Match Report 23/06/2013 -- Swans United FC versus South Perth United Reserves (5-1 win) From the kick off there could not have been a team more completely different from last week’s performance than the one we put on the field today. Was it because of Andi’s furious return after a couple of weeks spent with the in-laws? Or maybe it was the experience we had with the pitch and how to deal with its extreme narrowness (seriously, the 18 yard box extends to within a foot or two of the sideline, it’s ridiculous)? Or perhaps the tactics talk by Leo and Oli on Thursday night had their intended effect. No matter the reason behind it, we played like we had in the first few games of the season: short, succinct passes, a controlling midfield, and a solid defence that gave and got and gave again. After holding the ball for the majority of the first fifteen minutes, it was Vish who opened the scoring. Chisholm worked it down the left side with Wesley, before putting in a nice cross along the floor to the top of the box, where Vish duly obliged with a curling left foot shot that sank into the bottom right hand corner. 1-0 Souths and we were on our way. I’d put estimates of the possession we had at around 65-70%, there just wasn’t anything they could do to get around our midfield. Any time one of their players found some room to move, he had at least one, if not two of our boys on him and taking it away. Once we’d identified the (relatively) stronger players—16 had some semblance of control, even if he whined a bit; while 7 and 8 were working the left wing occasionally—it was simply a matter of having Andi push up and double team them with Oli or Vish and away we went into their half again. Second goal came through working the left again, with a run from myself being nailed from I think Chiz (can’t remember precisely, anyone with a better memory?) allowing me to head through and tuck it past the keeper. I think he’s probably the main reason why they have such a bad against record, the defenders did a decent job. Third goal was kind of comedic. Similar working through the middle ending with a one-on-one with the keeper for me. I tried to go around him and got caught out, but the resulting deflection landed at Chiz’ feet and he looped it over the keeper to slide gracefully down the back of the inside of the net. The illusion of intention was somewhat ruined by him being face down in the dirt, asking me whether or not it went in afterwards. Doesn’t matter, they all count and that marked Chiz’ first goal for the reserves, good work mate. Just wanted to throw in a big shout out to how well the defence worked today. All of them had a great game, receiving the ball from Charlie, pushing it forward, receiving it back and working the triangles from our eighteen yard box forward. There’s no reason that we should ever doubt our back four when it comes to giving and getting and resetting if we need to; they’ve all got great touch and know how to work the ball out of a tight spot if they have to. Fourth goal came from a through ball similar to the second one, with me on the receiving end managing to wrong foot the keeper by aiming directly at his left hip with a bit of outward curl. Apparently that’s a blind spot? Who knew. Anyway, if he’d shifted an inch he’d have stopped it. I’ll take it any day of the week. And the fifth. My god, the fifth. If it’s no trouble, could we maybe shift someone to cover Ben and get him in the box for every single corner we take from now onward? He’s a monster in the air. A beautiful corner in from Dylan and absolutely hammered into the net by Big Ben’s angry forehead at the back post. After that, it must be said, we did start coasting and trying to force things a little bit. There were a couple of opportunities that went begging but nothing completely terrible. Unfortunately that coasting meant that we let in one goal in the last two minutes or so when they crowded the box with all bar one of their players. I’m sure we’re all pretty disappointed with not giving Charlie his clean sheet, especially with the heroics he showed throughout the match, tipping balls over the bar and taking a post to the chest just before their goal (which should really have been a free kick to us, but the ref didn’t see the act of pushing someone into a steel post as a foul.). He saved pretty much their only solid shot from the aforementioned 16 with a classic mark to the chest. Solid as a rock. Anyway, take home message from this game is definitely that we need to continue playing like we used to, and like we did today. Knocking the ball around, resetting when we need to, using our defence to create triangles and then pushing up as a team. Woofing the ball up the middle or sprinting up the sides every time isn’t the way we play. We play actual beautiful football, and that’s definitely what we played today. Brilliant match guys. Firsts (3-0 Win) I stuck around to watch the firsts and wasn’t disappointed. It’s kind of ironic that a few of their members looked like lumberjacks, because they were getting chopped. Again, our midfield took centre stage, working it around and back before moving up as a team. It’s awesome to see the whole club embracing and representing a playing style as one. I promised Ash at least one paragraph devoted to his opening effort and I have to say, the guys who stuck around absolutely exploded with it. I’m not sure who earned the free kick in the first place but I’d hazard a guess at Josh, as he was a nuisance to their defense all day (more on him later, the little scamp). A brief conversation was had and Ash stepped up and curled it as pretty as a picture, kissing the crossbar and landing securely in the back of the net. After the celebrations, Andi made the call of the game—Ash, you’re officially South Perth’s Dimitar Berbatov. :D Second goal of the game started with a streaking run from Doc Robbo. I swear he must have used some kind of science to increase his gravity, because he ended up dragging three or four players behind him like planets in orbit. From there it was a simple pass to Ash who did his best to hammer it into the goalie’s face, before taking the deflection, kicking it into the one remaining defender, getting it back (again) and finally putting the matter to rest in the bottom corner. Phew. You could really feel that we were warming up to the game after the second goal, and there was some lovely football being played through the middle and out from the back. Unfortunately that warming up didn’t apply to Robbo’s hamstring, which decided it had had enough after he stripped their right back and made space for a cross near the byline. He went off immediately with what is a suspected torn hamstring. Not the best thing to happen before a long flight to London, but at least we had a beer on hand to help in his recovery (the little-known silent ‘B’ on the end of RICE). While we were getting Robbo comfortable on the sideline, we witnessed some great tenacity by Josh. I counted at least four or five fifty-fifty balls that he won and just kept going with, before nailing it across the box. The ginger lumberjack decided it would be a good time to smash the ball into the back of his own net and we were up 3-0. Really good example of what keeping at the ball can get you. After half-time, the gamer threatened to turn a bit. They flew in Kanye for the second half (prompting a chorus of “She take my money…” whenever he got the ball) but he had no real impact on the game except to give it away to our players every chance he had. We had more than a few chances up front, but our boys were either slightly off target (and I do mean slightly; there were a good three shots that were whiskers beyond the post) or into their 130th minute of football for the day (Chiz, great work rate). A few highlights from that second half was Leo’s surprisingly robust frame taking a guy crashing into him and barely moving a muscle, Oli’s left-footed volley that barely went wide, and a very strong back line that dealt with any and all long balls as they were delivered. All in all a great day of football for the reserves and firsts. Brilliant effort lads!
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 13:49:17 +0000
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