WA Over 55's - 2013 Match Reports
WA vs ACT - Monday, September 23, 2013
Another tournament for the Grey Ducks and we were keen to start hard early and assert our dominance. Last year we finished runners up and we're determined to restore the ducks to their rightful place as gold medallists this year.
Instructions from the coach were to score early and we duly obliged with a goal in the first 2 minutes. Some might say it was an "own goal" off the goalies pads but Pesty will have none of that - it was all by design and was the first of his hat trick. ACT responded with a few attacks of their own but our defence managed to keep them at bay - newby Goaldoc was determined to start well and managed several great saves on the way to a clean sheet for the game.
In spite of ACTs brief forays into attack we maintained our dominance all over the park. We managed to score regularly throughout the half and by halftime the score was 5-0 to the ducks. Jos and Col were causing havoc up front and Jimmy managed to get the better of his old teammate Ralph Untersteiner who has defected to the darkside playing for ACT.
At halftime Robbie was clearly upset we were only 5 goals in front. We duly responded by scoring 6 in the second half. 11-0 a great start to the tournament!
The highlights for me:
Jos and Pesty's hat tricks.
Jimmy's ridiculous "sand iron" toma that lobbed over the keeper just under the crossbar.
Goaldoc's 2 great saves off penalty corners.
The only downside was a couple of injuries - Jimmy received a cut to his leg but was able to resume the field after some emergency repairs. And late in the game Col received a nasty cut to the back of his hand that needed a trip to hospital and some repair work by the plastic surgeon. Hopefully he won't have to miss the rest of the tournament but he won't be able to play for the rest of this week.
Result: WA 11 - ACT 0
Goal scorers: Jos 3, Pesty 3, Col 1, Jimmy 1, Herro 1, Locks 1, Cuts 1.
Man of the Match selected by WA: Pesty
Man of the Match selected by ACT: Locks
WA vs QLD - Tuesday, September 24, 2013
A balmy day in Sydney; more like an Indian Summer with the temperature hovering in the high 20's. The Grey Ducks lined up against the Banana Benders and from the very outset kept possession of the ball with some accurate crisp passing and movement off the ball. The defensive unit, although getting up close and personal with the Queensland strikers were linking up well with their midfielders, and it was not long before a well worked set of passes found Rudy who in true Bollywood style, glided past the Queensland defence and found Josalator D'silva who in turn slotted the ball past the keeper with a magnificent drive 1-0 (apparently the sun was in the eyes of the keeper - so this author was informed).
The Grey Ducks smelt blood and lifted their intensity and like the mighty Dockers started to turn the screws on the opposition with some great individual skills and astute positional play. The Queensland defensive structure, like ageing infrastructure were feeling the continuous pressure and a collapse was imminent. A long searching ball down the right flank found Herro who worked the baseline and drew the defenders to him and slipped the perfect pass to Jimmy on the spot, who slotted home our second goal 2-0.
Talk about sambas and foxtrots and the name Cutler comes to mind. Cuts started to ply his trademark body feints and was getting all hot and sweaty doing the tango with the Queensland defenders (even had time to promise them free dance lessons) and it was not long before he waltzed into the circle and slotted home our third goal 3-0. Cuts had a great game and worked tirelessly both offensively and defensively.
A good first half with plenty of goal scoring opportunities going astray; credit to our defensive and midfield players who kept up the intensity and continued to provide quality ball to our strikers.
We were pre-warned that the opposition would come out hard at us; and for the first 15 minutes we held possession and kept out structure. Ballistic Pesty was given a yellow card for a soft tackle (guess the Umpire wanted to be in the game too) and was given a rest. This changed the dynamics of the game and gave the opposition a foot in the door and they started to get more ball and pose a few threats to us. A great interception and self-preservation tackle by Woody saw him cop a green card; but the team held together and thwarted many of their forward forays in to our circle.
A solo run down the baseline by the opposition saw them convert in the dying minutes of the game. We held on for a great 3-1 victory.
The road that leads to success is a long one with many a winding turn and in order to reach the zenith and be WINNERS we as a close-knit team, need to maintain our determination, cohesion, cooperation, commitment, confidence, communication and the hunger to succeed in a competition that is a gruelling one.
Result: WA 3 - QLD 1
Goal scorers: Joslyn D'silva, Jimmy Miller, Wayne Cutler
Players player as voted by WA: Wayne Cutler
Best player by opposition: Wayne Cutler
Cards: Yellow – Pesty. Green – Woody
WA vs VIC - Thursday, September 26, 2013
The Grey Ducks managed another reasonable win in their third game for the tournament, defeating Victoria 8-1. The first half began as a bit of an arm wrestle with WA scoring first followed quickly by an answering goal from the Vickers. The WA forward line maintained pressure however and went into the half time break with a 3-1 lead.
The second half saw the Vickers pile pressure on the WA back line. There were a few bodies put on the line as WA soaked up the pressure. Rudy Keswick, Jimmy Miller then turned on a clinic and WA managed to pile on another five goals whilst pressuring the opposition right to the final siren. Jimmy took a five goal haul with two to Jos D'silva and a nicely struck short corner goal to Dave Lockett. Rudy was voted MVP. An all round excellent team effort with improvements showing across the field, and more to come.
Result: WA 8 - VIC 1
Goal scorers: Jimmy 5, Jos 2, Locks 1
Players player as voted by WA: Rudy
Best player by opposition: Jimmy
Cards:
WA vs SA - Friday, September 27, 2013
Match report to come.
Result: WA 4 - SA 0
Goal scorers:
Players player as voted by WA: Ari
Best player by opposition: Gillie
Cards:
WA vs NSW - Saturday, September 28, 2013
Match report to come.
Result: WA 1 - NSW 2
Goal scorers: Crowey 1
Players player as voted by WA: Goaldoc
Best player by opposition: Goaldoc
Cards:
WA vs ACT - Monday, September 30, 2013
Early 8:15 am start at olympic stadium. Trainers and players had to get there at 6:30 am to fix up the walking wounded for the repeat of the a.c.t game.
Another good start in the warm conditions and soon we were 2 nil up with Colin Howell presiding at centre half to give Pesty & Locks a break. Player management foremost in Coach Robs mind. With a dominant mid field and tight defence the forwards were given many opportunities of shots or short corners.
Scorers were Feral 2, jimmy 2, Jos 3 (didn't know how to count; others stopped at 2) After a great transition left to right and into the circle Crowey roofed 1 to give him 2 goals and end game at 9 nil.
Act picked Crowey as best player whilst WA picked Colin Howell as best.
We remain on top. Next victoria repeat and then the finals
Result: WA 9 - ACT 0
Goal scorers: Feral 2, Jimmy 2, Jos 3, Crowey 2
Players player as voted by WA: Colin
Best player by opposition: Crowey
Cards:
WA vs VIC - Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Match report to come.
Result: WA 3 - VIC 1
Goal scorers:
Players player as voted by WA: Jos
Best player by opposition: Woody
Cards:
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.