RESERVES TEAM (thanks to Luke Dorizas for the write up)
Twice this year now, Harbord and Mosman managers have come up after the game and said how well we played and how tough an opposition we were. On the weekend Mosman manager said we were no doubt “the toughest team” they have faced yet. This is a lot of respect from teams who are also quite good – we need keep this in mind as we keep improving. We can very well match it with the best in our competition.
Our intensity to start the game on the weekend was the highest I’ve seen this year. Everyone was talking, firing each other up, getting stuck into challenges and Mosman were really rattled! Again after going behind first we then bounced back with a strong header from Mick to keep it even at halftime. We came out second half and continued just as strong, putting away another through a perfectly timed run from Conor who was threatening all game as usual. Our downfall on the weekend was out fitness – we slowly started to run out of steam and subsequently intensity. Two of the goals on the weekend were from simply not shutting down the shot outside the box – we need to get tighter. The result on the weekend didn’t matter however, it was how well we played for most of it and the fact we can be a real threat this year in the competition. If we continue playing this well we will win a lot more games and realistically should be aiming for a top 4 spot.
FIRSTS TEAM
We quickly settled into the Firsts match, with Oostie and Javey controlling the tempo of the match and possession. We created a number of opportunities and played the majority of the opening 45 minutes inside Mosman’s half. Despite the possession and control, the number of clear chances we created were limited, and the Mosman keeper was able to save everything we threw at him. 35 minutes into the match and Nico Petit burst out of left back and ran the length of the field with a lung busting run! Beating three players down the line, he whipped the ball low and hard straight across the face of goal. The ball was parried by the Mosman keeper, which Kieran latched onto and slammed it into the back of the net to open the scoring. We took a few more shots on goal during the remaining 10 minutes of the half. Bas and Issy also cleared all of the long balls and minor breaks that Mosman tried. The half ended 1-0 up, with no shots on goal from Mosman.
The second half started in a similar style with the team dominating possession and control. 10 minutes into the second half, Kieran stepped up for his second, latching onto a whipped ball that was the result of a delightful run from Jordan. A through ball from Mauritzio 10 minutes later allowed Kieran to break through the backline for his fifth shot on target, and a well place low drive past the oncoming keeper sealed his third hattrick in his fourth match. The tempo lifted again and we continue to push hard at the Mosman goal with opportunities from Jeremy, Jason, Javey and Jordan. Finally, a free kick from Brady resulted in a magnificent leap from Isaac, beating the keeper and keeping the ball in play with a header back to Jason. Jason lined up a beautiful right foot half volley slamming it into the opposite corner. A goal very much reminiscent of the Gaffa’s half volley against Harbord in the opening round! With 8 minutes to go, Mosman finally broke through our back-line and after a quiet afternoon, Dawesy pulled off a magnificent one-v-one save to ensure that we finished the match with a clean sheet.
