Another top effort by the kids against a team that gave us a hard workout in the first round and at the Gala Day. Early morning starts aren’t usually our thing, especially with SamM and ThomasM out of action with the holidays.
Mark was playing up front and drew a foul inside the box in the first couple of minutes. TK stepped up to calmly give us a bit of breathing space. They played some good football in the first half and were rewarded with another two goals. One to Ryan after a good run up the left and another to SamL who used his head for a change (literally). 
I think it is fair to say we were under a bit more pressure in the second half, but the kids maintained the composure and slotted home anothe rtwo goals. Ryan with anothe rtwo good runs up the left habd side. He put the first one away himself and was dragged down outside the box on the last one. TK took the free kick and buried it in the top corner.
The kids are playing very consistently. I took a sneek peek at the parent points and it’s a reflection on how well all the kids are playing that most of them are getting points, it is really spread out which is good to see.
SamL stayed as the central Striker the whole game in SamM’s absence and was very strong on the ball. Mark played on the right in the first half and left midfield in the second and kept going all game. Ryan’s two goals were a reward for his strong running with the ball. Matty D had a torrid time taking the ball up and a set of sore ankles to show for it at the end. Wilson covered plenty of miles across the park. Reuben had his usual strong passing game in teh first half and slotted in well at the back in teh second. Jas and TK kept thing together at the back very well. Dean got forward a lot in attack we just need to keep working on the recovery when things break down.
We conceded our third goal of the year which is actually a great achiev,ent. It could have easily been a couple more except Braeden did his bit with a couple of great reflex saves.
We’ll be one or two short for most games between now and the finals so there will be a lot of work needed to keep our good record in tact. Hopefully we won’t have the curse of injuries as we did last year!
Garry
