Round Robin 2 (Aug 15)
RESULT: LOSS 1-3
SCORERS: ANDY
And so ends another season! Unfortunately we lost to All Saints 3-1 so no Grand Final for us this year. But it was a fantastic game with everyone playing their hearts out to secure a win. Unfortunately our hopes were dashed when All Saints scored very early on in the first half and followed up with another shortly after. Being down 2 nil at half time when we need to score at least 4 goals to be in the running was not the best position to be in. But our boys never gave up and continued to give it their all even after All Saints scored their third goal. It was a nice finish when Andy scored the last goal of the season from a great shot off Alex which placed the ball right on the goal line and Andy neatly kicked it in.
It was a pity we didn’t make it any further but what a team and what a year it has been. Coming third on the points table was a fantastic effort, only 3 points behind the two top teams who were both in division one last year. Brilliant! So to all the boys, parents, grandparents and supporters, a big THANK YOU for a wonderful season. And to Gavin – thanks heaps for being a terrific and supportive coach – we all really appreciate what you have done for the team this year and of course, all the other years as well.

Round Robin 1 (8 Aug)
RESULT: LOSS 0-4
An unfortunate start to the Round Robin being beaten by Glenhaven 4 nil. The game started with both sides pumped and determined to win. We got off to a cracking start and the game looked very evenly matched all the way through the first half ending up in a very tense nil all score at half time.
The second half wasn’t so kind to us – Glenhaven managed to score the first goal but we thought we could easily come back and even the score, but it would seem they had the psychological advantage over us and attacked our goal relentlessly scoring three more goals and leaving us in their wake. Not only did we lose, but two of our players managed to get yellow cards. The first went to Harry, because he didn’t take too kindly to one of their players being a little too persistent and pushy in trying to take the ball from him, so a minor scuffle occurred and the yellow card was produced. Zech got his card for simply turning his back too close to their goalie who couldn’t be bothered waiting until he was out of the way and smacked him fairly in the back with the ball. Luckily there were no further incidents so our team is still intact for next week’s game. Not too sure what happened to our team, maybe it was a bit of “jetlag” from ski camp or maybe they just caught us on a bad day, but heads up boys and let’s see what we can do next week to stay in the competition! Man of the match went to Mitch for an extremely difficult and arduous match – well played Mitch – it was a tough call.

Week 6 (1 Aug)
RESULT: WIN 3-0
SCORERS: HARRY (2), ALEX
Well, a cold and muddy finish to the Premiership saw us finish with another win over Hills Hawks 3 nil, putting us 3rd on the table with a massive 60 goals put away – only 1 less than the Premiers, All Saints! Probably not the most hard fought match of the season but we managed to pull it together on a freezing morning on a horrible muddy pitch which was more like an ice rink than a soccer field. Players were slipping and sliding all over the place There was a very close call for us when Mitch came out for the ball and slipped over leaving our goal wide open for a shot by the Hawks. They did give it a good go but our defenders were on top of them making a huge effort to keep the ball away. It took us 24 minutes into the first half to score, but it was a good one off Harry’s boot. The boys lifted a little in the second half, maybe because the sun started to shine on the field and warm them up a little and they seemed a little more inclined to put the effort into the game. Two more goals, another from Harry and an excellent long shot from Alex (as promised!!) put us in a winning position leaving the Hawks little chance of catching us . Well done boys, to your credit I can’t imagine any of us on the sideline willing to strip down to a pair of nylon shorts and shirt and run onto a freezing pitch on such a cold morning – don’t know how you do it!!!! Man of the match went to Harry – sorry still no trophy to hand out ?– but, as the coach said, great effort this season, you have been an inspiration and an asset to the team, but remember everyone its not over yet.

Week 1 (25 July)
RESULT: WIN 5-0
SCORERS: HARRY 2, IVAN, ANDY 2
Well, a nice “feel good” moment today – a massive win by the Pumas knocking the would be Premiers off their perch, no little knock either, 5 goals to nothing, effectively handing the Premiership over to All Saints.
We weren’t too sure how today’s match was going to pan out as the last time we played Glenhaven we essentially played half their team and half their 13/1’s, so we were more than a little interested to see how they would shape up against our full team, who are now, thankfully, all back from holidays. A slow start but with our team looking very strong it was only a matter of time. Then it happened, Harry put his foot on the ball for a blinder of a goal about 24 minutes into play. One nil at half time – very tense.
Second half played out much better, 2 minutes after the whistle Ivan managed one of his specialties from the right hand side of the field sinking that ball fairly and squarely into the back of the net – supporters and no doubt the team, feeling a bit more confident now – then Andy followed through with two more – one an amazing header. So we are all now feeling very confident as Glenhaven had no hope of getting through and scoring. A nice finisher by Harry saw us wipe out the “Number 1” team 5 nil – yes it felt good. We had excellent play from everyone on the field, Mitchell having one of his best games this season – awesome. The rest of the team effectively shut down Glenhaven’s attacks time and time again with Clayton doing his usual brilliant job in defence – Man of the Match given to Clayton – well done Clay. We would like to hand you the trophy but seem to have lost track of it – who has it?

Week 14 (18 July)
RESULT: WIN 6-0
SCORERS: ANDY, IVAN (3), EDEN (2)
Another solid win today over Carlingford Redbacks, 6-0. Down to the bare bones in numbers again, no subs, we got off to a slow start on a very chilly morning on a very muddy field. It took the boys a while to warm up and it was 15 minutes into play before we scored our first goal – a nice one by Andy followed closely by an excellent pick up by Eden when the ball bounced back onto the field off the post, he caught it on the rebound and kicked it in.
The second half saw the pace pick up a little, halfway through Harry injured his knee and we had to change goalies and bring Mitchell out for the rest of the second half. Our goalies were not challenged in either half (apart from a runaway ball which fortunately didn’t make it into our goal mouth), so this was no real problem. The highlight of the game was 3 fantastic goals from Ivan – from the right hand corner some distance away from the goal he struck the ball perfectly each time and each time it hit the target – nice work Ivan! Man of the Match material if ever I saw it. Eden also scored one more for us making it 6 nil, a nice wrap up. We look forward to having our numbers up next week to make things a little easier for the team but good work today boys; you all worked hard and got a great result.

Week 13 (11 July)
RESULT: WIN 11-1
SCORERS: ANDY (3), IVAN (2), DAVID (4), HARRY RIVERS, DALE SHEPHERD
A massive win today over a seriously short numbered Hills Hawks, 11 -1, which will be great for our goal average. Our numbers were also down but we managed to borrow Dale and Harry R. from the 12/1’s and they were a great asset. Adam had to leave the field early due to a muscle injury so we had no subs for the rest of the game. The goals in the first half were a little slow in coming as Hills Hawks were playing very hard to make up for their short numbers but eventually Andy struck with the first goal, followed by Ivan then David and yet another from Ivan saw the score 4 nil at half time.
The second half saw the Hawks (understandably), tire considerably and our team peppered their goal with shots, 7 of them successful – David, Andy, David, Andy, Dale, David (again) the for the finale – Harry popped the last one in just before full time. It was a little too easy, if only all the matches were like this one. We did however concede one goal to the Hawks sometime in the second half. Great play from all our team and especially David for his consistent goal scoring which earned him Man of the Match – great work David. And a special thanks to Harry and Dale – couldn’t have done it without you – thanks guys.

Week 10 (20 June)
RESULT: WIN 5-2
SCORERS: ZECHARIAH 4, DAVID 1
Well, a classic case of getting caught short which fortunately ended in a 5-2 win over North Ryde. It could have easily gone the other way as we kicked off with only 8 players (with 2 off sick and 4 no shows). North Ryde knew that they had to score as many goals as they could before the cavalry arrived! They proceeded to do this by scoring their first goal within minutes of kick-off. The 8 of our team were overwhelmed and under enormous pressure to keep these guys at bay. North Ryde scored again minutes later (while we were still searching for the rest of our team). Then our boys finally rallied and Zechariah broke away and scored our first goal. Still only 8 on the pitch though!! Finally Daniel and David arrived with 10 minutes left in the first half which put a stop to North Ryde’s challenge.
Half time saw Harry and Benson arrive and we could get on with the game. Zechariah had an absolute blinder of a game scoring 3 more in the second half with much cheering and appreciation from the sideline. David also managed to put one in and we were home and hosed with a solid win. A very special effort from those who started the game and had to fight hard to keep North Ryde from scoring many more goals and thanks to Matt Burke who had to stand in as goalie as Mitch was sick – it was a very nerve wracking start – not something the coach and manager would like to see repeated!! Man of the match, of course, went to Zech – what a brilliant effort.

Week 7 (30 May)
RESULT: WIN 6-1
SCORERS: HARRY (3), DAVID (1), ANDREW (2)
Yes we managed to do it again – a very solid win over Carlingford Redbacks 6 – 1. Our goal score would have been much higher had not been for some excellent goalkeeping by the opposition as we were hammering their goal throughout the first half. We did eventually manage to get three past him, two showstoppers by Harry followed through by a nice goal from David. The first half was particularly one sided with only one breakaway by the opposition over the half way line, which must have taken our boys by surprise as he actually scored! Apart from this one mistake our team looked and played brilliantly.
The second half saw the coach allow Mitchell out for a rare run and Matt Burke did a sterling job as goalie in the second half. Two more goals from Andrew and one more from Harry saw the game finish easily in our favour. The change of venue and time seemed to work out OK for the team but the ground was seriously wet and muddy - most of which was brought home by Adam on his shorts as he went down after a hard tackle and slid a considerable distance. (Any tips on how to clean muddy shorts)? Gavin has decided to reinstate the Man of the Match weekly award and this was given to Adam for his consistent efforts throughout the game (and for looking the part at the end).

Week 5 (16 May)
RESULT: WIN 6-0
SCORERS: ALEX 1, ZECHARIAH 1, DAVID 3, HARRY 1
A good solid win today after our weekend off. We easily beat Beecroft 6 nil in a game that didn’t put too much pressure on our boys. The first goal game mere seconds after the whistle blew, a brilliant left footer from Alex caught everyone by surprise - even his mother missed it! Zech was next up with a great shot, then David followed up with 3 in a row. A further two goals were disallowed by the Ref as offsides, as was the one and only goal Beecroft managed.
Half time saw it at 5 nil and I thought that it was looking good enough to score a whole heap more in the second half to give us a shot at the top two spots on the points table. But it wasn’t to be – not sure if it was our boys or that the Beecroft team lifted, but it was a fairly lackluster second half with only one more goal from a penalty awarded to us when a Beecroft player took Harry out in the penalty area. It was an easy goal for Harry as their goalie stood way over to the left of the goal so he simply shot it to the right – it was in the net before their goalie even moved. We did have quite a number of attempts at their goal after that but each one seemed to end up straight into the goalie’s hands and we couldn’t produce any further results. Overall it has to be said everyone had a top game with some amazing defence work stopping Beecroft at every turn – keep it up boys, we might make first place yet!

Week 3 (2 May)
RESULT: WIN 5-1
SCORERS: DAVID 4, ANDREW 1
Now that’s more like it – a great win over North Ryde 5-1. This week saw the whole team back (except for Adam who was unable to play due to an injury). David hit the ground running and scored our first goal literally seconds after kick off, helped by a great pass from Zechariah. Then fifteen minutes later he struck again, also off a really good pass from Zech. He then finished off with one more before half time making it 3 nil. Our defenders had to keep their eye on the opposition’s striker as he was very fast once he got through but our defence line held solid for the first half.
After half time North Ryde managed to score their one and only goal when their striker broke through, which was bad luck for us. Another goal from David (what did he have for breakfast Jerry)? came shortly after that and we could not be caught. Another goal off Andy seconds before full time saw us win very comfortably this time. Our team played exceptionally well and I think we will need to keep up this high standard of play as we will be seeing some pretty tough competition this season.

Week 2 (18 Apr)
RESULT: LOSS 1-5
SCORERS: Andrew Meikle
Not such a good start to the season being beaten by All Saints 5-1. We got off to a bad start when they managed to score two goals in the opening minutes of the game. We managed to come back at them with a great goal from Andy making it 2-1 and we looked like we may have been able to catch them up with one more goal. Unfortunately the next goal was theirs and we were down 3-1 by half time. They then managed two more in the second half and the game was over.
It obviously wasn’t the best start to the season we have ever had. It could have been partly due to the fact that the school holidays are upon us which meant we were missing 3 very strong players. And Mitch was unable to play in goal as he has a broken finger (we hope it will be better for the next time we play Mitch)! Also Clayton was feeling unwell and Alex was playing with a sore foot, so things weren’t as they should have been. We were lucky to be able to borrow Joshua McAdam from the 13/5’s to help out in the first half. He played a very strong game and his efforts were very much appreciated. Our next match should be a different story when we will have all our players on board and raring to go!!

Under 14/3 Draw

Trial games vs Redfield College will be held on Saturday the 28th March

Notes:

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