Summer Metro Round 2, 2015- Match Report

Jun
18

 

Summer Metro Round 2 – Convicts(Red) vs Blue Team  

Sunday June 14, 5:30pm

Cullen Park

Round 2 of the June metro series saw the two teams travel west to Cullen Park. With all the lush, green soccer pitches already taken up by the future stars of the Houston Dynamo, the Lonestars established a playing field on one of the drier parks to the south east of the venue. It was a hot, humid and blustery day. This was certainly going to challenge everyone’s fitness levels as well as some of the guys’ stomachs, who from all reports consumed a fairly solid BBQ lunch.

After a physical contest in Round 1 that saw the Reds power through to claim the win, it was payback time and a chance for the Blues to square the series ledger. With a number of Blues unavailable, including number 1 draft pick Tom Donnelly, run machine CDG, tough men Art and Max as well as the smooth skills of Earl and Chissy, it was certainly going to be a challenge. It didn’t get any easier after Trigger decided that the ground wasn’t quite up to the standards of Subiaco Oval and wasn’t keen to risk the ankle (Keep an eye out for his pending review of Cullen Park on Yelp). For those following the game in Australia or Las Vegas, the smart money was to back the favourite (favorite) and bet on the Reds to close out the series.   

The teams started with nine each on the field in a 2-5-2 line-up, with one extra on the bench. The Blues won the toss in a similar format to most African elections and chose to kick with the wind. The direction of the breeze had no impact on the opening few minutes as the Reds bolted out of the blocks, winning centre (center) breaks and dominating the inside 50s. It appeared from the outside that the Reds’ forwards (Matt combo) may have gone into the game with poor hygiene, as the Blues defenders didn’t get too close to them and gave them plenty of space all quarter. Both forwards scored early and set the tone for a dominant Red team performance.    

The day got worse for the Blues as Mash painfully rolled his ankle late in the opening quarter. He went off the field and left a significant hole in the midfield rotation. The first term belonged to the Reds, who held a comfortable lead at the break. They were well led by Perham, Jesse, Brendon and Nick Maass in the middle.

The second quarter saw a much more even contest. The Blues engine room of Blake, Damo and Justin got the team going and fed some quality ball to Jordan and Mueller up forward. More players appeared on the sidelines and the Reds even had the luxury of playing “Rock Star” Talis at fullback after his fashionably late arrival. He was certainly a handy replacement for Scotty, who had decided to take the week off to see how many selfies he could take with a can of Karbach at the cricket in Jamaica (tough life). Robbie moved across to the Blues to even the numbers, but the Reds held strong and went into half time with a handy lead.

The third term started with a strong performance from the Reds. The Reds forward line of Matt P and Dan proved to be too strong and took some handy contested marks from an endless supply of passes from their quality midfield. Matt P and midfielder Nick M scored goals to stretch the lead early in the second half. This resulted in plenty of changes for the Blues. Beers moved into the ruck and took the contest to Perham, while Josh D ventured forward and won plenty of the ball with some very solid marks. A couple of late goals to the Blues, including a long bomb from Josh, reduced the margin to four goals at the last change and gave the Blues a small glimmer of hope.

The final quarter started in exciting fashion. Blake moved up forward and made an instant impact in a similar fashion to what Darren Jarman did in the 90’s. A couple of quick goals from Blake brought the margin back to a close contest and perhaps the possibility for the Blues to snatch an unlikely victory. Any hope of this was quickly erased when midfielders Nick M and Berky snuck forward and kicked truly. This prompted the fat lady to sing, or in this case, Beers to become severely agitated and the game was well and truly over.

Congratulations to Captain Matty L on leading the Reds to a solid 26 point victory and taking a 2-0 series lead. Thanks to DB and Trig for umpiring, Sonni for keeping score and providing plenty of water, and for all those that came to watch the game.

The final game in the series should be a quality contest. This will be held as a special Saturday morning edition to allow the dads to enjoy Father’s Day and to give the Reds the maximum time on the weekend to celebrate their metro series win.

 

Final Scores

Convicts                     11 – 7 –73

Blues                           7 – 5 – 47

 

Goals

Convicts: Nick (3), Jesse (2), Matt L (2), Matt P (2), Perham (1), Berky (1)

Blues: Blake (3), Jordan (2), Beers (1), Josh D (1)

 

Best

Convicts: Perham, Jesse, Nick Maass, Matt Pay

Blues: Blake, Josh D, Justin, Damo

 

 ~Written by Ricko (Blues Captain)

 

Posted By DavidBryant read more

Summer Metro Round 1, 2015- Match Report

Jun
09

Summer Metro Round 1 – Convicts(Red) vs Blue Team  

Sunday June 7, 5pm

Bendwood Park

 
With summer starting to heat up Houston, the Lonestars kicked off a new Metro series with the opening match played on Sunday evening. Last Wednesday's draft saw two new team captains take the reigns - Matty L captaining the Mighty Convicts of the red team while Ricko leads the much taller blue squad. With travel and injuries limiting player availability, both teams managed to wrangle decent numbers for the round 1 bout. The game was played with 10 a side, making sure to leave a couple of subs for each team. This made for a tough encounter as the relatively large field left lots of open space for the players to use. 
 
The first quarter started fast, as any concerns the Convicts had about playing without the absent Perham were quickly silenced by a dominating performance in the ruck by the surprise pickup Dale Cameron. With the flow off the tap consistently moving in the red teams favor, the forward line of Matty L and Dan were able to slot in some early goals and give the Convicts the first lead of the game. The blue team fought hard and ran harder, but inaccurate kicking and constant pressure would be the story of their first quarter. With Brendan putting through 1 more goal before the horn, the Convicts walked away from the first quarter with a 3 goal lead.
 
The second quarter began much like the first as the Red Convicts jumped out early and took another goal. The blue team, however, would not be going down easy. With some positional adjustments, the blues were able to take advantage of the aggressive red midfield. Over-pursuit by the reds and fast hands by the blues lead to back to back goals as the blue midfield was able to force a numbers advantage in the forward half of the field. The teams would trade a few more goals as the heated competition of the metro only grew hotter.
 
The Convicts led at the half: 6.3.39 to 3.7.25 
 
The second half started with another positional shift by the blue team as big Tom was sent in to battle Dale in the ruck. This provided the extra spark in the middle that the blue team needed as the entire flow of the game shifted into their favor. The ball spent the majority of the quarter in the blues forward line as Max and Blake knocked in several goals. The red team was beginning to look tired as possession after possession all went in favor of the blues. With Josh Devlin tap-dancing a goal in from about 2 feet out, the blues found themselves only 1 goal back as the third quarter came to an end.
 
The final quarter began with the same intensity that ended the previous quarter. The Convicts were fired up and determined to hold onto their early game lead, and the blues felt destined to snatch the victory away in the waning minutes. The ball went back and forth, with every possession hotly contested. The midfield had turned into a battleground. The Convicts were the first team to land a strike as they managed to get a handball out of the pack that led to a quick kick into the waiting arms of Nick Maass who was able to run in the first goal of the quarter. The red team would not be celebrating for long however, as a few possessions later, Max took the mark of the day. Running hard and flying high, he was able to bowl his way through a pack and come up with the ball, and ultimately a goal. Unfortunately, that would be the end of the scoring for the blue team. With the Convicts managing to put through 2 more goals in the final minutes of the game, they had secured the victory, and taken the early lead in the series. 
 

Final Scores

Convicts                     10 – 7 – 67

Blues                           7 – 8 – 50

Goals

Convicts: Matt L (5), Brendan (2), Dan(1), Nick M (1), Robbie (1)

Blues: Max (3), Blake (1), CDG (1), Art (1), Josh D (1)

Best

Convicts: Matt L, Bren, Dale, Sean, Nick Maass

Blues: Blake, Tom D, Max, Art, Tobin

 

~Written by Matty 'Baby' L. (Convicts Captain)

Posted By sonni read more

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