Mount Colah Football Club

Round 13, 30 July 2011 - U13A v St Ives

What a great day for a game of soccer. Bright sun, no wind, and a ground with only a few soft patches (although one corner was a puddle after all the rain of the past few weeks). The Division has been re-graded into A, B and C sections and we are now matched up against St Ives B, Kissing Point B, and West Pymble A for the next 3 games. Today was St Ives, at Kent Oval. We were down 2 players; Bonnie away for the day, and Cam K out for the rest of the season after fracturing his wrist at baseball.

We kicked off, and were immediately under pressure from St Ives who camped in our half for most of the first 8 minutes. Matt had to pull off a couple of saves, and it seemed as though our guys were sleep-walking. At around 9 minutes the team woke up. Zac sent Nikki towards goal and it was a close-run thing, but the St Ives keeper covered well. From the resulting clearance one of our players sent in a high ball towards Nikki who controlled it, turned and ran at the keeper, beating him with a nice touch from the outside of his right foot. 1-0. Nikki had a long-range shot about a minute later, and Cam N put a through ball to Ayns, whose delicate chip shot beat the keeper but just cleared the bar. Midway through the half we forced a corner and in the goalmouth scramble, Georgina was in the right place at the right time... just off the post. A few minutes later Zac was marauding again. He got within 10 metres of goal and was just steadying to shoot when a St Ives defender hared into view and kept him busy for just long enough to prevent the shot. Great cover. Heading up to the 20 minute mark we mounted some more pressure. Cam N had a long-range shot, Ayns put in a beautiful cross that was scrambled to safety, and finally Ayns set Sam B up for a shot that found the top right of the net. Shortly after that Cam N shaved the outside of the upright, and then the momentum swung back to St Ives. Within the space of 2 minutes Matt had to come out to smother an attack, a St Ives player in a scoring position was called offside, and then Matt hung on to a great save above his head and just inside the right post. The arm wrestle continued until just before half time when a pass from Josh put Zac into the open. This time there was no stopping him, as he found the left side of the net for a 3-0 lead.

It looks like Rob's drilling on defence is paying off. Whenever St Ives broke through there were usually two or three Mt Colah players running back to cover, but they didn't all chase the ball player; they were moving into space to form a second and third line should the first player be beaten, and cover any attackers coming through. Greg, Samuel H, Nick and Lachlan did the bulk of the defensive work today with the midfield dropping back to provide reinforcements, and they defused just about every attack before St Ives could get a shot away.

So far so good, but last time we played St Ives they almost mowed down a 3-goal deficit so there was no relaxing for the second half. This time our players exploded out of the blocks. Maybe we need to pretend that it's always the second half? Two minutes in Sam B and Zac played the ball through to Ayns, who hit the post again. Three for the day! Except this one went in... At the 5 minute mark we were just outside the penalty area when the whistle blew for hand ball. Zac didn't hear it and scored - disallowed. No matter. He took the free kick and curled a beauty over the wall, into the top left corner. St Ives responded immediately with an attack of their own, and Samuel H made a great covering run, pushing the ball out for a corner. He was there again to clear the corner, running the ball out to half way, but St Ives came back again and we only finally cleared the ball from a free kick. Nine minutes in Nikki got another opportunity, and scored his second for the day. Shortly afterward Sam B passed to Ayns who had some work to do before a close-range finish made it 7-0.

It wasn't over yet. St Ives was on the warpath again, and another foray down the left was cut off by Georgia who had moved into defence. Our turn again, and a sequence of play involving Sam B, Nikki and Zac ended with a good save from the St Ives keeper. A minute or so later Zac took another shot across the goalmouth. It rebounded off the post, Ayns swooped, and unfortunately copped one in the ankle from a defender. Nothing wrong with the tackle itself but Ayns came off for a few minutes to recover. Then a St Ives player went down in mid-pitch. He'd gone for a ball and clashed heads with a Mt Colah player, who was completely unaffected, but play was stopped for a minute or so to let him find his feet again. At the 20 minute mark it looked like Zac had put us up 8-0 but the flag went up for offside.

The final 10 minutes were entertaining and evenly matched. Both teams wanted to score, but the defence was having none of it. Matt had to put in a couple of scrambling saves. The most dangerous moment came when he lost control of the ball, but one of our defenders (I think it was Nick), cleared the ball to safety. Another moment involved an entertaining, and apparently nonchalant, one-handed juggle as he ran out to clear another ball downfield. The final minute or so found St Ives on the attack again, but offside at the crucial moment. And so it finished 7-0, and our guys came off feeling very pleased with themselves. They are getting much better at keeping the momentum going; we just need to work out what to do about the first 10 minutes.

In a match where everyone played well, individually and as a team, the gongs this week went to Nick for his defensive work and to Josh, who lurked with intent and was involved in the buildup to several of the goals. The next 2 weeks will be interesting. West Pymble and Kissing Point played out a 1-1 draw in the other game, so we are now 2 points clear but with two tough matches coming up. If we can hold it together a premiership beckons.

Denis (Manager)