Official Match Report

The Weather-People said 40 percent chance of rain and the water did stay away.

Like a well oiled machine our parents arrived with big smiles on faces and ready for a wonderful Mother's Day match up against Boroondara soccer club. The nets were up in a jiffy as the sausages were placed on the bbq.
The coach took the boys for a warm up. A little bit of chatter and misplaced focus from the boys was quickly sorted and focus again restored. Everything was set for an exciting game. Boroondara had apparently thrashed their last weeks team and having just come off a loss ourselves with a team with injuries, Ashburton, u12 J with a never say die attitude would be put to the test again.
The ref blows the whistle and our boys fumble a bit to get the ball under control at kickoff. It's something we will be working on. Boroondara are immediately upon us. The game is afoot.

The good news is that we have an interchange with Richards return and Archie standing in to bolster numbers. Richard with a back heel injury is very generous in testing out his foot for half a game. We rest him for the second half. But Richards penetrating contribution in the first half of the game is a wonderful sight to behold. We have missed the lad and wish him well. Even injured he sets the benchmark as a great physical presence and wins the ball back when it is temporarily removed from his possession. There's excitement by the side lines with proud parents really getting into the game. The scoring sheets are passed around for votes during the battle. I look upon the work we have done during the week on skills and can see some immediate improvement from players such as Jay, Clancy, Lere and Toby. Their concentration has improved tremendously and physical abilities and fitness too. We've worked with Jay on his defending which has had some very positive results. His speed is underestimated by the opposition and his jockeying skills have improved dramatically from his last game. The first half of the game remains scoreless even being downhill. Our defenders are tested over and over and over as shots go wide and other shots are swatted away by Maxy's foot, the old faithful. We almost come to expect him to work magic every time. He's a little off colour and the coach notices a gingerly step in his stride. He's not the only one to be a little off today with the seasons cold's beginning to kick in. Toby stands firm however and says with his saves and Clint Eastwood stare, You shall not pass, this is my house and you should really consider going elsewhere with that ball thank you very much as I quite like not having that ball in my net - thanks for asking but no.
The calls from the side line coach are for the lads to move up to match their positions with the opposition players. This pays off almost immediately with an offside decision awarded to our team. Our team is full of self confessed defenders who's natural disposition is to sometimes move back rather than forward. We are keenly looking forward to seeing Shawn and Richard on the field together to sharpen the spear but are also seeing players like Clancy, Lere and JP who have a natural instinct to move the ball forward to make but a few. Others do this too.
Rupert again consistently works his defensive magic and pushes through to run with the ball. Also spotted running with the ball in the second half was Clancy. Three quick fire goals from the opposition as our lads concentration began to falter around the 33 minute mark. Two very good goals by Boroondara and another accidental kick out directly to the opposition by Maxy made the third goal. There was not much Rupert could do to stop these goals but he did keep out a number of other shots at goal. He catches a ball without seemingly moving a single muscle in his body. The ball just sticks to his hands. Always very entertaining. Rupert is so often in the the right place at the right time. Kiran had a great performance getting in the way of the opposition, his kicking power has improved tremendously and is always looking for opportunities. Our extra man Archie is also improving and his solid kicks up the field are well timed and on target. Sammy has a wonderful game, very solid and never gives up, he reads the play well and is now consistent week in and week out. A stellar performance. Toby showing some fine form on the field and has great top gear speed and is wonderful with his anticipation for the ball. All the boys played very well. Lere looked fit and I'm aware some of the lads were a little under the weather too. It happens. But a good performance against a top quality team. It proved to me that we now have the physical stamina from lots of our running training and it is now most important to focus on the mental stamina and the boys general understanding of what to do in specific scenarios. It's time we had a session with video review. While we did practice many set plays at training, we will be looking to player leaders in the team to organise the boys to actually remind and carry out those set plays during games. It's time for the lads to pick up the Baton and communicate in an effective coordinated way. We are very happy with progress and look forward to the next game with hopes of a full team. If I didn't mention your son, don't worry, all the boys did well. Happy Mother's Day.