WA Over 40's - 2004 Match Reports

WA vs QLD

Our first match of this tournament was against the Queensland side who played off in last years final, so it was going to be a tough game but one which we were capable of winning. Every one was happy to get things underway especially our new group of players, John Sims, Ian Tubbs, Phillip Cain and Mark Tate. 
WA got off to a good start with the defense working well and a great ball from Noel Tremaine to birthday boy Craig Burgess who slotted it past the Queensland keeper. 
Being 1 down Queensland fired up and pressed our defense hard. A hard tackle won a penalty stroke, which they converted to bring the score level. 
Queensland continued to press hard and forced another penalty stroke thanks to a fantastic stick save from Kevin Dempster on the line that unfortunatley deflected onto his foot. 
Despite a fairly even first half Queensland went into the break with a 2-1 lead. 
The second half saw the Queenslanders maintain the pressure and we struggled to maintain our game plan. 
The defensive team played well under pressure especially in the defense of the numerous short corners and kept the Queenslanders scoreless in the second half. 
With 1 minute to go and keeping with the coach’s instruction to push hard in the last seconds we were awarded our first penalty corner for the match that gave us the chance to snatch a draw after time. Despite a well excecuted corner that beat the defense the shot was just centimeters above the backboard and we had to settle for a narrow loss. 
Martin Ferrari was awarded the best player from the Queensland side. 
Shrek

WA vs WA Country

A must win game for us and as always our games against Country are torrid affairs with no love lost with our country cousins. The first half was a fairly even with a nice short corner variation that had Jimmy Miller and Noel Morrison combining to give us a 1 nil lead at the break. 
We could have stretched our lead after a bad challenge on Craig Burgess by the Country goalkeeper lead to a penalty stroke but he was able to prevent Noel Morrison converting. 
The second half was a see-sawing affair that our forward combination made the most of with three excellent goals; the first to Richard Thurtle. Noel Morrison made up for his miss with a great 2nd goal for the match with a great run and pass from Jimmy Miller. John Simms picked up the final goal to seal our win 4-0. 
Our defense had another wonderful game repelling all of Country's attacking moves and once again preventing the opposition from converting any short corners to bring home a clean sheet, a very difficult task in these tournaments. 
This was a great team win with Noel Tremayne's game plan working very well and all the team contributing well. 
Best player was awarded to Colin Tyler with Phil Cain having a good game. 
After round two WA is in 3rd position behind NSW and Vic. 
Shrek

WA vs NSW

This was always going to be a tough assignment with NSW not being defeated since the 2001 tournament. This is a game that I look forward to for a chance to beat a great team and play top level hockey. 
From the start our defense was under pressure that was repelled time after time by some great team work. NSW finally broke through with a cross deep in the circle that was touched over Martin’s pads. They scored a 2nd after an over zealous tackle resulted in a Penalty stroke which Peter Huk converted. Our forwards pressed some attacks deep into NSW defense so even though we went into the break 2-0 down we were still well in the game. Our buildup on the left side was working well and we had placed their defense under pressure numerous times. 
The second half once again saw our defense under intense pressure and working well until NSW were able to convert two penalty corners; these were the first corners that we had conceded goals to in this tournament. 
Even though the game was beyond us we continued to press forward and were rewarded with two minutes to go when Richard Thurtle conveted a long ball past the NSW defense to finish the game 4-1. 
Colin Tyler again got the best player award from the opposition with Martin Ferrari winning the Play of the day. 
With this loss we are still sitting in 4th position with NSW 1st, Vic 2nd and Qld 3rd. Our fate depends on our next game against the home side Tasmania. 
Shrek.

WA vs TAS

WA vs VIC

WA vs ??? Semi-final

WA vs ??? Final