Emeralds do it the hard way.

Recording a win on a hard fought match played on a hard surface, the Emeralds only made it difficult for themselves on a terribly hot Sunday afternoon against their blue-jersey donning opponents.

The match started off at a frantic pace with BSRI looking to defend from the front as strikers Firdaus and Syarif harassed defenders and forced them into committing numerous errors and generally making nuisances of themselves.

BSRI should have been up by two goals within the first 15 minutes had it not been for wayward finishing by Syarif after doing all the hard work and running. It seemed that the striker's lack of confidence(and fitness!) in front of goal, after missing out on several games earlier in the season due to a mysterious chair-ridden condition that made him sit in front of his PC into late nights, was apparent as he soon missed another glorious chance to put BSRI ahead when his weak effort was cleared off the line by a defender after good work rounding the goalkeeper with his speed.

His strike partner, Firdaus, did not have Lady Luck on his side either despite concerted efforts to keep himself on-side against a defence that was determined to play so high that would put JC girls who have their skirts hemmed up high be ashamed of themselves.

Nevertheless, BSRI was holding up the play well in the middle of the park with stand-in defensive midfielder Hasan reveling in his new role as he scurried and huffed his way around the field, breaking up the opponents play and halting any attacking momentum that threatened to build up. In fact, so effective was he that he allowed his fellow midfielders the time and space to launch attack after attack but the stubborn defence of their opponents held firm and the score remained 0-0.

In defence, debutant Zameer Aziz, after much hype surrounding his position as President cum Captain cum Quartermaster of his Malaysian medical college football team, lived up to the billing as he gave a no-nonsense, solid performance at the back along with fellow defenders Adib, Ashrof and Zarir. Even the goalkeeper Sufian was assertive in his penalty area and did not look likely to concede a goal.

Both teams went into the half-time break with nothing to show for their efforts but things were about to change in the 2nd half. A surprise visit by long term injury player, Sufian Hanafi, seemed to raise BSRI's team spirit and coupled with the "citrus elixir" that Hanafi concocted especially for the team seemed to re-invigorate the tired legs of the players.

A shuffle in the team line-up saw Zameer partnering long time friend Farhan in the middle of defence and despite belief from an infamous sports pundit, Balbir Singh, now on the run from Singapore sports officials, who said that two Indians (or in their case half Indians) in the middle of defence is nothing but trouble, the duo were commanding in defence and they allowed for the fresh legs of Zaki and Adib to maraud further up the flanks to contribute to the attack in search for the opener. And it soon came when a beautiful cross from Ridzuan from the right was met with the head of Firdaus who planted the ball beyond the keeper and BSRI finally got the breakthrough that they sought after.

It was not to last however as again the ground proved to play a major bane to goalkeeper Sufian and his defenders. An ambitious and seemingly innocuous long ball played to BSRI's penalty area took an unfortunate bounce that caught the defence unawares giving the opponents the perfect opportunity to steal a goal back and it was all square again as the score was tied 1-1.

BSRI is never a team that gives up and a masterclass substitution by team manager, Adib, who brought on Zarir in place of Ridzuan saw the former contribute the decider with his first few touches. After being allowed acres of space by the opponent's defence, Zarir blasted BSRI back into the lead with a well taken shot on the right that the keeper could do nothing about. 2-1 to BSRI.

More substitutions were made and BSRI kept pressing for the goal to kill off the game but time however was not on their side. The match ended with the score at 2-1 and both teams can take pride in their performances given the "hard" conditions that they were made to put up with by playing on a hot stuffy Sunday afternoon and a pitch that resembled the dune wastes of Afghanistan.

BSRI:
Abu Sufian, Zameer, Adib, Ashrof(Zaki), Zarir, Hasan, Shaiful, Ridzuan(Hidayat), Khairul, Syarif (Farhan), Firdaus
Special Guest Appearance: Sufian Hanafi




- Disclaimer from the author
Syarif: I'm bored and since I'm bumming I might as well contribute a write up for the last match. Be aware that the views represented in the report are solely my own and does not neccessarily reflect the perspectives of everyone at BSRI. DO NOT BOTHER to correct me if I have any grammartical errors because i'm l33t li3k th4t. Anyone caught copying my report whole sale and posting it on any other website to claim as their own will get a good hide beating from me. Thank you.