WA Over 50's - 2006 Match Reports

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WA vs VIC - Friday, July 21, 2006

As we had soundly beaten Victoria in the final last year, we expected them to be looking for revenge. 
The first half was tight with no goals scored. 
In the second half we scored our first goal off a short when Janese and Gail did the triangle pass option. 
A second short corner goal was scored when Legs, following in after the push in flicked in a loose ball.  
Our final goal came when Kymberley ran the ball into the circle and laid off to Chifley who put it in on the second attempt. 
An indication of the strength our defenders was the fact that the opposition had no short corners. 
A goal each to Karen, Betty and Sue. Great work, girls!

Result: WA 3 - VIC 0

WA vs QLD - Saturday, July 22, 2006

Today's game was at 8-30pm. A bit cooler but a long wait. 
This was a pretty hard game against a quality Queensland opposition. They marked us well and scored a goal in the first half. 

We played better in the second half but they put in another one. 
Janes laid off to Kymberley on a short and her shot was deflected off the goal line by a defenders foot to earn a penalty stroke. Macca’s shot hit the inside of the post but deflected back into the field of play. 
We were out-running QLD at the end and had a few other chances but we couldn’t find the net. 
Credit to Queensland who played a good game to beat us.

Result: WA 0 - QLD 2

WA vs ACT - Sunday, July 23, 2006

Today we played at 2-30pm and it certainly was hot. It was a challenge to keep going in the heat but we ran the game out. 
We scored first when Betty had a chance to run into the cricle on her own and hit the ball over the sliding keeper. 
ACT equalised shortly afterwards and the score remained 1-1 until half time. 

We had most of the play in the second half and finally scored again when a shot from Maris was deflected into the net by Ali – her first goal for WA. 
Janese then scored after shooting from the top of the circle.

Result: WA 3 - ACT 1

WA vs NT - Monday, July 24, 2006

We played NT today, one of the weaker sides so we needed not just to win, but to get a decent goal difference. 
It was a bit disappointing, after having most of the play, to be only 1 up at half time, with Macca converting a penalty stroke about half way through. 

The goals started flowing 7 minutes into the second half, when Kymberley clouted a rebound off a short corner into the back of the net. 5 minutes later Macca took a quick free just outside the circle, with Kymberley deflecting it and Betty guiding the bouncing ball past the goalie. 
Kymberley scored her second off a short and then Legs put 2 in to give us 4 in 10 minutes. 
Karen’s first was a shot from the top of the circle off a rebounded shot from Sue. It went in about shoulder height just inside the left post across to the spot from Ev gave Karen a relatively easy deflection for her second. 

The defence did their job again keeping NT scoreless and restricing them to just the one short corner. 

NT gives a best opposition player award in each game and presented a small plaque to Janese for our match. 

The 6-0 result matches NSW’s score yesterday. They look like our rival for second spot, with both of us only losing the one game to Qld so far.

Result: WA 6 - NT 0

WA vs SA - Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Our game today was at noon against SA. We followed the adage “score early and score often” with our first goal coming in under 40 seconds, when Betty pushed it in after a rush forward from the centre push involving 3 or 4 of the team. 
Two minutes later Janese scored off a short corner. 
JR, who had not played until today due to a hamstring injury, subbed on for the first time at the 11 minute mark and had scored by the 12th. Janese scored again from a short corner at 26 minutes. 
Kymberley had a goal which was knocked in off her glove disallowed but made up for it a few minutes later by stealing a pass outside the 25m area and then running down to and along the back line and pushing it in behind the keeper. This put us 5-0 at half time. 

Kymberley scored again with a drag around the keeper to open the second half scoring and Janese scored again from a penalty corner. 
Betty scored on a shot that came up off the goalie to the top of the net and Kymberley got her hat trick with another drag around the keeper. Our 9-0 win is the biggest so far in the tournament. 
The backs made sure no goals were scored on the other side of the ledger.

Result: WA 9 - SA 0

WA vs NSW - Thursday, July 27, 2006

This was our final round robin game with our bye coming in the last round. 
We played NSW knowing whoever won would be in the gold medal playoff and that a draw would mean NSW would need 14 goals in their last game to knock us out of second place. 

The first goal would be an important psychological advantage, but despite a number of good chances we were unable to finish them off. 
The break-through finally came on a short, with the ball going from Janese back to Karen on the left post, then across to Betty on the right. 

We continued to press the attack but it wasn’t as one sided as the last 2 games and our defenders worked hard to keep NSW out. 
Many times we saw Macca or Maris transfer the ball across the back to Gail or Lorraine to start our attack down the right side. 
PD came out and cleared a few that got past the full backs and the defensive short corner battery again kept a clean slate. 

When Betty scored our second goal, again off a corner, we knew we had them on the ropes. 
Don’s plan was to clear to the corners and force them to bring the ball all the way from their back line all the time. This gave us many chances to turn the ball over and counter attack. 

When Kymberley put in our 3rd off a short corner late in the second half, they knew they were finished. 

A great team effort to prove we deserve to play for the gold on Saturday and that we are more than capable of winning it.

Result: WA 3 - NSW 0

Final - WA vs QLD - Saturday, July 29, 2006

Tonight we played Queensland for the gold medal. 
They beat us 2-0 when we played earlier and unfortunately the result was the same in this match. 

We had our chances but couldn't finish them off and all credit to Q who played well. 

By the time we'd finished our own presentation (this time we actually got medals) and changed, the 35s match was well under way. We did get to see them score their one and only goal to win for the first time ever. 

A lot of celebration Saturday night both at the grounds and then at the apartments, going on till 3 or 4 am. 

The 40s finished 3rd and the 45s and 55s were 4th, so overall a better result than last year.

Result: WA 0 - QLD 2