| Glen Waverley Soccer Club - Mens Seniors & Reserves |
Round 9 | 5.6.10
| Game Rating
Seniors
Reserves
|
Reserves
Trying to steady the ship after the upheaval of losing their coach last
week, the reserves players were looking to recapture some of the early
season mojo. To help this week, Stevie Wong and Prashan were given some time
in the ressies, replacing the promoted Dean and Tony G who'd gone to (f#@k
off) Sydney for the weekend. Peter Kav was back after injury completing the
otherwise wholly recognisable squad.
Playing for the first time competitively under lights and on an artificial
surface the lads took a while to come to terms with the conditions. It must
be fantastic for the home club to have this luxury to play on and train on,
week in week out, and will obviously give them a benefit as teams get used
to the novelty surface. No excuses though, just wish we had the same, along
with a forward thinking council. Digressing a bit, sorry.
As for the game, the lads settled back into the normal set-up with Dan at
sweeper, flanked by the ever dependable Pete S and the fast improving Kon.
They were stretched for most of the half though, as Eltham pushed on using
the fairly narrow width. They spread the ball out wide at every opportunity
and effectively. Prashan on the right and Sean on the left were tested all
evening and it's not often we see Prashan coming off second best. His player
was lightening quick and as he proved, managed to grab the opening goal
midway through the half. This was the only goal of the half, although both
sides had good opportunities to get the scoreboard ticking over.
Up front Ozzie and Peter Kav fed off scraps as the midfield - Theo, Muzz and
Stevie W - struggled to find a way through the "Land of the Giants". Not
sure what they feed them on up in Eltham but, we could do with some. Ozzie
was unlucky with one chance that went narrowly wide, but Theo brought the
best out of the home side keeper, as he saw his snap shot brilliantly saved.
Steve Samelis, bounced back after last week's ordinary showing and kept his
team in the game with some super saves low down, when one on one with the
Eltham forwards. Slippy ball, skiddy surface and big lads in the opposition
meant Steve had to be on his mettle. A great come-back this week.
El Presidente was given the honour of being the coach for the day. Many who
saw the forlorn figure on the far side of the pitch though would probably
have called him the "Wally with the brolly". So first major decision was
Lloydy on for Kon. Lloydy was playing his 50th game for the club and his Dad
was here to watch so, on he went. Tactically wrong, but nice for the folks.
Seriously though, Lloyd did give us a bit more attacking impetus in the
middle and for most of the second half, the game was played exclusively in
the Eltham half. First Kav, then Ozzie again had clear chances. Against the
run of play however Eltham managed to grab a second, their players
celebrating in amongst the loud claims for a fairly obvious handball. No
ref, so local bloke doing it. Tough call, but there we are.
This did get the lads fired up and the last 20 minutes or so, they piled on
the pressure. Yure was on for the injured Kav and he hit a first time shot
into the side net. Then Bill G finding himself up front won a ball, which
was then played through to Ozzie who slipped it under the advancing keeper.
This fired up the "GeeDubs" even more and it was a relieved Eltham who were
glad to hear the final whistle.
No disgrace in the score. Eltham were a good side who played to their
strengths, but on another day (hopefully dry!), the score could have been a
little different. Well done lads on a good bounce back and great to see
everyone with a smile on their faces. Now we drip dried and tried to find
somewhere less squelchy to watch the senior boys do their stuff. As it
happens, the rain stopped. Ah well.
week, the reserves players were looking to recapture some of the early
season mojo. To help this week, Stevie Wong and Prashan were given some time
in the ressies, replacing the promoted Dean and Tony G who'd gone to (f#@k
off) Sydney for the weekend. Peter Kav was back after injury completing the
otherwise wholly recognisable squad.
Playing for the first time competitively under lights and on an artificial
surface the lads took a while to come to terms with the conditions. It must
be fantastic for the home club to have this luxury to play on and train on,
week in week out, and will obviously give them a benefit as teams get used
to the novelty surface. No excuses though, just wish we had the same, along
with a forward thinking council. Digressing a bit, sorry.
As for the game, the lads settled back into the normal set-up with Dan at
sweeper, flanked by the ever dependable Pete S and the fast improving Kon.
They were stretched for most of the half though, as Eltham pushed on using
the fairly narrow width. They spread the ball out wide at every opportunity
and effectively. Prashan on the right and Sean on the left were tested all
evening and it's not often we see Prashan coming off second best. His player
was lightening quick and as he proved, managed to grab the opening goal
midway through the half. This was the only goal of the half, although both
sides had good opportunities to get the scoreboard ticking over.
Up front Ozzie and Peter Kav fed off scraps as the midfield - Theo, Muzz and
Stevie W - struggled to find a way through the "Land of the Giants". Not
sure what they feed them on up in Eltham but, we could do with some. Ozzie
was unlucky with one chance that went narrowly wide, but Theo brought the
best out of the home side keeper, as he saw his snap shot brilliantly saved.
Steve Samelis, bounced back after last week's ordinary showing and kept his
team in the game with some super saves low down, when one on one with the
Eltham forwards. Slippy ball, skiddy surface and big lads in the opposition
meant Steve had to be on his mettle. A great come-back this week.
El Presidente was given the honour of being the coach for the day. Many who
saw the forlorn figure on the far side of the pitch though would probably
have called him the "Wally with the brolly". So first major decision was
Lloydy on for Kon. Lloydy was playing his 50th game for the club and his Dad
was here to watch so, on he went. Tactically wrong, but nice for the folks.
Seriously though, Lloyd did give us a bit more attacking impetus in the
middle and for most of the second half, the game was played exclusively in
the Eltham half. First Kav, then Ozzie again had clear chances. Against the
run of play however Eltham managed to grab a second, their players
celebrating in amongst the loud claims for a fairly obvious handball. No
ref, so local bloke doing it. Tough call, but there we are.
This did get the lads fired up and the last 20 minutes or so, they piled on
the pressure. Yure was on for the injured Kav and he hit a first time shot
into the side net. Then Bill G finding himself up front won a ball, which
was then played through to Ozzie who slipped it under the advancing keeper.
This fired up the "GeeDubs" even more and it was a relieved Eltham who were
glad to hear the final whistle.
No disgrace in the score. Eltham were a good side who played to their
strengths, but on another day (hopefully dry!), the score could have been a
little different. Well done lads on a good bounce back and great to see
everyone with a smile on their faces. Now we drip dried and tried to find
somewhere less squelchy to watch the senior boys do their stuff. As it
happens, the rain stopped. Ah well.
Seniors
As it happened, someone took pity on the drenched masses and decided enough
was enough. The rain was definitely turned off. Both teams looked thankful
for the change in weather and took to the pitch hoping to put on a good
show.
The seniors had gone winless in three and were looking to get some momentum
back into their season. Paul changed a few things around positionally this
week and also gave a debut to new signing Mick Petridis. Dean was promoted
from the ressies, joining Kon D and Brian on the bench.
Like the reserves before them, the seniors faced some pretty lofty
opponents. As the game got underway, it was clear the locals were intent on
making sure it would be a tough and uncompromising encounter. The Waverley
boys were up for the challenge though and gave as good as they got.
Metin, Mick and Steve were giving the home defence plenty to think about,
although Steve's air swing almost tied his own nuts in a knot. The backline
was tight and Julian, Justin and Micky V were obviously enjoying the
bruising encounter. Hoppy, Johnny, Gaz and Pete all had a tough day at the
office and each of them were on the receiving end of robust challenges.
The first half was an even affair with both sides creating chances, although
the "GeeDubs" would probably be the more satisfied with their performance.
Eltham were clearly rattled and hadn't expected their visitors to be quite
so resilient. The second half started pretty much in the same vein, and the
visitors went on the attack. We had to wait until the 65 minute though for
the opening goal, and it was new boy, Mick who got his head to ball in the
box and looped a header into the top corner.
This seemed to kick-start the home side and they immediately struck back.
Within seconds of the restart, they broke quickly down the left. Their
winger sent a terrific cross to the back stick where the forward had easy
tap in to bring the scores level. They went from strength to strength and
got some impetus. A few minutes later, they burst into the box and Petey
brought down the attacker to concede a penalty. Al got a finger to the
well-struck kick, but couldn't repeat his heroics of the previous week.
With Brian, Dean and Kon D all on, nothing could be done to stem the tide as
Eltham grabbed a third and ultimately decisive goal. They were awarded a
free-kick on edge of box. A cracking free-kick got through the wall, but was
well saved by Al. Unfortunately Al couldn't keep the ball under control and
it spilled straight to the onrushing forward who again had an easy tap in
(mind you, he was offside when free-kick was taken - true, watch the DVD.)
So that's how it ended, 3-1 to the locals, but we did make the following
observation.
In a game where the free-kicks were even between the 2 sides how come we got
4 yellow cards on the day with only 1 to Eltham. We're not quite sure how
the ref decided on who was worthy of cards or not. In fact one of their
players was warned twice that he'd be off next time after one or two
transgressions, but was not shown a yellow. We're still scratching our heads
over that one. Only an observation mind you. Would a yellow card or 2 to the
locals have had an influence on the game? Maybe as some of the clean-outs
and studs up challenges should have been dealt with better than just a
finger wag. Again, only an observation. Fair play to Eltham, played hard and
got the result. Shame they've been given a beautiful pitch to play on, but
still feel the need to play the ball in the air a lot.
As for us, it's clear we still have some work to do, if we want to start
winning games. However we've played sides at either end of the league and
but for a few goal chances being taken, we could be sitting a little better
off than we are. No side has totally dominated us and there's still
everything to play for.
A week off next week to freshen up, re-charge the batteries, enjoy a World
Cup match or 2 and get ready to face St Trinians.
was enough. The rain was definitely turned off. Both teams looked thankful
for the change in weather and took to the pitch hoping to put on a good
show.
The seniors had gone winless in three and were looking to get some momentum
back into their season. Paul changed a few things around positionally this
week and also gave a debut to new signing Mick Petridis. Dean was promoted
from the ressies, joining Kon D and Brian on the bench.
Like the reserves before them, the seniors faced some pretty lofty
opponents. As the game got underway, it was clear the locals were intent on
making sure it would be a tough and uncompromising encounter. The Waverley
boys were up for the challenge though and gave as good as they got.
Metin, Mick and Steve were giving the home defence plenty to think about,
although Steve's air swing almost tied his own nuts in a knot. The backline
was tight and Julian, Justin and Micky V were obviously enjoying the
bruising encounter. Hoppy, Johnny, Gaz and Pete all had a tough day at the
office and each of them were on the receiving end of robust challenges.
The first half was an even affair with both sides creating chances, although
the "GeeDubs" would probably be the more satisfied with their performance.
Eltham were clearly rattled and hadn't expected their visitors to be quite
so resilient. The second half started pretty much in the same vein, and the
visitors went on the attack. We had to wait until the 65 minute though for
the opening goal, and it was new boy, Mick who got his head to ball in the
box and looped a header into the top corner.
This seemed to kick-start the home side and they immediately struck back.
Within seconds of the restart, they broke quickly down the left. Their
winger sent a terrific cross to the back stick where the forward had easy
tap in to bring the scores level. They went from strength to strength and
got some impetus. A few minutes later, they burst into the box and Petey
brought down the attacker to concede a penalty. Al got a finger to the
well-struck kick, but couldn't repeat his heroics of the previous week.
With Brian, Dean and Kon D all on, nothing could be done to stem the tide as
Eltham grabbed a third and ultimately decisive goal. They were awarded a
free-kick on edge of box. A cracking free-kick got through the wall, but was
well saved by Al. Unfortunately Al couldn't keep the ball under control and
it spilled straight to the onrushing forward who again had an easy tap in
(mind you, he was offside when free-kick was taken - true, watch the DVD.)
So that's how it ended, 3-1 to the locals, but we did make the following
observation.
In a game where the free-kicks were even between the 2 sides how come we got
4 yellow cards on the day with only 1 to Eltham. We're not quite sure how
the ref decided on who was worthy of cards or not. In fact one of their
players was warned twice that he'd be off next time after one or two
transgressions, but was not shown a yellow. We're still scratching our heads
over that one. Only an observation mind you. Would a yellow card or 2 to the
locals have had an influence on the game? Maybe as some of the clean-outs
and studs up challenges should have been dealt with better than just a
finger wag. Again, only an observation. Fair play to Eltham, played hard and
got the result. Shame they've been given a beautiful pitch to play on, but
still feel the need to play the ball in the air a lot.
As for us, it's clear we still have some work to do, if we want to start
winning games. However we've played sides at either end of the league and
but for a few goal chances being taken, we could be sitting a little better
off than we are. No side has totally dominated us and there's still
everything to play for.
A week off next week to freshen up, re-charge the batteries, enjoy a World
Cup match or 2 and get ready to face St Trinians.
