Dasch's 3rd match of the season, and our very first in 2000, was a good one (see, I'm being understated as usual). We won again, making it a 6-matches unbeaten run, and three wins in a row as well. In other words, Dasch has a perfect record for the current season so far - 3 wins from 3 games. However, the attendance for this game was poor, with just the minimum 11 players turning up, including a rare (but much-cherished) appearance from Yiying. Here, I would like to appeal to all Dasch people to try to turn up on time in future, as it looks bad when we are late. This is especially true if our opponents were all there already, and right on time somemore. (Of cos, if our opponents are late, woohoo! Who cares? We can be late too! But how we know in advance whether they will be late? So, you see..)

The match kicked off with a referee, provided by Deaf Club..as well as the application of the off-side rule. Later we showed our inexperience in playing with a referee as we conceded 2 penalties (both of which, fortunately were saved by Rui Bin, in a man-of-the-match performance.) For a change, Dasch settled down fast and was soon in control of the game.

With the control of the game in our hand, Dasch managed to string together some decent passes. As in all matches, our "Le God" Mingheng swiftly gave a left-right to the opponent defenders that left them stranded behind his wake. Cheng Cai was there to tap in a simple 1st goal after some fantastic work from Mingheng dribbling pass a whole lot of defenders. That goal was important as Dasch tends to play better after scoring the 1st goal.

The second goal was scored by Desmond.. who is really showing himself to be the 'Roy Keane' of Dasch Rovers. And what a classic, textbook-perfect one it was, and a great demostration on how to shoot for goal. Receiving the ball just outside the opponent's box, and facing a mass of players in front of him, Mr Cool calmly teed up the ball, glanced up once, and confidently volleyed a crisp, low, powerful shot into the extreme right lower corner of the goal, and beyond the despairing dive of the goalkeeper. (Luckily I was near the scene, and hence able to record Desmond's great strike here in detail.) It put us a rather comfortable 2-0 up, and there were congratulatory pats on the back and handshakes aplenty for Desmond as he trotted back to our half.. Well, there would have been kisses aplenty too from our female fans, that is, if they had been there. (Too bad, Des.)

There were also misses besides the goals. The most "arrgh" one came from our hero turned villian Mingheng (again..he is having a bad spell this season in the scoring department). A great run from Desmond from the right and then a pass across the goal to a charging Mingheng. All Mingheng needed to do was to stretch his leg a few cm further but too bad, it was not to be. The ball rolled harmlessly across the goal to the goal line.

Against the run of play, Deaf Club managed to pull one back which was a result of some poor markings by the defenders. The unmarked striker was given space to ram a ball passed the hapless Ruibin after a simple cross from the right by a winger.

Deaf club did put up some fight before the half time whistle. A terrible sliding tackle from the left winger (who had a very rough game) on our goalkeeper Ruibin resulted in Ruibin twisting on the ground in pain. His face was pale and luckily it was a minor knock in his stomach. He was able to resume and complete his 2nd half man-of-the-match performance.

At half-time, Dasch was leading 2-1..

The 2nd half kicked off with Deaf Club breathing fire and passion (maybe their half-time pep-talk did the trick). Dasch was forced to play defensively as the opponents went all out to reduce their 2 goal deficit. Fortunately the Dasch defence (well mustered by Lester & Chekkeng) held on. There were many chances created by Deaf Club playmakers, however, their forwards let them down with poor runnings and shootings.

The opponents were basically camping in our half. Dasch had to rely on counter attacks, and the strategy work with 2 goals as a result of quick counter attacks.Goals by Desmond (receive pass from Yiying and squeeze it pass the GK) and Mingheng (1 to 1 with the GK) provided us with a comfortable lead.

The report will not be complete without the heroics of GK Ruibin. He deserve his man-of-the-match award after giving a performance stringed with brilliant point blank saves and 2 penalty saves. His confidence will definitely bring more stability to the defence already demoralized by lousy goal kicks (that barely leave the ground more than 10cm...Kenneth eh?).

Some of the decisions by the Referee was aweful. This was the case for the 2 penalties as well as 2nd goal by the opponent. Both penalties were awarded due to hand balls. The innocent parties (Kenneth & Desmond) deny the fact that their hands hit the ball on purpose. The 2nd goal by the opponent was over the cross bar, however the referee thought otherwise and the goal was awarded. (Oh did i tell u that today the goal posts were actually rugby posts? We had to use ruffia strings as the horizontal cross bars!)

The opponents from Deaf Club played generally well and their passing and movement off the ball was quite impressive at times. However, as they mentioned before, their team was out of practice and had not played for quite some time. This was apparently true as they were often a step slower and their passing wayward, and we dominated the opening stages and most of the 1st half.. winning the loose balls and being on the offensive most of the time. However, Dasch must respect them for the way they play eventhough they are handicapped with the inability to communicate effectively on the field.

All credit to everyone, esp Cheng Cai, Desmond etc etc and our wingers, Raymond and Minheng.. and the defence for a good show. But, Man of the Match was definitely Rui Bin.. as he pulled off several spectacular close range saves, and let's not forget his 2 marvellous saves from the penalty spot. Even when he was injured when challenging for a ball, he soon picked himself up and played even better (too!). Everything else, he dealt with comfortably. In fact, after the match.. our opponents indicated that they were very impressed by our ace keeper.

Okay let us take this report as a debrief too. We have credits as well as debits for our performance on the field. So what was our mistake? Chekkeng was too enthusiatic with his attacking that he left his post as a central defender most of the time. Whenever he goes up and caught behind the ball when the opponent counter attack, the defence was left with 3 men (Kenneth, Yiying & Lester). The fact that our manger Eng Kiat bench himself in the 2nd half with no replacement reflected on the urgent need for a 4th defender. Next, Lester and Yiying should get into less squabbles between themselves. Whether they were having fun saying things about each other on the field or not, they should concentrate more on the game. Their performance was way above their usual standards today but was marred by these dumb squabbles. Lastly we should look seriously into a fixed goal kicker as none of our defenders can kick the ball today. Of the 10 kicks taken by Kenneth today, 5 went to the opponent strikers, 3 went to the opponent midfielders and 2 went to our own players. The ball simply can't leave the ground! So far, only Bryan can do that but he don't come for matches so often.

To round things up, let us take the determined & dedicated (coming early for matches) performances of Ruibin as an inspiration for more good matches to come. Dasch is improving and there will be more cheers to come!