Match report

NTL Match - Coyotes vs Bucks Mojito's
Date: Saturday 1 September 2007
Time: 1620 hours
Venue: Turf City
NTL Round 1 Match 3
Result: 6-1 in Bucks' favour


MVP : Chua Yi Li
Team Player: Ifa
Play maker : Jane Kwang

The weather was a refreshing evening air cool from the recent drizzle & tinged with the scent of nameless wild exotic grasses. The sun occasionally pierces the slight cloud of haze to glint of a puddle before finally retreating behind the clouds. (there ifa, i talked about the weather).

With the settings perfectly set, it was time for kick off. Having the opportunity to start on the offensive, Coyotes started out brightly, pushing Bucks to their try line. The game was set to look like an even match between the two teams before Bucks snatched an early lead via a quick dummy scoop & scored the touchdown when Coyotes failed to mark the runner. A quick succession of a couple more scoops soon followed, as Bucks scored more touchdowns.

Frustrated, failing to hold our nerves & with confidence hitting an all time low, our play was soon littered with numerous drop balls & shoutings from the sub box. The shoutings from the sub box didnt help matter as for a number of turnovers, we failed to get out of our own half owing to drop balls during the punch up. It was only until the shoutings stopped & the players calmed down before we managed to ruck up properly to get to the opponent's half.

However, Coyotes was not without moments of brilliance either. At the restart of the game, chua ventured forward in between the two defenders & looked like she was going for the dump. When none of the defenders went for the touch, chua ran through & scored the only touchdown Coyotes made that day. In an earlier game between Barras & Wantoks, Aggie scored a touchdown in a similar fashion. Chua must be very inspired by Aggie to score in a similar fashion.

In yet another moment of brilliance, this time by our Jane Boey, who looked like she was set to get burn-ed by the opponent's winger but gave chase & made the touch. When asked about the touch, Jane Boey gave me an exclusive interview. "I know shes going to burn me. *@#$ want to burn me. But I didn’t let her burn me !" she said triumphantly. On another, CC valiantly gave a hard chase when the opponent intercepted the ball, while shihan twice dived to make a touch.

However even with the occasional flashes of brilliance, Coyos was still unable to turn the game around thus crashing to a 6-1 defeat to Bucks Mojitos.

Various potential reasons arose from some members of the Coyotes which might have had lead to the loss. Some attributed the loss due to the lack of focus or affectionately known as 'havent wake up yet', while others blamed the opponents for being a distraction because 'they’re very pretty' as a member of Coyos puts it. Some found 'the bun' exotic looking, another particular blonde very hot looking but I personally prefer the red visor one, VERY CUTE. but anyway, im digressing.

In retrospect, most of us are disappointed with the way we had played because we are capable of doing so much, so much better even in trainings.

Everytime when faced with a daunting opponent, we let fear get the better of us & start playing poorly; not because we're not skilled enough but because we have too little confidence in ourselves. The lack of composure, otherwise known as 'kan cheong-ness' also accounts for the numerous drop balls we had in the game & the lack of creativity on the field. Daunted & intimidated, most of us tend to give up even before the game is over. & those who didnt give up often ended up playing a solo game, out of frustration. Over the last training, most of us agreed that individual plays tend to break our team's play rather than pull the team up & that we should, as a team, compose ourselves (slow the game down if necessary) & find a way together to break the opponent's defence. Afterall, one player trying to beat six defenders isnt exactly very pragmatic (unless you're bubbles, or buttercup or alternatively, blossom of the PPG).

I feel that we can also make do with having more varieties of play. Dummy scoop is one of our strengths & we should utilize it as much as we can. However, when we are unable to overcome our opponent with speed alone, we should be flexible enough to change our game play through our set moves. Not only is it unpredictable, we stand a higher chance of scoring as well. If we cant win with our speed, lets win it with our skills :)

We may not be in the best of positions right now but we can only get better, if not best (in Singapore & JB & some say batam). William Shakespeare once said, 'Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.' so, let us start by wiping away that doubts we have of ourselves & quote aisya, play as if we're training & train as if we're playing, unquote.