What difference a week makes! Coming off of the high of completely out-playing Richmond, the 13A's travelled to league new boy's, Melbourne Phoenix, for a top of the table clash at Parkville.
The match began with Doncaster taking the upper-hand and playing solid, attractive football. For the first 20 minutes, Melbourne were pinned in their half, with Rovers creating a number of good chances and half a dozen corners, but failed to score. Melbourne then scored with a break-away goal against the run of play.
The second half saw both teams battling for dominance, with Melbourne resorting to some gamesmanship with shirt-pulling, fouling, etc, unfortunately the very inexperienced Referee struggled to keep command of the game and the match deteriated, with Melbourne shouting the loudest and getting the decisions. Julian broke through, competed fairly for the ball and slotted it away only to be pulled back for a foul. Then, at the other end, a swan dive from a Melbourne forward was rewarded with a penalty. A good game ruined by the man in black! On a positive note, the whole team made a terrific effort to compete and play good football, with Ben and Chris outstanding at the back and Ash making some brave saves at their forwards feet. We look forward to welcoming Melbourne back to Anderson Park later in the season. That will be a cracker!
Cheers Trev.
