Our Biggest Turn Up Ever!

We had 29 players turn up for yesterday's match, which most will agree is a new DRM record and what a game it turned out to be! We definitely had a headache trying to figure out how to make sure everyone had a fair chance of running out for the team, and there was definitely alot of sweaty jersey's being passed around, but it's a problem i'd love to have every game, thank you very much. Alot has been said about the team spirit in DRM FC, and i'd like to think yesterday proved just that. I always find DRM games a good place to catch up with people you might not necessarily have time to meet during the day, and to also meet new friends, and we had that in abundance yesterday.

I'd also like to welcome those new to the DRM family, and what a selection of internationals we now have.

Pedro & Javier from Venezuela : Hope yesterday's crash course in Malay will help you go along way with settling down in Brunei.

Pak Ari from Indonesia : He very nearly made a scoring debut on several occassions, and he looks like he will be a useful addition to the squad.

Ady Fadhli : Played well in midfield despite being in unfamiliar surroundings. Keep turning up for games mate.

We started the game fielding some very experienced DRM old-boys courtesy of Agent 81 and the first half line up defintely had a good mix of creativity, flair as well as composure. The midfield trio of Romeo, Dilah and Samsul dominated the centre of the park with their good link up play and support that it provided plenty of space upfront for our attack minded players to exploit. And exploit we did, Pachie who is consistently showing what a threat he is upfront with his tireless running and turns, provided a good foil for the more direct and powerful Haidi and they had several chances early on in the game to take first honours. Infact, a through ball from the left flanks supported by Dilah put Pachie through on goal and his goal bound shot would've found the back of the net had it not been for an unfortunate deflection from of all people, Haidi himself!

The goal eventually came when Pachie's determination to get on the scoresheet paid off, as he calmly jinked past three defenders and slotted in from the left flank in an Henry-esque move.
1-0 to DRM and we were flying high. ITB did look like they were capable of levelling the scores however, and had it not been for the astute defending from regular centre back Fakhrul and new boy Javier, we would definitely have had our goal breached. Meanwhile we continued to plug away at the ITB defense and eventually the second goal did come, this time after Pg Zul who was in marauding form, put through Zul on goal, and he did not dissapoint from inside the penalty area. 2-0 to DRM and we looked unstoppable. We had several more chances to put the game away before the end of the half, with Amir S who had come on for the hard working Romeo giving the Bandar guys a hard time, but he still has not been able to put his Liverpool CL Final hoodoo behind him.

The second half started with DRM leading by just the one goal as ITB were eventually able to open their scoring account late in the first. It was an entirely new team that kicked off in the second half, but an equally experienced line up. We were particularly strong on the flanks as Arch and Amir D on either side looked to build on the 1st half showing with quick mazy runs and pint point crossing. Hammry dominated the back line with his powerful presence and it was only when he left the field that ITB managed to put several more goals on the score-sheet. A quick flurry of substitutions from the DRM bench put new faces on the field and we were impressed with the detemination showed by the new boys. Perhaps our only undoing was just that, a little bit of disorganised chaos towards the end, and we were left pretty much exposed at the back during the counter-attacks. I have to mention the performances of the keeper in goal though, as he performed some near impossible acrobatic saves to thwart the ITB melees, headed by the B-League striker from Kasuka FC. The final scoreline didn't do justice to the way the second half was played though i have to say. We had several chances at 3 - 2 down to equalise, a few falling to new boy Pak Ari and mostly coming from the nasty pin point Amir D crosses, who playedhis first game since becoming a father.