Match report
| Season | Date | Round | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 U17 | 22nd May 1:00pm | League Round 7 | MB Beatty Tce |
Stirling United 1
Murray Bridge 3
Match report
On an unseasonably warm late autumn afternoon, Stirling United travelled to Murray Bridge for their Round 7 match. With only 9 of the regular team available, Stirling were fortunate to be playing immediately after their competition leading U13 team, and added four enthusiastic youngsters to the team sheet to even up the numbers.
Stirling started shakily, with a number of passes missed early, and then a tackle from Emily Bouchereau in the box saw the referee pull out a yellow card for preventing a goal scoring opportunity. The subsequent penalty from Will Baker was partially blocked by Lachlan Stein in goal, but slipped from his grasp and rolled over the line to give Murray Bridge an early lead.
From the restart, Stirling started to settle, gaining more control of the ball in midfield and starting to generate some chances up forward, with Henry Monaghan seeing multiple shots either go wide or over the top. With Stirling continuing to press, the ball was released to Tom Harris on the edge of the box. Finding a small amount of space to work into, Harris struck the ball powerfully with his non-preferred left, taking a slight deflection and finding the back of the net to tie things up going into half time.
After half time, it didn’t take long for Murray Bridge to again get their noses in front, with the ever present threat of Edward Mato shooting, striking the right hand upright and deflecting in to open the scoring in the second half.
Stirling continued to press, but with fatigue starting to be a factor in the warm conditions, they struggled to get clear chances on goal. Matt Silcock made a nice run through the middle but his shot went over the top, and a short time later Monaghan fired a powerful shot on target that was blocked by spectacular dive from the keeper.
Frustations started to boil over for Stirling, but referee Sam Le Gallou kept a tight reign on proceedings and prevented things getting out of hand. A free kick in the final minute was struck firmly towards the Stirling goal, and a deflection saw the ball fall at the feet of Ned King who calmly slotted it to extend the final score to 3-1 in what was an exciting game of end to end football.
