South Yarra 3 -1 Middle Park Masters
After a difficult opening game away against Bulleen, where we showed some signs of promise and areas where we could improve, this week we came up against local rival, South Yarra,
It was a glorious sunny day in Fawkner Park and the same squad as last week assembled but with a few tweaks to the starting line up.
We started off well, much like last week, passing the ball well and keeping possession. We had the better of the opening 15 -20 minutes. The only disappointment was an injury to our ‘youngster’, Andy K. Club legend Dibbsy came on in his place.
We opened the scoring after a delightful through ball by captain Bob over a high South Yarra backline. Tony was offside but didn’t go for the ball (too far away???). Berry made a great run from deep and knocked the ball passed the on rushing keeper and tapped the ball into the empty net.
South Yarra had a bit of pressure with some corners but didn’t really threaten Amrit in goals. We looked pretty comfortable dealing with this spell of pressure. We finished the half as we started, playing some decent football.
Indeed, after a flowing moving enabling Bob to get to the by line, we probably should have been 2 up at the break. Unfortunately, Berry couldn’t get Bob’s cut back on target instead shooting over from a good position..
Looking to consolidate our lead after the break, South Yarra were level within a minute!!
A goalkeeping error let the South Yarra striker clean through 1-on-1 and dispatched the ball passed Amrit. This knocked us out of our stride and about 10 minutes later, we went 2-1 down. We conceded a soft free kick near the corner flag and we didn’t defend the cross well. With the ball fizzing across the 6 yard line and defenders and forwards running towards goal to get to it first, the ball ended up in the net at the far post. Rumours that it was on own goal by Cuz were strenuously denied after the final whistle. A goal for South Yarra nonetheless.
Then 5 minutes later, we didn’t keep a good defensive line and South Yarra exploited this. As we appealed for offside, their centre forward was afforded all the time in the world inside the penalty box to pass the ball into the corner of the net giving Amrit no chance.
Chasing the game, we went 3-5-2 and we played some good football again. We created chances, although South Yarra was always dangerous on the break with Amrit called upon to make a couple of decent stops. Our best chance came from a corner. The ball fell to Remco 10 yards out. His first shot was blocked near the goalline and his follow up went narrowly wide of the far post.
Again, there were positives to take from the game in the way we played for periods but little errors here and there are stopping us from having any chance of getting a result.
We keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
Starting line up:
Amrit; Marty, Martin, Andy, Remco: Bob, Cuz, Darren: Berry, Glen & Tony.
Subs:
Dibbsy, SSH & James M
Scorer:
Berry