Around the Grounds
Round 6 games saw the wrap-up of female football week with our Senior Womens team, U10 Brumbies, U12 Gliders and U13 Phoenix joining our Westside female coaches, managers and parents for a celebration down at the Club on Saturday afternoon for Females in Football.
U6 Tigers
The Tigers Round 6 fixture was away in Samford Valley. This was an interesting week for being different to the normal, as we played a Triple Header due to uneven teams in the competition. This meant three teams playing each other in 15-minute games.
The Tigers sat out the first match to watch Samford Valley play against Dayboro. Then the Tigers faced Samford Valley coming out with a 2-2 draw with goals from Max S and Max H.
The Tigers second match was against Dayboro, as they continued to display excellent form on the day for a 2-1 win with Theo scoring both goals.
Leading up to this week, the Tigers were in a slump losing their previous two matches in hard fought games. However, great effort by all this week to run hard after the ball to create scoring opportunities and to defend well to neutralise the opposition’s scoring chances.
The Player of the Day awards this week went to Theo, Max H and Asher.
U8 Wasps
It was an awesome team performance by the Wasps on Saturday facing off against The Gap FC Melbourne Victory.
It’s clear to see the improvement individually amongst players but also collectively as a team with some fantastic team structure and playing in positions. Lenny and Pierre had a quiet time in goals due to wonderful defence and ball control by the players on-field.
Sergio scored first and then it was an avalanche of goals with 2 more from Sergio, 2 goals from Alex and Rowan and a goal each to Bailey, Levi, Fletcher and Adam.
Further to the goals, there were a number of great assists from Fletcher and some additional shots from Alex at 5m and Lenny who was denied by the goal post. The team worked well together and secured 3 corners in a row and the development of skills really shone with one particular goal coming out of strong teamwork, position play and passing through 5 players to a roaring cheer and clap from the crowd.
The whole team was awarded with match rewards due to such a strong performance putting together their skills and hard work in training. Well done Wasps!
U9 Raptors
U9 Falcons
The U9 Falcons Round 6 fixture was at home against the Gap FC U9 Aberdeen. The Westside playing field appeared quieter than usual this week as less games were being played at Grovely which may have weighed on the Falcons performance!
As we get deeper in the schedule and especially this time of the year with the flu circulating it is not surprising that some players may not be 100%. However, with the players that appeared up to it, there were great opportunities on the opposition goal but unfortunately couldn’t finish, and there were great defensive plays and saves that kept the Falcons in the match.
This week the Falcons were shot out for a 2-nil loss. The Player of the Day awards this week went to Braxton and Woody.
U10 Brumbies
The Brumbies went into this week with fire in their bellies to secure a win! They were all buzzing that this was their week and could feel it in the air!
The Gap played really well and the Brumbies kept the pressure on with Lucy stopping any attempt at goal.
The girls had a few good attempts at scoring a goal, only just missing out a couple times. It was a stunning day and hot for the midday game and they all ran their hearts out.
The score was 0-0 at halftime but the coaches got the girls fired up and they all kept the pressure on until Lily scored! Brumbies finally got a well-fought-for goal in the final few minutes winning the game 1-0
Player of the Day awards this week went to Freya and Maia – fantastic work!
U11 Wallabies
The Westside Wallabies hosted the Samford Rangers Bulls in their best game of the season to date.
Dash opened the game with a goal for the Wallabies in the early minutes. The whole team demonstrated great supportive play leading to their second goal from Remy from a triple rebound at the net.
Great passing from the midfield and forwards including exceptional crosses from Ethan on the wing, gave Rhys the opportunity for another goal – this one after an intense scramble on the goal line.
The Wallabies showed great cohesive teamwork ending the first half 4-0 up.
After a second goal to Rhys shortly after the second half kick-off, great supportive defensive play kept the ball in the Wallabies attacking half for the rest of the game. The forward line continues to hold space positioning Zak in front for a brilliant rebound goal finishing the game with a final score of 6-0.
Congratulations to our Players of the Day – Ethan and Nash for their impressive efforts during the match.
U11 Wolves
Round 6 saw the Wolves coming up against the Bardon Latrobe FC U11 Blacks. Bardon, akin to ACE who we played last week, have heaps of teams in the Miniroos comp (46!!!). Going into this one, we didn’t know what to expect in terms of the level of this team. Last season we smashed the lower team 5 – 1, so we were hopeful of a close game at the very least. It didn’t disappoint, it was another extremely tight game that could have gone either way.
In the first half it was incredibly even. After feeling each other out for the first 5 – 10 mins, both teams created chances. In training we have been working on pressing from opposing goal kicks, with the front 3 moving to block passing lanes preventing them from playing out from the back. They did this effectively, but to our surprise the Bardon team were skilled enough to get the ball out down the line or through the middle. As the half developed the game was getting increasingly more physical, it felt like the ref left his whistle at home. The defence and Landon held their own, and Noah was particularly effective with his long throw-ins down the line. Early on they picked up on Eli’s abilities and man to man marked him. Initially he was playing left-wing with Jack through the centre. After a well contested first-half, we went into the break at nil-all.
From a coaching standpoint at half-time the key discussion points were physicality and mental attitude. They had 2 subs and were pushing the boundaries with their tackling. The boys were reminded to use their body to maintain and gain possession of the ball. Sometimes in games like this, the first goal is pivotal, teams can easily drop their heads. They were reminded not to give up and keep fighting regardless of the score line and that it was a 50/50 game. We also talked about maintaining long throw-ins down the line and mixing up corners, going direct and playing short to confuse the defence and create spaces.
Unfortunately, the second half didn’t start out too well. They had 3 – 4 corner kicks early on, one of their players was able to curl the ball pretty much into the goal from the corner spot. Landon did well to save one in particular and others were defended well. Sam was managing to clear the ball and cover the near post. Unfortunately, one dropped to their attackers for a tap in, 1 – 0 Bardon. The boys were reminded to keep their heads up and fight, which they did admirably.
The Wolves were starting to build pressure. Noah was playing excellent long and through balls, Alex and Teo were linking up well generally and especially on corners. The goal had to come soon…then Bardon caught us on the break, and we conceded another goal to go down 2 – 0.
It was time to mix things up and throw the kitchen sink at them. Eli was switched from LW to CF, and the strategy was simple, go for it and try to get balls in behind for Eli to run onto. It was working, but it was also leaving gaps at the back as everyone was pressing. James took some balls out of the air with great first touches, he was keeping us alive.
Eli finally converted a chance with a piercing run and clinical finish to the bottom corner. We were in the hunt, 10 mins to go and flying. Teo and Alex were battling super hard. They were getting shoved off the ball and the ref was doing nothing. Despite this Teo was getting balls into Eli and the chances kept coming.
Bardon did counter, at one point Landon made an awesome save preventing a shot from going top bins. Maxi, Sam and James cleaned up their striker who had a break away opportunity. Maxi also played an awesome through ball at one point, great to see him striking the ball so well. The pulses were racing. Eli was taken down from behind in the box and the ref found his whistle! Penalty!!! Eli stepped up and struck the penalty hard but straight at the keeper , then Jack and Noah tried to put in the rebound but to no avail.
It ended 2 – 1 to Bardon! If the game had gone for an extra 5 mins, I am sure the boys would have got more goals.
An exhilarating end to the match, again everyone performed well. Super proud of the fight the boys kept up to the very end, they won’t forget who the Wolves are in a hurry.
The Player of the Day award went to Landon for his overall performance and awesome save to keep the game alive. Special mention to Noah, who was everywhere again. But to be honest most of the slurpy vouchers were handed out as the boys left it all out on the pitch and deserved it! We look forward to seeing Dex and Finn back on deck next week to give much needed rotation and support in defence and attack.
U12 Warriors
In Round 6 the Warriors took on North Lakes United in the 1:20pm fixture under a relatively warm afternoon sun!
Coach Greg was back on deck this week, with Assistant Coach Shane away in Cairns at Masters Baseball. In the pre-match, Coach Greg spoke to the Warriors about controlling the ball, inside foot receiving and passing and trying to avoid giving away corners.
In the first half, the Warriors didn’t pass the ball and gave away 9 corners. Going into the halftime break with a 4-1 scoreline against the Warriors, Coach Greg used these two issues to re-enforce that if they were doing what he had explained during the pre-match chat, they would control the game by controlling the ball.
The Warriors must have listened the second time around and had an extremely improved second half being nil-all, with the final score line finishing 4-1 to North Lakes.
North Lakes were the most skilful team the Warriors have played against this Season so far, and the Warriors created more chances than them in the second half simply by passing the ball instead of panic kicking it away.
Flynn was awarded the Player of the Day award and was outstanding all around, working hard to the final whistle. Dashel received the training award.
U12 Gliders
Congratulations to Blair and Charlotte for winning Player of the Match awards at the Gliders’ home game against Toowong this round.
The first half against the more experienced U12 girls’ team saw the Gliders struggle to break through their line of defence and at half time the score was 4-0 in Toowong’s favour.
With some repositioning of our players in the midfield at half time and some great defence, the Gliders played a much better second half with the final score 5-0.
There’s no doubt that with continued dedication to developing their ball handling skills and confidence in moving the ball up the field, the Gliders will be more than a match for experienced teams such as Toowong.
The Gliders’ games are well attended by parents, grandparents, siblings and Westside coaching staff. We’re all behind you, Gliders! Keep up the great work!
Thanks also to the Gliders Girls for helping out with the 3-5 year Wolverines Program this morning! It was great to see the girls organising games, high fiving the kids and encouraging them to have fun. Well done, Scarlett, Elvie and Katie. Enjoy your milkshakes and cookies!
