Around the Grounds

The second last round of the Season, last weekend of our BBQ and Coffee Van and the weather gods were not so kind and brought down the rain for the morning games. However, all games were on at Westside and abroad, and the kids enjoyed the opportunity to play in the rain. The hot food and hot drinks were also appreciated!

U7 Geckos

The Geckos played against Mitchie Sydney this week.

It was a rainy game but the team loved the excitement of getting to play in the rain and slide around in the mud!  We still managed to play well as a team and this showed in our impressive win on the day.

Eric received a Player of the Day Award for good defending and Paul received a Player of the Day Award for some nice goals.

U8 Bees

A full Bees squad played their last home game for the season in perfect rainy muddy conditions against Albany Creek Fiorentina.

Max started the scoring early for the Bees, but the match quickly turned .. Fiorentina were cooking in attack, forcing Ben to use his hands to block a high shot, then again down low, eventually, a knee-high drive from their attackers deflected off a Bee defender and went fast just inside the post – unsaveable!

Harrison, Will, Eddie were kept very busy in defence chasing breakaway attacks, while Ollie managed to shoot just wide to deny the Bees the lead again. Archer, Woody, Beau and James supported well, and a long range lob from Max turned supporter heads skywards looking up into the rain as we held our breath .. nup .. hit the inside left post and bounced out – unlucky.

1-all at half-time could have easily been 3-all or 4-all!

The second half got underway, and again Ben was called into action. But the Bees lifted in the second half to find their sting, an excellent run from Beau down the side taking 3 defenders with him, then the pass of the game to find Max open in the middle – but Max shot wide this time. The slippery conditions were making it hard for both teams. Another breakaway one-on-one for Fiorentina, this time surely, they’d finish the Bees off … but no!! Cometh the hour, cometh the man..  Goalkeeper Ben bravely dived on the ball while the attacker continued to kick.. this time taking a nasty knock to the hand to end his day. Olly immediately put his hand up again to finish in goal.

But that’s how it ended, 1-all. The Bees have only had two draws all season, both against Fiorentina!

The Player of the Day awards this week went to:

Ben – saved 5-6 certain goals, used his hands much better today, excellent rollouts and goal kicks.

Beau – excellent draw and pass, which the team have been practising at training.

Will – everywhere in defence against a couple of fast opposition attackers.

U8 Hornets

It was looking grim on Saturday morning for a home game with the rain hanging around at Westside and not moving on, but it did not bother the Hornets’ nest! Warm-ups were done in the pouring rain and the nice white socks were more of a brown tinge before the start whistle was even blown!

The boys were taking on The Gap Dundee this round after having a good win against them earlier in the season at their home ground and looking to continue their excellent gameplay through-out the past few weeks.

The Hornets went up 1-nil early in the match, with Patty taking a nice dribble down the left wing from inside the Hornet’s half before crossing to Fitzy in the open through the centre of the field and knocking it past the keepers!

Harper took the goalie jersey in the first half and did a great job maintaining a clean sheet and has really excelled with his passing to teammates down the wings from his goal kicks!

Mika as usual was all over the field, tackling hard in defence and dribbling around defenders to create goal-scoring opportunities.

The Hornets got another goal in the first half after stringing some nice passes together through the midfield through Ned, Cooper & Archie and went to the half-time break with a well-deserved 2-nil score line.

The second half saw Ned take the gloves and he also impressed with some nice goal kicks and throws to his defenders out wide to move the ball quickly up field.

Ed, Attis and Jasper were again solid in defence and assisted Ned with maintaining a clean sheet in the second half.

The Hornets finished the game as 3-nil victors and thoroughly enjoyed the run around in the rain and a bit of mud!

The Zarraffas awards for Player of the Day went to Ned & Harper for the gallant goal-keeping efforts in not letting one get past them, with Jasper taking home the HJs Player of the Day award for his all-round gameplay both at the back and upfront.

U9 Dingoes

With a night of solid rain and the morning not looking any better, anyone would have thought this week’s game wouldn’t proceed.

But the Footballing gods were not having it and we were playing, so off to Virginia we went and braved the sideways rain and muddied fields.

Tasting a narrow loss to Virginia in the first encounter in the early rounds, a depleted Dingoes squad, full of hot chocolate and excitement were focused and determined to equal the ledger.

The game started off in line with the weather, frantic and messy. After both teams settled, the Dingoes shape and structure started to pay dividends with some early raids and plenty of shots putting Virginia team on the back foot.

Against the run of play, Virginia was to take the lead with some early goals but in true Dingo spirit we were to fight back and, in the end, overpower Virginia taking a 5-3 win on the day.

Our transition from the back line into attack has been a trademark all season. From Will in goals to the defensive wall of Noah and Leo, through to the attacking unit of TJ, Toby, Max and Jax, the only thing better than the goals was the passing in the lead up.

Toby, Magnus and Jax all featured on the goal scorers list. Well done Dingoes!!!

This week’s Player of the Day award went to Jaxon – ever present up top and didn’t stop challenging all game and finished with a brace of goals!

Our Zarraffas training award went to our glove man Will – another week of great effort and attitude.

U9 Brumbies

The Brumbies girls donned their training jerseys for the game against Grange Thistle this week, as they wanted to keep their playing kits in pristine condition for the Matildas game later in the day.

The girls played a dominant game and came away with a hard-fought 2-1 win!

U10 Wolves

Well that was a wet one! The Wolves were at home this week up against Mitchie FC Victory. In the prior fixture, it was an extremely close game, with the Wolves taking a narrow 2 – 1 win.

Therefore, we were expecting a tough game and had been working hard in training on striking the ball and playing in and out of the wings. Thanks to Greg for his assistance with this!

The Wolves dominated the match from start to finish, with great intensity on and off the ball. Conditions were obviously better in the first half, when the rain was less intense, which made it easier for the boys to move the ball around. Dexter was near faultless on the right wing, initially feeding plenty of balls in from the outside of the box. From the sidelines we could see plenty of spaces for through balls into the centre, Dexter made the adjustment by releasing the ball from the wing earlier and higher up the pitch. This led to the first goal that was scored by Eli. This was then quickly backed up by another excellent goal from Finn, who has been flying in his first season with the Wolves.

As a result, we went into the half-time break 2-nil up. This left us with 91 goals for the season, with the aim being to get to 100. In the second half, the rain was very intense and it certainly had an effect on ball control and passing overall. The Wolves pressed extremely hard, making chances every couple of minutes. Noah, George, Erez and Alex pressing the midfield really well. One challenge for the Wolves all season has been defending counterattacks. For this game Noah and George played in a more defensive midfield position, ensuring that James was not left 1 v 1 on counterattacks. This was executed extremely well, Mitchelton had only 2 chances in the entire game. As usual James, Fraser and Max were clinical at the back. With the solid defence, Landon had a quiet day at the office but still had to be on the ball to make some crucial saves.

Jack, as usual, was finding spaces on the left but unfortunately couldn’t convert. The Mitchie goalkeeper was exceptional, he must have made 10+ saves. Erez so nearly got his first goal of the season, but it took a great strike from George to take us to 3-nil. That’s how the game finished up. Therefore, that leaves us with 92 goals, one game to go against Grange, who we beat 8 – 0 last time. So, fingers crossed we can repeat the performance!

Thanks to everyone for showing up and playing through the conditions. Here are the photo highlights…