Round 5: 7B Green 2 defeat SC 1

A very satisfying morning: we let through an early goal as our defenders were still a bit disorganised and/or waking up, but we seemed to be the more skilful side overall. Nonetheless, Scotch managed to hold us out and we went into the half-time break 1-0 down. Coach realised later that he should have taken a more rousing approach to our half-time talk because our attitude was probably a bit casual or unexcited. It is worth noting that team spirit has a direct impact on performance, and so talking, encouraging, showing some excitement, all done in a sportsman like manner, can be very infectious and lead directly to results. To the players’ credit, they responded to renewed urgings from the sidelines to ‘attack, attack, attack’. Thus the second half saw us peppering the goal, without much luck, until Conor Boyd surprised their goalie by sliding one into the right side of the net. That equaliser gave us a bit more spring in our step, and everyone seemed a bit more positive in their approach. Our numbers in defence were reduced as we adopted a more aggressive strategy, but defenders were certainly a bit more alert in case of a quick Scotch turnover. Several other of our scoring attempts fell wide or into the goalie’s arms, but a hand-ball from Scotch was looking very costly for them as Myles Pammer lined up to take the penalty (did he, or one of his ‘friends’, suggest Slammer Pammer to the report writer?!). Maybe we were lucky to have Scotch make such a mistake near our goal, but there was nothing lucky about Myles’s kick – it was never in doubt as the net took delivery well left of the hapless goalie. There was still time for another score but it would not have been Scotch’s. All in all, an exciting comeback from 1-0 down, even if we should not really have been in that position - congrats to the whole team, and let’s look to recapture that feeling in future matches.

Special thanks to Conor Boyd and Matt J’s fathers for assisting with nets at the start and Matt’s dad for running the line.

Goal Scorers: C. Boyd and M. Pammer (P)

Best Players: M. Bricknell, C. McMahon and M. Pammer

By Matthew Bricknell