G’Day Footy Fans, Well, off to Olinda in their mountain fastness for this week’s sporting adventures and we all breathed a sigh of relief that the weather was pretty good as we have so often experienced some nasty stuff up on the mountain top but not on this occasion as the weather was fine, the ground was in great condition and the sun even made an appearance. The only real downer weather-wise was that a bit of a breeze was present and that made things a bit chill. But really, no churlish complaints were justified. In the Senior ranks Olinda were just outside the “Five” and for them a win in this match would certainly help them in the chase for a finals berth. There were some concerned Footy Fans also as the team would be missing five of our best, absent for various reasons, and as a result the Reserves had had to give up some of their guns while even the Under Eighteens had made contribution to the Senior cause. Young Will Mutschler had impressed when he had helped out the Reserves in the Belgrave match and now would get his opportunity to display his wares in Senior ranks. And he continued to impress with a very satisfactory performance. Will reminds me very much of a young, super-charged Steve Dawson with his willingness to attack the hard ball and many of us see a great footballing future for this fine young man. As the opening quarter got underway, Upwey was immediately into attack as the ball was moved with speed out of the centre and the Tigers had a goal on the board within the opening minute of play. Perhaps to show that this was no fluke the visitors repeated the dose again so that Upwey had scored two goals in the opening two minutes of play. A bit of a stalemate then ensued as neither team was able to provide any real movement and the order of play seemed to be either a boundary throw-in or an umpire ball-up. At last Upwey was able to gain a bit of free space and using some pretty nifty swift ball movement between players, scored their third goal. They then proceeded to show that they really did like scoring doubles with an immediate follow up of a fourth goal. Olinda was playing quite well and they were able to put the ball up into their forward area often enough but then invariably found the Tiger defence a hard nut to crack but finally did manage to score their opening goal of the match but could not add to that success before the first quarter came to an end with Upwey leading by seventeen points in what had been an interesting opening to the match. Upwey was again quickly into attack as the second term opened but had to be content with a couple of behinds to start things off. The breeze was a bit stronger at times and was favouring the end to which Olinda was now kicking and accuracy at the other end was a bit problematical at times. The ball was pretty much locked into Upwey’s end of the ground for little result before Upwey was finally able to capitalise with a thoughtful goal. Olinda had picked up their play now and, if anything, was performing just slightly the better and soon had a goal on the board and followed that up with a second not long after to throw out a strong challenge to Upwey. That challenge was immediately accepted and the Tigers answered it with a goal of their own. Then, as had Olinda, Upwey then popped through another major score to return things to as they had been – scorewise. But Olinda now had their tails well and truly up and were attacking at every opportunity and gained something of a purple patch as their persistence paid off and suddenly their were goals aplenty for the home team. Four goals in fact were added to their score as they made the most of each and every opportunity to take the match right up to Upwey and perhaps they could sense a turn-up. Upwey was able to steady things a little with a goal late in the quarter but as the two teams left the ground for the half-time break, the Tigers’ lead had been reduced to just seven points. Upwey’s third quarters have, by and large, been quite productive for the team this season but that did not look like being the case as this particular third term got underway. Olinda seemed most determined that they would not just hand the initiative to Upwey without a struggle. Early on Upwey indulged in some “clever” kicking passes that did not quite come off and added to this was that Olinda players were taking the points in the marking contests and at other times were able to block up play and thus deny the Upwey runners from finding any free space. Olinda was the first to make any real scoring impact as the quarter advanced and gained a goal some seven minutes in, something to which Upwey was able to reply some few minutes later but there wasn’t really very much of a positive result for some time; indeed, it was not until the quarter had advanced to the eighteen minute mark that the next goal came and that to Olinda and now there was only a few points between the two teams and Olinda no doubt saw themselves with a definite winning chance. But then, as good teams invariably do, Upwey found a way. Some slick ball movement finally found players in space for the visitors as Upwey closed out the quarter with three goals and suddenly the match that had been so close just a few minutes earlier, had swung quite definitely towards Upwey as they gathered for the final break holding a twenty-one point lead. Upwey scored a goal at the seven minute mark of the fourth quarter and another in the very last seconds of the quarter and added a further six goals in between as the Tigers managed to take complete control of the match in its final run-down. The Upwey rucks had been winning the centre and around-the-ground ball-ups fairly consistently for the whole of the match but now the Upwey mid-fielders took full advantage of this and were able to race the ball forward time and time again and the players forward did not let them down. At the other end of the ground the Upwey defence was proving a tight bunch to penetrate, as they had been for the whole of the match. Olinda was able to score a couple of goals towards the end of the quarter but they would have been disappointed with the result of the match as overall they had played better that the final scores would indicate. I thought that the central umpires did a pretty good job in the match and while those umpires’ ball-ups were well contested by all ruckmen the same could not be said for the boundary throw-ins. Far too often the throwing attempts were not even reaching the waiting ruckmen with the result that more often than not a scrimmage resulted from the grounded ball which would so often lead to yet another throw-in problem. It is good to encourage all people of each gender to participate in umpiring but really, First Division Senior matches do deserve the best available. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 4.2.26 8.4.52 12.7.79 20.9.129 Olinda – 1.3.9 7.3.45 8.4.58 11.5.71 Best: Tyson Heinrich, Tom Robinson, Kyle Grenda, Sam Gooley, Sean Currey. Goals: Tom Robinson 6, Tom Hedge 4, Sam Gooley 2, Robbie Huxtable 2, David van Hoorn 1, Chris Brown 1, Ben Hinton 1, Isaac Krijt 1. Upwey Reserves fielded a somewhat depleted team for their match against Olinda and the match opened in interesting fashion with Olinda doing all the early attacking work and that team had an early goal on the board and followed up that success with a couple of behinds before Upwey finally managed to open their own scoring account but with just a trio of behinds. Finally, near the midway point of the quarter, Upwey was able to post their opening goal. The team was gradually working their way into the match although it was proving to be a slowish task but the team did manage to gain a further two goals due to persistence more than anything else. Olinda’s second goal of this opening term came just before the end but even so, Upwey was looking like the better team, if not by too much at this stage. Once again Olinda opened the goal scoring part of the deal as the second quarter began when they posted a major just a couple of minutes in. Not to be denied, Upwey quickly responded in kind and then added a second just a few minutes later. An undaunted Olinda then also gained a second goal very soon after and it had been a fairly even start to the quarter but all that would soon change. As the midway point of the quarter was reached Upwey began to play some great constructive football and added four goals in the closing six minutes to virtually sweep away the opposition challenge so that as the teams quit the playing area for the half-time break, Upwey now held a thirty-seven point lead in a match that, just a short time earlier, had look so close. Upwey started the third quarter in good style and added a couple of goals within the opening five minutes before Olinda, playing quite well, was able to goal. Each team added a further goal to their respective totals. Olinda had managed to recover from that Upwey second quarter onslaught but even so, Upwey had increased their lead to now forty-three points with just one quarter to play and looked to have the match at their mercy. And so it proved to be as the final quarter was more a round down to the finish rather than a solid contest. Upwey added two more goals while Olinda’s result was one goal just before the final siren brought proceedings to a halt with Upwey leading by forty-nine points in what had been a satisfactory solid display. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 3.6.24 9.9.63 12.11.83 14.13.97 Olinda – 2.2.14 4.2.26 6.4.40 7.6.48 Best: Jack Hughes, Josh McMillan, Dillon Devers, Ryley Hannigan, Seamus Parkinson. Goals: Tyler Haugh 5, Kris O’Brien 2, Jake Schmidt 2, Mitchell Sabec 1, Roy Peterson 1, Alex Kelly 1, Jack Hughes 1, Mitchell Hannon 1. In the Under Eighteens, Olinda were just half a game outside the top five and showed as the match got underway that they were determined to do everything in their power to draw a bit closer to a top five spot. The home team started in fine style with a goal in the opening minute of play, a score to which Upwey soon replied. From that point the match seemed to enter a stalemate period when the ball was constantly moving between the various backlines with nothing much happening in between. In all this each team did manage to score an additional goal with an extra couple of behinds to Upwey giving that team a four point lead at quarter’s end. The second quarter proved to be a most frustrating twenty minutes of football for all concerned. Much was tried but all to very little effect as neither team proved able to take any advantage of the opportunities offered. It was a quarter of scrimmages and packed play with little open work possible. Things may well have been helped if a free kick or two had been paid which may have allowed play to open up a bit but even this did not happen and it was certainly not because there were not opportunities to do so. All in all, it was pretty much a nothing bit of a quarter of football although I guess one could say the two teams broke even as each scored three behinds so that the scoreboard did retain the status quo as far as the scoring went. For some time it did appear that the third quarter would follow the pattern of that which had preceded it but fortunately things improved and we began to see some more thoughtful play. Olinda gave us our first goal for thirty-two minutes of play, then some tough work by Upwey equalled that as they bullocked the ball around the boundary. Scoring was still a very difficult proposition and although each team did manage to add a second goal each before the quarter ended, the defence of each team was still very much in the ascendancy. It was not very pretty football that was being played but there was a certain toughness aspect as both teams were battling hard and with a quarter to play Upwey held a slender five point lead with the match very much up for grabs. Upwey started the better as the final quarter began when they grabbed a vital goal in the opening minutes of play but then the battle of the defences once again took over. There was a level of grimness that now entered into this strangely intriguing match; scoring had been light but pressure, particularly physical pressure, and the resultant tension had been high. Olinda battled forward several times but the Upwey defence, tight and determined allowed only a trio of behinds through as their team clung to its lead. Olinda however could not be completely denied as, with sixteen minutes of this final term now gone, they finally claimed a vital goal to reduce the margin to just five points. Showing a level of calmness in some areas of their team, Upwey answered the Olinda challenge in the best way possible, with a goal and with very little time left, held their lead to the end. While this match was not a display of all the finer points of football skills it was none the less a good contest between two teams determined not to give an inch to the opposition and of players who were prepared to put themselves into each contest, playing as hard as possible for the team. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 2.4.16 2.7.19 4.9.33 6.10.46 Olinda – 2.0.12 2.3.15 4.4.28 5.7.37 Best: James Robertson, James Blair, Kmitchell Wterman, James Gray, Jackson Waters, Liam Beacom. Goals: Damon Torrance 3, Sam Glazner 1, Justin Leggett 1, Liam Beacom 1. The Vets team has been struggling to get a full complement of fit players on the field of late and have had to dig deep into the courage department in their more recent matches. On Sunday they travelled to Marysville for what would be their final match of the season and unfortunately went down by a fair margin. The final scores in the match were Upwey-Tecoma 9.5.59 to Marysville 17.20.122. A bit of a mixed bag of results for the Netball with two wins and two losses for the day against their Olinda opposition. The A Grade got off to a good start in their match and built on that beginning as the match progressed, particularly in the third quarter when they added twenty-five goals to Olinda’s nine to take a stranglehold on the match and eventually ran out comfortable winners by forty-four goals. Final scores were Upwey-Tecoma 73 to Olinda 29. Best for Upwey were Jordyn Linkins, Tess Linkins and Rylie McLoughlin while the goals came from Tess Linkins 53, Jordan Lingard 11 and Maree Gold 9. The A Reserve team battled hard against the Olinda group and although they were always within touch of the opposition, they were just not able to make any real scoring gains and went down finally by a margin of ten goals. The final scores in the match were Upwey-Tecoma 32 to Olinda 42. Best for Upwey were Taylor Angus, Katie Lowe and Penny Oliver while the team’s goals came from Jasmine Schubert 20 and Jordi Elms 12. The B Grade battled hard in an attempt to match it with their Olinda opponents but found the task to be too much and eventually succumbed to the efforts of that team. The final scores in the match were Upwey-Tecoma 11 – Olinda 58. Best players for Upwey were Emma Hedge, Lisa Hannon and Emily Dowling. Upwey’s goals were scored by Emily Dowling with 9 and Emma Hedger who contributed 2. The final match of the day, in the B Reserve, was a real nail-biter from start to finish. Olinda gained a four goal break by the end of the opening quarter and held onto that lead through the second quarter but then Upwey gradually closed in on them, reducing the deficit margin to just one goal at three-quarter time and in a tense final term, getting home by one goal. Final scores were Upwey-Tecoma 34 to Olinda 33. Best for Upwey were Tania Newman, Brooke van Keulen and Jacqui Cooke. Upwey’s goals were scored by Michelle Tomlinson 20 and Brenda van Keulen 14. And so Round 14 comes to an end and there have been intriguing results at both ends of the Senior competition. Down the bottom, Monbulk gave themselves a chance of First Division survival with a win over Gembrook but the most significant result for us here at Upwey was the victory of Belgrave over second placed team Wandin which means that our Senior team is now a game and a fair bit of percentage clear on top of the ladder. We have an excellent chance to improve on that situation when we play Wandin at our Upwey home next Saturday and a win in this match should make a top spot finish a definite possibility. The other football matches are also very important as Wandin are in third place on the Reserves’ ladder and second in the Under Eighteens. The netball should also produce some great matches as with the possible exception of the B Reserve, Wandin teams are all in upper ladder positions. But that is all still to come as we wrap things up for this week and until next Saturday remember, condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion. See Ya, Tezza.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 00:27:11 +0000
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