Match report

Match report

The team arrived at the Summit to a locked gate to play Ashton in the Knockout cup/Saturday re-run. The moon was full for our first twilight game and the clouds rain was threatening. However, the only threat for the Unified Team was Ashton! Hakim Herriman got his feet to the ball within seconds, Toby Thomas had a good cross towards goal soon after but was thwarted by the Ashton defense. Lance Pope scored our first goal 3 minutes in with a shot that was fumbled by the Ashton goalie. The Hahndorf team were passing around with accuracy and enjoyed the consistency of the Astro Turf. William Viller, Xander Romaldi and Elwin Aylen were all getting the ball. Jesse Powell had a long shot on goal which went high. 6 minutes in and a good cross from Jesse to Lance saw goal number 2. Great sportsmanship from Elwin when he accidentally knocked over an Ashton player after checking he was OK. Toby and Luca Cannavo both had good possessions of the ball. The third goal came 10 minutes in after Lance crossed to Jesse who scored an easy goal. Three goals up 10 minutes in was looking like a challenging night for Ashton. The defense of Xander, Oscar Johnson, Rhys Davies and Elwin was rock solid and they were using goal keeper Tom Boekel to great effect with passes back to him which Tom used to their advantage. Hahndorf’s disciplined positioning and passing kept the ball predominantly in their possession. Jesse scored goal number 4 with another a few minutes later with a great run and kick. Hahndorf defense was solid, allowing them to attack at will. Toby was busy up forwards showing solid skills and Xander had a chance to score but selflessly passed to team mate Hakim. Toby had a shot on goal that was well saved by the under siege Ashton Goalie. Jesse scored his third and Hahndorf’ s fifth for the game.

Jensen Norris, Cameron Norris and Zara Tinsley-Smith came on and immediately made their presence felt. It was great to see Hakim and Jensen get some kicks and brilliant  sportsmanship from Ashton for giving our boys a few extra seconds to enjoy their moment. Mitch Stribley also came on and got on the action from the get go. Play was evenly match between the two teams untill just before half time when Xander moved up to score his first goal!

Hahndorf went into half time 6-0 up.

Second half started with even play between the two teams. Oscar had a long solo run with a long shot at the goal but just missed out. Jensen took a throw in and also had a shot for goal but was also a close miss. The Hahndorf team were all working well together and after yet another goal to Lance and Xander. Ashton had a shot at goal which was brilliantly saved by Tom. Soon after a rare wide pass in defense saw Charles K from Ashton swoop on the ball and kick their first goal. Four more goals for Hahndorf saw us come out convincing winners. The game was played in a very sporting and fair manner. Well done to both teams, every Hahndorf player played their part and a big credit goes to coach Shafiq who has the team working seamlessly as one.