TSW/4 Match Summary

This was our first night game of the year and we were raring to go under the BSRC floodlights. The pitch was as slick as it gets after the heavy downpour in the morning and it was always going to be conducive for some good football, but were we in for a surprise!

The ball rarely left our possession in the first half hour of the game as we took advantage of the width of the pitch to play some breathtaking football. Hailmey and Hammry in midfield took charge of the game making sure that our more creative players like Khai and Danan had the freedom to roam and the space to move. Haidi has been in blistering form as of late and he was out to prove that his 'goal of the season' award last year was no fluke. But it was Dilah who took the first honours when he cut inside from the left flank and his canon right foot put the ball in the top right corner of the TSW/4 net. 1 - 0 to DRM...the floodgates were opened!

That didn't mean that we didn't have our fair share of defending, there were odd spells of TSW/4 counter-attacks, and their fleet footed strikers caused a few lung-bursting runs by our defenders, often with Yusriman our goalie for the day saving our necks at the last. His one-handed dive to deny them their goal in the first 30 minutes when the dipping ball looked to have all but crossed the line is definitely worth a mention.

We threw everything we had following that in search of a second, and we didn't have to wait long. Khai who was beginning to appear everywhere managed to put in an inviting cross into the penalty area, and the unmarked Julberg could not do better than to power it down for our second goal. It really looked one way traffic as we piled on the pressure with our movement and running off the ball and we pushed into areas that threatened a third goal which eventually came when Fadil who had just came on for Big Show was put through again by Khai and he slotted the ball in easily across goal for our third.

We tired out in the last 15 minutes of the half and much to TSW/4's credit they came alive from the dead and began to exert some say on ball possession. They did have Hammry in the way though, and he really showed why it wasn't going to be so easy to get through our defense.

The second half saw a number of changes, and the fresh legs we had to throw on meant that we were not gonna let the bar from our 1st half showing drop any. Rigel came on in the centre of the park, and he showed us that he can definitely mix it with his clean tackling and good distribution play. Haidi came back into the game in the 2nd half, hungry for a goal and he got his wish after some persistent running. Amir S playing in midfield pushed through a weighted pass which split the defense, and Haidi broke free of the offside trap and was left in a one-on-one situation with the keeper. He really wasn't gonna dissapoint from there, dummying once and twice before his low shot went under the keeper and straight into goal.

They managed a 2nd goal quite soon after that goal, when their pony-tailed striker was put through with a long ball over the defense, Renny who had been chasing was adjudged by the referee to have brought the guy down and he duly tucked the penalty away without any hesitance.

We were 4 - 2 up and coasting, when the troubles began. The opponents started to lose their cool and a few un-necessary tackles started flying in. Our Roberto Carlos like left-back, Noh mainly found himself at the end of several badly timed and unneccessarily violent tackles. The number of free-kicks we won in the 2nd half, it was funny how we didn't manage to score from one, the usually pin-point Fakhrul wasn't able to find his way to goal on the night. Despite that we weren't going to be intimidated, and we worked hard for a fifth, when Sulhi who had been slightly quiet all game popped up from the right with a square ball which Amir S wasn't going to let go to waste. It was 5- 2 to DRM!

Overall, despite the aggressiono, DRM played well enough to truly deserve the win. In hindsight, we maybe did abit to provoke the opponents but then again you only give what you get. Let that not tarnish the fact that we were the better team on the day, and that the guys in blue and yellow played their hearts out!