Match Reports 

Under 15s
Paul Nieuwenhuizen

We entered Sunday's game against Heidelberg aware of the task ahead of the team. The boys were reminded about the need to ensure we denied Heidelberg space to play and that nothing but 110% commitment was required.

The match started and we soon found ourselves 4-nil after 15 minutes due to a number of basic skill errors. The commitment we talked about before the game was no where to be seen.To the boys credited the next 20 minutes was a huge improvement with their work rate and commitment lifting to the necessary level.

At halftime, with the scoreline still at 4-0, the team recognised their errors and that they had not met the level needed.

The second half saw the team pick up were they finished the first half, working hard to support each other to deny Heidelberg space to play. Though we conceded another 3 goals, Heidelberg had to work a lot harder to score them.

The final 7-0 score reflected the difference between the two sides on the day. We play Heidelberg again this weekend and we will need to be ready to play from the start.

Under 16s
Tommy Giuliani

Our Suns 16s battled bravely on the weekend against Heidelberg, playing the last 25 minutes with no subs due to injury to 2 key players. It was another vastly improved performance, particularly in the first half where the boys played some nice football in the build up phases, showing patience, good decision making and keeping a nice shape.

When we lost possession our pressing to win the ball back was again tenacious and organised and we executed our game plan well. Heidelberg's goal was a really poor individual error but we didn't drop our heads and we scored an equaliser shortly after.

In the second half we conceded our goals in a quick cluster, we allowed our wide defenders to be isolated and didn't pick up players making late runs into the box to get onto low passes into feet. We can't switch off at all at NPL level. The boys just didn't shuffle and split the pitch in half as they know they should; we left spaces ....But we did lose a bit of shape at the back with the injuries being a holding mid and a centre back who were both playing very well.

We get to play these boys again, we have a top  quality striker coming back from suspension too, so let's see if we can hit them hard away from McEwen on Sunday.⚽️ 

Under 18s
Glen Wilson

During the week we, along with the 16’s, were very light on for numbers at training, which makes it hard to work on too much, so we continued focussing on pressuring the ball as a team.
 
On Sunday, I was blessed to have 10 bodies in the change rooms before the game – this enabled us to have some half decent pre-match discussions around how we were going to set-up and what we were hoping to achieve.  We were quietly confident of our chances, due to the quality of the lads stepping back from 20’s to help us out.  I stressed to them that this was no automatic thing – we need to work hard as a team to be competitive, regardless of who is playing.  We were also hoping to have 5 or 6 of the 16’s to step up and sit on the bench to rotate through, however they were a bit battered and bruised and we only got a couple.
 
The game started very evenly as we were most focussed on keeping a tight defence for the first 15 minutes, as up until now we have consistently conceded early.  With the team set up in a 4 4 1 1 formation with the wider players instructed to keep narrower, we were very compact, but this when added to applying some pressure on their ball carrier, allowed us to keep them at bay ……..for the whole match ……this was our very 1st clean sheet for the season….and although we had Clayton in goals and he did make a couple great saves, it is fair to say the defenders in front of him protected him well.

And whilst I like to focus on the resilience down back, this has been our nemesis……..we certainly had plenty of the ball ourselves with all of our mid-fielders (Maquach, Harun, Zach, Brenton, Kyle & CJ) doing well and creating many chances going forward.  

We certainly looked most dangerous from set plays – some quality balls from TC into the “box” made it very difficult on their defenders and we were able to latch onto a loose one in each half and put them away – one each by Harun and Zach to give us a 2 -0 win.

If you’ve read this far – you may note that I have mentioned a few names……this isn’t fair on the other lads, as it does take a team to win these games.

Hammad – this was your best game of the year, you saved one goal off the line, but also worked your butt off going back and getting an important “foot in” on at least 2 times that springs to mind – your work ethic along with the other 3 in the back 4 (Ferg, TC & Jacob) made Clayton’s job a lot easier - well done superstar!

Mickey C – playing up top can be tough and thankless at times, but you got to contests, won your fair share and you held the ball up for your teammates – well done buddy = great game!
 
Let’s see if we can get ‘em again this week!

Codes of Conduct for everyone