Match report

Match report

With rain finally making an appearance to remind us all that it was still winter, Woodside found themselves on the road for the first time this season to meet Hahndorf White on their home ground.

With some Warriors, running late, on a rain soaked pitch the Warriors lined up with 9 players and Hahndorf opted to play with 11 and a full bench of subs so, the challenge was set to make do with 2 less players on the pitch until the backup arrived.

Despite the missing numbers on the big pitch the Warriors started the first few minutes brightly and controlled a lot of the ball through Rojo Nambia and Elliot Klein in the midfield. Linking up with Josh Constable and Finn Cradock the Warriors pressed hard early and it wasn’t long until Cradock (who had an outstanding game) scored the first goal at the ninth minute mark. Despite the goal, the momentum seemed to slowly swing towards Hahndorf and a number of forward thrusts started breaking through the large gaps in our midfield. Shortly after Hanhdorf easily navigated their way through the Warriors defense and leveled the match 1 all. The remaining 15 minutes of the second half became an arm wrestle between the Warriors attack and the wall of Hahndorf defenders who had large amounts of players guarding the goal. The limited players seemed to spook the Warriors players and we started to drop off the intensity as the additional workload on a heavy pitch started to become evident in our legs. Hanhdorf also had the luxury of extra players on the bench also rotated their fresh players which put more pressure on a tiring Warriors side. With 5 minutes of the first half left, Finn Randall arrived and was quickly ushered onto the field in order to help protect a corner as Hanhdorf continued to press deep into their attack. Nate Dealtry, Gracie Llyod and Thomas Honner were under siege and the tide of large amounts of free players flooding into the Warrior’s defensive box became overwhelming. With 30 seconds to half time, Hanhdorf seized the opportunity on a ball that failed to be cleared and netted a goal to take them 2-1 into half time. It was a devastating blow for all of the hard work and pressure that the Warriors had managed to soak up against an organised Hanhdorf attack.

At half time, the Warriors coach tried to change the narrative and challenged the tired team to try and focus on helping their teammates in the trenches, shoulder the burden together and step up the support for their fellow players. Within the 2nd minute of the second half Klein scored his first goal for the game and suddenly their was a sense of belief again within the ranks. Jamie Spooner, playing right wing had been trying all day started intercepting the Hanhdorf’s attempts to move their ball out of defense. This allowed Constable and Cradock to start creating a number of dangerous attempts on goals. The forward press on kick outs was also well executed and we were unlucky to not have a number of goals from opportunities created by the very switched on Warrior midfield / attack posse. Constable, who’s outstanding continual high work rate week in week out, has allowed him to dominate opposition’s defenders. As a result, he thoroughly deserved his first goal in the 10th minute of the second half. The Warrior’s had grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and had grinded out 2 goals to give them a 3-2 lead. Hanhdorf, didn’t lie down and started the next wave of their attacks on the tired Warriors defenders. With Axel Vassos’s goal mouth being peppered, many shots on goal were repelled however, disaster finally struck and the score was now 3-3!

To the Warrior’s credit, they rallied again and refusd to lay down. With forward press after forward press, the Warriors pushed, worked together, ground the ball out from loose balls dispute and clawed their way forward. Constable, refusing to not cash in on numerous goal opportunities, netted his second and the Warriors had some breathing space again with a slender one goal lead. Hanhdorf attacked strongly again and were repelled well by Nate Dealtry, Klein, Nambia and Lloyd who took the attackers very wide and allowed the Warriors to push the ball safely out of defense. The full time whistle came to the relief on an exhausted Warriors side with the final score 4-3 ending a thrilling game and possibly one of the best gutsy come backs that the depleted Warriors had mounted in a long time.