Women’s DP1 – Saturday April 26, 2003
Vs St. Andrews
Score: 0-1
We started the game in attacking fashion, with Tonya taking the ball from the hit-off and storming downfield to present an early chance for Becca. However St. Andrews soon took control of the match, with poor marking allowing their strike forwards to terrorize our defenders. Just 8 minutes in they scored a goal which highlighted our main inadequacies. We won a free hit deep in our territory, but aimlessly rushed a hit trying to find the strike forwards up high. The ball was intercepted and passed wide, where we rushed our tackles, enabling their attackers to advance into the circle untouched, and find the unmarked scorer. But with Katrina and Nadine steadying the team we soon improved. Michelle had a deflected goal denied when we were awarded a penalty corner instead. And Tonya and Jodie showed their desperation, both diving to try to put the ball in the net (or did they bump each other over?!)
In the second half we rectified our first half problems and looked the more dangerous, using short passes and marking tighter. Our inners Michelle and Shanina had a greater presence in attack, which allowed us to hold the ball and pressure their defense. Shanina found herself in loads of space, often shouting for the ball in vain, but when she did get the ball she did excellent things. Late in the half we dominated field position and forced many penalty corners, but couldn’t convert these chances. They scrambled well in front of goal to counter our sustained pressure. Our defense was rock solid, with Kayley, Nadine and Bridgit clearing shots, and Bec and Bronwyn making vital tackles during their counter attacks. In fact we didn’t concede a corner during the game.
After going down early, we just needed to concentrate harder as patience would get us back into the match. When we played smarter hockey we looked in control of the game. In fact, the two sides virtually swapped playing styles after halftime. There’s nothing wrong with taking quick free hits, but having forwards taking these hits and bashing it upfield doesn’t work. They had numbers in defense that intercepted the ball or easily stopped one-out attackers. We need to find the balance between playing quality long balls to the strikers and working the ball to them with short passes via our inners and midfielders. We didn’t look like scoring when there was no movement in the circle when attacking. And a few switches of play and goals from corners would be nice! Now we know we can match it with the better teams in the division. And at least their coach fully agreed that the umpiring was aweful!
Other results:
Bulimba 3 v Commercial 0
Kedron-Wavell 1 v South Brisbane Eagles 0
Commodores 1 v South-West United 1
Ascot 2 v QUT 0
Points:
Ascot 8, St. Andrews 7, Bulimba 7, NORTHS 5, Kedron-Wavell 4, South-West United 3, Commodores 2, Commercial 2, QUT 2, South Brisbane Eagles 0.
Lee Oliver
© 2003 Lee Oliver