AHJSA Match Reports

An overcast and humid day greeted the teams for the match between Mount Barker United Blue and Nairne at Anembo Park

The game started with Nairne pushing forward early and dominating field position. After many shots on target they were eventually rewarded with an early goal less than 5mins into the game

Nairne continued to press forward and had numerous shots on goal which were brilliantly repelled by Mount Barkers keeper, Taj Gore. 

Mount Barker composed themselves and after a series of penetrating runs by Charlie Kacerik they pressed toward the Nairne goal. A dangerous cross by Liam Hawkins was handled inside the penalty area and the referee had no choice but to award Mount Baker a penalty kick from the spot. Charlie Kacerik confidently stepped up for the shot which was repelled by the Nairne keeper, only to find the ball back at Charlie’s feet who calmly slotted the ball into the net to even the score at 1 -1.  

The game then settled down with both teams pressing each other hard. Mount Baker gave up possession in front of goal and Nairne capitalised with another goal to take the lead 1 – 2 heading into halftime. 

An unfortunate late tackle on Oscar Kacerik saw him substituted with only 10mins to halftime and one of Mount Barkers most dangerous players was now on the bench. 

Mount Barker once again composed themselves and began to pass the ball wide. After a nice passage of play Charlie Kacerik weaved his way past 3 defenders to score on the stroke of halftime. 

Score were now locked at 2 – 2. 

Half Time.

The start of the second half began in similar fashion to the first with Nairne pressing forward early and gaining the advantage. After some scrambling in front of Mount Barkers goal area, the ball found the back of the net and Nairne took the lead 2 – 3.

From this point on Mount Baker found their shape and began to dominate the midfield. With this came weight of possession with Rupert Curran and Liam Hawkins passing the ball wide to Mount Barkers speedy forwards. Oscar Kacerik returned to the field and made an immediate impact with another goal. Scores we now level at 3 – 3.

Mount Bakers confidence grew and they were now beginning to connect continued phases of play. They dominated field position and were beginning to string together multiple passes and maintain possession. Shortly after, Oscar Kacerik brought up his second goal and Mount Barker took the lead 4 -3. From the kickoff Mount Barker pressed hard and were quickly rewarded with a goal to Liam Hawkins to pull away 5 – 3. 

Mount Barker now had the ascendancy and dominated field position. They held their shape and were composed. A dangerous cross into the penalty area was again handled by a Nairne player and the referee awarded Mount Barker their second penalty. This time Oscar Kacerik strode up for the shot. Similar to the previous penalty, the Nairne keeper repelled the shot only to put the ball back at Oscar’s feet who didn’t miss the second opportunity. Score 6 – 3

Full Time

Both Coaches agreed it was an exciting and entertaining game to watch

The young referee did a solid job of officiating the game, which was his first

The pitch was in great shape and the day was overcast with a mild temperature, maybe one of the last before winter makes its mark on our winter sport with cold and rain.

Strathalbyn were caught of guard early with a quick movement of the ball from the Rams midfield to the attackers and then the back of the net. The Strikers were not phased and followed up with impressive attack and a quick response to level the scores. a penalty goal moved the score on giving the strikers a lead. The Rams worked hard to restrict the Strikers attackers and change their play to match the tempo.

The Rams came out with a refreshed attitude and played a fantastic team game with impressive work in defence running down the Strikers attackers and great saves in goals. The Rams stuck to their strategy and stemmed the flow of goals to 1 in the second half, and although the Rams did not score in the second half, they showed promise with many more shots at goal. They made it a game of two half’s by coming back stronger and more determined to restrict the Strikers.

On the Day the Strikers got the jump on the Rams and even though the second half was a big improvement for the Rams the Strikers held on for a win. This match up will be something to look forward to in the main season.

Ben Dahmke was back as coach and lead his team, Hahndorf Under 12 White, in their first home game for the season against a strong Stirling Districts side.  

For the first half Reilly Bowden once again took on the job as goal keeper and proved, yet again, how fearless he is in the goal box. In the second half  Reilly joined the attacking lineup and Logan Maxwell had a turn as goal keeper.  Logan demonstrated a gutsy effort, keeping out many shots on goal.   

The solid defensive set-up of Matthew Knight, William Whiting, Oliver Dahmke and Charlie Harvey made it difficult for the opposition to break through. With Matthew and Charlie controlling the Stirling Districts wingers, William and Oliver worked tirelessly in the back line stopping many attempts on goal.

Hahndorf's midfielders Harry Mumford, Julian Hack and Max Oliver displayed clever movement of the ball throughout the game.  Julian and Harry broke through the opposition defenders several times and took several shots at goal.  With the midfielders skilful movement of the ball, the attacking trio of Logan Maxwell, Lucus Leske and Joshua Verryt were given the opportunity to take possession and infiltrate the opposition goal space.  Logan proved solid when he had the ball at his feet, and the Stirling defenders found it hard to take the ball away form him.  Lucus and Joshua used their speed to their advantage and often beat their defenders. 

The attackers had many shots at goal, with Joshua successful in the later part of the second half with a beautiful strike at goal which proved too good for the Stirling Districts goal keeper.  

Despite the end result, the Hahndorf Under 12 White team never gave up and work hard for the full 60mins. The team is growing in confidence, and with the boys getting used to play together their cohesion is becoming very evident. 

This Saturday's U14 game was a guaranteed battle of wills between Strathalbyn RED versus their nemesis Murray Bridge GOLD.

From the outset Strathalbyn took control of the game with a goal in less than 2 minutes. As more goals followed for both teams, Strathalbyn were ahead by 3 at the halftime whistle. The second half saw Strathalbyn struggle to keep control as Murray Bridge used their infamous downhill pitch and style of play to their advantage. Whilst at one point it seemed that the Bridge would level the score, Strathalbyn, through solid team work,exciting forward movement,excellent goalkeeping and resilient defending were able to maintain the lead in the game.

Always entertaining between the two teams, the score at full time was Strathalbyn 7 - Murray Bridge 6

Woodside Red were fortunate to have a second home game in the grading rounds, welcoming Murray Bridge Blue who travelled the distance to Woodside.

The Woodside coach, prior to the start of the game, reluctantly announced JETT TONKIN as captain for the season after all players voted him in as their preference. The coach, Jett's own father, was obviously hesitant to announce his own son as captain.

"It's the people's choice", said Jett, numerous times over the days prior to the big game. "Surely you have to listen to the people."

Once the formalities were out of the way, both teams took to the pitch and the match declared underway on the referee's whistle.

Jett wasted no time showing his leadership, sinking the first on the 5th minute. JAMES WALL, who held second place on the captaincy votes comfortably, sunk the second on the 12th minute.

Ten minutes later CHRISTIAN FRANCIS added to the tally, followed by JOSH BEVAN, a few minutes later. HAYDEN DAVIS, pending an investigation into his playing history, may have hit the back of the net for the first time ever with a goal sin assistance. His unsuspecting father happened to be looking the other way at the time, something that everyone is sure Hayden will be reminding him of at every chance.

On the 35th minute the away team, Murray Bridge Blue, managed to cruise past Woodside's midfield and defence, to open their account. IZEYAH RAYMOND and Jett Tonkin then followed it up with a goal each before half time.

Woodside coach, BRUCE TONKIN, took the opportunity to familiarise his players with alternate positions, making numerous positional changes entering the second half.

Woodside's ever-willing U12 player, TROY MURRAY, filling in as the 11th player for a team seemingly full of players away on vacation, opened his U14 goal tally on the 47th minute. After skimming the heels of a couple of opposition players, Troy was paid his dues by the referee.

Meanwhile, AILBHE BIFFEN, was very unfortunate not to have opened his 2019 goal tally with as many as five strikes on target. Supporters on the sideline, including his own parents, continue to wait for his imminent arrival.

TOBY VINCENT managed to add a couple to the team's tally and as many to his own as the Woodside Red team reached an end to the second half of the second round, ending in favour of the home team, 12 to 1.

Kudos to the Murray Bridge keeper who should be proud to have stopped Woodside from scoring more. His positive attitude fantastic to see. Even in the dying minutes of a one-sided affair he saw the positive side, applauding goals when well done.

Woodside will see Stirling Districts White at the end of the schoo holidays, whilst Murray Bridge Blue sees Hahndorf at Beatty Terrace.

This second round match started with early goals for Araby Phelan, Toby Leigh and then a penalty to Henry Monaghan following a hand ball which saw Stirling United 3-0 up within 10 minutes. Despite this, Woodside kept their heads up and put pressure on the ball all over the field, forcing United to move the ball with precision to make inroads forward, and the scoring was halted until the 20th minute when Phelan added another. A second penalty was this time taken by Joseph Doyle who calmly put it in the back of the net, followed by a lovely turn inside from the left wing which saw the goals open up for Monaghan to slot his second. With Leigh scoring his second before half time, the game was all but over at that stage.

To Woodside’s credit, they continued to fight in the second half, and limited the scoring somewhat, but with goals from Yuto Okada and Calen McCormick as well as Leigh, Phelan and Monaghan (who finished with four) it was a comfortable victory for the home side.

This young group of warriors playing only their second game in the U14 competition were drawn against a much more experienced and physical team who will no doubt be the top contenders for the Division 1 title this season. Over the week the team had talked about their opposition and set themselves small achievable goals to try and ensure that they played the style of football we are looking for in 2019 and finished the game in a positive way.

The game started well for these young warriors matching it with their opposition by tackling hard and moving the ball in some good passages of play. Our opposition started putting good combination passes together and got behind our defensive line to put pressure on our keeper. After the keeper repelled a number of attacks, by leaving his line and clearing the ball, Stirling finally found the back of the net for the first time. This did not stop the work ethic of our warriors who continued to work hard down the wings and put pressure on their back four. However, in quick succession Stirling were awarded two kicks from the penalty spot and they looked like they would kick on with a rain of goals. The warriors were not going to let this happen and through a blistering attack down the right hand side the warriors were getting shots on goal, some just missing and one hitting the crossbar. At half time we had achieved one of our key goals of keeping our opposition to under 10 goals.

In the second half the warriors could have said the game was over but once the whistle was blown they came out fighting, closing players down and making Stirling work to move the ball forward. Our defensive midfield stood strong with second efforts, while our forwards chased down balls putting pressure again on the Stirling defence. Once again our keeper was put under pressure but we continued to defend well not conceding their next goal 'til nearly half way through the second half. The boys worked hard supporting each other and trying to keep possession by passing to teammates feet and moving the ball forward, but as this warriors team has shown over many seasons its strength is in an organised and tight defensive structure that fights for every ball. This spirit ensured we finished the second half keeping our opposition to under 14 goals. 

The match was well played by all warrior players who continued to play the brand of soccer that their coaches, managers and parents are proud to see. While our opposition was well drilled, I could not have been prouder of the way this warrior team played our game, passed and supported each other up and down the field, and were positive towards each other by always encouraging.  Their opposition played a more physical game and unfortunately our young warriors are today carrying knocks and bruises that they are not accustomed to receiving in a junior soccer match. However, that being said our boys can take a lot out of the game. They kept to the style of soccer we are developing at Woodside, they supported their friends and stayed positive all game. They played for each other, with at times great passages of play to move the ball forward and put pressure on their opposition. They ran, tackled and best of all never gave up. Go Warriors. 

The U16's were short on numbers and neither of our keepers were fit to play. The 11 that were fielded however were full of energy and heart for a good game. The game started fast and Woodside immediately built the pressure and held the ball in the forward half for most of the opening 20 minutes. A goal from the captain Richard starting us strong and we were up 3-0 in no time. The energy started to drop from Woodside and Torrens even had a few chances on goal. It was a wake up call and they scored just as the half came to a finish. The score was 4-0 but the boys needed to switch on. After the half time break they started to play the ball to each other a lot more and link up together really well. The goals began to come and all the boys were looking to add to the scoreboard. The boys played exciting football in the second half with a lot of good crosses and working off each other to rip through Torrens Valley's defence. The game finished 12-0 and was good to keep a clean sheet and to see Ryan score a hat trick and even get another after that. The boys played well and can hopefully take some confidence going into the next few games.

The match got underway with 9 players per side due to school holiday absences, so promised to be a high scoring affair and so it turned out. Matthew Daly got the scoring underway after 4 minutes, with Sam Bartlett and Nick Robinson both scoring inside the first 10 minutes. Tyson Reuter, and then Matthew Daly (twice) added further goals for United. Kane Gibbs then scored the goal of the season so far with a beautiful strike from outside the box that curled into the top left corner. Hahndorf managed to get one back before halftime but the game was effectively over at the break.

In the second half, further goals to Reuter, Robinson and Gibbs, along with Will Bartlett and Joseph Doyle capped off the scoring for United, while Hahndorf got a second to at least give them something to take home from the match.

Coming off a strong victory in their first game the U13Gs were excited to play again! With our main keeper away, I am very proud that Talitha Fleming and Isabelle Herrmann, stepped up to help our team out, both of which performed so well! Within the first 10 minutes our fierce warrior strikers took their opportunities and were rewarded with 2 successful shots. Our third goal was scored off an impressive run and some combination play between our strikers. The opposition still kept up chase and were able to slip a goal past our keeper (Well done to them!)... half time rolled around and some changes were made to the lineup. Heading back out, previous defensive players were given a chance to have a run up front, with attackers taking their place in defense. I applaud all the girls for their sportsmanship and comradery, in sharing positions! Our midfielders shone bright in the second half creating impressive passages of play, and some great shots putting us up 7-1 at full time. Thanks again to all the parents who support our girls and fulfill duties on the sidelines, much appreciated!