Match report

Match report

After waking to clear skies, the Woodside Warriors U15 faithful were surprised to find themselves enshrouded in dense fog and dripping with icy water on their arrival at Ashton Oval. But after falling agonisingly short in a tight tussle in Round 3, the visitors gave themselves every chance against a Rangers team who have cemented their place as one of the top sides in the league.

The first time these two teams met, it is fair to say that Rangers enjoyed a sound advantage in territory and possession. During that one, Woodside’s defensive press was relentless and clean, putting pressure on the Rangers’ forwards and limiting their time on the ball. This kept the Warriors in the match, and they were able to capitalise on the opportunities that they had. But on a boggy pitch that had the ball either skidding through or propping up, defending cleanly was an intractable challenge. In fact, conditions at Ashton were bordering on atrocious. Not only was the pitch playing all sorts of tricks with the ball, but visibility was often less than 50 metres, with players on the far-side unable to be seen from the coaching box, and the opposition goals visible only in the imagination of each gloveman. Rangers handled these conditions best. After just three minutes they goaled, when a misdirected pass skidded awkwardly through a well-positioned defender and got behind the line. From there, it was the extra speed of the older Rangers’ striker that took him away on goal, where he finished neatly. It was a real kick in the guts for the visitors, who hadn’t yet realized the game was underway. A second goal to Rangers in the tenth minute jolted the visitors into life, but it now felt too late. Against an older, stronger side, poor starts are always punished, and the visitors were now playing catch-up football to try to find a goal of their own.

In Round 3, the Rangers’ plan was to hack the ball long out of defense, rely on bigger bodies up front to win the ball and use their individual skills to attack the line. Today, they looked a more formidable foe. Again, they kicked long into traffic, but when they won the ball, they looked far more dangerous. They were no longer going one out at the line, but passing the ball neatly to beat their opponents. And it paid dividends. Although Woodside had settled and were starting to look more like themselves, the Rangers forwards had their measure. And as a few more balls stretched the Woodside net, the game began to slide.

To their credit, Woodside looked a lot stronger in the second half, and in fact, the last ten minutes belonged to the visitors, as they finally found their ability to press in defense. This frustrated the home side, who thought they should be in total control. On the back of their ability to stand up and fight it out to the bitter end, Woodside created several chances during this period only to be denied by the linesman’s flag and some brilliant saves.

The Rangers should also be credited for their sportsmanship. On several occasions, they skittled a smaller Warriors player in a fair challenge only to stop to help their opponent to their feet. The game should always be played hard and fair and on this day, it was!