Mount Colah Football Club

Saddle up with the Colts

U8 Vipers 2010

Mt Colah U8 Vipers V Kissing Point White Wolves 6th August

The long stretch of consecutive victories was ended in a good game against Kissing Point this week. The vipers played some good football today, but also learnt that it can be tough when you come up against a big, strong and fast team.

Nick got us off to a cracking start with what I think may have been our best goal of the year. Dylan hit a pinpoint pass out to Ben on the wing who dribbled forward drawing the defender before passing a great cross to Nick in the middle. Nick controlled the ball (just like at training) and banged home a good goal to go up 1-0. A bit later Nick tried a powerful cross of his own from the right side which clipped a defender and flew past the keeper. This was enough to win Nick the player of the game.

The defenders had a tough day as KP kept a small and quick fella right up front behind our defenders all day. (Some may say offside but we don’t get to that for another year or so). KP also had a very big guy with a very strong kick up front. Archie, Dylan, Harold and Jesse did a good job keeping them to just 2 goals in the first half. Jesse move up front and had a couple of good shots from out wide just miss the goals. (He is going to shoot from a bit closer next week!). Jeremy tried to play every position and ran hard all day. At 2-2 I thought we were in for a chance to take this game.

Harold and Luke did their best in goals this week but did find it tough going. The KP team held their positions very well and were often quicker to the ball than we were. This made it tough to get out from our own end and put us under continual pressure. The coach realised his mistake in not spending a little more training time on keeping skills. (We will do this more in the last weeks of the season).

The second half was a battle and we held on strong before a couple of late goals saw us fall a little behind. The goals were all good ones and showed some top skill from the other team. The last was a trap, turn and shoot all in one motion and off one step. Against a better standard team the need to hold our positions become very clear. We had our attackers sucked back to help the defenders (Ben, Jesse and Jeremy) - which in turn meant we were short manned up front when the chances came.

This was a really good learning game for us – and I am sure we will be a better team next week as a result.

Mt Colah Vipers V St Ives Galaxy 30th July

Another game and another win over the Galaxy. This was a good test of how the season has gone for the vipers. We played the Galaxy in week 1 of the comp and had a 2-2 draw. We then played them 2 weeks ago and got up with a 1-0 win. The roster had us listed to play them for a third time this week, and we got up again with a solid 2-1 win.

This team has given us a hard game all three times and are really good competition for the Vipers. The boys switched on from last week and played like the team we know they can be. Everyone played well right across the park from keeper to striker. Dylan has had 3-4 great games in a row and won man of the match for some really athletic running, hard tackling and some great dribbling runs up the field – at the end of which he always looked for a pass.

Jeremy scored the first goal with a really powerful shot, and Nick as ever was on the spot to bang home the second goal. The defence was really solid and kept the job of the keepers pretty easy. One thing to work on for next week is when the ball does get into our goal box we seemed to be a little gentle at times in getting a clearance.

The real test comes this coming week with a game against Kissing Point – the team delivered one of our two losses this year. Last time was a strange 6-0 loss where the whole team seemed to be lost and confused. I think this time around it will be a different story and am confident we can improve greatly on the last time we played this team.

Mt Colah Vipers V St Ives Galaxy 16th July

This is the last time the boys are allowed to take a school holiday, as when they took to the field they thought they were still lazing by a beach, playing a computer game or watching Scooby Doo.

Having lost Archie to Fiji Fun, we were glad to get Jeremy back from Bali. It seems the holidays of the Mt Colah Vipers is an indication that the GFC has ended – although I am still trying to trying to work out why I could only make it to Mudgee!

For much of this game I felt like we had gone back to playing u7’s, with a pack of players chasing the ball, and getting left confused with right and front mixed up with back. It also seemed like the boys had started their own side completion to see who could shoot furthest from goal and kick the ball the hardest. Jesse took a shot from the left sideline, Dylan and Jeremy took a couple of halfway cracks and Ben's radar seemed to have been tampered with. This left Nick up front watching the ball fly past in the air, but never arrive at his feet via a pass.

Looking for positives – the keepers did a good job and kept the ball out of the net. It was good to have Luke back for the first time in a few weeks, and Jeremy took over in the second half. I did have to remind both keepers as to why they were wearing gloves, and that is that they were allowed to use them to catch the ball.

The best part is that despite not having our best game, some strong defence in the back, and a great man of the match performance from Harold who held his position all game kept the ball out of our net. One promising attack saw the ball bounce clear to Jeremy’s right foot and he smashed home a high shot that left the opposition keeper catching air. A 1-0 win was a good result from a game where we were well below our best. Now that the holiday cobwebs are gone I am really looking forward to getting back to our best form for the remaining 4 games, and am looking forward to a great performance at Gala Day.

Coach Grumpy

Game 12, 2 July 2011 - Mt Colah U8 Vipers V St Ives Galaxy

Early morning withdrawals from Archie (enjoy your holiday) and Luke (get well soon), and with Jeremy still on holidays meant that we were going into the game 2 players short of fielding a team! Kate came to the rescue and made some calls that saw Georgie and Matilda help us out. Dustyn also suited up with a big smile to join the big boys.

Nick took first turn in goal and proved he really is a good goal keeper (after a few tough turns in goal earlier this year). Nick did a good job with some top stops, and quick throw outs to wings. With many team changes we kept our back line solid and familiar with Jesse, Harold and Dylan and gave Ben the lone job up front with help from Dustyn and Georgie. We never really looked like conceding, but also were not looking like scoring for much of the first half. Dustyn almost snuck a sneaky one home but the keeper fell on the ball just in time.

For the third week in a row Dylan was the ‘everywhere’ man. Not only was he always back in his right back position when required he was also first to the ball in midfield, tackled hard and put some good passes forward to Ben. Dylan even tried to make it rain with one sky rocket clearance that came down on his own head, and he headed it back up t to the sky where it came from.

St Ives scored a goal from a loose ball at the back that bounced around before being whacked home. Not long later Ben got a good bounce and the ball sat up for his right foot special into the net. That took us to half time at 1-1.
I had a theory at half time that we needed our best and biggest guys in the field, and that St Ives did not have the strike power to score more than 1-2 goals in the second half, and if we got a full squad into the action we had maybe 2-3 goals in us. So the gloves were thrown at Dustyn for his first ever time on goals. Nick, Jesse and Ben stayed up front, with Dylan and Harold and Matilda to cover the back and protect the little guy in goals.

The coach did question his theory when after 60 seconds St Ives got a run away and good strike to leave Dustyn diving the wrong way. 2-1. But as we predicted it was the only goal St Ives could muster. Jesse came back to help his brother and took a goal kick that sailed over half way and was stopped well by Ben. Two touches to the right and Ben cracked home his second to even things up. Great wide work form Nick and Jesse drew the defence wide, and good passed back to Ben in the middle saw him score his 3rd and 4th goals. Four goals was enough to win Ben the man of the match award, but it could have gone to any of the other players as it was a big team effort to create each of Ben’s chances.

Harold deserves a special mention for hard tackling at the back and one particular last man slide tackle that put the ball out. If Harold had missed that tackle Dustyn would have been stranded with an 8yr old charging in on a 5yr old keep. Great stuff Harold. Dustyn did pull of a fantastic one handed out stretched save, that’s bounced back towards the post and he then dived on it to save a certain goal. (If only they had keepers in u7’s he would be a natural). A massive thanks to our helpers Georgie and Matilda who did a good job and got some great forward momentum for the team. Things are certainly going to get tougher form here as with all these wins we will no doubt be grade a bit higher down the track.

Game 11, 25 June 2011 - Vipers v Bannockburn

Hit hard by holidays and illness we turned up for this game 1 player short (Only just resisting having Dustyn pull on a jersey). The coach of the opposition kindly offered up one of his players to balance things up - but we were confident we had a plan to win.

Archie, Dylan and Ben proved again to be a super backline and continually sent any attacking raids back the other way. Archie was always in position at centre back but somehow snuck forward at the right times to put away three great goals - a deserving effort that won man of the match. Dylan played ‘out of his skin’ and made up for all the running we lost with Jeremy being away. Dylan made some great tackles, but most importantly showed a new calmness and patience when he had the ball, and found some great passes as a result. Dylan did not want to be out of the goal scoring action and shot a cracker from a metre his own side of halfway leaving the keeper still wondering how an 8 yr old can kick that far and accurately.

Up front Nick and Jesse had a tough job with just 2 of them doing the job of 3. They both a did a great job by not rushing things when the ball came forward but taking time to go wide , and then look up to decide whether to beat their man or pass to the backs who were great in support. Both Nick and Jesse scored good goals as a result of controlled lead up play.

Harold and Ben both did great job in goals and at right back, with both getting some good saves and clearances. Harolds tough tacking stopped anyone coming down his side of the field. Dylan did think he was goal keeper on one occasion and made a great save in the box, which is odd as when Dylan is keeper he forgets to use his hands!!! On investigation it appears that there really is no rule called the ‘unobstructed free kick’ - although it should correctly have been given as a penalty shot.

In a game that was 6 Players V 7 Players we did a great job. Most impressive is how calm all the team were at making good decisions. The proof is that the coach on the other team said after the game ‘it was good that all your players turned up’ – not having realised we played the entire game one player short.

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