Round 9 2008 - South Yarra

A beautiful sunny morning with clear skies greeted us at Wembley Park today. The Ref was there early checking the ground and handing out fresh hot scones that he had baked that morning. What a wonderful day for Football this would be...

Now back to reality !

Dark foreboding clouds eagerly gathered overhead, rain tumbled from the sky, so much so that not 1 single Ref appeared at Wembley Park today....disgraceful ! So muggins here gets roped into reffing the match in pouring rain and absolute cold. Ohh the joys of celebrating your 42nd birthday...

Anyway, enough whinging and on to the match. Despite the cold and dismal conditions, both teams were eager to get moving in this Round 9 clash. Box Hill got off to a good start and controlled the ball well in the difficult conditions. It was clear that the boys wanted to bounce back from last weeks effort against Monash.

The first half saw Box Hill continually find ways to attack and we had South Yarra pinned down in their defensive half. The ball was very slippery today, so our first touch would prove important. South Yarra defended in numbers and managed to get plenty of players behind the ball. Countless close range shots went begging courtesy of a mixture of rushing, water, poor accuracy and more water....actually a lot of water.

Eventually we managed to find the back of the net courtesy of some scrappy play in the 18 yard box, the ball bouncing off a defender before Jesse hit a solid shot from the edge of the box. Goal #2 came in a very similar fashion, a comedy of errors saw the ball ping pong it's way around in front of goal, before it was finally put out of it's misery, again by Jesse. The 3rd goal came after Bob finished an easy chance inside the 6 yard box and gave the Keeper no chance.

So 3 nil up at half time, which should have been more like 6 or 8. Stackie disappeared into the change rooms to speak with the boys and have a hot cup of Cocoa. Meanwhile The Gaffer decided to stay on the pitch and enjoy the wonderful mid June conditions. It's amazing how quickly your glasses fog up in those conditions and how annoying it is when you pull your handkerchief out of your pocket to wipe them , only to find that it is completely drenched !

The 2nd half got underway with Box Hill again controlling the tempo of the match and we continued to press South Yarra's defence and create chances. I lost count of how many goals we missed, Alex had a couple of chances, so did Nick, Jesse did all the hard work to weave through the defence and beat the Keeper, only to shoot the ball wide, Sam had a couple of good chances but missed...after a while it became quite comical and I can remember hearing a South Yarra player say to his team mate "Thank God they can't shoot !"

As such we managed to do a great job of not adding to our halftime score and despite all of our hard work the match finished at 3 nil. A pleasing aspect of the match was the way that we maintained possession and moved the ball around. Our Coaching Director was at the match and he commented on how well the boys played in such dismal conditions. Just a pity that our finishing was not going to plan.

I think pretty much all of the boys spent some time on the bench, which given the conditions was probably welcomed. Poor old Billy was a lonely sight in the distance, cold and wet he stood resolutely waiting for the chance to touch the ball. Our defenders had a good day, Ben, Michael, Jordan and Paul all played very well. As did the midfielders, Nick, Charlie, Aaron D and Johnny. A special mention to Kosmo who despite his best efforts just couldn't get that final kick to work. Like I said to you before the game Kosi, you should have worn those flashy Puma boots and everything would have been different !

Next week we start all over again for the 2nd half of the season. The boys need to remember what they have learned from playing each team in the first round and use it to their advantage. As the season goes on, teams improve.... so we must work hard at training and play smart on game day.

PS: If any of you would like to do a Ref course, I will be more than happy to pay for you ! If not can I please have a Hot Water bottle on standby at half time next time it rains.