Raiders were reasonably high on confidence after a run of 5 games unbeaten in 2012 including recent victory over Saigon Saints and a solid draw against Olympique. This run was to come to an end today however and it must be said that Raiders were missing key squad members in Joey, Andreas, Angelo, Laurie and Craig, That is to take nothing away from a still strong Raiders line up who could have, possibly should, have done better.

Conditions were not exactly the bowling green of Phuc Long, and with the wind blowing and the sun beating down, it was tough. The game started well as Raiders soaked up early pressure and the cocks seemed to take time getting started. Raiders capitalised with good work from Henno K down the wing, his center finding Floyd who made space and then finished neatly with the outside of his boot to the keepers left. 1-0 Raiders. As the half progressed Raiders found it harder to keep hold of the ball and the cocks eventually equalised after getting in behind us and their striker lobbing substitute keeper Bang (in for Vu) to make it 1-1. And 1-1 it was at half time.

Second half and the cocks were soon ahead, their midfielder shooting from outside the box after a corner clearance, finding the net. And then 3-1, 4-1. The fourth goal was a monumental fuck up from the officials, but true to form for their performance throughout the entire game. The linesman had his flag up for offside for a good 15 seconds, but ‘the grandad in the black’ failed to see it, play continued and the cocks scored. I think the referee should retire, and quickly, because not only did he lack the mobility to leave the center circle, I’m not sure he could see beyond it either. Many decisions went against us from offsides to corners to free kicks.

Things were getting petulant and in my opinion closely related to the weak referee. This culminated in the cocks taking a free kick by one player kicking a rolling ball and not passing to anyone, just going alone and dribbling towards our goal. Albin, seeing this, didn’t like it. None of us did. Albin bought the player down (a fair result considering the illegal free kick move) but got red carded for his troubles. In all honesty, it was a heavy tackle, but he did get the ball and the player, not just the player. Their player, during the melee afterwards, was shot, presumably by a stray bullet from the army range, and spent some time on the floor rolling around. There were some unhappy cocks on the pitch. One of my pet hates is goalkeepers running the length of the pitch to get involved, especially Vietnamese ones who speak English and add to the discussion with ‘F*** you. F*** you’. Repeatedly. Get. Back. In. Your. Box.

Now with tensions running high, Rasul was to take the limelight – and has possibly created a new award category for end of season (suggestions welcome in the comments). Running on to a through ball he felt that he had been kicked and quite rapidly changed his sprinting direction from ball to player, and what followed was reminiscent of a chase on the African Savannah, with the victim leaping and bucking in all directions to avoid capture. The chase ended not quite in a mass of blood and gouging, but more a handbag exchange. And whilst all this was happening, and everyone was watching it, Henno scored. Back to the carnage, and Rasul was being shepherded from the pitch as angry cocks swelled in a big group. One in particular was threatening to ‘kill’, and another went and got the corner flag. I’m not sure how a long, flexible piece of plastic would have helped. It’s difficult to wield as sword (too long) and has no weight behind it to use like a club. It has no sharp point so even using it as a makeshift javelin would have been pointless. None the less, that cock was calmed down too. The referee made the only correct decision in the game by blowing up to finish, as from the center circle he could hear a lot of unpleasant noise and put two and two together.

Squad: Bang, Seb, Vincent, Paddy, Tarek, Peter, Rasul, Jon, Sascha, Albin, Henno, Nico, Floyd, Anthony, Toby

League results this week, mental: