South West United Hockey Club

South West Warriors vs Blue Sticks, 6-5 Win
Matt Gill, player & match reporter – Nov 6, 2011

This week we had Big Matt (Spider), Al, Matt G (Princess), Harry, Nick, Morgs in goal, Michael and Dan

They had a quick break away almost immediately after the game had started, Morgs saved the first shot but despite Michael’s efforts and Morgan’s dive the second shot hit the back of the net. 0-1

A short while later we had a strong attack down the left wing Matt passed to Nick who was unable to get it in.

They quickly brought the ball back to our defensive circle and took another shot. This time Morgan had a great save which was picked up by Matt who ran the field and took the shot. 1-1

They came back at us hard, there was a good defensive clearance from Matt G and Morgs, but a turn-over saw them come back again. This time Matt G held them up until enough players could get back and break down the attack. The game see-sawed for a couple of minutes until they got into the circle again, this time they passed around Morgs and got the ball into the back of the net 1-2.

We had an immediate reply with Matt running the field and putting it in the back of the net. 2-2

They won a series of corners until the ball unfortunately clipped Dan and flew into the back of the net. 2-3

They then got another opportunity to score and took full advantage by passing to around Morgs and putting in it in the net. 2-4

With only seconds remaining in the half, Matt G ran down the right and placed a short pass to Matt who dragged a defender then put it behind the goalkeeper. 3-4

Half time

We came back from the half time all fired up to win.

We got straight into the half with a pass from Matt G to Dan who then passed to his brother Matt who took a high shot into the back of the net. 4-4

Before you knew it the brothers where at it again, Dan got a pass off to Matt who then got a corner. Dan pushed out to Matt who then dragged two people and put it out to Dan on the post. Dan’s great deflection put us into the lead. 5-4

The blue sticks were not out as they then showed us when they put the ball passed a sliding Morgan to even the score. 5-5

They then got a corner in the last seconds of the game. Morgs showed us what he could do with a brilliant save. The ball deflected to Matt who quickly ran the field and passed to Nick on the post who pushed in the winning goal. 6-5

A special thanks to Tony for another great game and all the parents that brought their kids. Also on a special note anyone who played in the under 13 SWU team last year Kiko’s sister Fila was playing on the other team, she was their best striker (with a blue glove).

South West Warriors vs Taurus, 5-2 Loss
Tony Meredith, Coach – Oct 23, 2011

We took an Early lead at a minute and a half with a well worked goal by Matt. A number of good chances went begging and eventually we made a mistake on a free hit, gifting them the ball which put them in and at half time the score was 1-1.

In the second half once again we were applying pressure but not scoring. We defended all of our defensive corners and some great play by both keepers kept the scores even for the first couple of minutes. Eventually we made another mistake in the defence and they were able to go round us for a second goal. Within a minute they were in again through good team work and we were 3-1 down. This was really the first time that they had scored without our mistake.

We replied with some good team work and individually good play and drew a penalty stork which Matt W. converted.

Unfortunately, the wheels fell off at this stage and they scored again putting them ahead 4-2. In the last minute or so, they were able to score another when their centre forward wondered into our circle between four of our player who all failed to attempt a tackle and threaded the ball past Tom. We were pressing at the end but being 2 goals down had no chance of winning.

I short we were competitive but failed to capitalize on our chances. We have to slow our attack down in the circle and ensure that we score, especially when we have a 2 or 3 on one on the goalkeeper. We need to play out the whole 18 minute half not 15 or so minutes of it. We have still to jell together as a team up front, when this happens we will score more goals and win.

South West Warriors vs Random, 3-1 Win
Matt Gill, player & match reporter – Oct 16, 2011

We scored 3 they scored 1.

Ok mum said I need to put in some adjectives.
So here it is…

We scored 3 awesome goals they scored 1 bad goal 
We won

Mum said it had to be longer
3rd time lucky…

South West Warriors v Random

We welcome Al back from his break (Get it… Break … he broke his arm). Corny I know, my mum made it up.

The game started pretty evenly with Morgs making a couple of good saves in defence, while in attack we had a lot of passing between Matt, Al , Dan, Matt G and Nick. Our first goal came from a penalty corner. Nick pushed out to Matt who had a shot about waist height on the goalie who was not fast enough to save it. 1-0

After half time random came out in attack mode and both Matt G and Morgs had to do some saves and clearances. Tom made some nice attacks down the right wing, but we could not convert his efforts. Random won a penalty corner and took a fast shot to the right post finding a small gap in between Morgs and Matt G. 1-1

The next few minutes the teams fought really hard till the frustration got the better of a random player who back-chatted the umpire and got a 2 minute suspension for his efforts. (Note to self; no matter how frustrating the umpire is, shut up!)

Matt used some impressive stick work to launch the attack and Morg held up his end with a great sliding save. Harry, Dan, Nick and Al combined well to pass the ball and draw the keeper before passing back to matt who scored again. 2-1

We then covered the boards forcing Random up the middle where Matt intercepted and ran it up the middle who scored again. 3-1

We slowed down the game and ran the clock down to win 3-1.

Warriors vs White Sticks, 7-0 Win
Matt Gill, player & match reporter – Oct 9, 2011

We started off with Tom in the goals and Morgan on the field.  This was Africa’s last game so we needed to make it a good one.

Our first goal came from a back stick flick from big Matt. 1-0

Our next goal came from a cross from Africa to big Matt who then tipped it in. 2-0

It was back and forth for the next couple of minutes until Michael got the ball and showed his stick skills to the other team before taking 2 shots then finally getting it in.3-0

We then got dazzled by the passing of the white sticks and earned ourselves a defensive corner. Tom was runner 1 with Big Matt and Daniel close behind him. We had Michael in the middle and Nick and Harry on the posts. Luckily they were not needed since Tom stoped the shot. Good work Tom!

We were on the attack again, this time with Princess running down the right wing and crossing it to Matt who passed it to Daniel who nicked it in. 4-0

We had a great attack, with Matt passing to Dan who passed back to Matt.  Tony had just told Matt to bend his back and get more power into the shot on goal – and Matt listened, bent low and flicked the ball clear over the top of the goal.

Matt quickly made up for this after a nice pass from Princess and took a great shot on goal that the keeper deflected, only to have Nick touch it in and take the score to 5-0.

Tom and Morgs then had a work out with some saves form Tom and some great defensive plays by Morgs.  With two goalies on the field, we should have a strong defensive game this season!

The next goal came from some good team work from Morgs who passed it to Harry who did a long ball down the wing to Big Matt who took a shot to get his aim in and one to score! 6-0

The last goal came after Michael shut down the side boards, forcing them to go up the middle.  Matt took advantage of this and took a clean run up the centre and put it in. 7-0

Special thanks to Matt (Africa) who has played with South West for his time here in Australia.  It’s been great to have you on the team, and you’ve certainly played some nice hockey – particularly this last indoor game.  We hope you have enjoyed it, and that you keep in touch and let us know if you’re back in Brisbane and after a game of hockey!

Random vs South West Warriors, 2-2 Draw
Matt Gill, player & match reporter – Oct 2, 2011

We arrived early to meet our two new players (Daniel and Matt) training with the Goalinator. Tom and Michael arrived, and we were then waiting for the SWU ‘bus’ to arrive – aka the Meredith car – with Nick, Harry and Matt (Africa) on board.  That gave us three subs, which was welcome as it was going to be a tough game and we’d all had a couple of weeks away from hockey.

Never having played together as a team before, we took a few minutes on the field to sort ourselves out.  We settled in fairly quickly though for a hard-fought 30 minutes of hockey with no half time break.

Early on there was a lapse in the defence and Random crossed the ball into the circle where their wing touched it in, taking the score to 0-1.

We made an early counter attack when one of the Matts earned a corner. We quickly set up and Michael pushed out to Matt, who took the shot before Matt and Matt worked out what to do. The ball went flying into the net and the score equalised at 1 all.

For the next 10 minutes the Goalinator, Harry, Matt (Princess) and Tom kept the defence going, with Tom learning quickly in his first game as a field player in indoor.  Nick, Matt (Africa) and Matt kept the pressure on up front, and Michael and Daniel did a great job in the centre and mid-field to keep repelling Random and pushing the game into our attack.

Brothers Matt and Daniel linked well throughout the game which eventually ended up with a goal after Daniel passed it to Matt who ran the field to score, taking us to 2-1.

Unfortunately, they were able to equalise after a turnover from a stuffed up 16 yard (I’m guilty!) which allowed them to over-power the Goalinator. It was back and forth for the rest of the game, but the full time score was a 2 all draw.

A special welcome and thanks to Daniel and Matt our new players, and Matt (Africa) for playing with us in his last few weeks in Australia.  The game was fast and fun, and saw some great crosses and passing that will hopefully lead to goals as we get to know each other’s games and play better during the season.

Thanks also to Tony for stepping into the role of coach for another South-West Summer!