads slumped. Fingers were pointed. Fuck you cunts. Defend. Cover that guy! Save the ball! Silence. This was fucked! Quoc and Dave gestured wildly to sub back on but the ref would not let them. Everything was going wrong. And in the mean time, buoyed by their reversal in fortunes, our opposition were sky high and pumped to rub salt into the wounds.

Enter, Simmo. With the game virtually lost, and the rest of our onfield players running back and looking to stem the hemorrhaging at the back, Simmo embarked on a one man mission to turn the tide. With Chickempron giving us some of our own defensive medicine, Simmo took on two/three defenders and shot a goal out of nothing. Suddenly, it's us sniffing the coke. Two and a half minutes left. The ball was hoofed from our defence. Simmo controls. Simmo turns two defenders. Simmo shoots. Simmo scores. The team erupted. The bench went wild. The whole of Box Hill Indoor is turning to watch our game. Simmo jumps onto the net and repeats his Herculian celebration from a week just past. Suddenly Chickempron were on the back foot. Suddenly we were going to run over them.

And with two minutes remaining, the unthinkable happens. Almost straight from the kick off, their tall player, James, one-twos with Peter and shoots low and hard to score what was surely the winner. And just like that, it was game over. For sure. Heads down. Chickempron all run back to defence. Impossible to penetrate. Only 90 seconds remaining. And the feeling of deja vu was immediately felt amongst our players. The same fucking shit all over again. And what the hell, the last 90 seconds was just playing out time. It was all desperation and little composure as our team was going in for everything and having to push up. Fuck this. Oh you reckon ref? Pay it now why don't you? And we win a free just a third of the way from the goal. But the buzzer has already gone. Fuck. Its game over. Simmo walks over gesturing someone else to take it. But Henry and Heng would have none of that. The best striker in our team was going to take the last kick of the season. Just get it over with so we can leave. Simmo runs up. Simmo shoots. Simmo shoots a bullet. An arrow that goes low and hard, and leaves their keeper dumbfounded. 5-5. The ref couldn't believe it. The bench couldn't believe it. Chickempron couldn't believe it. The whole crowd couldn't believe it. It was going to extra time.

The ref wasn't doing any favours with what seemed to be made up rules to favour the other team. As he said, extra time was a continuation of the second half, so Quoc and Dave sat frustrated as they were effectively subbed out. And when our accumulation of 5 fouls had carried over, we were left hoping that the dangerous spots we'd conceded our free kicks would be missed. Derek stops the first one from an acute angle. The second would be impossible. Perfect range for a long missile. Hard for the keeper to stop even if he comes out. Hard to stop if he hangs back. Derek was in no-man's land. A nightmare for the stopper. Derek saves what surely would have been the golden goal. Its like a heavyweight title fight in the 15th round. Both teams are tired. Sanj, Heng and Henry push up for the winner and Simmo, in the worst bit of role reversal is forced to defend. The mayhem finishes at 5-5. Penalties it would be.

Heng was up first. The tension was unbearable. Everybody in the centre not playing in a game had their eyes fixed up the far end for this title decider. Heng scores. They score. Henry scores. They miss. We are pumped. Sanj misses. Its crazy. We're level again. Derek saves Peter's shot. And its time for our striker, Simmo to seal the deal. He does. And celebrations go off. Peter from the other team shakes our hands conceding defeat. Hang on. WHAT THE FUCK? The ref is saying that the keepers have to kick too. Dave goes to remonstrate with the head umpire. Confusion reigns. The crowd is only drawn further into the contest. With a respite of 2 minutes arguing, their keeper fronts up. He scores. Derek lines up. If he scores, we win. C'mon Derek. He misses. Its level again and sudden death. Heng scores. We erupt. They score. Henry scores. We go ballistic. They score. Sanji lines up. He shoots. In the middle. The keeper does not move to either side. The ball goes through the keepers legs. We don't cheer. We sigh. Sanj scores. Peter, their best player lines up. He shoots same side as the previous attempt. Derek moves to the left and saves. A huge save. This is it. Simmo to win the game. Looking exhausted, Simmo walks up. And smashes it in. We are the champions!

Although we'd say after the game that it should never have gone like that, we'll take that victory any day. Against all odds at one stage, we came back from death at least 3 times in the game and came out division 2 premiers for our first title win since the start of the team 5 years ago. A FUCKING MASSIVE EFFORT! Well done boys for a great season, one of which we dominated after a slow start. Thoroughly deserved and how about a celebratory dinner/drinks as Sanj has suggested next week?

Score: 5-5. DBB wins on penalties 7-6
Goals: Simmo 4, Heng 1
MVP for the grand final: Simmo (I don't care what Box Hill says, Simmo was man of the match by a mile and a half. 4 massive goals in normal time. 2 from the brink of dead. And 1 massive free kick to keep us in the match. And the penalty kick to win the game.)
Redemption award: Derek (paid us backfor that Grand final loss)
Most memorable quotes after the game:
-Sanj, "After 4-2, I thought we were gone."
-Derek, "I was gonna give up the game."
-Quoc, "I was ready to unleash so much shit on Derek."

Season awards
Top scorer: Simmo
MVP: Simmo
Most tilted player: Quoc (for so many unnecessary yellow cards)
MIA award: Heng
Biggest flashpoint: Dave and the fat guy from Shuuto
Big bollocks (no homo) award: Henry (for taking so many dirty tackles and hits)
Colonel's award: Sanji (for suggesting KFC after every match)
Dirty boy: Derek (never keeping a clean... ah just kidding man!)
#1 ticket holder: Tam
Best win: Grand final vs Chickempron Submarine
Most satisfying win: Semi final vs Shuuto

And that's it for the season. Big things next season in Div 1 hopefully. Peace out.

Edit: here's some pics courtesy of Chops' camera...