South West United Hockey Club

U13 Semi Final V Commercial (Full time 0-0, Extra time 1-2)

8.00am Easts Tiger Turf for the sudden death semi-final. The boys were fired up and ready to go. The Goalinator remembered to drink some of his energy drink before the game this week, so that he would be ready to go from the first whistle. Coach Gareth worked through tactics with Assistant Coach Linda and his rotations with Manager Hayden. Princess Matt was back from his ankle, but the authorities had ruled out Matt SA and Liam because they had not played enough matches during the season. The parents were primed and ready to go, with the aid of a lollypop from Manager Hayden (there were a couple of Commercial parents that we should have shared with as well).

Defence was going to be the key. With the Goalinator in place, Ben (the Stig) and Princess Matt at fullback, Michael T and the Brick at wing halves. Our defence was as secure as it had been all season. As a secret weapon, Coach Gareth moved Cornish to mark Commercial’s State rep out of the game. With Mickey J as the link man, that left Alastair, Will, Nathan and Nick to trap the ball and put it in the net. Then we had Caleb, Caleb II and James to come off the bench as our impact players.

The first 10 minutes, was pretty even with both sides testing each other out. After that, Commercial started to get on top and sustained pressure in our half through a succession of short corners. Our defence absorbed the pressure and frustrated the Commercial attack. The Goalinator was on – and needed to make some necessary saves to keep his box clean. Towards the end of the first half, we started to get on top and showed some enterprising attack without a lot of luck. Nick, Alastair and Caleb all saw the ball, but in most cases, the gap it was hit through was just a little too far away from them. We were 0-0 at half time.

Whilst we were competitive, it seemed that missed traps were costing us in attack. Conversely, trapping balls that probably were better let go in defence, was helping Commercial stay in our half.

Coach Gareth tried to use some of his time magic from last week.Stig and Cornish swapped positions, and the game opened up. We got an early short corner but failed co convert. They got into our circle and their winger on the post had an unlucky miss.Our whole team was committed and played some of the best passages of hockey for the season for no reward. Will and Mickey J were tightly marked by Commercial and although combined well on occasions, there were often three or more defenders there to gang tackle them as soon as they started to run. Princess Matt worked hard, and was often reminded to mark tightly (Matt get your player).

As the clock wound down, the intensity of the game rose. A Commercial cross in attack went across the circle and Alastair made an extra effort to run back into our 25 to get it. Hits from our defence were often forced wide and across the sideline as Commercial’s positional play left few gaps for our hits. By contrast, Michael T and the Brick, assisted by James, Caleb II and at times Nathan ensured that Commercial wingers rarely got a touch, and as a result, most of their play was funnelled through their inside and centre forwards.

The Goalinator saved some good shots from the top of the circle to keep a clean second half box. Caleb II showed maturity beyond his years and drew penalties against opposition players so that we could gain control of the ball. At full time the score was nil all.

Then the fun began! Because Commercial finished above us on the ladder, we had to win to progress to the next final. So we were off to extra time. Both teams pushed all their players into attack. Commercial had an early chance, where our defence was able to hold on and Cornish cleared the ball off the line. Commercial then got a short corner that we had defended, but as the ball was headed over the back line, the deflection hit Cornish’s foot. Unfortunately from the Umpire’s angle, he thought it was headed for goal and awarded Commercial a stroke. The Goalinator was prepared and pre-empted a move towards the spot where the Commercial striker usually shoots. The Commercial striker was having an off day, and instead of putting it where he meant to, he flicked the ball to the other side of the net. The Goalinator readjusted, but not quickly enough, and the goal was scored.

Shortly after that, Commercial got a corner, and launched a rocket that deflected off the planking Goalinator and into the back of the net. The score after the first 5 minutes of extra time was 0-2 and things did not look good.

We lifted for the second half of extra time. After 3 minutes, we got our second corner of the match. Stig launched one of his customary thunderbolts, that deflected off a Commercial stick and into the back of the net. At 1-2, we never stopped trying. Even with 10 seconds to go, Nick was able to push forward and trap a ball in the circle. The Commercial defence was too good and we did not manage to get a shot away.

Thank you to OP for an excellent job of umpiring (we won’t talk about awarding the stroke). Thank you to the Under 11′s who helped out from week to week. Thank you to Coach Gareth for his time and efforts in coaching the boys this year. Thank you to Assistant Coach Linda for doing the same and helping Coach Gareth from week to week. Thank you to Manager , Tech-bench official and Bar-b-Que cook Hayden for organising the boys and their parents. Thank-you to the photographers who snap away each week to add a bit of colour to these match reports, Thank you to the parents who logistically managed to get boys to training and games despite their requests for additional sleep or play time and finally, congratulations to the boys for improving their hockey skills, having a great season all round, but most importantly for having fun.

Ross Vile

U13 V North’s (3-3)

9.15am Sunday start at the State Hockey Centre. Unfortunately for a second week, the later start saw our sleepiness flow over onto the hockey field. We had pretty much our full squad. We had even replaced Princess Matt (ankle busted in at least 6 places, but he should be right next week) with South African Matt (aka Matt SA).

For the first 10 minutes, North’s were all over us. Their good short passing and our loose marking allowed the North’s star players to run. After 3 minutes, we were 0-1, after a cross came in from the right finding a procession of North’s forwards waiting to score. After 7 minutes, we were 0-2 after short passing saw the North’s inner have a clear shot.

The next 10 minutes, we started to get back into the game. Our defensive patterns started to come together and Hayden’s reserve rotations allowed Coach Gareth to issue instructions at the bench. Although, we had tightened up, the North’s inside forward was still allowed to run and made it 0-3 after he had clear space to shoot from the top of the circle. Not even the Goalinator could stop that!

In the last few minutes of the first half, we started to show some signs of what we could do. Mickey J made some good runs, and Dylan put himself in space and had a couple of shots from the top of the circle that were well saved by the North’s keeper.

After some half time magic from Coach Gareth, it was a more committed team that took the field. From the back, Ben, Cornish, Nathan, Harry and James C played particularly strongly. Gilbert and Caleb II both marked their opposing players tightly. Alastair and Nick were always probing, although this week they were playing against two of Brisbane’s best U13 fullbacks. It was our perpetual motion machines that made our opportunities. Mickey J, Will, Dylan, Liam, James W and Matt SA kept running throughout the match (with a few rests from Hayden) and kept asking questions of the North’s defence.

From sustained pressure, 6 minutes into the second half, we got our first corner of the match. The North’s defence came out hard, and Ben was able to use his stick work to get past them and back-stick the ball into the net. At 3-1 we were on our way back.

Possibly the turning point in the game was a few minutes later, when North’s broke away, creating a 4 on 1 with our goalie. North’s never knew what hit them as the ball carrier was GOALINATED at the very top of the circle, the ball rebounding to our defence and the attacker left sprawled over the ground.

A few moments after that, the Goalinator was seen planking, to stop yet another North’s short corner. The team lifted. Everyone was running harder, tackling stronger and making a second effort.

After some good lead up work and pressure in attack, Will made a shot that took us to 3-2. North’s came back, but our defence channelled their attack, so when the North’s inner ran again, The Goalinator was able to slide, knowing that the passing options were covered. He took the ball and left the attacker flattened, With 5 minutes to go, Will had yet another run and was able to back-stick the ball past the keeper, to tie things up at 3-3.

North’s again kept coming and had 2 short corners after full time. These were well defended and resulted in the match being drawn.

Coach Gareth was happy with the team’s performance, particularly the second half. It was snakes all round as a popular post match treat of choice. Congratulations to the whole squad for making the semi-final against Commercial. There will be no time for sleeping through the first half next week.

Ross Vile

U13 v Kedron Wavell (won on forfeit)

Saturday sleep in – Yay!