Round 1 had us pitched against the same Corrimal side that we played in the trial game a couple of weeks ago. Everyone was available to play except for Benny who’ll be out for a few more weeks yet. As promised I swapped the team around a bit. Jackson and Riley shared the goal keeping duties, with Jackson doing the rain dance to keep warm in the first half, while ET did much the same in the second and was called on once to make a great one on one save against a stray striker.

Stuart and Texas played in midfield and had fun roaming around the middle of the park. It will be interesting to see who are the natural fits for this position as the year goes on.

Millsey got dizzy running around filling in the holes for the kids as they came off for their rest and did a great job, poaching a goal (or two?) in the process.

The first half had Olivia, Burto and Anakin forming the back line with Tom, Nash and E.T. up front. The two lines swapped at half time, Jackson coming into Right Back when ET went into goals. I am pretty sure we scored two goals in the first half, and two or three in the second. It was a bit difficult to judge one of them when Anakin launched a ball that would have been a goal on any pitch that played with goals and nets instead of sticks.

In all I was very pleased with the kids have learnt their positions and the effort they are putting in. It will be a bit disruptive with kids playing in different positions, including ones that they don’t like, but at the end of the day it is meant to be about development, and getting better at the game. For me, some of the best football was played when we were under pressure and in our own half. The kids pulled off some very good passing moves to get out of trouble when they were under pressure and “build from the back” rather than taking the option of the big kick to clear the ball. That was even more satisfying to me than seeing the ball go into the back of the make-believe net, even if the kids didn’t appreciate it as much. I really look forward to seeing them develop each week. Hopefully those passing moves will turn into more goals.

Plays of the day… E.T’s one-on-one save and Nash taking the ball wide from a goal kick with a  couple of attackers around him and still managing to find Anakin and Stuart to take the ball up into the other half.

Well done everyone.

Garry