WA Over 55's - 2011 Match Reports

WA vs WAC - Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Derby was keenly anticipated, and didn't disappoint. The plan was to score early, settle the nerves and implement the game plan. Within the first ten minutes we had scored two goals and the plan was on schedule. The first goal was scored by Rudy from a ball scrambled in defence by the WAC goalie. The second was put away low by Coops with a powerful drive after a neat under the arm pass from Feral. 
Although Norman Same (note his side lost 3-1 and he threw his stick into his team's dugout at the end of the game) was of the opinion we were playing the worst passing game of any recent WA team he had seen, the ball was regularly switched from left to right and back creating many accurate and clever passing moves! 
WAC obviously had a counter plan using two high strikers, no right wing-to create space for the forwards and to constrict our attacks-and a reliance on Rix and JT maintaining possession to nullify our overall strength. Robbie quickly saw through that by releasing our left half, who had no-one to mark, as a counter attacking tool. This put constant pressure on their defense, eventually winning a short corner. We had three or four neat, crisp, passes leading to Feral executing a gentle tap-in to score the third goal just before the half time whistle. 

In the second half constant pressure was maintained on WAC through tight defensive and offensive marking, and well coordinated presses. Through this, WAC often lost the ball, and on one of those occasions Coops was able to drill home his second goal. Another from Coops ricocheted off the post, narrowly missing out on another hat- trick opportunity. The pressure continued until another cracking shot from Coops beat the fullback's stick and cannoned into his foot. 
Vice-Captain Maurice stepped up to take the resulting penalty stroke. Sharon ('Cecil B D'Mille') Keswick's excellent camera work showed that the goalie was conned into a movement to his left and Morrie unleashed a fierce flick into the top left hand corner of the goal mouth. That was a fitting end to the scoring for the afternoon. The goals spread amongst 4 players and all players rotated through the bench for regular breaks. Thanks to Robbie for filling in to help rotate players- especially on his birthday. Mind you, not a bad present! 

Result: WA 6 – WAC 0 

MVP: Greg Cooper

WA vs NSW - Thursday, September 29, 2011 

Game started well with good team work, we had several attacks in NSW circle and awarded many penalty corners, but unfortunate not to have scored. 
NSW retaliated on turnovers and made us pay dearly with them scoring twice in the first half. 

With heavy rain in the second half we again were not rewarded with goals after many good penetrating moves in their D, we also had many unrewarded penalty corners. 
NSW scored another 2 goals against the run of play in the second half. 

Result: WA 0 - NSW 4 

Best player: Westy 

WA vs ACT - Saturday, October 1, 2011 

Saturday weather conditions promised to be wet and windy. Also of concern was the ground which had numerous repairs near and in both circles. In the end both weather (the game was played in only slight rain) and repairs were acceptable and neither had an influence on the game. 

The first half was a see-saw affair where WA had much possession only to sometimes loose possession with an ill directed pass. WA, often by applying a well executed press, however was able to regain possession without any damage to the score line. Nor was WA rewarded through the 5 short corners they were awarded (ACT had 2). Neither team managed to score resulting with a 0 – 0 tie at the end of the first half. 

The second half started in a more promising manner with an early short corner (7 minutes in) pushed out to Morrie, who passed to Cuts, who then put the ball on the RHS post, leaving Ferral to deflect the ball in behind the ACT goalie. ACT immediately retaliated by penetrating the circle but without reward. 

A short time later another short corner saw Rudy hit out to Morrie who passed to PK for a goal through the defending goalie. The team was building a healthy momentum by this stage with Cuts having a blistering run that beat the goalie, followed by a great pass to a player in front an open goal which was unfortunately not converted. 

The last goal (4 minutes before time) was also off a short corner; Morrie received the ball, had a shot at goals which the goalie saved, only for the clearance to be intercepted by PK who popped it into the goals. 

The half saw 8 short corners awarded to WA and 3 converted, and 2 being awarded to ACT with none converted. 

Result: WA 3 - ACT 0 

MVP: Shane Williams

WA vs VIC - Monday, October 3, 2011 

2pm start – warmest part of the day especially in Canberra. Quite a change from the previous early morning cold and wet games, we were playing in full sun. From the start we showed good control and linking of passes from defence through to attack. Good pressure on the Vic’s defence and midfield saw us win the ball and make many forays into the attacking circle. There were a number of shots on goal with our first score coming from a strong build up and good finishing from Rudy some 10 minutes into the first half. 

Vic’s continued to struggle to have an impact on the game with our defence and midfield holding strong. Second goal came from a good build up starting from defence where the ball went to Morrie on the right, left over the centre line to Cuts, straight ahead over the 25 to Coops, then back right on the top of the D past a diving keeper to Morrie who pushed the ball into an open net. Great sequence of passing, leading and running without a Victorian touching the ball. 

Third goal came with 10 minutes to go in the first half. Following sustained attacking pressure down the right, the ball came through the midfield to Johnny O who passed to Willow, on to Ferral, through to Hero in the right hand corner of the D who picked up a defenders foot. On the resulting short corner the ball was rolled left from the trap and Ted slotted it into the left hand corner of the goal after deflecting off the keepers pads. Vic’s had one good opportunity to score late in the first half but great defence from Max, Nails, Westy and Simsey kept the score to 3-0 at half time. 

Second half went similar to the first with WA holding strong in defence and midfield with a number of good shots on goal. Coops slotted a goal off a short corner to have it disallowed for lifting, although it deflected off a defenders stick. With 25 minutes to go, Cuts scored a deflect goal on the right from a short corner drive from Ted. Later in the half Nails punched a great drive into the Vic D to Ferral who just missed the touch-in goal after a great run and lead. While the final score was a 4–nil win to WA the score could quite easily have been 6 or more. Best player awarded by WA team mates was Cuts, Vic awarded Willow. Great game for us shows good signs for later in the tournament. 

Result: WA 4 - VIC 0 

Best player as nominated by WA : Cuts 
Best player as nominated by VIC: Willow

WA vs QLD - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 

Our last round game against Queensland started with the final four already decided, WA and Queensland would finish 2nd and 3rd with the result of this match to determine who was in 2nd spot. We were keen to pick up the win and go into the semi with bragging rights. And after convincingly beating the Vics on Monday we were confident. 

We started the first half well with a number of promising moves that didn't quite connect with the final pass. We had several short corners early on and Ted had the ball in the back of the net but unfortunately from just outside the circle. Queensland gradually worked more into the game and eventually earned some corners of their own. Off one of these a bouncing ball struck a WA foot and the umpires awarded a penalty stroke. Schasser put the stroke high to Maxy's left and we were one down. Undeterred we redoubled our efforts and made several attacking moves. One lovely passing sequence resulted in Coops slotting the ball home only to have it disallowed due to an earlier foot. 

The second half started in a similar fashion with many good WA moves going unrewarded due to not quite finding that last pass. In one, Westy passed to Coops who passed to Rudy who passed back to Coops who passed just out of Maurie's reach and past the left post. And the umpires weren't helping - the Qld goalie kicked the ball at Herro's head and he put his stick up to protect himself and was sent off for his trouble! Queensland were also starting to build more attacks and started to place more pressure on our defence. This reulted in a turnover coming out of defence and a nice run and shot at goal by Queensland left us down by two. A few minutes later a beautiful tomahawk goal from the top of the D and Queensland had their third. We continued to attack to try to get back in to the game but without reward. 

The final result was disappointing and not a true reflection on the game. We will have to improve and convert our chances when we meet them agan on Friday. 

Result: WA 0 - QLD 3 

Best player as nominated by WA : Ian Simes 
Best player as nominated by QLD: Wayne Cutler

Semi-Final WA vs xxx - Friday, October 7, 2011 

Result: WA n - xxx n 
Goal scorers: 
Best player as nominated by WA: 

Final WA vs xxx - Saturday, October 8, 2011 

This is it Grand Final Day ! 

Leading up to this game NSW had played 6 games and won all 6, scoring 26 goals and only letting in 5 goals. WA had played 6 games winning 4 of these games scoring 16 goals and letting in 10. 

1st Half Highlights 
The first 35 minutes was a very tough encounter with both teams putting in 100% and both teams doing lots of attacking and defending. 
Coops and Smacka from NSW (Denise Cranston as Coops likes to call him) both having a little early rest after some push and shove at the top of the circle. With the advantage of video replay, that may well have come about as a result of Coops getting the first smack in on Denise! 
Ted tried to put in 101% but his hamie stopped at 98%. 
The WA defence unit was under a lot of pressure with all the short corner’s awarded to NSW and Westie had to run out to all of them (that is why you have the young guys in the team). Well run Westie. 

2nd Half Highlights 
Second 35 minutes started off about the same as the 1st but within 2 minutes of the restart Coops put WA 1 up with some good clean-up work in the circle. Not long after that another shot hits the post Dave (Herro) cleans up and put the ball in the net goal awarded. BUT wait, umpire from the other end stops play and forms a subcommittee which reviews and over turns goal. Unlucky Herro! 
You can start to see change in the game but WA are still sticking to the game plan and putting 100%. NSW are starting to go out more one on one and looking for the long pass, which made it a little easier for the WA defence. The odd one got through but with the guidance of George (Nails – Ard Az) at the back all was working well. Another ball to Coops and he bangs another one in, 2 nil to WA. 
18 minutes to go Coops blocks a cross pass from NSW fullback and moves into the circle. Just as he was about to be mugged by the NSW defence, he slipped the ball to Rudy who finished it off. 3 nil to WA. 

NSW now very upset, pushed forward with several more short corners - all held out. Westie again running them down. 
After one of the short corners was awarded, the ump from the other end formed a subcommittee with some help from some players in blue, resulting in the short corner being changed to a penalty stroke. Score WA 3 v NSW 1. 

6 minutes to go NSW have gained their second wind and start attacking but still very selective with their passing. 

2 minutes to go NSW score their second goal. 

With time running out WA sticks to the game plan, no panic (well not much). With 20 seconds to go and Nail’s booms a 16 yd hit through the NSW pack to the other end of the field and the clock ran down and WA successfully defended the score at WA 3 v NSW 2. 

A champion team will always beat a team of champions. 

This is the second Gold Medal for this team. 

Who’s up for three in a row next year in Hobart?? 

Man of the Match: Coops