7th Heaven for Youth Development

Since the start of the season the Youth Development Squad has gone from strength to strength, albeit with a couple of minor hiccups on the way. After a great cup win the previous week, the team were back to business in Div 3, away to bottom placed Fencibles at Riverhills and confidence was high. Due to the consistency of the team and its players, the starting 11 have a familiar look now, although in this game, Grant Muckle was away so his place was filled by Rob Hatton at centre back. The complete line up was Stuart in goal, with Kyle, Thomas, Rob and Shaun at the back, Brett, Dave, Coster and Shane in the middle and our usual and becoming formidable strike force of Levin and Roddy up front. On the bench we had young Dylan, Scott and Mitch.

Due to there being no official referee assigned, Fencibles agreed to ref the first half and I would do the second. That way I could at least coach one half! Kicking off, Fencibles went straight onto the attack and played some nice football, belying their position in the table but showing why they have improved recently. For the first 10 minutes, we found ourselves under pressure, but without being threatened. Fencibles had two quick strikers, but their influence was regularly snuffed out by the back four, leaving Stuart a spectator for long periods of the game. Then, with about 11 minutes played, some nice play down our right brought in a cross and Levin was again able to out jump the defence and lobbed a header over the keeper and into the net. 1-0. Restarting, we soon won possession and within a couple of minutes, found ourselves 2-0 up thanks to a good run and strike from Brett as he fought his way the paddock that was the left side of the field. With themselves 2-0 within the first 15 minutes, Fencibles did not drop their heads and kept coming back at us with pace. A shot from just outside the box was going just wide but Stuart made sure by pushing it further behind the post and the resulting corner was easily dealt with by our defence. However, a few minutes later, a good move from Fencibles down our right (The only firm ground) saw the striker turn quickly on the edge of the box and strike a low, powerful shot that was goal bound. This time, Stuart dived to his right and pulled off a save, pushing the ball around the post and keeping the score at 2-0. Realistically, that was Fencibles last chance as Waiuku pushed on. Within a few minutes another cross came from the right and although it looked harmless, it went past all the defenders and keeper and looked as though it was about to go out, when up pops Brett at the far post and taps it in. 3-0 and we were coasting. At that point out discipline started to go, together with our shape as we thought we could score at will and so, players were wanting to get on the score sheet, rather than play quality football. As a result, we got lazy in our passes and choices, giving the ball away too often and dropping our standards. However, after a few words from the sidelines, things were soon back on track and thanks to Dave Nutt in midfield, he was able to encourage the lads to work harder. Sure enough, before the half time whistle, Waiuku were able to grab another two goals, one each to Levin and Roddy to make it 5-0.

Half time was about quality rather than quantity. We had the game won but I wanted two things from the players. A clean sheet and getting back to attractive football. By this time, Dylan was on for Shane on the right wing and so out we went for the second half, with myself refereeing and Kim (Mitch's sister), becoming my assistance coach. Kicking off, it was obvious that Fencibles were again keen to make a game of it and as with the first half,  it was they who started the running and kept possession for the first 5 minutes. However, with good passing, we soon found ourselves on the attack and inevitably 6-0 up with another good finish from Brett, completing his hat trick. Unbeknown to him, that signalled his removal from the pitch, enabling Scott to have some game time. On doing so, he was involved in some bone crunching tackles, one of which required the Fencibles player to be carried off with an injured ankle. There was no malice involved and was simply two players going for a challenge but which Scott went in harder and walked away. Much of the second half was quiet, as we lost our drive and consistency and we brought on Mitch for a run out to replace Coster. Shortly afterwards, Coster was back on for Dave, who had played a great game, run his socks off and I think, welcomed a breather. Shortly afterwards, we grabbed No.7 through Roddy and that completed the scoring. In all honesty, we could have had more, but overall, a good performance but as always, there is room for improvement.

Our Man of the Match went to Dave for his contribution and organisation. Thanks to those supporters who came down to watch us and to my stand in coach, Kim. Also thanks to Rob and Mitch for coming down and helping us out. Our next game is home to Ellerslie at Massey No.1, K.O. 1pm.