Finally

The title, well, its not Fergie's song of course. Today, I woke up at 7.30, still sleepy though, cause I slept at 2 am last night. But, have to wake up, despite being sleepy (was a sleepy head once, haha). Went straight to the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth, etc. Then I wore my baselayer, pack up my hockey stuffs, namely, my shinpads, gloves, socks and turf shoes. Oh yeah, not to forget, the jersey I borrowed from Adli, number 14.

And so, I went of to the sports centre, and gathered with the rest of the team there. Put my stuffs into the back of Mic's car. Then, we began our journey to Naas, which took only about 45 minutes (Gary said it would be 1+ hour though, haha). We arrived early (9.00am), really early, cause the game's not starting till 10.30am, and the turf was occupied at that time, by kids playing hurling.

At about 10.00, the doors of Naas sports centre was finally open. We went into the changing rooms and change to our gears of course. Bla bla bla, then, the match was about to start. I wasn't starting today, good thing since I still feel sleepy and a bit, er, cold to take of my sweater. The game started and it was not yet 2 minutes before the opponent break the deadlock (what the hell?less than 2 minutes). O h yeah, forgot to mention something, the UCD 3 (us of course) are currently in Division 8 (and on top of the table, yeehaaa) whilst our opponent today, Naas 2 is now in Division 7.

Before the clock hit 10 minutes, we got our first short corner and thanks to that, Conor manage to score a goal after the ball rebounded to him. And then, 10 minutes before half time, we got a short corner again and this time, Davide hit the ball real hard at the tip of D line and managed to get ourselves in front with 1 goal. 5 minutes before half time, Robbie was shown a yellow card and suspended for 5 minutes, so the team was down to 10 men now. Lucky enough, they managed to pull it through the 1st half by holding on the 1 goal margin.

Ok, of to the 2nd half, I still ain't starting (sebab still tak mau bukak sweater, haha). But then, Davide told me to warm up, cause I'll be going on for Robbie after 3-5 minutes (whaa, it felt very cold when I took of my sweater). Right before I came on, Robbie managed to strike a goal and we went 2 goals front. Eventually, before the game restarted after the goal, Robbie was subbed in for me.

Played as usual, running around here and there (not really here and there lah, cause I have my position right). The 1st short corner since I came on the pitch, Richie (sorry if I wrongly spelled it) didn't manage to inject the ball well, I ran to the ball and push it out of D to reorganize our play and ran straightly for the near post. Richie hit it to me from out D and the ball merely grazed my stick and the goalie's pads before it went wide (supposed to be our ball but the umpires did not see the ball graze the goalie's pads though). Still 2 up.

Next attack, I received the ball, dribbled only a bit and passed it to Davide and I charged forward as hard as I can. Davide passed the ball to Neil and he hit but deflected out again by the goalie, which went in front of me, swept my stick on the turf and the nex thing happened was the banging sound of the soundboard at the back of goal. "Finally, I scored my first goal this season!" I shouted, everyone was glad I did, even John was (well, John wasn't always good with me).

We recoiled, and when they started the game again, John got the ball before the opponent managed to get through our 25 yards line, and I ran hard up front, and received the ball from John. Dribbled the ball pass 2 defenders (or was it 1, can't remember), and accidently hit the ball when I got in D, but, it wasn't really a fastball (cause I really didn't intend to try a shot on goal), and was received by Davide, who made a turn and swung his stick for the 5th goal of the macth. Wonderful, now I have 1 goal scored and 1 assist.

A short corner was awarded to us short after and this time, Davide injected the ball, and Richie hit the ball hard to goal, GOAL!!! Thats our 6th. Match restarted real fast and Robbie (who came on for John) managed to get the ball at half line, passed it to Neil before Neil tried on goal, goalie blocked and Robbie got the rebound, hit hard to left post where Davide is, and deflected the ball for our 7th and final goal. 7-1 against a team one division higher than we are. Final whistle, and there, "Ridhwan got a goal today", says Ivan, and again, everyone congratulated me. Haha, it felt good being the highlight. This is my first goal so far as a player for UCD 3. Finally, I ended my goal draught after 14 months with no goals in competitive matches. And yeah, I pretty much still remember my goal 14 months ago, a ball squared by Izzudin Subli to me and I tab a bit to goal, nostalgic, haha, that was during Pesta Hoki in USM.

p/s: now, you guys could figure out the title right? haha