Match report

Season Date Round Venue
2022 U10 30th April 10:00am League Round 1 WWSC Modified 1
Match report

Woohoo, it’s a new football season! The trees and the weather might be telling us that it is Autumn but it is well and truly Spring in the mind of every football fan: a fresh season, where endless possibilities stretch out in front of our Warriors. Having won promotion from the Under-9s last season to the Under-10s this year (by virtue of our planet completing another cycle in its merry dance through space-time) the U10 Warriors Blue team lined up this Saturday morning for our season-opener against Mt Barker United.

Before we even get to the match, we must give a huge thanks to Mt Barker United for offering some of their players so Woodside could manage the preferred 9v9 format for the game. How often do you see Timmy Cahill swapping shirts so that both teams can play 11-a-side? Okay, so he is retired now and it is against the rules of the professional game, but anyway… hold your heads high Mt Barker United and especially Liam, Lucas, Matteus and Ripley – you did a kind thing for us and we are grateful.

Captain Noah Paech led the Warriors from the kick-off, bringing his trademark energy to the first half: always chasing the ball and frustrating United’s attackers by continually winning challenges and working the ball up the field like a true defensive-midfielder. Tyler Berwick, of our three debuting players, showed he is a natural in the sweeper/central defender role, putting up a series of blocks and repeatedly clearing Woodside’s lines. Amelia Wakefield, another new player to our team this season, had a very solid first half in goal making a couple of accomplished saves and keeping a clean sheet. As a result of these defensive performances Woodside came into the break without conceding, although also with nothing to show for their efforts at the other end of the pitch.

The second half was a very different game and Woodside were the team who broke the deadlock less than ten minutes into the half. Some nice footwork down the right wing from one of our guest players found Tommy Garden on the corner of the penalty box. Tommy turned, shot and buried the ball in the far corner of the net to mark his first-ever goal for the Warriors. Woodside kept up the pressure, with our third debuting player Arthur Lean showing some great positioning and excellent passing movement in some of the attacking passages of play. Unfortunately United took advantage of Woodside’s commitment high up the pitch, hitting repeatedly on the break and taking control of the game. Woodside managed a second goal through one of the guest players but their intensity dropped-off in the last ten minutes and the match was still in United’s favour as the full-time whistle blew. Despite some very disappointed faces on our U10 Blue team, United definitely deserved to take something from the game.

So, there we have it – a return to the football pitch after a long break, a return to all our parents’ Saturday mornings being dominated by winter sport and muddy boots, and a return to the typewriter for your intrepid football correspondent. We have another seventeen rounds of football ahead of us so we have plenty to look forward to, not least seeing how our Blue team develop over the season, but also finding out if your correspondent can manage another season of match reports without running out of football cliches and references to Scottish players from his own childhood.