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“THE
DEN” – Match Report |
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Game 14 Harbord Seasiders
Utd |
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First Grade – Harbord Hoodoo Lifted Score: 2-0 Goal Scorer(s):
Nick Sheather ’15, Joerg Direkes
’65 Match Report: Harbord
inflicted a heavy loss on the Tigers in the first round and the boys were
keen to make amends in the return leg at With our two regular keepers unavailable, we approached the
game with some uncertainty, but our outfield formation remained the same
after serving us well in previous weeks. Rumours spread that Nick Dillenbeck was a handy gloveman so he borrowed some mitts
of Benny after a two year absence between the sticks. After a solid workout
at training we were confident he could do the job and with his height, we
weren’t going to be troubled in the air. Fortunately our defence did an outstanding job and was rock
solid as usual with Birdy and Robbie having little
trouble with the Harbord strikers. This was helped by the fact that our
midfield was controlling play and winning plenty of possession with John
O’Leary and Adam Townsend playing well. Tim Sheather also had a quiet
day in defence which meant the play was generally down the Harbord end. Dill
was never really tested in goals by the Harbord attack and handled everything
that came his way. The first half was fairly uneventful but an early goal to Nick
Sheather made for a promising start. After beating the offside trap, he cut
inside to out manoeuvre the covering defender then finished well after
shooting with his left from close range. Some good interplay down the left
hand side saw Ash make a telling run down the left flank, crossing the ball
low and hard in Joerg’s direction but a
slight deflection from an outstretched defender was all it took to disrupt
the play. Joerg tried to return the favour after
beating his man on the right by-line but his cross to Ash was also
intercepted. The Tigers were playing well but weren’t creating any
clear-cut chances and went into the break 1-0 up. At the break we were wary of a Diggers comeback as the
first round saw us lead by the same margin at half-time but put in a
disastrous second half to lose 3-1. This wasn’t going to happen again
but nerves were on edge. Luckily the Diggers had only one real chance to
equalise when one of their attackers was given too much room and dribbled
into the penalty box unchallenged, but fortunately scuffed his shot wide of
the post. Midway through the second half Joerg
popped up at the far post and in his usual fashion, calmly slotted the ball
into the opposite corner for a 2-0 lead. We had several good chances in the
dying stages to finish them off with Nick Sheather going close off a Dave
Sutherland corner. Sutho and Joerg
both had great opportunities in the dying minutes to put the result beyond
doubt but had trouble finishing. A solid result for First Grade without being spectacular
but we’ll have to raise the bar a notch when we meet Brookvale in the
top of the table clash this weekend. Especially without the likes of Nick
Rainey, who will be relaxing in a spa somewhere in the Man of the Match: Open to suggestions? Reserve Grade – First Taste of Defeat Score: 0-1 Goal Scorer(s): None Match Report: Unfortunately
Reserve Grade suffered their first defeat of the season to lowly Diggers on
the weekend. Whilst creating plenty of chances we were unable to put the ball
into the back of the net. Relentless pressure on the Diggers defence in the
final stages after they were reduced to ten men didn’t produce a goal
and the Tiger’s luck of the previous weeks finally ran out. We rarely threatened in the first period and struggled to
retain possession and get control of the ball. We worked hard to win
possession but needlessly gave it away with some awful and inaccurate passing
and even worse ball control. The Diggers big men in the middle of the park
were dominating in the air and we couldn’t get into the game without
possession in midfield. Our game is to use the outside halves and play ball
to feet but we were playing a lot of balls in the air to the Digger’s
strengths. As a consequence our forwards weren’t in the game and were
starved of possession and any real chances. Organisation and communication was non existent early on,
which seems to be a nasty habit we’re falling into. We’ve had a
lot of problems starting games this year and our communication in general is
poor early on. Pre-game preparation is extremely quiet and not much is said
before the game which carries onto the field with communication lacking. The
simple fact is that if you don’t talk, you cannot possibly know what to
do on the field and the same goes for your team mates. Lack of talking is
highlighted at training and prior to games and it’s time we start doing
it if we want to improve and progress as individuals and as a team. We gave away a penalty midway through the first period with
a sloppy tackle, against a Digger’s forward, that looked like he
couldn’t run out of sight on a dark night. Fortunately Dill made a
superb save to his left and parried the penalty out for a corner.
Unfortunately Diggers scored of the resulting corner when some poor marking
in the 6 yard box left an opponent with an easy tap in. Our leading goal scorer, Dwayne Beazley, made a long
awaited return in the second half but couldn’t get any clear cut
chances as the Diggers stacked their defence. This was made even worse when
Diggers were reduced to ten men as they sat back in numbers and crowded the
penalty box. We played right into their hands by pushing men into the same
area which gave us no room to manoeuvre. Instead we should have kept our
shape and width to draw players out of the danger zone and played wide to
feet. It’s even more important to play with width against a
team with fewer men in order to open up the game and create space to make
runs into. Unfortunately, all we did was pump long balls into the area which
played into the hands of the Digger’s tall men. Hopefully we can all
learn from this and become better players by playing smarter next time if in
the same situation. Patience is the key! I’m sure all the boys are disappointed after the
loss, but it probably comes at a good time with some crucial games ahead.
Hopefully this will be the kick in the pants we need to get things going
again. Man of the Match: Nick Dillenbeck |
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