Match report

Match report

The Woodside Warriors Red played a memorable match against Murray Bridge. It was one of the few times you will see 16 goals in one game! We started the match in our usual positions and during the first quarter it was obvious we were doing something wrong! Everyone was playing their hardest but despite this, the simple weakness that the Murray Bridge forwards were just too fast chasing the ball gave them multiple shots on goal with Banjo bravely facing off over and again one on one situations that even the best keeper would see the ball passing them. Once we saw this happening, however, by moving Cohen into the left back position then bringing Cooper back into right back gave us the speed we needed to stop the flow of goals against us. Both of these boys earned the players of the match for their stirling efforts - once both were back with George providing the strength in the all important centre back position, Murray Bridge only managed 2 further goals!

We were 7-3 down at half time, and the most impressive thing to watch from the sideline was that no-one hung their heads or felt that we didn’t have a chance, and this belief saw us open the second half strong. Both Banjo and Riley were playing strong left and right defensive midfield positions being tirelessly fast and first to the ball all the time putting great pressure on the Murray bridge forwards. Sam showed much greater endurance and his tackling abilities saw him gain the ball for our team many times, laying off the ball with great thought, thus opening up the game for us. Lysiane consistently popped the ball forward perfectly for our forwards to move on, easily setting up 3 of our goals simply due to getting the ball to the right spot at the right time over Murray Bridge heads. 

Manny was everywhere, moving back to defensive midfield then moving into attack with speed and skill creating many opportunities playing a true roaming inside forward position. One of the surprises was Bob, who played a phenomenal game in right wing, creating 2 goals with well thought out ball placement and scoring the equalizer in the last minutes! Flynn may have felt out of place in forward, but proved his worth on several occasions by pressuring the ball, then moving it from the left wing to the centre. Finally, Riles (Riley T) showed some true goalkeeper prowess in the second half, covering the angles beautifully, and judging when to move forward or stay on the line that resulted in him making several photo worthy saves! Ryan played a true striker role, perfectly finishing many of the created plays and also working to create several of his own. His count of 6 goals will be hard for any striker to keep up with! 

For our second game together, it was obvious in the second half that our talking, spacing and passing outclassed Murray Bridge after their abilities shone through in the first half. By taking control of the game in the second half, we spent the whole time playing in their half and allowed many opportunities that were converted into goals. We couldn’t believe on the sidelines the final result of 8-8, highlighting just how well we worked together in that last 30 minutes. If we can keep this teamwork up we will be looking at a strong season!