WA Over 40's - 2013 Match Reports

WA vs TAS - Sunday, September 29, 2013

The WA Over 40 campaign kicked off this morning with a tussle against Tassie at Olympic Park, Sydney. 
A clear blue sky and a moderate 22 degree forecast were near perfect conditions, perhaps a bit on the warm side with minimal breeze at ground level, for the first game of the competition. 
We started fast with good structure and slotted the first goal courtesy of a fine finish by team newcomer Iain Kirkaldy (aka Ees) within four minutes. 
Not to be outdone, veteran of multiple tournaments, Craig Emslie (aka Ems) got himself into a good position to deflect a lovely ball driven in by David Hurst to beat the keeper to take the score to 2-0, with just 10 minutes gone. 
Tassie helped us with an own goal close to the break to give us a comfortable 3-0 lead. 

Tassie came out fighting in the second half and got two opportunistic goals from longish balls through to their forwards. 
One of the plays of the day came from a drive toward the left side of the D by Ees, who turned and fired a ball to Mikey Starling on the 25 who one-timed a late cut shot to Alan Dick on the right and he made no mistake beating the keeper for a 4-2 lead. 
Tassie did not lie down and kept coming at us in the last 15 minutes. They took their few chances well on the break and managed to put two past us to squeeze out a 4-4 draw with only two minutes remaining. 

Whilst not the result we were hoping for there were plenty of positives for the rest of the week. 

Result: WA 4 – TAS 4 

Goal scorers: Kirkaldy, Emslie, Own Goal, Dick 
Man of the Match: David Hurst and Brian Siva (another ‘newbie’) were WA’s best players, displaying some fine skills throughout the game. 

WA vs WAC - Monday, September 30, 2013

Solid win today for the WA Over 40 team against the WA Country boys. 
It was another hot afternoon at the Sydney Olympic Hockey cauldron with the temp ratching up a few degress and no breeze to cool our ageing bodies.We attacked from the outset and had numerous 
shots on goal with the WAC goalie pulling off a number of saves to deny us an early lead. The first goal came from a well timed bunt from Craig Emslie, with Iain Kirkaldy picking up the assist. 
The next goal followed soon after via a corner variation, with Armo sipping one to Mikey Starling on the left who flicked it hard and high into the net to take the score to 2-0 at the break.  
The WAC goalie fainted during the break from the heat (our goalie, Cameron Robinson, managed to stay on his feet the whole game, nice one Cam!) which delayed proceedings for a bit. 
The second half saw wave after wave of attacking moves, which even saw the half backs getting in on the shooting action. Armo took a free hit 5 yards out, dummied right and went left past a block by  
Jamon Johnston to smash a low and hard tomma into the corner, sensational! Dick, Emslie and and Siva were leading the charge through the inners and slicing through the defence with ease. Emslie  
scored another late goal to take the lead to 4-0 and that was the ball game. Result: WA 4 – WAC 0 

Goal scorers: Mikey Starling, Craig Emslie (*2), Paul Armitage  
Man of the match: Brian Siva 
Cards: Yellow – Fab Crescenzi and Tim Ashford. Green – Dave Perry

WA vs ACT - Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Today's game against the ACT was a must win encounter to ensure top spot in our draw and a semi final shot on Thursday against old rival Queensland. 
The intensity from the outset was excellent as everyone knew what had to be done. The structure and passing from half backs to forwards was working to plan and creating multiple scoring opportunities  
in the first half. However, their goalie pulled off a number of excellent saves from field shots and short corners to deny our forward pack. Paul Armitage, Mikey Starling and Brian Siva controlled  
the mid field and instigated many penetrating advances.The backs - Fab Crescenzi, Dave Perry and Tim Ashford - dealtwith the relatively few attacking moves from the ACT boys with ease and kept a clean  
sheet going into the break. We knew we had to convert our chances in the second half and that's exactly what we did within a few minutes. Iain Kirkadly was carrying the ball through left inner at pace  
beat a couple of defenders and threw a well waited pass through to Jamon Johnston who weaved behind the fullback in the dee and one time a shot into the net, to open his account.  
Talking of getting off the doughnut, Stu MacDonald had a great opportunity to do just that after receiving a ball on the 25 without an ACT defender in site, walzing into the top of the dee 
with eyes bulging, he rattled throught the options of where he's going to smash the gaol, bottom left, top right, only to muff the shot. Being such a sweet striker of the ball he deserved better.  
Ems snagged a double bagger, again with ease, and is the ultimate seagul (in a good way), with lightning reflexes and a hunger for goals, rather than chips! Kirkaldy also contributed with a goal from  
variation 3C, bunt to the left, push back to the injector on the left post for a slap hit into the net for his second for the series. All in all a satisfying win. Our performance is trending in the right  
direction and we're looking like we'll peak at the right time for the two big clashes ahead. Result: WA 4 - ACT 0 

Goal scorers: Jamon Johnston, Iain Kirkaldy, Craig Emslie (*2, again!)  
Man of the match: Brian Siva (again, he's going to have excess luggage at this rate hauling all his trophies back to Perth) with Iain Kirkaldy picking up the Players Player award 
Cards: Green – Paul Armitage 

Semi-Final - WA vs XXX - Thursday, October 3, 2013

As we finished top of our division our game today was against Queensland who finshed second in their division. The boys in maroon beat us convincingly in last year's GF so we were well aware of the calibre of their players and the damage they could do. 
From the outset we had good structure, as practiced and drummed into us by coach Mikey Starling, and looked in control. We were switching it from side to side to try to find space but their whole team were flooding the defence, making it hard to penetrate the dee and create chances.Craig Emslie had a great opportunity early on, receiving the ball at the top, jinking around a defender to find himself in a one on one with the goalie. angling toward the right he waited until the goalie came out and was going down to slot the ball underneath him, only to be denied by a slight flick of the pad on the way through, which was enough to knock it off line and over the back line.  
There were a few close calls against the run of play with their best player, Smithy (ex-Australian), narrowly missing getting a defelction on a hot cross in front of goals and a couple of others bobbling around in the dee before being cleared by our desperate defenders. 
So it was 0-0 at the break with WA enjoying about 75% of the possession. We talked about maintaing our game plan and keeping composure in the second half and the results would come. Unfortunately, Queensland scored on a break, with their attacked crossing a ball from the bassline to a an attacked on the right post for an easy tap in. Despite the setback, we didn't panic and our belief in ourselves didn't falter. 
not long after we scored through short corner variation 3C again, with Mikey Starling drawing the goalie out and slipping the ball back to Iain Kirkaldy, the injector, who swatted in our first goal on the left post. 
Allan Colthart spotted a forward breaking up front and attempted an overhead to him...that almost took out the kneecap of an opposition player instead. He well and truly redeemed himself soon after though converting a powerful drag flick to the bottom right of the goals to make it 2-1. 
Our goalie, Cam Robinson, made a tremendous stick save on a short corner low left drag flick that looked like it was past him, as well as a couple of other fine stick saves. 
The third and final goal was a tap in across the line by Craig McKenzie to ensure it went in, with the excellent assist going to Stu MacDonald, who had done the hard work getting the ball past the keeper.  
WA dominated the game and at the final whistle everyone celebrated a great result. Another grand final here we come, this year against a strong NSW outfit.  
Result: WA 3 - QLD 1 

Goal scorers: Iain Kirkaldy, Allan Colthart, Craig McKenzie 
Man of the match: Paul Armitage with Tim Ashford picking up the Players Player award 
Cards: Yellow - Alan Dick, Stu MacDonald Green - David Hurst 

Second Semi-Final - WA vs XXX - Friday, October 4, 2013

Result: WA n - XXX n 

Goal scorers: 
Cards: 

Final WA vs XXX - Saturday, October 5, 2013

Result: WA n – XXX n 

Goal scorers: 
Cards: nil.