Result - Loss - 2 - 1
Player of the day: Amanda "Lou" - for excellent defence and positive passing.
Areas to develop: Positional play (still bunching together and chasing the ball), fitness and goal scoring.
We played well enough to win the game for the last 19 minutes of the first half. Our goal came 5 minutes before half time when we were putting a lot of pressure on their defence and AJ got an excellent shot through the goal.
The jubilant shouts and high-fives meant the team felt good about working together to enable the goal to be scored.
Unfortunately, Lower Hutt had scored their first after 40 seconds (very soft goal after our whole team was caught napping and out of position) and their second at the 6 minute mark (very lucky when they missed and the ball ricocheted off one of our players over the line).
It would've have been nice to have had the win and this team were beatable.
The highlights for me were:
Amanda "Lou" having her best game after putting her hand up to be a defender.
Bosco "The Boot" who continually turned their attacks around.
Caleb "The Rock" who masterfully catches the opposition offside (and nearly stopped their second goal with some tactical offside moves).
Cody "Blocker" with his solid "don't mess with me" tackling. I was impressed with his skills heading the ball
Andy "The Terrier" who was tenacious with his tackling and fed useful ball to the strikers.
Sam "(in the) Action Man" was always keen to get involved where the ball was. I was most impressed with Sam's over the head kick (I'm sure he's been practicing it).
JD "Charlie" had some useful passes and positioned himself well for goal scoring opportunities.
Vinnie "Love the mud" was goalie for the day and was keen to get down and dirty. He made some terrific saves and cleared the ball solidly.
Vincent L "Flash Gordon" had an excellent game with linking passes and strong tackles.
Cameron "The Clone" was busy in midfield and it seemed like there were at least 2 of them on the field at times. He was able to nullify their attacks and put a lot of pressure on their goal.
AJ "In the net" was well positioned to take advantage and score our goal.
Aaron "Speedy" was unlucky not to score. His strong kicks created some good opportunities.
Josh "007" came so close to scoring. Next time buddy!
Liam "Tank Engine" was strong on the field and made some great crosses into the goal area to set up scoring opportunities.
It was encouraging to see moments of brilliance within the team. There is some real talent developing.
I had to get up at 4:45 this morning to get to the game from a conference in Matakana (north of Auckland) and although we didn't win, I'm glad I made the effort.
There'll be a bit to work on at practice: 4pm - Thursday.
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