Round 8 - U15 A Boys

U15A Doncaster Rovers vs Casey 21st June

On an overcast day Rovers took up Steve’s challenge to whip Casey all over the park and gain another 3 points. We wanted Casey to be so sick of Rovers they would need to call Dr Ben Casey for assistance! Who you ask, well it was a long time ago, when Black & White TV was still an option.
Rovers came into the game with 3 boys out, Dion had a sore ankle from last week, Mitch had a stiff neck from last week and Steve still had bad knees. Chris S was also suffering from the flu and this caused a reshuffle to the team which included Peter Simic being called up from the B’s.
We began with Luke in goal, York was sweeping, Chris T and Daniel were playing as twin Central Defenders whilst Elliot and Matt V were playing as wide wing backs on the left and right respectively. Nik D was Central Midfielder, flanked by Alex on the right and Drew on the left with Michael P and Nick V as twin strikers.
The game started with both sides having a share of the ball but the playing style was different. Rovers were passing the ball to the feet whereas Casey were just “bombing and hoping” without much luck. Rovers had at least 10 half chances in the first half, and several good chances as the defense stood firm and the ball was in the Casey half most of the time. Nik was controlling the centre of the ground and providing plenty of supply to the forwards, however we could not penetrate the Casey defense. Peter was introduced into Midfield with Alex pushing into a strikers role in place of Nick V. Finally from a free kick, Nik’s cross was flicked on by Peter to Michael, who passed back to Peter and from outside the box rifled the ball into the top right hand corner of the net. Shortly after Michael again featured and ran at the keeper only to hit the post! Alex and Drew then took a corner with a relay touch allowing Alex a good shot on goal only to be deflected by the keeper. In the days strange shot Matt V drew the keeper and crossed the ball to Matt D who was on in place of Michael. Matt D’s shot from one metre out was somehow deflected off a Casey defender and over the crossbar!!

Half-time score: Rovers 1 : Casey 0

Rovers were clearly winding up and the game turned into two halves, the Rovers backs, well on top; and the Rovers forwards, well on top. The only Casey player to cause any trouble was No 2 who had several good shots on goal only to find Luke who was equal to any challenge with 3 goal saving, clean catches on the line. Matt D started the half with two misses wide and high, then it was Matt V’s turn with another shot, hitting the crossbar on the way over, after a quick run at goals. Alex then put in a good cross to Matt D but he could not quite reach the ball before it went wide. Finally Matt D had a long run from dare I say an offside position to beat the keeper for our next goal. Shortly after Drew found Alex in space with a good pass and Alex duly saluted with another goal.
There were several off sides saving Casey from further embarrassment as Rovers piled on the pressure. Alex passed across to Drew to repay the favour but Drew shot high from 10 metres out. In the only blemish for the day Casey caught out our defense in the box with a shot from 3 metres out only to hit Chris T on the legs and bounce out. So other sides do have bad days it’s not just us!
Matt D made another impressive run beating a couple of defenders only to be tripped 2 metres out. This made the umpire see Red (and Matt D also.) The offending Casey player will warm the pine for next week as well. Nik took resultant penalty and duly beat the keeper for another goal.
Next week we play Box Hill and have our big test for the season. Lets hope the boys put up a spirited contest, because if they play well there is no doubt Rovers can win.

Scores at full-time: Rovers 4 : Casey 0

ROVERS - keep up the passion for the game, we can match the best of them if we really try.