Sunday 11 April

Thirroul 5 v 0 Russell Vale

Not the audacious start the Coach would have preferred but it was however a cup match against one of the better teams from the top division. The difference between being fit and match sharp was highlighted in the first 15 mins as Thirroul raced into a 3-0 lead.

I’m the first to admit that our preparation for the 2010 season was insufficient and leading up to this game, we had only managed to complete 1 of the last 4 training sessions due to inclement weather. Add to this the fact we were unable to arrange any trial games prior to the start of the season and had to contend with some poorly attended training sessions due to refereeing courses, holidays and tennis. It came as no surprise the performance was at times well below par and some very basic errors were severely punished especially in the first half.

Excuses aside there were also some positives to be gained from the match, firstly I don’t believe the Cobras were as bad as the score line suggests, on reflection maybe 5-2 would have been a fairer result. The three new lads Nathan Hennessy, Jawad Khan and Matthew Nelson appear to be settling very quickly into the team and the understanding with the other players will grow even more as the season progresses. There were some good individual performances from Joey Hodges in defence and Chris Behan in midfield and the response from the team in the second half was very encouraging as they tried to take the game to Thirroul who only managed to add one more goal to their tally. I seem to recall we started very slowly last season losing away to Figtree 4-0 but the season still turned out to be a good one in the end and I’m confident it will again

Shaun

(smiley added by Garry)