DRM leaves it to late!!

Sometimes in football it's the unexpected things that give you pleasure, and big comebacks are definitely at the top of most lists. Yesterday's performance was one such occasion. We were 4 - 1 down to the dead at one point in the first half, and when most would have written us off as long gone, we somehow amassed the energy and the spirit to claw back, and in the end could have so easily wrapped the game up if not for the referee's whistle. Obviously, having enough players to field two teams might have had something to do with the end result, but that's what DRM has come to stand for these days. We have quality in abundance but more importantly we also have quality in quantity, and that's been a major factor going for us for as long as we are able to keep the egos in check and our balls in our pants.


I wouldn't say we played badly in the first half either, in fact we probably played the better more organized football. The one thing that the office move boy's had going for them was pace and youth, and that will always count for something.


We drew first blood when a back-pass gone wrong somehow ended up with Rahim's feet, and he coolly slotted the ball past the HRS keeper for one nil.


The boy's responded quickly though, and a mistake by Alex in centre-back put through their speedy forward who raced past Fadil and Saharin in goal, and it was back to all square.


Then the unthinkable happened. Azelin, DRM's newly appointed captain, lunged for a headed clearance on the left flank and somehow landed akwardly. His ankle got caught in the heavy waterlogged BSRC pitch and that was to be his last short-lived contribution to the game. It was also at this point that i also had to leave the game to send the captain to the doctors!


I was told that Rahim managed to score a second goal through a Dilah DPPM assist. However, it turns out HRS managed to also score 3 more goals before the half time whistle. 4 - 2 was how the half ended and we were in need of a miracle.



Shuttling back and forth between the BSRC pitch and tending to an injured player at the Panaga Health Centre is no mean feat, and i managed to get back just in time for the 2nd half kick-off. As has become DRM tradition, wholesale changes were made in the second half. Aizul and Amir S came on for Julberg and Rahim, whilst we also gambled by throwing the Padawans into the deep end, with Asqa, Hafiz and Victor injecting some guile and pace into the team. Hadi was the victim of all this though, continuing his bench-warming duties much to his dissapointment.


G Khai volunteered for goalkeeping duties in the second half and to be fair HRS Office Move hardly troubled us in the second half. But when it did count, he was there with two magical saves to keep us in the game. Defensively we were very solid, Vince keeping a tight shift at the back and Nazrul once he was on, proving what an asset he is to DRM with his powerful tackles and lunging runs, and that was to prove the difference between both halves.


Our breakthrough finally came when Amir D broke free on the left with one of his trademark jink and run past their fullback, and his low sweeping cross was met by young padawan, Hafiz. His first touch was good, and his second even better as it took him past the HRS defense and through on goal. He wasn't really going to miss from there as his form this season has been nothing short of inspiring, having already scored 2 goal in the past 3 games.


We rallied from that goal, and it turned out to be a tactical masterstroke taking off the ineffectual Amir S who had a surprising off-day for the more direct Indonesian import, Ari Subekti as well as the ever hungry goal-maching, Hadi and that proved to be the turning point as they were both involved in several direct attacks on the HRS goal. It was Ari who was eventually fouled in the HRS penalty box.


Fakhrul sensing his opportunity to kick off his goal count this season, fought for the ball and he was confident. Unfortunately though it wasn't to be as he sliced the penalty well wide right of goal and you could hear the groans and despair from the DRM bench. There it was presented to us on a platter and we couldn't finish it off.


Still we pushed forward and came close to scoring on several occassions until the equaliser finally came. Asqa put through Hadi free on the right wing, and he put a low blinding cross in which fooled the HRS last man, and found the feet of Yamin. Yamin panicking in front of goal did well to lay it on to Amir D who was waiting to pounce from just off the penalty box, and there was only going to be one outcome once he latched on free on goal. The ball drilled low and hard into the bottom right corner beating the outstretched keeper leaving him no chance.


It was four all to DRM and we were back in the game! Sadly the ref blew for full time shortly after and dashed our hopes for a complete comeback. It was still as good a game as any, and we showed that we had the fight to compete.