Match report

Match report

On what could only be described a a beautiful day, Woodside travelled to Hahndorf for only its second away game of the season. Both teams didn’t have much warmup time on the park due to the scheduling of an U17 Game prior that ran into their start time, but when they did get started Hahndorf had the downhill advantage for the first half. Woodside undermanned for the game had again enlisted players from their U13 team to sit on the bench to help out. Woodside started off in its usual way finding feet and making their opposition work hard to get possession, the Warriors continued to work the ball around the field making plenty of opportunities down both wings and getting behind Hahndorf's defence. But it would be Hahndorf’s goalkeeper who had the magic touch, getting his hands and even fingertips onto the ball and denying Woodside any chance of that opening goal. Finally, through a scramble in the box, Woodside managed to get its first for the day, but the Warriors knew trying to beat the back 5 of Hahndorf and their talented keeper would not be easy. Woodside were able to find space in midfield and with every forward pass into their attackers they looked dangerous. When a strike from outside the box looked like a sure thing, Hahndorf’s keeper got hand on the ball pushing it on to the crossbar where it bounced twice and was cleared away by the defence. After Woodside's striker found his second goal from another ball that came off the crossbar, Woodside began to relax but as always there is a need to keep focused as Hahndorf were managing to run onto long balls from their keeper's kickouts. Woodside's defensive unit remained strong and, keeping calm heads, used their keeper well to give themselves space and clear the ball back up the ground to a waiting Warrior player. Woodside's attack continued to press hard and increased the lead and, in an attempt to give the U13 players some experience, substitutions were made. The U13s did not disappoint, fitting in well to the U15 structure and making the best of the opportunity while they could, with one of them even putting their name on the score sheet. Hahndorf continued to give themselves opportunities in attack and when Woodside failed to clear the ball, Hahndorf replied with a long ball and a foot race ensued as Hahndorf went on attack. Getting in front, the Hahndorf player only had the keeper to beat and placed it into the back of the net. Woodside awoke and tightened their grip on the game moving the ball around and finding the net two more times. As the halftime whistle sounded Woodside were six goals up at half time.

Due to the late start, Woodside lost its central midfielder for the second half due to refereeing commitments and the Warriors were down to just 12 players. In an effort to try something new, Woodside changed its traditional formation to try and break the 5 player defence of their opposition. In the first 20 minutes they stoped Hahndorf’s ability to try and get out wide and were able to move the ball around more to breakup the Hahndorf defence. When Woodside did find themselves with an opportunity to score Hahndorf’s keeper kept composed and made many a great save. Woodside though were camped in Hahndorf's defence and after more goals were scored Woodside upturned its team moving its backline into attack and attack to the backline. Hahndorf’s team still managed to compete and when the new central defender forgot his role he offered the Hahndorf striker an opportunity, but through quick thinking and a turn of speed he chased down his opponent and the attack came to nothing.  Woodside’s new attack made up of defenders were well supported by the midfields who tried to give them every opportunity to get a goal for the season, but good defence and the talent of Hahndorf's keeper denied them the opportunity. For the last 15 minutes the scoreline didn’t change and Woodside managed to take home the three points.

After the game had finished the Woodside parents and players all commented on the talent of the Hahndorf keeper, for 80 minutes he took every shot on its merits and made some incredible saves. Without him and Hahndorf's central defender who cleared away many Woodside attacks with her attack on the ball and determination there could have been a bigger margin to the winning team. We look forward to the game next time as we are sure that Hahndorf will continue to make marked improvements through the remainder of the season.