Round 14 - U15 A Boys

Doncaster Rovers vs North Caulfield 9th August

On a fine overcast day Rovers looked to consolidate their position in the top two and keep the winning feeling going. The team lined up “the same” as last week with Luke in goal, York sweeping, Chris T and Daniel playing as twin Central Defenders whilst Elliott and Steve were playing as wide wing backs on the left and right respectively. Nik was the Central Midfielder, flanked by Drew on the right and Alex on the left with Matt V and Michael as twin strikers.

This was where all semblance to last week finished. While the players and positions were identical, the mindset was 180 degrees different. All players were content to stroll around as if the game was already won and not create any play at all. Subsequently most of the teamwork went out the window and while there were many good individual efforts there was no cohesive play that put NC under any pressure. After the first 15 minutes of play it was obvious NC were here to play and attacked the ball, whereas Rovers were just going through the motions.
The best highlight of the first half occurred when Elliott decided to jump the fence to retrieve the ball and in his haste clipped the top of the fence resulting in a triple summersault (with pike) before landing flat on his face. If this was Diving Competition Elliott would be Gold, Gold, Gold!! Chris please keep this in mind for summer training.

Rovers were getting plenty of field play but the passing to opponents was as good as the passing to team mates. Rovers had two decent chances but Nik went wide as did Matt V’s shot. NC continued to press and received a corner after sloppy back play. A well taken kick was met by a short punch out by Luke. NC swooped as Rovers watched and pushed a goal in before anyone could defend.
Rovers counter attacked Chris S having a good lob into goals only to be thwarted by a very good deflection by the NC keeper. Soon after Alex received a free kick, well taken by Nik, but whose shot was again deflected by the NC keeper.

Half-time score: Rovers 0 : North Caulfield 1

Rovers started out the second half still in second gear with all players afflicted by the
“just cruising” disease. A couple of players were trying to lift but the teamwork was just not there. If anybody can solve this mystery of where teamwork goes there is one coach at least who would like to know where it goes to so he can find it.
Rovers had a couple of good build ups with Nik passing to Chris S who passed to Matt V looking very dangerous as you do when you are offside. Shortly after York made a good run into the forward half and passed to Mitch whose shot on goal was just wide.
The coach was looking for some inspiration and replaced 3 players with Dion, Nick Vass and Matt D, however the play up forwards lacked any direction with limited movement by all forwards. Alex made another good run but held the ball in too long allowing NC time to block up the defensive area. Alex passed to Matt D but his shot was again just wide.
Shortly after NC received a soft free just out of the penalty area, however the kicker was good enough to get around the wall and Luke to put it in the corner of the net. OUCH!!
Rovers were buried, well and truly. Soon after the Ref put Rovers out of their pain and blew the whistle.

Scores at full-time: Doncaster Rovers 0 : North Caulfield 2

ROVERS –boys what you did last week has little to do with what you can do this week.
Play to your potential and see what you can really do!!

Round 14 - U13 B Boys

Doncaster Rovers 2 - Croydon City Arrows 1

Today seemed to be a game of different teams playing each of the halves.

Todd’s excellent strike and goal from a free kick was the main offensive highlight in what was mainly a defence focused first half. Croydon came out very determined and kept our boys off balance with constant pressure and generally being first to the ball. Strong defensive play by Cameron, Christian, Branford and Stephen kept the score to 1-1 going into the break.

The second half saw a change in the boys in both spirit and fight. Croydon lifted an increment in attempting to break through but the boys matched and exceeded this. Hard to single out boys as they all fought so well with Liam and Derek being notable in their change of spirit.

The winning penalty by Stephen Burton came about because of the constant stress placed on Croydon by the boys throughout the second half. Another 10 minutes and I suspect the boys would have broken through again. A win to be proud of.