Under 14 Girls Round 12 Vs Woonona- “A GAME OF TWO HALVES”

Our game against the current Leaders in competition and League Champions from last year- Woonona is best described as “A Game of Two Halves”. The first half which we will chose not to mention saw the Woonona Team take a well deserved but not a well earnt 5-0 break to the half time break. The reason I say was not well earnt was the fact that we played what was probably our worse half of football all year in the first half. With the wet weather playing havoc with training and game time over the last few weeks and some sickness and injury throughout the squad today was always going to be a difficult assisgnment for the Girls. The girls were clearly not in the zone during the half and we were only saved by some great goalkeeping by Kylie otherwise the score could of been alot worse.

The half time break allowed the Team to re assess where we had gone wrong and what we had to do in the second half to improve our performance. With a couple of minor positional changes the girls set about the second half with a determination to play a better 2nd half of soccer- and what a second half it was!!

The Team displayed a more committed and enthusiastic approach and were well rewarded with only 1 goal (dubious goal at that….) being conceded. We were unlucky not to score a few goals and controlled the game very well for most of the half. The 2nd half was one of best halves of football for the year and all the girls should be very proud of the way they fought back and took the game to the Woonona Team. The easy thing to do after half time would of been to not take the fight to the opposition and concede a few goals and start thinking about next weeks game. Thankfully our girls are made of tougher stuff and fought back brilliantly in what were trying and challenging circumstances.

A special thanks go to our goal keepers for both halves- Kylie in the first and Hannah in the second- who showed she had not lost any of her skill from last year and pulled of some unbelievable saves and turned defence into attack on numerous occasions.

Our second half defence of Sarah, Emily, Kylie and Captain Chloe were enormous and worked together very well. Sarah and Kylie continue to improve each week and they made sure we won our share of 50/50 balls and were a constant menace to the Woonona forwards with controlled and aggresive defence. Emily, was outstanding today and her decision making and clearing kicks got our attack going forward. Her power and accuracy in her kicks was great and apart from the fact that she supports the broncos(sorry Emily….), brings great all round qualities to the Team.

Our captain Chloe reminded us today what it takes to be a leader both with her words and actions. Her constant communication and call of “Get in their face” worked well and her workrate and clearing kicks had to be seen to be believed. Chloe is performing well across a variety of positions and wether she is playing front, middle or back you know she will give the Team 110%!!

The mid fielders of Jasmine and Jade both had enormous games and set up countless attacking raids with good control and great passing all half. Their willingness to take the game to the opposition both in attack and defence lifted the girls around them. They were both unlucky not to put one in the back of the net and will be hard to stop over coming weeks. Mel and Brooke shared the right mid field uties and performed admirably as they were both unwell this week and did not attend training either night. Alyse who only played the first half was another one who got out of her sick bed today to play and did her best when she was on there. Add this to our girls who were injured- Meg and Ashleigh the performance in second half was something to be proud off!

Last but not least our forward line of Paige, Tegan and Mia proved to be a handful and pressured the Woonona defence all half. All 3 girls are improving and understanding their roles better each week. Tegan and Paige both combined well with the midfield and were strong in both attack and defence and Mia again showed her versatility and abilty to adapt to different positions and put in another solid all round performance.

Next week see’s us playing Oak Flats at home on Sunday morning and the girls can take alot of positves out of the game today. The key positive from today- for me- was that all the girls had to dig deep in the second half and push themselves harder and ask themselves to do things that they might not necessarily wanted to- or believed they could do. The second half showed us yet again that we can compete with EVERY TEAM in this competiton and when we are on our game and have belief in ourselves and our Team mates that anything is possible!!

A special thanks to all the parents for the enthusiastic encouragement given to the Girls from the side line. This certainly gave the girls a major boost and was a contributing factor to an improved 2nd half performance. The girls were certainly in need of our support and your response was fantastic!!

Also a get well soon to both Meg and Ashleigh and we hope to see you both back out on the field soon.

See you all down there bright and early next Sunday morning at the Cawley Cauldron for our game against Oak Falts.

Regards

Michael