Weekend game wraps
Under 12s
Tommy Giuliani
Sunday saw our 12s boys hit the road to take on Kingston City at 9.00am! With only 10 players available and 5 still feeling unwell, this was their toughest assignment of the year. With James Nieuwenhuizen kindly making himself available to play on the pitch we were able to start with 11.
What the boys were able to produce was just inspiring for me as a coach, except for the now usual conceding of a sloppy early goal. Once we "woke up" our tempo and intensity, especially when we were out of possesion was first class. A couple of the boys really looked unwell and we were able to shuffle the midfield to take the physical strain off these players. Our build out play from the back was precise and shortly after we were able to get in behind their slow defence and equalise. Kingston City's football was poor, all long balls and overly physical. These Suns refused to be bullied, unlike the poor young referee who was constantly harassed by the Kingston City bench.
The second half started similarly, the Suns truly on top, dominating in the midfield and pressing incredibly well out of possession. Soon after we would go 2-1 up through a lovely combination play.
Unfortunately in the last ten minutes we began to play longer balls in the air which resulted in too many BPO transitions because we just stop playing the triangles and began to bypass our middle third. It will serve as a teaching tool, we just have to keep playing "Our Football". In saying that we conceded through a dubious at best free kick outside the box in the last few minutes;I believe the referee was influenced by ranting.
Next week we'll hit Springvale full force!!
On a final note it was disappointing to witness Suns parents being spoken to poorly by the some members of Kingston City. They also need to review the behaviour of coaching staff and the poor example they set for their players. Atrocious! Its a culture we must never see at the GV Suns. Also,many thanks to the wonderful parents and players to support their children on these tough away games.????⚽️
Under 13s
Matthew Lelliot
Two on the trot now for us as we headed down to Kingston. With an understrength squad and only 10 under 13 players available, we came away with a brilliantly hard fought 1-0 win, thanks to huge efforts from everyone involved. Tutu Taya and Edward Uniacke filled in for us and didn't look out of place when called upon.
Our lone goal was scored by Brandon Giacherrini with a thunderous strike just above the keeper's head. A lot of positives from the game, where defensively I don't think our keeper was really tested for probably the first time this year.
Under 14s
Nathan Saron & James Lelliot
It was another tough week at training with boys unavailable due to the school break, so those that did come to training had a run with the 13's and 15's. Thanks to Matt and Glen for giving the boys a run.
In this weeks game against Kingston the boys were not quite awake at the start and conceded a goal minutes into the game from an attack down the left and a cross into the box that we tried to clear a couple of times but not successfully.
A quick reminder about fighting the game out and the boys awoke with a ton of confidence, from this point on we started to control possession. The boys tightened up the back four and it was only when we tackled with the toe instead of the body and a strong foot that Kingston were possessing the ball for a significant period of time.
The boys were great, the passing and teamwork was first rate, even after conceding a penalty from the oppositions only 2nd half attack, the boys didn't give up and pressed again and again creating enough chances to draw or win the game.
Well done Izaak, Stoj, Nik, Ferg, Stefan, Anthony, Ciaran, Darcy, Jude and also to Teng, Brandon and Lachie (for stepping up) on a good team performance. 2 nil down.
Under 15s
Glen Wilson
During our training sessions last week we worked in attacking from wide areas. Our task from this was to try and put this into action during our game. Unfortunately we were down several players due to various reasons (Hakan, Jordy, Koray, Bowdie, Lucas & Josh) thankfully we were able to utilise Alou & Liam from 16s as well as Isaac & Nick from the 14s.
Well the game today was nothing like the last time we played them - a 5-5 draw! This game was quite entertaining to watch as both teams were evenly matched, the ball went from end to end with neither team having too much of a scoring opportunity. I believe that they certainly had the better of the ball possession, but we were very solid down back. Both Conor and Fergus as CentreBacks had strong games in the middle as did young Isaac in goals - he made a couple of great saves as well as some good quick distribution of the ball.
The lads in the middle also held their own and it was only in the final third where we struggled to gain any lengthy possession or make that killer pass. Our opposition did manage a single goal and although we had 3 of the best quick fire opportunities any one has ever seen - we managed to hit the keeper twice and then just shoot wide on the final chance - all in the matter of seconds! End result - we go down again 1-0.
In summary, we played quite well and with a bit of luck we could've got the points.
Bring on next week, we are due!
Under 16s
Paul Nieuwenhuizen
Did not play.
Under 18s
Pat Kielty & Shaban Mehmet
For the last time this season we made the long trip to Melbourne for the last away game. Due to the under 16’s game being forfeited we had four 16’s playing for us. We have never lost against this team so we were hopeful of getting a win.
From the outset we put them under pressure using the wings to get in around the back of them. Our first goal came from this situation when Charlie playing wingback crossed a lovely ball to Makuach, just outside the 18 yard box, who took it on his chest and volleyed a screamer into the top corner. It must have been a good shot as Makuach actually celebrated which he doesn’t normally do!
We continued to control the game but as has happened so many time a wrong decision cost us and they equalised. Half time one all. We had a good talk at half time and were confident we could beat them. When play resumed we were still controlling the game and constant pressure together with a high press resulted in goalkeeper errors and Alou scored two goals to put us 3-1 up.
Kingston were now beginning to drop their heads and we continued to press. We hit the bar, had one cleared off the line and another shot just went wide.
Everything changed when the young referee (who was being assessed) awarded a penalty to Kingston for a perfectly good tackle by Ron. Even the linesman approached the ref and said it was a good tackle but the ref wouldn’t budge. Now its 3-2 and Kingston are back in it.
With only three minutes to go another error resulted in them scoring the equaliser and the game ended 3-3. It may have been exciting for neutral observers but this was most definitely two points dropped rather than one point gained. A big thanks to Charlie, Alou, Willie and Hammad for making the trip when their own game was cancelled.
Two home games to go and six points on offer.
We are busy organising a fabulous celebration of another great year for the GV Suns and the development of soccer in the GV - all you need to do is RSVP.
Daylight savings begins this weekend - so a 10 am kickoff last weekend becomes 9 am this weekend!
Train locally, play the best.
With two out of three rounds at home next year there will be at least 108 junior games that need a qualified ref.
