• Date: 29 Jul 2000 Sunday
• Time: 1700 hrs
• Place: Tanglin Field 3
• Duration: 40 mins per half
• Crowd: A Dasch record 7(!) fans turned up, consisting of sexy cheerleaders Kevin, Siyi, Ivan, Derrick, Alvan and Junming. Also warmest thanks to Derrick's cute girlfriend for her angelic presence (else our fans would be all thorns and no rose).
• Weather: Mild, partly cloudy
• Sub: Junming, Alvan

(Sorry for the corny headline.. but heck, it's a nice change from the "Dasch blown up by dynamite" stuff we've all become used to.)

An excellent, rollicking, rip-roaring performance by Dasch saw us dashing merrily to our first victory of the season. And what a superb, convincing win it was. This may be one of our best games ever. But first things first, a few interesting trivia and essential background info..

A few records were set on this day. The first time Dasch played on a Saturday, instead of the traditional Sunday. Our first match at Tanglin Fields. The first sighting of a female fan from our ever-faithful Fan Club this season (her name?? er, I'm ashamed to call myself a reporter, failing to take down names, perhaps Derrick can help save my journalistic reputation). Biggest crowd attendance in our history. Our biggest win of the season (emmm.. actually, it's our only win thus far). First goal by player-manager Eng Kiat, who also becomes the first Dasch defender to score (at the right end, that is). First game against a team containing foreign talent (well, there might be some dispute here over the definition of 'talent'). First official yellow card received... by Lester (is he a cool rebel or what?.. ok girls, don't rush..there's enough of Lester for everyone). Latest game we have ever played, with the kickoff time at 5pm. Guys, we are making history (...future generations will mention our names in reverential tones).

The turn-out for our side was fair, with 13 active guys available to call on. Our first XI was keeper Ruibin, center backs Stanley and Chek Keng flanked by Eng Kiat on the left and Lester on the right, Desmond and Kenneth doing double duty as both attacking/defensive mids, Mingheng in a roaming free role, Raymond and Jiamin on the wings, spearheaded by Cheng Cai up front. Junming and Alvan were on standby. The Tanglin field was quite ok, though marred by its soggy condition and scattered muddy puddles, no thanks to the downpour earlier that day. The referee was also ok (at least at the beginning); and he helped ensure we didn't mistakenly tackle him by wearing a cap to distinguish himself from the players. (Here, we'll like to thank Bridge for sponsoring both the pitch and referee, not forgetting the mini-van transport.)

Our famous opponents, Bridge, consisted of players our seniors (it seems, mostly >30 years), who had been in regular training and much serious preparation for this match. (Bridge.com, in case any sotong is blur, is famous in the financial field but luckily for us, not on the football field.) Also notable was the fact that they also had some expat players (for a moment, we had visions of lining up against some EPL team and getting thrashed.) One of the most professional set-ups we have encountered, with full proper kits including shin guards, matching red/white jerseys and shorts, and female fanssss' (do note the plural) support. However, it was clear they lacked the skills, match experience, telepathic understanding and shrewd tactical teamwork of certain long-established teams such as France, Real Madrid and, ahem, Dasch Rovers. Hence, Bridge was not as tough an opponent as had been expected, but still, it was a challenging match for us.

On to the action...

The match got off to a spirited start, with Bridge making the first foray into our half. But the initial chance came from Dasch, when Cheng Cai, in the first of his many penetrating runs, broke through and made contact with both the ball and the Bridge goalkeeper. Their diving goalie managed to hang on to the ball, but collapsed as if he had been hit by a bus. It took a few minutes for play to resume.

After some promising work going forward, we finally opened our account with 2 lightning strikes. Cai, released by a good pass from midfield and accelerating through on goal, was brought (spectacularly) tumbling down from behind in the penalty box. The ref gave it, and we had to restrain ourselves from falling at his feet to worship him. And up stepped Minheng to take the spot-kick.. he didn't let us down as his ice-cool chip (bloody cheeky huh?) into the net left the Bridge keeper stranded, giving us a 1-0 lead.

Almost straight from the restart, we notched our second. Pressure from our midfield and great work by Cai again saw him breaking free of the defence and his shot deflected off the keeper for Minheng to coolly slot in. All the while, the Bridge guys were, like, AWOL.. which kinda reminds us of our (ex-) defending style. Another blow to the steadily weakening bridge superstructure (or whatever engineers call it)..

The final denotation charge which brought Bridge crashing down was Eng Kiat's great killer goal, in the latter part of the first half. From the corner kick, a well-flighted ball by Kenneth curved all the way to the far post where the lurking and completely unmarked Eng Kiat easily headed into the net. The keeper and the whole mass of players crowded in front of the goal were all stranded at sea and could only watched on stupidly. Our fans, who had been rather quiet till then (probably busy watching the grass grow), finally erupted into cheers and applause, as the thrilled Eng Kiat floated (on a cushion of air) back to our half, receiving our guys' congrats and pats along the way. Well, it's not everyday that you get to see a Dasch defender score at the right end, so such unusually touching 5-hankie scenes are understandable in this case.

At 3-0 up, it was all sunshine and sweetness for us. Dasch was in cruise mode and control of the game; Bridge seemed demoralised and never even looked remotely like scoring. Their two or three subsitutions didn't change anything; in contrast, Dasch stuck by its original XI for the entire half. We held on to our lead till half-time, but not before our religious affiliation with the referee turned sour...

Lester made history when he found himself in the referee's book - the first Dasch player ever to be so honoured. In a race for a loose ball down our right, he smoothly (thanks to the wet pitch) slided in to challenge and put the ball out of play. The opponent collapsed as if he had been hit by a double-decker bus. Out came the yellow card.. probably for reckless play in the ref's opinion, though we feel that it was a fair tackle; there was clear contact with the ball after all. Oii, ref!! (Actually, we're all secretly envious of Les.. only the un-macho don't get booked.)

After half-time... at the restart, Bridge made a go at reducing the deficit (perhaps inspired by memories of the Euro 2000 Slovenia-Yugoslavia game). They tried, we tried.. but much of the second half was goalless. We, with an unexpectedly comfortable lead, were contented to sit back and attack at leisure. While Bridge, a gaping, desperate 3 goals behind, was as impotent and short of ideas as their first half selves, despite all their efforts.

Highlights for Dasch in the second half was Cai's close shave and miss in a one-to-one with the keeper, after his searing pace had seen him losing his marker. Eng Kiat also briefly snagged the spotlight with a neat overhead bicycle clearance, despite the distraction of 2 female (alas) opposition fans, who just happened to be standing nearby on the sidelines when he launched himself into the air. (Our EK, fortunately, is never distracted by such frivolous things.) Things also turned a bit nasty, when Chek Keng tangled with a Bridge player (or vice versa), both ended up squaring up to each other, the fans and players became excited and atmosphere abuzz with the prospect of a free boxing match... but too bad wiser heads from both teams prevailed, the ref said some stern words, both guys cooled down and walked away.

With 10 minutes to go, Junming was thrown into the action in place of Lester, and he did his part efficiently... one hunk for another hunk ensured our defence remained watertight. With 5 minutes to go, Alvan was in for Raymond. Shortly after, Bridge got a consolation goal. (Ok.. if anyone links these two events together, I'll sue that idiot for slander.) A lapse of concentration by us resulted in a breakthrough for a Bridge player who bore down on our goal with only our (until now, very bored) keeper to beat. As Ong "harmless as a lamb" Ruibin slided the ball out of play, the opponent somehow got his legs in the way, and collapsed as if he had been hit by an express train. This was the point when we cut all ties with the ref as he pointed to the spot (Oii, ref!!!). A heartbreaking moment followed as our valiant Ruibin dived the right way, but was just a little bitsy trifle too late to go down, the ball just slipping under him and into the net.

That was the last meaningful event of the game, as we fended off one more corner before the whistle went for full-time. 3-1 to Dasch. What a game...

Now, I hate to say nice things about us, but will make a deserved exception for this match. Although there was roughly equal ball possession, Dasch was by far the much better and more enterprising side. Bridge simply failed to seriously threaten us throughout. Ruibin was largely a spectator in goal, easily claiming the few misplaced crosses and the fewer weak shots. The remaining Bridge attempts from open play and free kicks all sailed way over the goal.

Our backline, anchored by sweeper Stanley, was simply outstanding, with Eng Kiat, Chek Keng and Lester running their lungs out, making agressive tackles, marking tightly, going for every ball and giving the opponents no time or space to organise. The composed Stanley was also ever-present to mop up, boot and head any loose balls high and away to safety.. in fact, his tendancy to aim a vicious swing at any moving object meant that, most of the time, only the ball dared go near him. And Scissors Legs solved our goal-kick problem too. For once our defenders did nearly everything right.. defend, mark and clear properly (and successfully avoid scoring own goals too).

The midfield saw the usual hardworking/running/tackling shows by Kenneth and Desmond, but it was the refreshing willingness to track back by our normally attack-minded trio of midfield wizs Jiamin, Raymond and Mingheng which stood out. Jiamin and Raymond, in particular, impressed by doing lots of covering and battling for the ball, in addition to their bright and lively forward play. Desmond and his side-kick, Kenneth, were their consistent, all-round selves, rocks of stability in midfield and provided the vital, central support play holding the team together.

Mingheng distinguished himself with his double strike, and some sublime playmaking and dribbling. In fact, the opponents were often forced to resort to fouls in frustration at their inability to contain him. Likewise for Jiamin, who was another heavily targeted guy. The referee only issued one yellow to the opponents, which was no deterrent at all. But I'm glad to say that Jiamin showed the perfect, dignified response to such fouls, as without any fuss, he simply picked himself up (after being clumsily mowed down once again) and carried on as we gained yet another free kick.

All in all, a good match for us. A great performance all round, and without our strongest team too. But let's not get too carried away, and remember that it's our only win after 1 defeat and 2 draws this season. But this game shows we're getting into form, playing better and gaining momentum (the alternative explanation, of course, is that our opponents are an abnormally lousy team which any other side can thrash too. But let's accept the former reason lah, it's good for our ego and theirs.)

Ok.. so, looking forward to the next game! See you guys (and fans)....