Official Match Report

The paperwork was filled in and handed to the ref who was being assessed by a referee coach on the day. It turned out that the young ref was pretty good and it was nice to have the additional authority on the sidelines too.

We lost 2 to nil. With goals to players 16 and 20 from Malvern City.

It was quite odd to see Tommy, Richard and Shawn in attendance at the same time. I know they have been going through some tough injury times. They are each growing and are the biggest lads in the team. The muscles are catching up to the bone growth happening at the moment. The load bearing weight on their limbs would be quite different to some of the other lads. They go hard at the ball and put their bodies on the line for their team mates. I hope Richard's knee is feeling better after the cork.

Shawn had his knee strapped up but everyone seemed to be in positive spirits. Again the lads needed some focus commands from the coach before the game. Lots of chatter. All normal stuff for this age. The lads will come to know that when the coach talks, they listen up.

A brief chat with the coach about field positions and recommendations based on assessments at training during the week. I noticed that Clancy had been exceptional in defence during the training mid week. He's an all round player really and we wanted to test moving Sammy up the field too and test Clancy out in the back line. There's still a bit to learn for all concerned but some positive results. Sammy has played in the back line for a long time and is now a very experienced attacking defender. Placing Sammy up more in the mid field would be a very good test for the concept of strengthening the mid field. Having 4 players in the mid row is a great testing ground for players who are both attackers and defenders.
The kickoffs from the middle were a bit better this week and I did see some evidence of work we had done during the training sessions. We worked on passing back when players run into a wall of defence and then find another way forward. Our forward players have been out of action for a while so our lads found it tricky to get the ball within striking range of the goals. There were a number of occasions where we were able to push forward but often only with one player. Shots were taken a bit too far away from the goals. There were some balls hitting posts at both ends though. We had our opportunities. Some very positive efforts in attack.

In terms of fighting for the ball in field play, we were very competitive and often stole the ball away form the opposition. Their defenders were very good. Out field play was generally great. The instruction to take the ball as far up the side lines didn't seem to cut through. We just need to be persistent with the lads on that topic. Richard was able to continue his abilities to penetrate the forward line and took on their back line players. I recall Richard taking the ball up the the front left of the field and was looking up for support to kick the ball to one of our players. Support was finally given by Maxy after our calls from the side lines - Support! Support! - Maxy is obviously a back line player. So two experienced players supporting each other - one being a back line player and the other being a forward player. We might need a chat with the mid fielders to see where they are in these occasions to support our forward players.

Some tremendous hustle form JP again. We moved him out of the back line into the mid or front and that more forward space suits him very well. He's coming along very well and is becoming one of our consistent players. Being consistent week in and week out is what every player needs to strive for. The list is growing in our team of players who show this consistency. It is something to encourage because it is often more of a conscious decision to decide to increase intensity and try to be first to the ball every time.

We conceded one goal in each half of the game.
The boys were quiet at half time - the eyes a little glazed over. But the oranges finally kicked-in after about 10 mins. This seems to be quite common. Its about that half hour mark. They work hard. Lots of running. Gets them tired at half time. We can manage this with solid passes and maintaining possession of the ball. It's when we loose possession that we get tired because we have to do all the running. When you pass well and solid, we will maintain possession and get less tired.

Kiran had a number of touches and he focussed on getting in the way of the ball and moving more laterally to intercept - rather than to the side of the play.
The idea is that if you want to get more possession, you need to track the ball and have your body always lining up behind the ball. In this way it often simply rolls onto your feet. This tactic for Kiran is working very well and he was able to disrupt the opposition runs due to this, thus shutting down their play makers. I can see that this playing tactic would benefit players like Lere, Clancy, Jay, Toby and Thomas. The master at this skill is actually Rupert. He backs himself in the line of the ball every time and the ball simply rolls onto his feet. Next for Rupert is getting those kicks away and running with the ball more.

Lere had a wonderful game. His focus has improved greatly. He's a great example of a player who has tremendous intensity when he goes for the ball. His speed will increase during the season but even when he is giving 100% I can see him trying to get an extra 20%. He goes hard at the ball and doesn't give up. This is about turning the volume up to 11 when it only goes to 10. That's what Lere can bring to the game.
It's a lesson for all the lads too. The one thing you can control is your intensity. If nothing else - even if you forget where the goals are or which way you are going - you can control your intensity in the way you play the game.

Some lovely runs from Shawn all the way up the wing. He did what looked like a fade step (which might just have been a miss kick) but it looked amazing. It would have been nice for that long run to have been rewarded with maintaining possession after the pass. There were some magic moves on the other side of the field by Shawn. We want our wing players to feel like they can also run up and scpre goals. Just maintain that possession.

Also a number of solid runs towards the goal from Richard. Some great hustle in the mid and forward lines from Toby. Toby has a great never say die battle up front. Well done Toby. Great to see Jay with keeping one of the oppositions team players scoreless. Jay is our roving player. It would probably be a good idea to put him in the front line as a target player to rove from left to right and the other ashy boys simply aim the passes at him. Learning to hold zones on the field takes a long time and being a target player is a good training ground to learn about positioning.

Maxy seemed to have one of his best defensive performances yet. There were some clearing and chase downs that we even thought that he would not be able to do - but he did on about 4 or 5 occasions. He chased down those attacking players and kicked the ball out from under their feet in surgical precision. It is quite cathartic to watch him do it. It's good to see that the work we did during the week on using arms to get in front of players worked well. Maxy showed for one of the first time great upper body strength. The boys intensity across the board is improving. We will continue with reinforcing those things that are working well in play. We will be working on communication and goal scoring. There is a big push for leadership on the field. We are still looking for boys to step up and take more leadership during games. We will continue to work on this.

Also a big thank you for Jason who was on lines duty today at very short notice.