| Glen Waverley Soccer Club - Mens Seniors & Reserves |
Round 16 | 31.7.10
| Match Rating
Seniors Reserves
|
Venue: Larpent Reserve
Pitch: Soft but playable (thanks to efforts of junior club
committee/council)
Weather: A surprisingly mild mid-winters day (no rain, thankfully)
Canteen: Brilliant and friendly as always (latecomers for burgers were
disappointed though)
Crowd: Not big enough to worry an agoraphobic
G'day folks. Hope you are enjoying the weekend wherever you are around the
globe. A big hello to all our international followers, as we try to keep you
updated with all things football in our little neck of the woods.
After the hard fought victories by both teams last week in trying
conditions, we were back on familiar territory - Larpent reserve, looking to
repeat the performances. The ground has seen better days, but the efforts of
the junior club committee and council were rewarded with a playable, albeit
soft, pitch. So well done to all concerned and thanks for their assistance.
Did it help the boys? Reading on you'll get the details, but as the results
indicate it's proving to be a less than happy hunting ground on our home
pitch. Maybe someone forgot to wear their lucky red underpants, or maybe put
their right boot on before their left, or maybe we were just crap and didn't
deserve to win. Is that how it was? Nah, I don't think so. Putting in 100%
performances from everyone, every week is not easy, but reading on we'll see
they did at least try. See for yourselves ....
Reserves
The reserves squad this week had a few forced changes and drew on the
resources of the junior club by drafting in some of the young and talented
Under 18's. Avish, Erick and Alex were all given their chance to experience
senior football and they let no-one down with their efforts. Hoppy had
succumbed to the "lurgi", Muzz was promoted to the seniors and a few of the
other boys were away doing whatever it is when they are away. The line-up
was Steve S in goal, Tony G, Dan and Pete S in the backline. The midfield
had Yure and Sam out wide with Lloyd, Stevie W (back at last) and Prashan in
the middle. Ozzie was joined by Theo up front.
On paper, and realistically, this was a game that had three points written
all over it. Trouble is, it was the visitors who did a "smash'n'grab" and
snuck off back to Bill Bailey Reserve with the win. Many of us are still
scratching our heads wondering how they managed it. From the first whistle,
the Glen Waverley boys controlled the match. the game was played almost
exclusively in the East Bentleigh half. Dan, Tony and Peter were basically
defending on the half way line such was the dominance of the home team. We
can see from our notes that chances fell on a regular basis with first
Stevie Wong shooting wide then Ozzie had a shot saved. However it only took
until the 14th minute before Ozzie grabbed the opening goal. He was the
finisher on what was probably the best move of the game. Prashan won the
ball in the middle and with a defence splitting pass sent Sam down the left.
Sam then sent in a delicious left-footed cross. (Yes I did say left-footed.
We're still wondering too.) Ozzie rose highest and headed home, to get the
lads on the score sheet.
Unbelievably the Waverley boys could not find the back of the net again.
Chance after chance went begging and as is the way, East Bentleigh
capitalised on their only attack. A ball down the left, a cross, a weak
clearance and their forward couldn't believe his luck as he took their only
chance. The two words that immediately spring to mind are "jammy" and
"twats". Stunned, the Glen Waverley boys carried on piling the pressure on
East Bentleigh. Theo was unlucky to be called offside after scoring what
everyone thought was a perfectly good goal. Sam and Prashan were also denied
by last ditch defending and good goalkeeping.
The visitors could consider themselves lucky to be still level at halftime,
so would have expected more of the same in the second half. The local lads
made some changes, bringing on Avish and Erick to provide fresh and youthful
legs. East Bentleigh were happy to concede free-kicks throughout, but whilst
Dan put in some exquisite crosses into the box, no-one could quite get the
contact or timing right to trouble the keeper. Eventually all the wasted
chances proved costly as East Bentleigh pinched their second goal mid-way
through the second half. There was a hint of offside, but the goal stood. No
matter how much pressure the Glen Waverley boys exerted, the visitors rode
their luck and stood firm til the end.
That's how it ended - 2-1 to East Bentleigh and good luck to them. The Glen
Waverley boys didn't do anything wrong on the day except score more goals. A
lot of excellent performances, not least from the U18 boys who stepped up
magnificently and gives us a lot of promise for the future. From the
regulars, Stevie Wong can be proud of his efforts on his return and Dan
played through the pain barrier to give a commanding performance at the
back. Unlucky boys, you'll play a lot worse in some games and win. Roll on
next week when we face the challenge of WS Dandenong. Now how were the
burgers looking? They smelt good.
Seniors
With the disappointment of the reserves result hanging like a raincloud, the
senior boys were hoping to keep their mid-season revival going and getting
some life back into the afternoon.
Before the lads took to the pitch, they joined in the congratulations for
Kon and Dean as they were rewarded with milestone medals for reaching 50 and
250 games respectively. In Dean's case, this is a tremendous achievement and
he's shown a lot of character, especially this season as he's fought hard
for his spot in the seniors. As for Kon, it seems like he's only been around
for 5 minutes, but already he's racked up 50 games for the club and we thank
him for his contribution.
As for the team news, Garry was a late withdrawal due to family reasons, but
Murray was called up for his first start in the seniors. The rest of the
team had a familiar look. On the bench, Met returned from injury and was
joined by Tony G and Prashan. All looked good, and again, this was a game
which the boys were looking to get the three points and put more distance
between themselves and the drop zone. East Bentleigh had other ideas though
and from the start their intentions were clear. They were looking for the
draw, but hoping to grab anything that came their way.
The first half was, to all intents and purposes, a non-event. The local boys
passing game was basically neutralised by the soft and sticky pitch. The
visitors were content to soak up whatever pressure came their way. East
Bentleigh started the brighter though and pressed enough to earn two early
corners. As the home side gradually got going Micky P got free but fired his
shot wide. Dean also had a snap shot after being released by a through ball
from Kon. His shot was well saved by the keeper. The game descended into a
midfield dog-fight with no real chances being created. So with neither side
claiming the upper hand, they went into half-time locked at 0-0. Exciting?
Not really, but we were only watching. The players were putting in the
effort, but nothing was really coming off.
The game resumed and pretty much followed the same pattern as the first.
East Bentleigh had the first real chance of the game, with a low shot from
the right which narrowly missed the far upright. The early warning shot
served as a wake-up call and Kon found enough space to unleash a shot. As
per usual, on the day, it wasn't enough to trouble the keeper. Next to try
his luck was Micky P, after a mazy run down the left, his shot couldn't find
the target. Petey also had a shot saved, on the 22 minute mark, and the
local boys were starting to get the upper hand. So would they manage to
conjure up a goal from somewhere? The answer was yes and no. Yes, there was
goal, but no, it wasn't the Waverley boys who scored.
East Bentleigh who'd only just been in the game, capitalised on a rare
keeping error from the ever-reliable Alistair. Helped by one of the three
blind mice, pretending to be referee's, East Bentleigh were awarded (gifted
would be more appropriate) a free kick about 25 metres out on the right. The
ball was floated in and Alistair elected to punch the ball. Getting under
the ball he only managed to send it straight up and East Bentleigh pounced
and scrambled the ball home to grab a rather fortunate lead. As it would
prove this was to be the only goal of the game.
Some late pressure from the Waverley boys couldn't get them back in the
game. A dubious offside stopped one promising attack, but that pretty much
summed up the day. East Bentleigh took off with the three points. They could
hardly believe their luck as the best they would have hoped for from the day
would have been 2 draws.
On the day, we just didn't create enough going forward, and the midfield
didn't quite fire on all cylinders. Murray can hold his head up after
stepping up for his first senior game. Justin and Julian both had solid
games too as did most of the others. Tony G and Prashan, both coming on late
tried to make something happen, but it wasn't to be. You get days like this,
but the seniors don't have too long to wait to put things right. The midweek
catch-up game against Keysborough should give them the opportunity to get
back to winning ways.
See you all then, and look forward to the midweek report, as we bring you
all the details of the action as it happened.
