Round 13 as it happened …..
With Larpent out of action this week due to the deluge last Sunday, we found ourselves at our home away from home – Lum Road. As a ground it is certainly better than the high school pitch, but it lacks the atmosphere of the packed stands of Larpent. However, we did get the opportunity to get our weekly paint sniffing fix as the line-marking team sprung into action, marking lines in every direction. So with nets attached, flags in place and lines brighter than a thousand suns, the footballing gods smiled and proudly proclaimed “Let the games begin”.
Reserves
Glen Waverley (0) 0 v 5 (3) East Bentleigh
It is normal for the odd away match to suffer from late arrivals as stragglers make their way to far off lands on the other side of the city. We didn’t expect it at home, even though we were at Wheelers Hill. Even the referee couldn’t make it on time (he was two hours late!). But anyway, we did have enough by kick-off time and with grateful thanks to Bill the reserves match got under way. Only thing was, someone forgot to mention it to the reserves. Although the lads had early pressure they allowed the visitors to grab the initiative midway through the first half. They were punished with three goals in quick succession, all avoidable as all came from lapses in concentration. However the reserves did pick up their game and with a pacy midfield gave East Bentleigh something to think about. First Matthew Soon saw his header spectacularly saved low down by the keeper and then Alex Martin’s left foot thunderbolt again drew a good save form the visitor’s number 1.
The second half saw the Glen Waverley boys take some sort of control. Pushing on, they had chance after chance but as is the norm these days, couldn’t find the finishing touch. East Bentleigh were forced back but playing on the break, managed a couple more to finish well on top on the score sheet. For their efforts the reserves had a free-kick from Robbie clatter into the cross bar, and a second free-kick drew an outstanding save from the visitors keeper. The score would suggest a different story, but it would unfair to say the reserves were outplayed. On another day, who knows? The lads are still playing well enough to mix it with the best. The young players – Yureshan, Kenneth and Alex – continue to improve week after week and are finding the experience invaluable.
Sir Alex left early this week and so missed the press conference. It was left to skipper Al to give his view on the game “We struggled at the back against mobile forwards, but we still took it to them. How good are the young guys? And by the way, whose dog was that? It was getting annoying.” At this point we were unsure whether we had watched a football match or a qualifying round for Crufts.
Seniors
Glen Waverley (0) 0 v 2 (2) East Bentleigh
Now we get on to the second event of the day. East Bentleigh came looking for revenge for the 0-2 reversal on their home ground, but the Glen Waverley lads were primed for action. It was clear from the start that the visitors were keen to take the game to Glen Waverley with early shots testing out our triallist keeper. They took control of the middle of the park and thats the way it stayed for most of the first half. As the home side huffed and puffed it was clear the East Bentleigh midfield were just a little too quick. Things for the home side were not helped as Peter Kelly came off midway through the first half with an ankle injury. Dean making an early appearance, however added an impetus down the left hand side of midfield. His pace worried the East Bentleigh fullback. The home side though, could not really make any inroads into the stout defense of East Bentleigh and struggled to create any meaningful chances.
With Steve missing again this week it was left to Billy Blanc to offer some inspirational words at halftime. This seemed to work as the home side took complete control in the second half. Playing with the wind and downhill it was basically one way traffic.
Pressure mounted on the visitors with Dean, Hayden and Micky V all going close. However as things were starting to look up, the curse struck again with Nanos becoming another casualty, suffering a back injury. Extensive treatment on the sidelines from Dr Frantzis was not enough to get Michael back on his feet so the decision was taken to replace him. Theos took his opportunity and got into the game straight away. An early chance went wide. Now this was round 13 and the unlucky number struck for the third time of the day, this time Alex limped off clutching his already dodgy hammy. As players limped off, Anouk played through the final 15 minutes with cramp and his performance on the day was one of the highlights.
Whilst the lads ran the second half and were still in with a chance of salvaging something from the game, there was some passion missing and no real sense of urgency. We suppose it was just one of those days. So put it away and look forward to next weekend.
Bill was pleased with the second half but commented on the lack of pace in the midfield. “Overall, though we had chances.” He said. “Some players were flat today, but we’ll learn and move on.”
A bit of a flat weekend, in the unfamiliar surroundings, but hopefully we’ll be back at our spiritual home of Larpent in a fortnight. (weather permitting). In between we’ve got a lovely away trip to the delights of Reservoir. So let’s pick ourselves up, remind ourselves of who we play for and make the long trip west all worthwhile.