Women’s DP1 – Saturday July 5, 2003
Vs Commercial
Score: 0-0
This was always going to be a very tough and competitive match against a side who were on the same amount of competition points as us. Commercial were on a roll – they’d won their last four including wins against the top two sides, handing Ascot their first loss of the year in the process. There is definitely no love lost between the two teams, and the game turned out to be one of the most intense of the season. But our warm-up was awful – having only a handful of players there 20 minutes before the start of the match doesn’t help – so Commercial appeared on top of us in the early stages. We need to be dressed, stretched and ready to play 20 minutes before hit-off.
The teams were playing conflicting styles of hockey. Our halfbacks Nadine and Brownyn pushed up high in an attempt to give us the advantage in numbers, but this allowed them to attack our shortened defense on breakaways when our attacks broke down. But our defense held firm thanks to fullbacks Michelle and Kayley and good running from the halves and inners. Although it took a while, the forwards started linking up their passes to beat their defenders and we threatened their goal. Right winger Becca went within an inch of deflecting the ball into the goal from Kym’s hard free hit taken outside the circle. And Shanina advanced into the circle in a promising play but her shot went wide of the net. Everybody was having a real go, but unlike recent weeks, could we maintain the high standard after halftime? Could we ever!
Our ball control in the second half was exemplary. After a lacklustre first period, centre half Kym totally dominated the match after the break. Working in tandem with the halfbacks and commanding inside forwards Shanina and Danielle, we grew in confidence and held field position in their 25 for an extended period. However shots at goal and penalty corners were minimal, partly due to their fine defense. When Commercial did break away, our fullbacks (particularly Kayley) were outstanding, rescuing us from very dire situations. Danielle got injured (would you like that egg scrambled or boiled?!) which forced Nadine to inside left and Bec came on to have a commanding presence at left half. Jodie ran well all day and created dangerous 2-on-1 situations with Tonya and Kym, but feet got in the way. Late pressure saw Commercial threaten, but Bridgit and co. kept them at bay.
An excellent team effort with the team showing great determination for the entire game. But we are just lacking the ability to score the goals. But our second half play was beautiful to watch. The pressure seemed to be getting to them, with their players and coach receiving warnings for abusive language and backchat. The umpiring was of a high standard, but we didn’t react when we got the odd awful call (thanks Craig David!) In the last month we’ve had a tough stretch of games playing the three form sides and managed to come out with a few points and our heads held high. Now we’ve survived that, we need to have a winning end to the regular season, as there are seven teams vying for finals spots. Let’s aim at winning at least three of our last four games and bring even better form into the finals.
Other results:
QUT 1 v Bulimba 1
Ascot 2 v South Brisbane Eagles 1
Commodores 1 v Kedron-Wavell 0
St. Andrews 5 v South-West United 0
Points:
Ascot 23, St. Andrews 20, Kedron-Wavell 17, NORTHS 15, Commercial 15, Commodores 15, Bulimba 14, South Brisbane Eagles 7, QUT 7, South-West United 7.
Lee Oliver
© 2003 Lee Oliver