Match report

Match report

Fog and drizzle was the order of the day as the Woodside Faithful made the trip to Torrens Valley to tackle the mighty Rams. 

And mighty the Rams were – organised in defense and dangerous going forward. The way they played this one, it’s surprising that they’re not higher on the ladder. But Woodside were up to the task and controlled much of the early running with a neat passing-and-moving style of play, built on solid positioning, that kept them in control of the ball, and the ball in their attacking end. This created several promising raids and a couple of half chances, but the homes side’s defense was proving a tough nut to crack. It was clearly going to take something special to score against this bunch. And something special is just what happened. With thirteen minutes on the clock, a ball was played back from deep in Woodside’s attacking right-hand corner of the pitch to a very well-placed CDM. The CDM then unloaded with his left foot, seeking the third point of his triangle-of-support. The cross curled toward the penalty spot, where it was intercepted by Woodside’s CAM who expertly flicked a glancing header into the top right corner of the net. It was possibly the goal of the season, showing not only great positioning and support play, accurate passing and team-work, but also impeccable skills. It was impressive! A minute later, Woodside Goaled again with a neat finish coming on the back of their short passing game. This threatened to open the floodgates, but The Rams were having none of it. They redoubled their efforts to create a couple of half chances of their own, while continuing their wall-like defense at the back. And so we went to half-time with Woodside leading 2 – Nil.

The second half brought more of the same – Woodside largely dominating, but Torrens Valley defending well and threatening to score on the fast break. The trouble for Torrens Valley was that Woodsides back three were impeccable. They jockeyed with patience, waited for the opportune moment, and then pick-pocketed their opponent to feed the ball wide through the midfield. And the midfield were also playing their role to a T, retiring to help out at the back when needed and transitioning to attack when their mates won the ball. It was beautiful to see each member playing their part to keep the clockwork turning. But despite this, it was Torrens Valley who goaled next. And it came on the back of a momentary lapse of concentration from the Warriors. While they had cleared beautifully throughout the match, they suddenly decided to punch a handful of clearances through the middle of the ground. This put them under repeated pressure. And eventually, after ten minutes of the second half, one of these clearances hit the Rams’ striker 20 yards from goal with no-one in front. He drove forward and accurately hit the ball into a narrow gap between the centre back and keeper and the right hand post. This brought the home-side within sniffing distance and they lifted again. But Woodside found their composure, stopped clearing through the middle and knuckled down to their task. The rest of the match was a grind – Yes, Woodside had the edge, but there was no guarantee of the result, until… With two minutes left on the clock, the Woodside striker pressed the Rams’ goal keeper hard… the keeper came out, hesitated, came again, fumbled the ball and watched it whistle past and into his onion bag. And that was it, like the ball, the game was in the bag for Woodside, taking a tight contest 3 – 1 in an impressive spectacle.