No one said it is easy to write football match reports. Especially me having my first assignment for Al Wahda v Dubai’s report on the President’s Cup this week.

As Wahda were knocked out by Dubai it is something rather unexpected, since Wahda were favourites to win.

As in match reports, journalists have to unravel the whole premise of the match and what happened, and do it quickly to meet the deadlines set by the office.

In this case the story was Wahda’s loss, so the story had to rely on how they lost, why they lost and what the coaches had to say.

To be frank, I did struggle on how to polish the story in terms of picking up the most interesting story for the first line and that is obviously was Wahda losing on a penalty shoot-out, as well as some controversial refereeing decisions where the main talking points.

I kept in mind on what are the key information to the story I want to say, by also giving some descriptions on the goals that were scored, how it was scored, who assisted who.

I noticed Dubai used their counter-attack tactic to triumph over Al Wahda, and that is what I included in the story, that Dubai’s victory was helped by this tactic.

I tried to highlight what seemed to be Al Wahda’s problem and why they had not triumphed, as had been expected.

Later after the match ended, I attended my first press conference, and as it was not as problematic for me, I felt I have overall enjoyed the whole assignment.

I believe the reason I have not perfected it is the fact that it is my first time doing a live report as well as I was in a rush to finish it before my deadline.

I am also not a fan of proof-reading when I have little amount of time, I guess I have to enhance that habit on my part.

I am sure this assignment will grow me better to have a better eye on what goes on and what is the most interesting factor during the game.

This is all tests my capabilities in writing, observing and highlighting the story, and always we have to keep in mind what do we want to tell our readers.

We have to pick what seems to be important to attract our readers and that as well will get easier for me after some time in sports journalism and getting more experience.

mashamsi@thenational.ae