Match report

Match report

Woodside Warriors hosted Blackwood Forrest for the midday game of U13 Hills Junior Football. These sides faced each other in the very first round of the season in a game that could have gone either way. But since then their seasons have been on different trajectories with Woodside notching a couple of strong victories along with a few narrow defeats, while Blackwood remain unbeaten.

From the get-go it was evident why Blackwood are flying high. This is a team dominated by a handful of young stars, including some of the largest, fastest, strongest players in the league. And their game-plan reflected this. This small group of goliaths were given free-reign to seek and destroy across the pitch. Their size may have been the first thing to meet the eye, but their speed and stature was equally matched by their game-smarts and freakish ability to hit a ball cleanly, on-target, from a single step. But Woodside U13 Red turned up for the challenge and set to work controlling this group, while attempting to create at the other end. The early stages were fairly tight, Woodside were defending well, but struggling to get the ball into their attacking end, where they found only traffic, in the form of a very deep defensive structure that saw six blackwood players sitting back inside their own half. This gave them little chance to create as space was extremely limited. As a consequence, they were under relentless pressure in front of goal, and eventually succumbed to a few goals that arose from half-opportunities. These can be credited to the individual brilliance of Blackwood’s front three.

The second half brought more of the same, but with a still undermanned Woodside team flagging heavily. Perhaps most impressive from Blackwood was their accuracy. Where they managed to score seven goals for the match, they only won four corners and Woodside were forced to take only five goal-kicks. This was extra-impressive as every goal was scored under outstanding pressure from the young Woodside Warriors. It is worth commending the Warriors here. Their defensive pressure, determination and grit was beyond admirable. In the face of extreme pressure, they stood up time and again, fighting for every ball and holding one another up in the face of an impressive foe. Blackwood took this one out. But age and experience dilutes the benefits of size and team-work ultimately trumps individual brilliance. Woodside, your time will come!