U14A Casey vs Doncaster Rovers 6th July
Proudly sponsored by Wet Water Pools
Parents travelled from all parts of Melbourne and surrounds in the middle of school holidays, to travel down the new Eastlink and find the Casey ground in relatively good condition with a stiff north breeze favouring the clubhouse end.
With Nik D, Joel and Jansen all missing, it was up to the rest to step up and keep the winning feeling alive.
Unfortunately the boys started out like they were all on holidays, showing little interest in attacking the ball, leaving it up to somebody else. The malaise was quite contagious with players stumbling and fumbling the ball in midfield and in attack.
The 3 - Day training camp attended by no less than 8 of the squad, appeared to be taking its toll, with players appearing leg weary.
Luckily Drew, Phil and Matt, who had been thrown into defense, were more than holding their own and clearly beating their opponents. Casey hardly had a sniff of the ball in attack, as they once again relied on long bombs to forwards, who were not quick enough to run onto the ball.
Michael Piccoli, Elliot and Luke cleaned up any loose balls, but forward passes went too long with the wind.
Not much was happening apart from in the midfield, where Alex was working hard and creating opportunities for the forwards.
Casey took the first free kick and really tested Luke who could only deflect the ball out. From the resulting corner another strong kick had Luke pushing at the ball which dribbled out for Casey to swoop and bang in their first goal. Ouch, things were not looking good!
Casey were pushing us around with little sympathy shown by the ref, in fact Casey were getting the free’s! A foul on Dion in the Penalty area, after a blatant push, went unrewarded.
Several forward runs from Steven, Alex and Nick Vass, created some good scoring opportunities, but poor finishing was becoming costly.
One final chance of the half, came when Michael Palomares hit the cross bar after a pin-point cross from Steven.
Half-time score: Casey 1 : Rovers 0
Steve really had to fire the boys up at half time with an inspirational speech, it went something like “Wake Up!!”
A reshuffled formation in the second half, into a 4-4-2 structure, saw Phil push into Midfield, alongside Chris. This provided an opportunity for both players to make attacking runs from midfield
Rovers, who were now kicking into the wind started to dominate with all players now having a go. Even when the attacks went wide, Casey were under more pressure. Nick Vass had a shot, then Michael Pala’s left foot shot went straight to the keeper. With a well deserved free Drew passed right to the feet of Alex who passed straight to Steve and GOAL. Good play boys.
The ball was soon down the other end however, where Michael Pic’s challenge on a Casey striker resulted in a free’kick. The resulting kick was headed out by Drew but straight to a Casey player who nailed it. Ouch again, the boys had some work to do.
Michael Pic soon redeemed himself, after receiving a quickly taken free kick from Drew. Michael’s great through ball found Phil, who worked around a couple of defenders to crack the ball from 15 metres out, leaving the goalie and the opposition (players and supporters) speechless! Just quietly this was a nice change. By the way, Goal of the day!
Rovers continued to attack with good ball movement to the feet which was leaving Casey breathless as they struggled to keep up any tempo. Chris, Phil, Alex and Dion were now dominating in midfield.
Shortly after Michael Pal took on his man literally with a good hug and shot past the keeper for our third goal.
Just a small matter of etiquette Michael, you should score the goal then hug your team mates, not hug your opponent then score the goal!
Nevertheless, we were now 3-2 up, full of confidence and running.
Just to finish Casey off, a good through ball to Steve allowed him to get past his man, dribble past the keeper and finish with a smart tap in to seal the game.
A great result in the end, particularly given the lack of playing personnel, the reshuffled structure and the heavy training schedule experienced during the week.
It just goes to show that through hard work and commitment, we can succeed.
Well Done Boys!!!!!!
Scores at full-time: Casey 2 : Rovers 4
GO ROVERS !! – Not bad for half a game of football!
