Around the Grounds
It was great to hear a number of our Westside teams enjoying success in their Round 4 fixtures, especially those teams who have had a difficult start to the Season. We can see the hard work being put in at training is paying off, with team work getting better with each game and our Juniors growing in confidence on the pitch!
Round 4 was Female Football Round with Mother’s Day on the Sunday. A number of our teams got involved to celebrate by performing pre-match walk outs or team photos with their special mums!
U6 Tigers
The Tigers fixture for this week was at home against the Pine Hills Dingoes. It became apparent from the start of the match that the Tigers were facing a strong opposition. The Dingoes forced the play in our half, with most of their scoring chances coming off the back of one stand out player – he had speed to dribble up the field to find the back of our goal. The Tigers found themselves having to play a very tight defending game for the first time this season, ending the first half trailing 4-1.
At half time the coach talked about better defending, how to chase down and run hard after loose balls to stop the Dingoes from having clear breakaways. The Tigers came out very eager to level the scoring and appeared to have listened to the coach. Most notably, Ryker, chasing after a Dingoes player who on a breakaway, for what appeared a much faster player but managed to kick the ball off him to save a goal. The Tigers also did really well in the middle with good defending by Frankie and Oscar. Asher also took on the challenge in defence by putting his body on the line a couple of times to stop the Dingoes offensive from reaching our goal.
A really good effort by the Tigers to come back on the scorecard in the second half with goals from Max, Theo and Ryker. However, the Tigers came up short this week with a 9-6 loss. The Player of the Day awards this week went to Ryker, Oscar and Theo.
U7 Goannas
The Goannas had a good match-up against the Pine Hills Panthers in Round 4.
The team work by looking for our team mates to pass to was great. We worked the ball around the field to create space and opportunities to score.
Some new skills learnt at training are starting to be used in the games and that’s really good to see.
The Player of the Day awards went to:
Felix: for his excellent team work and defensive pressure on the other team. Great work Felix.
Ryan: for his attacking skills by running after the ball and great team work to pass to his mates. Great work Ryan.
U7 Geckos
The Geckos got their first win of the season against Dayboro Green – a resounding 11-0 victory. Everyone played extremely well so it was hard to pick the awards. But they went to Oskar for his six goals, and Ethan for his great defensive efforts that went along way to the clean sheet.
This was a much better team effort and showed great improvement over the previous weeks. We worked on being first to the ball in training and it showed in the game. Our dribbling was much better and we were looking for our players.
Great effort all around Geckos!
U8 Hornets
The Westside U8 Hornets faced Brisbane City Halliday this week in an away game. From the very beginning, it was evident that this was going to be a physical encounter, with both teams eager to assert their dominance.
Despite their efforts, Westside couldn’t score in the first half, while Brisbane City were able to secure a number of goals. Liam played goalie and saved numerous shots, meaning the score for Brisbane City definitely wasn’t as high as it could have been!
Westside found their groove in the second half with improved passing and teamwork, and after a pep talk from Coach Anthony, Ned found the back of the net to score Westside’s only goal of the match – off the back of a brilliant team effort. Ultimately, Brisbane City emerged victorious, but Westside’s relentless spirit and sportsmanship was evident throughout the match. They fought hard and showed great determination despite the loss.
The team gave it their all, and while the result didn’t go in their favour, the boys can take pride in the way they played until the final whistle. Oscar and James received the Player of the Day awards this week.
U9 Raptors
The Raptors played some good football away to Bardon this week, and the usual great band of Raptor mums were on the sideline to cheer on the Mother’s Day fixture!
The boys took a lot from this week’s training, particularly their strong defensive use of body position, which they used well against an at times physical opponent.
The Raptors also worked well to move the ball to the wings this week, which resulted in a lot of strong attacks, including relentless pressure in the first half from player of the day Beau down the left wing.
The result, unfortunately, didn’t go our way this week, with Bardon coming up with a 2-0 win, but we take lots of positives from the game.
Keep working hard boys, the results are coming if the team play keeps improving like this. The training award for the week went to Toby.
U9 Falcons
After a couple of away games, the Falcons were back home this week playing on a familiar field against the Newmarket U9 Cyclones. The Falcons started the match full of energy and challenging the Cyclones for the ball and recovering possession inside our defensive half.
The Falcons displayed some individual brilliance throughout the match. Despite some great passing in the middle and great defence to neutralise the Cyclones attack the Falcons finished the first half down 1-nil.
The Falcons came out firing in the second half with several great attempts on goal. With continued pressure on goal, Cooper capitalised on a loose ball to find the back of the net to level the match. Whilst the Falcons had more chances on goal, the Cyclones had luck on their side to find the back of our goal two more times. The Falcons were defeated 3-1 but played a very good match and great effort was put in by all.
The Player of the Day awards this week went to Ryan, Cooper and Archie.
U9 Vultures
The Vultures flew to Toowong to take on Toowong FC Gold.
Westside were a bit slow to start as Toowong peppered the goal early forcing Ellis to make some saves and lots of early goal kicks. Toowong were able to create a nice forward pass to their striker who didn’t miss for an early 1-0 lead. Westside held firm, but another well finished goal crossed from their winger to striker found the back of our net. That seemed to spark the Vultures into action..
Ellis began to find Likhit down the wing, who ran with the ball to create a number of close attacking opportunities while pressuring the opposition goalkeeper, and was unlucky not to find the net. A fine forward pass from Edgar found Fletcher at striker, but the Vultures couldn’t finish. The last 5 minutes before half-time was all Westside, but we remained 2-0 down at halt-time.
Half-time, Edgar to keeper, and time to unleash Ellis as center forward on the tiring defence.
Westside were barely troubled in the second half, Edgar made three excellent saves when called upon. But Leo’s passing down the wing to Ellis, James & Elijahs strong running down the wings, Archer’s free kick shot, Theo’s, Fletcher, and Henry’s excellent defence ensured the ball remained near the Toowong goal.
Unfortunately, a number of close shots and breaks didn’t result in any goals for the Vultures. The match was closer than 2-0, and our Westside boys should be very proud of their comeback to dominate the second half after going down early. The parents certainly enjoyed the contest, and never give up attitude from the Vultures.
Unlucky boys, but well played.
Player of the Day awards went to Likhit – lots of fantastic runs up and down the wing, and supporting the ball carriers going forward; and Edgar – excellent on-field defence, forward passing to his team mate, and great goalkeeping saves.
U10 Brumbies
U10 Dingoes
Captained by Joel this week, the Dingoes played against the UQ Lions early on Saturday morning, but some were unable to attend. Fortunately, the U9 Falcons provided two substitutes, Cooper (7) and Ned (4). The teams exchanged goals throughout the match, but the Dingoes ultimately triumphed with a 4-2 win.
In the first half, Noah defended excellently by clearing the ball from danger zones. Harlem showcased his skills with a smooth nutmeg, setting up TJ for a top goal. Throughout the exchange of goals, the UQ Lions applied much pressure on the defence, and the goalie, Ben, had to pull off some great saves.
At halftime, the score was tied 1-1. Coach JP gave the team a strong pep talk to ensure they remained focused on securing a victory.
Early in the second half, the Dingoes scored a cracking free kick by TJ. However, the UQ Lions did not give up and kept up the pressure, eventually leading to a goal. The final whistle was looming with the score level at 2-2.
The sideline was far from quiet, with JP screaming directions and motivating the boys. Daniel, the defender, must have eaten a lot of Weet-Bix that morning because he was all over the pitch, defending and clearing. Daniel’s hard work paid off when he took the opportunity to be in the opposition’s goal area at the right time and snatched a goal, putting the Dingoes ahead by one.
Not content with a one-goal lead, the team maintained pressure on the UQ Lions. Cooper, a substitute from the U9 Falcons, was relentless, taking away any options from the Lions and forcing them to kick the ball out of play. In the final minutes, Diego did a solid solo run for half the field only to be unluckily denied by the opposition’s keeper. Being ready for a rebound, Harlem found himself with the ball and easily put away the Dingoes fourth goal.
After the final whistle blew, you could hear Coach JP “ARE YOU FEELING IT – THIS IS HOW WE WIN GAMES”.
See more of the action here:
https://fork-slime-4be.notion.site/Dingoes-4-2-UQ-Lions-2023-05-13-126bc160836d4a638f4ffd896f5601d0
U11 Wolves
The Wolves were struggling to field a team for this match with numerous players out with illness, injury or other commitments. As a result, it was a scramble to find suitable fill-ins that didn’t have a conflicting match time. Fortunately, we were able to draw on Benson from the U11 Wallabies, as well as Patty and Max from the U9 Raptors. Benson being a great defensive replacement for our main CB (James), with Patty and Max filling in the CF position typically occupied by Finn.
The basic line-up was Landon (GK), Sam (LB), Benson (CB), Dex (RB), Noah (CDM), Alex (CAM), Eli (LW), Max / Patty (CF), Teo (RW).
We had an inkling going into the match that this was going to be a beatable side, as they had lost 8 – 0 to Toowong recently. It proved to be the case. The first half we dominated possession and were creating chance after chance. However, the opening goal was proving to be elusive. Mounting concern was growing from the sideline as historically the Wolves team are prone to getting caught on the counter-attack. Overall defensive skills and structure is something we have been working very hard on in training and it showed. The defence was certainly very effective, both Benson and Dex had a great game. Sam was less challenged down the left wing but kept good shape and when called upon carried the ball wide and supplied the forward players well. Just before half-time Eli broke the deadlock, and the boys were buoyant coming into the break.
There wasn’t much to change at half time. The main coaching points were to better cover the spaces down the left wing from the goal kicks where Taringa had clear options (but weren’t exploiting them), and from an attacking point of view to look for more link up passes in the final third and get more shots on goal. We all felt there were more goals to come in the second half.
The second half continued in the same vein as the first, the Wolves dominating possession and the goals started to flow. Eli bagged one and Teo bagged 2. There’s no stopping these 2 boys, as yet again they demonstrated their exceptional ball control skills and scoring abilities. They both could have had hat tricks, Patty and Max also nearly scored. Alex was doing an outstanding job in the CAM role, finding spaces, turning well and providing clean passes to the frontline. He’s really finding his feet in this position and was himself recovering from illness. Despite this he gave 110% right to the end, as a result he was awarded the Player of the Day award.
Taringa did try to exploit the left-hand side and had a few counter attacking opportunities. Dex prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity using his strength to get in between the ball and striker. Again, something we have been working on in training. As a result, he got a special mention at the end of the game. Due to the good defence, Landon had a relatively quiet day at the office. However, when called upon he closed down the space well and provided good clearances. It was great to see him linking up with Noah to play out from the back from the goal kicks, something we didn’t execute well in the prior game. Noah, as usual, played really well as CDM. Communicating with his team mates to keep the defence in check, as well as providing great balls out to the wingers, he’s striking the ball much better this season.
The Wolves ended up with a solid 4 – 0 victory and great performance. Hopefully, everyone is fully fit and recovered in time for the next game as we’re going up against ACE. We’re expecting a much tougher battle there.
Special thanks to Benson, Patty and Max for filling in! Onwards and upwards Wolves!
U11 Wallabies
The Westside Wallabies faced Pine Hills United in an intense match at home. Both teams displayed great skills and were evenly matched throughout the game. Remy opened the scoring for Westside, but Pine Hills quickly responded with a goal of their own. Solid defensive performances from both sides kept the score level at 1-1 going into halftime.
In the second half, Rhys found the back of the net for Westside just minutes in. There were some impressive crosses, but Westside couldn’t convert them into goals. Unfortunately, Pine Hills managed to equalize again, making it a nail-biting contest. With seconds remaining on the clock, Pine Hills scored the decisive goal, resulting in a 3-2 victory for them.
Player of the Day awards went to Charlie for his high energy throughout the match, Ethan for holding space and great crosses, and Remy for putting into action everything covered in training. Well done!
U12 Warriors
After a couple of tough matches, the Warriors were looking to get some confidence back in their home game against Newmarket Rush.
The first 20 minutes of the match was a see-sawing affair, with both teams putting together some nice passing and dribbling through the mid-field and wings, but neither team being able to find the back of the net.
Newmarket broke the dead-lock in the 21st minute with a goal, and followed up not long after to take 2-nil lead into half-time.
Goalkeeper Jonah again was on the ball today, making some nice saves and keeping the score to 2. He was well represented by his defensive line with Sam, Jett and Dashel playing solid games in defence.
Early in the second half after a high ball was put up by Newmarket, Eva controlled the ball and found Theo up front with a nice pass. Theo took a touch and then laid on a nice through ball for Flynn to outpace the defence and slot one in the net for the Warriors…. 1-2.
The Warriors found some confidence with their play through the midfield and soon after, Dante won a ball at half way, played a nice ball through to Theo and Theo took on the long shot, chipping the keeper from 30m out to find the net and level the scores at 2-2. Excitement amongst the Warriors!
5 minutes later, Sam took a goal-kick and found Dante wide on the left wing. Dante again played a nice pass onto Theo who dribbled past two defenders and slotted the ball in the bottom left corner…. Warriors up 3-2.
With only seconds on the clock, the Warriors made a defensive error from the back, gifting Newmarket a corner. The corner was a good one, finding their striker who placed it past Jonah in goals to level the score 3-3…and the final whistle sounded!
It was a great effort by the Warriors and a shame they didn’t chalk up their first win of the Season, but hopefully they take some confidence into the next few games after their best game of the Season yet. It was great to see their never-give-up attitude come into play this week!
Bryn and Lenox were again solid on the wings whenever they were called upon to replace Dante, Theo and Flynn. Eli and Eamon slotted into the back-line and gave good support to Sam and Jett who are continually improving every week.
The Player of the Day award went to Theo this week for his two goals and impressive come-back after Round 3. Training awards went to Sam, Eva and Jonah for all the hard work they are putting in each week to continually develop individually and as team players!
Well done Warriors!
U12 Gliders
In what proved to be the Gliders’ most suspenseful game to date, Westside’s U12 Girls took on Virginia United U12 Diamonds in an away game this round.
Players from both teams walked out hand-in-hand with their mums in celebration of Female Football Round, recognising the contribution of women across all facets of the sport. After sharing a friendly round of applause, the whistle blew, and the Gliders and Diamonds faced each other in competition.
With both teams still yet to win a match this season, the hunger to score a goal in the first minutes of the game was intense. Twenty minutes into the game and the Gliders made three attempts at goal in quick succession. Their first goal was a home goal, which was duly celebrated nonetheless, 25 minutes into the match. Virginia soon rectified this, scoring a goal for themselves, leaving scores level at half time.
Katie was acknowledged at half time for holding her forward position as was Charlotte for persistently pursuing the opposition for possession of the ball.
The second half presented the Gliders more opportunities to score with many good attempts at goal and the girls’ persistent attack was finally rewarded with a goal from Amber. Virginia soon retaliated with a goal of their own leaving supporters of both sides biting their nails in the final minutes of the game.
The two teams were truly a good match for one another as evidenced by the final score of 2-2.
In recognition of being the first Glider to score a goal for the team, Amber received a Player of the Day award, as did Nina, who put in a great effort throughout the game.
Amazing work, Gliders!! Keep going!!
